CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

The small towns between their old home and their destination had been abandoned over the years. Relocating the residents from the remote towns to the larger cities made the area easier to control since the scattered population required too many resources to effectively monitor. But, of the most concern to the authorities was that the citizens in this part of the country were too independent and rebellious to remain unwatched.

As the car crawled through the pothole-filled street of the first empty town, chills trickled down Nyla’s spine. The buildings had been reclaimed by the harsh environment and looked haunted. Windows were broken and roofs sagged to the point of collapse. She tried to picture people walking along the crumbling sidewalks or a child’s face peeking out a window, but the town was too far gone. There was nothing human about the collection of dilapidated buildings. There was no life or character to the splintered wood, shattered glass, twisted metal and strewn bricksonly sadness.

Nyla glanced at Ethan and watched as his eyes followed the forlorn row of derelict buildings as hers had just done. She knew he sensed her watching him when he turned his head toward her and curved his lips into a weak smile. There were no words to describe the emptiness the abandoned town left in her heart, so she looked ahead into the darkness and said nothing.

The car’s tires began to bounce as if rolling over a continuous line of rumble strips in the road. It felt as if they were driving down a washboard-rippled dirt road, but they hadn’t left the pavement. The light thumping didn’t wake Claire and Jared in the back seat, but made Nyla look over at Ethan with confusion and concern.

He eased off the gas until the car barely moved down the bumpy road. Nyla squinted, trying to focus on the shapes in the darkness. She could detect the outline of hundreds of long slender shadows lying across the road at random angles, some seemed to be moving like ripples in a lake disturbed by a gentle breeze.

Ethan flipped on the headlights, cutting through the darkness and illuminating the source of the bumps. Nyla gasped. She couldn’t believe her eyes and was now starting to accept as truth the horror stories the authorities had leaked to the public in order to keep them in the cities, afraid to venture out. Some of the shapes, as thick as her upper arm, stretched from one faded white shoulder line to the line on the opposite side of the road, and as her eyes adjusted to the new light the shapes came to life. There was no mistaking their identity—snakes, hundreds of angry snakes.

Killing the car’s lights, Ethan accelerated and the thumps increased with frequency as their speed grew. Nyla saw Ethan shiver even though the car was uncomfortably warm and his eyes remained focused straight ahead. She craved a word of comfort, but knew he had no words to ease her fear.

Nyla stared into the review digital monitor until the slithering shapes began to fade and a movement up ahead caught her eye. She spotted a number of dark shadowy figures trotting through a side street toward them. Their bodies slipped stealthily between old buildings under the cover of night with such fluid grace that it made her wonder if she was seeing anything real or if the beings were just terrifying apparitions.

The ghostly beasts stopped and glared at them, and then strode toward the road. The wolf pack gathered at the intersection, eyes tracking the vehicle with curiosity, and a look and posture Nyla could only interpret as hunger. Chills raced over Nyla’s skin under the predator’s intense stare. She tried to look away, but couldn’t. She had studied wolves in school and had a difficult time accepting their reintroduction as essential to an already overly manipulated ecosystem. The animals had existed in small numbers in remote areas, but now they roamed everywhere. The beasts were of the order of Carnivoraflesh eaters. They hunted in packs and took down their prey by slashing through the tendons on the victim’s hind legs and dragging it down to its death.

The shapes mingled restlessly, but soon all Nyla could see were small orbs glowing in the darkness. The pack continued to grow in number until the black night was pierced by twinkling lights, as if the stars in the sky now resided just a few feet above the ground. The number of individuals gathered to produce such an effect was disconcerting and from her studies Nyla knew it wasn’t normal behavior, but even the most remote wild lands had long since ceased to be natural.

The pack ruled the town and did not welcome strangers. She heard no yelping or howling, so she figured the beasts felt no threat by their presence. The snakes and carnivores had clearly struck a deal and flaunted their confidence in their superior numbers. The predators and serpents controlled the streets, working together to ensure humans never returned.

As she tried to force the images from her mind, her thoughts drifted to her grandmother and a Bible verse came back to her with vivid clarity. Every word seemed to echo what she was witnessing in the uninhabited, barren expanse around them. Despite the educational system’s insistence that the Bible was just mythology, the implications made her shudder as the words kept replaying over and over in her mind, growing louder until her head hurt.

And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your highways shall be desolate (Leviticus 26:21-22).

Nyla leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Ethan turned on some music and the gentle rhythm helped Nyla push the foreboding thoughts of wild beasts and desolate highways into the recesses of her mind, though the words of the verse refused to go away completely and continued to haunt her.

She rocked lightly back and forth in her seat until Ethan took her hand and brought it to his lips. The warm caress of his gentle kiss forced her focus to return. She stilled her nervous movements and smiled at Ethan, and was thankful when he didn’t release her hand.

They drove through the night, cruising through one deserted town after the next. When they approached a town, Nyla closed her eyes. Though she couldn’t see the creatures of the night, she could feel living beings all around them, closing in, watching her tiny car pass by, licking their chops, salivating at the thought of a meal big enough to sustain them all for days, wondering if the vehicle was small enough prey to take down if they worked together.

With the last town finally behind them, Nyla felt able to breath normally. She glanced over her shoulder and watched as Jared stroked Claire’s hair, gazing affectionately at the woman sleeping peacefully in his arms. The look on his face was pure bliss and Nyla was thankful he and Claire had been spared the site of the vengeful eyes scrutinizing them as they drove through the ramshackle towns.

“Seeing them together and at peace makes you believe we’re doing the right thing, doesn’t it?” Ethan whispered as he looked over at Nyla.

She smiled at him and tightened her grip on his fingers. His touch gave her the strength she desperately needed now. She didn’t really have any doubt they were doing the right thing, only that they might not be able to pull it off. Knowing their mission was a life or death venture for Ethan and Jared made her shiver.

“You cold?”

“No, it’s plenty warm in here. Maybe I’ve got a bit of cold feet. I was just thinking about you and Jared and about what we saw back there, and I got a little scared. There are so many unknowns out here and it terrifies me to think about maybe running into something even worse than what we just saw. I hope I didn’t push you all into this.”

“Don’t forget, Nyla, my usefulness in this society has about run its course. I have nothing to lose. You and your family have given me hope that I’ll have the opportunity to grow old and I’m grateful. What we saw back there isn’t normal. We never saw anything like that at the farm and Jared and I were out a lot at night. We heard wolves, but the animals seldom ventured close to the farm and they generally ran in packs a fraction of that size. It must be the shelter of the buildings and the lack of human habitation that brought those animals together in such mass.”

“I know you’re right, but you have to admit the scene back there was a little terrifying.”

He only shook his head and shuddered—no other response was needed, so Nyla let the subject drop and stared out into the vast expanse ahead.

The night was getting darker. The further south they traveled, the more clouds drifted in front of the moon, making it difficult to drive without lights. Ethan had slowed the car to cope with the waning visibility and Nyla feared they were falling behind schedule. She slipped her hand out of Ethan’s grip and focused on the road. They were heading south in the middle of the night with few belongings, minimal information, high hopes and a sketchy plan. Her friends had joined in without hesitation, but Nyla couldn’t help feeling responsible. If they failed, she would never forgive herself, even though she knew they would.