Derelict

Too Heavy a Burden to Carry Alone

Chapter Thirteen

July 19, 2020

Bryan and the Jeep rolled into Cairo, Illinois on a Sunday. At least, he thought it was a Sunday. The days had long ago blurred together in a sweat soaked mélange of intolerable heat, not enough water, and overwhelming exhaustion. He had escape the ambush but both he and the Jeep sustained injury and it was quite possible his confusion regarding the exact day of the week was attributable to the bullet hole in his thigh. The escape was anything but pretty with him diving into the driver's seat under a hail of bullets. The Jeep shielded him from the onslaught but he still took one in the upper thigh while another grazed his head. Now the Jeep leaked oil and Bryan leaked blood, a lot of blood.

He was weak and his head felt full of cotton, all fuzzy and vague, not a good condition when transporting what he believed to be the last best hope of the human race. Three feet behind him, covered with gear and miscellaneous supplies were two crates. The Resistance had been entrusted with the crates at the order of Lt. Colonel Jimmy Jenkins, the highest ranking officer left alive at Scott Air Force Base, possibly the entire world. One by one, the Resistance had succumbed to betrayal or death until none but one remained. Now the crates were his.

He drove through the tunnel under the levee in a fog, past the middle school, continuing southward into town. School? Would there ever be school again? It seemed doubtful. It was abandoned just like the streets.

He snaked his way past the dead cars and trucks, he could think of them no other way than as dead, and headed toward the river. A few rounds of gunfire sounded off in the distance but he ignored it, too weak and tired to do much of anything like running, hiding, or defending himself at this point. Ahead, a column of smoke rose, thick and black against the clear cloudless blue of the afternoon sky. More gunfire. He realized he ought to be doing something, but he also realized he couldn't remember what it was. He halfway thought it might even be important. In fact, he was sure of it.

More gunfire and then a crowd of people were racing toward him with panic and fear in the eyes. They fired their weapons over their shoulders, not aiming but only hoping to deter whatever was chasing them. The errant gunfire from those in the lead mowed down several of those following but no one seemed to care, so desperate were they to escape. Most were yelling and cursing and those that weren't looked to be muttering to themselves, as if praying.

One darted in the path of the Jeep and Bryan swerved, but too late. The man bounced off the fender and the Jeep caromed into the vacant parking lot adjacent to a stately brick building, Bouncing over a curb, Bryan struggled with the wheel, fighting for control but from somewhere a pole materialized in his path. Metal crunched and sparks flew as he grazed the pole and smashed into the side of the building.

Blood streamed into his eyes and he knew the wound on his head had opened again.

"Run! Get out of here!" Voices yelled and he could feel the fear radiating from those fleeing in the street. Others cried out, "Shoot them! Kill those bastards!"

There was a lull with no movement in the street. Those fleeing had scattered like roaches in the daylight.

Then the first of the aliens stalked into view. Blood continued to ooze over his right eye but he dared not move to wipe it clean for a better view. Movement attracted attention and attention meant you would soon be dead. Yet he could see all he needed to as the creature picked its way up the street on those gangly legs with the perverse looking backward jointed knees walking with its characteristic jerky and awkward gait. Grasshoppers. Bryan always thought of grasshoppers legs when confronted with one of them. Its scales glistened in the sunlight, an iridescent shimmer that might have been beautiful under other circumstances. Cradled in the two appendages on the right side of its thorax was a sonic rifle, one of the big ones, a tank buster.