The last entry for 2009. We’ll pick up again after the New Year.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
——–<\/p>\n
Martin\u2019s pick up followed the access road up the mountain and Daryl followed.\u00a0 They climbed slowly, though it wasn\u2019t a steep drive.\u00a0 Martin\u2019s caution left him wondering, and he worriedly checked on Molly.\u00a0 She was still out, but the bleeding had stopped.\u00a0 Probably a concussion, and even that could kill now.\u00a0 He had no idea how to treat it.\u00a0 As the forest rose up around them, there was a sense of leaving the world behind.\u00a0 Arriving in some fantasy land constructed by Daryl and Azizi in the brief time since the world collapsed.\u00a0 Escapism, because Daryl was sure normal people would have hunkered down in their homes.<\/p>\n
They pulled off, half way up, at the Strong Mansion.\u00a0 Sugarloaf was a private park, a large part of it acquired by Gordon Strong at the beginning of the 20th century.\u00a0 He built the mansion in 1912 and,\u00a0 in classic Citizen Kane style, it had never been completed.\u00a0 The mountain itself was the highest point for miles and, on particularly clear days, it was possible to make out major sites in DC from the summit.\u00a0 As a child, Daryl had been able to see that once, through binoculars, but never again.\u00a0 Now there was a power plant on the Potomac between the mountain and distant DC and the haze of industry filled the skies.\u00a0 The last time he\u2019d been up on the mountain, about a year, he was shocked at how much haze had settled in just the last few decades.\u00a0 But it was still country and fresh air.<\/p>\n
During the Civil War, the mountain was a key outpost for the North and, briefly, the South.\u00a0 The ruins of a small fort lay near the summit, its entrenchments cleared out by the maintenance folks so kids could run around in a maze of stone and history.\u00a0 The mansion was occasionally opened to the public, but Daryl had never bothered to take a closer look.<\/p>\n
In the rain and the twilight, the colonial-style building had a haunted, forbidding look.\u00a0 The dark windows stared out towards the surrounding ring of trees, which closed in on the tiny, manicured lawn.\u00a0 Here at the end of the world, Daryl didn\u2019t like the look one bit.\u00a0 But Martin, being a man of free time and bizarre culture, was something of a ghost hunter. It fit his personality that he would set up HQ in such a gothic location.\u00a0 It was just that, as well.\u00a0 An HQ.\u00a0 Boxes sat out in the rain, an army HumVee, several U-Haul trucks and a front lawn that had been churned to mud in a gala of supply gathering.\u00a0 He knew Martin well and was still stunned to see that his friends had, obviously, been working hard while he drove around with Molly, lost in despair.\u00a0 While worrying, it was also a relief.\u00a0 At least someone was ready.<\/p>\n
But he could easily follow Martin\u2019s thinking.\u00a0 This was an HQ for some kind of counterstrike and, like the soldiers that had held this mountain before, he had chosen a spot that was both defensible and key to launching an attack. Daryl had seen enough of war and survival, though.\u00a0 He wanted to run to the country and hit the ground, get under a rock.<\/p>\n
But that wasn\u2019t going to be good enough, he knew.\u00a0 The Stephen King film Maximum Overdrive came from a short story where the survivors ran to the wilderness, seeking some sort of final refuge.\u00a0 Their luck didn\u2019t hold up.<\/p>\n
He pulled onto the lawn and turned off the engine, which rattled bitterly for a second after he had removed the key.\u00a0 Azizi opened the door of the van while Daryl stared at the dashboard, the engine\u2019s death rattle still in his ears.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants to fight, doesn\u2019t he?\u201d Daryl asked, looking down at his friend.<\/p>\n
Azizi smiled, \u201cWe\u2019ll talk him down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to run.\u00a0 Tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNever run at night,\u201d Azizi replied.\u00a0 He put a hand on Daryl\u2019s arm, \u201cGrab the girl and come inside.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t \u2013 \u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they wanted to whip us up, they\u2019d be here by now.\u00a0 If we stay calm and keep our heads \u2013 \u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cCalm?\u00a0 The world\u2019s ended \u2013 \u201c<\/p>\n
\u201cSo what?\u201d Martin stepped up behind Azizi, \u201cYou\u2019ve said it yourself a thousand times, D.\u00a0 What was the world?\u00a0 Sleepless nights, living the life of a wage slave, never really being aware of anything.\u00a0 We all lived in a pattern and there was no getting out of it \u2013 quit your job and drown or stay at work and die slowly.\u00a0 A world of half-conceived ideas and forgotten dreams, plagued by imagined disasters at every corner.\u00a0 A day ago, we were slaves, Daryl.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to go to work tomorrow.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to pay rent next week.\u00a0 Your credit card bill has been forgiven forever.\u201d\u00a0 Martin had been ready, probably writing that speech in his head on the drive to the mansion.\u00a0 He stood now in the chilled twilight, the rain running over him, though he seemed not to notice.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd in place of that freedom, we\u2019re on the run from\u2026those things.\u201d Daryl replied.<\/p>\n
Azizi leaned against the van, \u201cNothing comes cheap.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWould you get in the goddamned house, Daryl?\u201d Martin hissed.<\/p>\n
Daryl stepped out, circled around to the passenger side and gathered Molly in his arms.\u00a0 He followed Martin and Azizi inside while, in his heart, he struggled with darkness.\u00a0 Martin was echoing his words, reciting a speech Daryl had made many times whenever the three of them watched an apocalypse film or got to drunkenly talking about the workaday world.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to go to work tomorrow.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to pay rent.\u00a0 Freedom.\u00a0 Molly, in his arms, was a shuddering creature.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t freedom.\u00a0 This was the life of a haunted, hunted animal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The last entry for 2009. We’ll pick up again after the New Year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[404],"class_list":["post-563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nachos-lousy-novel","tag-nachos-lousy-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=563"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":745,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563\/revisions\/745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greatsociety.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}