The car crashed through a tree, it uprooted easily taking out a portion of the headlights and the windshield. Everyone screamed, as more birds crashed into the rooftop and windows. A tire popped, the car started to swerve.
"Hold on!" Michelle shrieked, jerking the wheel, fighting every urge to stop the car. "Just a little further!"
They hit a hill. The car flew for a second before crashing down on the dirt road. The stags stopped chasing, the birds kept their distance. Alan and Sam cheered, Nicole still buried in Sam's chest, kept asking what's going on.
"Don't worry honey, mommy's got this." Sam locked eyes with his wife, as they drove down the road, the car having a hard time staying in a straight line.
Michelle parked the car right in front of the gas station, the same exact place as before. How long ago was that? She could have sworn an entire lifetime has passed from then to now. The car broke down the second she shoved it into park. They heard the engine slowly whimper and a tire roll off to the side, before collapsing.
On the ridge of the hill overlooking the gas station, dozens of the animals stood, watching them with their distorted looking eyes. They didn't move.
"Why aren't they chasing us?" Michelle stepped out of the car, Alan followed her, running around the car, a little too excited.
"I'm not sure." Sam followed her. "But we're not going anywhere." He tapped on what remained of the car before laughing. The headlights were smashed, the windshield cracked, the windows destroyed, the rim of a tire gone. The dents throughout the body, it looked like the car went to war and lost.
"Race you to the gas station." Alan ran up to Nicole and tagged her.
"But- We should stay put." Nicole looked torn from the desire to play and the trauma of almost fading into non-existence. She looked up at her father, who ran his fingers through her hair.
"It's okay, just stay in sight."
"Sam?" Michelle looked confused, Sam watched the kids run into the gas station and stepped closer to her.
"I need some time with you anyway. " Sam leaned in and threw his arms around his wife. She started to panic looking back and forth between the kids.
"Right here?" Michelle squeaked, caught off guard.
"Ew, Dad, we're right here." Alan groaned before shutting the door to the gas station.
"Wait for me!" Nicole ran after Alan, desperate not to be left out of the fun. Sam watched the door shut before leaning in and kissing Michelle's neck.
"What's gotten into you?" Michelle couldn't stop laughing, trying to push him off, but not really wanting to at the same time.
"Seeing you like that, behind the wheel in control. I can't help myself." Sam laughed.
Sam didn't stop, he just pulled her in closer, Michelle tried to keep her focus, protesting. "You didn't tell me how you knew about the gas station."
Sam lifted Michelle up in his arms and carried her to the hood of the car, or what was left of it, leaning forward.
"This isn't like you at all!"
"I'll tell you after."
"After what? Sam?" Michelle gently pushed against his chest, before leaning back. "Oh, Sam...
Sam! Sam... Wait! Shouldn't we check on the kids?" She tried sitting up, laughing at the situation.
"They're safe here, I've got my eye on the door, don't worry."
...
"Shouldn't we check on Mom and Dad?" Nicole looked back at the door, the car was around the corner of the gas station, she felt a little nervous being out of sight.
"Don't you want some answers?" Alan on the other hand was looking for clues and an answer to the mystery. He turned a corner in the gas station, the same latch that scared Sam, before trying the door.
"But Dad said!" Nicole whined.
"He said, stay in sight!" Alan twisted the doorknob, it didn't open. He started to push on it.
"I almost drowned!" Nicole exclaimed.
"And I almost got eaten by a herd of deer!" Alan paused, was it herd? Gang? He couldn't remember. Alan kept searching, still holding the GPS out. Looking high and low, around every corner.
"Hey, Alan... Look!" He looked up to see Nicole standing in a corner pointing.
"Wait for me." Alan ran over.
They stood in front of a shelf, now full of bars, chips, and beef jerky. Alan ripped a candy bar and bit into it. He closed his eyes when he tasted the chocolate, savoring every second.
"Why didn't you guys grab this before?"
"It wasn't here." Nicole dug into a fridge which was empty before, now stocked with bottled water, sodas, and the light was on. They felt the cool refrigeration wafting into the humid gas station. "None of this was."
"What do you mean it wasn't here?"
"It was empty except the magazines." Nicole handed one to Alan, the page cut off the same way it did when his mother picked it up, but more pages were filled in.
"This doesn't make any sense." Alan flipped through the pages while scarfing down chocolate bar after chocolate bar.
Alan examined the GPS muttering to himself, while Nicole played with a few magazines, throwing some on the ground, and swinging others around. Alan walked over and rolled up a magazine, showing Nicole how to swing it around. They proceeded to trash the entire gas station with reckless abandon.
"Dad said he knew why." Nicole responded.
"But, what do you think?"
"Probably a wizard, or maybe a dragon. We just have to slay it." Nicole paused for a moment before answering.
"Why'd I ask you anyway?" Alan rolled his eyes and walked away.
The bell rung, causing Alan and Nicole to almost jump out of their skins.
"So, I was right. Why don't we have our camp out right now?" Sam walked right in, Michelle right behind him, fixing her hair. Sam grabbed a bag of chips and opened them.
The kids looked between themselves unable to hide their excited expression and ran over to Sam and Michelle.
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
Re-Routing
कल्पित विज्ञानWhat happens when a road trip gets interrupted when the GPS gives the wrong directions? Even time itself might be affected by this unexpected turn.
