The Canavar

Chapter 22: Disaster Scene

A wide swath up and down the road was a disaster scene. Vehicles had been flattened, turned over, or wound up in the ditches. Pieces of metal, glass, and plastic lay strewn everywhere. Broken branches covered the road and ditches alike, and trees lay across the road and over some of the vehicles. The road had so many cracks it looked like a sheet of safety glass that had been bashed several times. But it was the dead bodies in the vehicles and on the road that shocked Johnny the most as he stared around himself. So many dead.

No doctors or even nurses were among the survivors. No one with any medical training. Not only Hank, but plenty of others needed to go to a hospital.

Downed trees and wrecked vehicles made the road impassable. People had to decide whether they were going to trek it on foot to Delgarde or turn back to Hell's Center. Although some went on, most turned back due to the distance.

Johnny scanned the sky, looking for signs of the monster's return. It had disappeared. He turned to his mother, and they started the hike back toward town. He pulled out his phone and turned on the Overtone app. Everyone turned and glared at him as music blasted out of his phone. He turned down the volume.

"Turn off that freakin' noise before that thing comes back," a man in a white tee that appeared to be in his later twenties shouted.

"It's my early warning system," Johnny said. "Electronics stop working when that monster comes near."

"Well, your noise freaking stinks, and I don't want to listen to it," the man said.

"You leave my kid alone," his mother said.

"Oh! So now you got your mom fightin' your battles for yah, kid," the man said.

"My boy could whoop you with a blindfold on. He don't need me. But you mess with him, and you're messing with me too."

Another man of about the same age gently patted the man in the white tee on his back and whispered something to him. Johnny couldn't hear what was said, but the man in the white tee continued to scowl at Johnny as Trippie Redd rapped from his phone.

After a minute they were farther away from the angry man, and Johnny turned and softly said to his mother, "That man still seems angry. Should I turn it off?"

"Just keep walking, Baby," his mother replied. "They're all hot right now. They just lost their cars and trucks and belongings. And they're all scared. Scared to the high heavens."

"Aren't you scared, Momma?"

She chuckled. "Only a fool wouldn't be scared right now."

He hiked for a while and then remembered the earbuds in his jeans pocket. Sticking them in, he listened to G Herbo, and then Lil Tjay as he scanned the skies.

By the time they got back into town, it was late in the day. Everyone was hungry, but they stayed near the center of town by orders of the captain from the company of troops surrounding the area.

A large crowd had gathered by the time the captain waved his arms and whistled for attention.

"Alright everyone, listen up," he shouted. "Martial law has been declared, meaning all of you will follow the orders I give. They come from General Brand."

"Who's that?" someone shouted.

"I'll take questions after I make my announcement," the captain said, but he went on to explain anyway. "General Brand is in charge and gets his orders from the Secretary of Defense and from the President. Everyone is to hunker down for the night in your homes or wherever you can find shelter. There will be no lights tonight. Curfew is at 9PM. By 8AM you're all to meet back here where 2nd Platoon, led by myself, will escort everyone that can walk on a hike up over the bluff and to the township of Blakesville. According to my map that's about six miles west from here. We'll go at a very slow pace and take breaks so everyone can keep up. We believe six miles should be far enough away that the monster will not attack the trucks that will be waiting for you all there. They will take you to shelters that are being set up in Cedar Rapids. Those of you unable to walk need to report to me after I'm through here, and we'll arrange to carry you out. Questions?"