The Downedest Day Part 4: Worlds in the White
#1 of The Downedest Day
The Downedest Day Part 4: Worlds in the White
(There's no yiff in this... heads up. It's just the end of the series and it didn't really fit. It's been really fun and I had a good time writing The Downedest Day series. Though it doesn't have my most popular stories, I still like it for how weird it is. The end of the world gave me a chance to just go nuts and not worry about things making sense or being based on reality.)
I peered out of the ruined general store and motioned for the kids to follow me. We wouldn't stand a chance if someone saw us. I had my .40 caliber pistol with only one clip in it, and Cal had his M1 Carbine with only two clips. And we were potentially going up against around a hundred seriously freaked out thugs with machine guns. Those are certainly not the best odds, but it was this or slowly starve in the little apartment.
Luckily, Harlan was not completely cleaned up, so there were still cars lining the streets and just general trash between us and the car which would serve as great cover as long as we keep our little heads down. The car was about four hundred yards away, which is not far, but it seems like a mile if you are thinking about getting shot the whole time.
I had the kids follow me and Cal and stay as quiet as they can. They're smart kids, but Rose is still at the age where you can't control the volume of your voice. She's not a screamer; she just has a tendency to talk loud.
We made it fifty yards and I was feeling pretty good. As long as we stayed silent and moved slowly, things should be alright. As all of us were hiding behind a station wagon, I heard someone shout "Hey!" off in the distance.
Then the shooting started. I don't know if we were spotted or what, all I knew was that there were suddenly bullets filling the air like angry wasps all over the city within a few seconds. None of them were directed at us thankfully; someone else had stirred up everyone in Harlan.
I wasn't worried about the kids staying quiet any more; we were sprinting from car to car now. Our car was only 200 yards away. The commotion helped us slip by while every camo dickbrain in the city was emptying clip after clip into whatever they were shooting at.
The car was right near the church tower where the sniper was. The crack of a large bore rifle would fill the air from time to time, but the tower was being slowly chipped away by several gunmen around the city.
As I peaked around the corner of a delivery truck, I could see a camouflage wearing wolf blasting the church tower with an AK-47. He wasn't even aiming the thing. He had about ten clips sitting on the hood of the car he was kneeling behind. I quickly popped my head back and motioned for everyone to stay still. There was no way getting past the guy. He was completely, and totally, in the way of our escape.
I snuck out from behind the car and slowly crept up behind him. It would have been more logical to knife him in the back, but there is no way I could ever do that to someone. It seems too personal.
I had my pistol out and I was only five feet away. My heart was pounding as I held it behind his head and I could almost hear it over the gunfire. Could I really just end someone's life? I had tried to, or done so before, but it seemed like an okay thing to do then. I was facing evil men, but this person was probably trying to make his own way in the world and found Harlan, just like us. Maybe I could just get him to surrender?
The man whirled and I was paralyzed. I could hear, and sure as hell feel, the dull thud of the butt of his rifle hitting me on the chin.
"I've got a black cat here!" he yelled, "and if any of you want to see your boy again, you'll throw down your guns and surrender! I just might let this dumbass live."
I heard Taylor shakily say, "Hold on a second."
The wolf only got as far as "I'm wai-" before Cal popped up from behind the hood of the delivery truck and shot him in the neck. He gurgled and threw himself against the car. He grabbed his throat before turning his back on me and the truck. Cal rounded the front of the delivery truck and fired three more times which brought the man to his knees. I grabbed his AK-47 and fired the last few bullets in the magazine into his back. The world seemed silent to me as he crumpled to the ground. My dimming vision made things all the more eerie.
Watching that man die was the most horrible thing I had ever seen, but I blocked it out with images of Cal and the kids being killed in the street or used as slaves. He would have done worse to us. So even though I felt terrible, I realized that he had lost a gunfight, fair and square. Even so, I had stolen the most precious thing that any one of us has.
Cal bent down to me while I was still glued to the street and said "I am so glad the kids didn't see us do that. At least we're goal oriented killers."
"I guess," was all I could say.
Cal gathered up all of the clips and stuffed them into his backpack. He saw me on the ground still staring at the dead wolf and he hauled me up. I turned to face him and he slapped me about as hard as he could.
"Snap out of it!" he furiously whispered.
I could here the gunfire again after Cal smacked me a good one.
"Kids!" called Cal.
As they came hurrying up, Cal said, "Let's go already Rob! We're not getting any younger!"
I nodded my head to show that I was with Cal on that one. It was my idea to leave, and it sure seemed like a great time to get the heck out of there. Besides the car was less than 200 yards away, I could almost smell the gasoline from where we were.
Even though my mind was still rattled, I was able to check every window and alleyway between us and the car. The coast was clear the whole way, so I had all of us run to the car as fast as we could.
When the car was only fifteen feet away, a sour feeling hit me. Both Cal and I gasped and started to cry from intense fear and anguish. The kids ran ahead of us to the car and waited, but we couldn't follow them. We couldn't move an inch further. I felt my fur charged with static and I knew what that meant for us.
I didn't even have to look to know that there where dread bears staring right at us, but I looked anyway and saw a street full of the horrendous, spiny monsters. The sight made my heart sink even lower. It was worse than killing the man. It struck me deep down in my very soul and tore and corroded everything I ever cared about.
The kids were calling for us, but they felt as though they were on the other side of an ocean. I was only aware that they were there because I had known it before the terror hit me.
I looked up from my own grave to see a German shepherd and a hyena looking down at me. I was holding an old fox and I felt his last feeble attempt at a heartbeat. I felt what it was like for Cal to see his family torn to bits, his cousins shot, and for him to be abused by unfeeling meth heads. I pulled the trigger and spread my own brains in a pantry, and I felt what it was like to be shot in the back by a couple of dumb teenagers. With all of my might I tried to reach out to Cal, but I failed. I was no where near strong enough to stop something that was crippling me from the inside.
Strength wasn't the way to fight it. Instead I thought of Cal, and my parents, and even though I had only known them for a short time, I thought of the kids as well. I felt a little flicker of hope and love from concentrating on them and how much I cared about them. I imagined a childhood birthday party, playing with Rose and Taylor on the playground, and me and Cal worshipping each other in a hot bath until the water gets cold. Though I didn't focus on them, I could feel other memories jump into my mind. They weren't my experiences; they were because of things I had done for others.
I could feel the love of a father for his son. The wolf was eating food with his boy in a forest, as if they were camping. He and the little kid were laughing as they were playing a card game. The little boy was trying to cheat, but he was so bad at it, that the father let him cheat anyway and pretended he didn't notice.
I could feel what it was like to be freed. Some nice boys were sawing through my cuffs and giving me a big bag of food and medicine. My hands hurt so much, but they were being so nice to me. They said goodbye and let me go along my way somewhere quiet where I can heal.
I knew what it was like to be loved. I looked up from a linoleum floor to see a black cat saving my life. He was fearless. He slammed the door shut on the cold winter and saved me from them. He fed me, and let me live in his house. He was my best friend ever. He was more than a friend; the very sight of him made my heart burst. I owed him so much and he gave it all back to me double. Next thing I knew, I was crying tears of joy on an old couch in a musty apartment and holding him tight.
With those memories warming me from the inside, I felt the loss of all my boundaries and any limitations. I could feel everything in the world rush at me at the same time as if I was the center of it all, but only for a short while. Nothing like that has happened to me before or since. I could do anything, right when I wanted to do it.
I wanted to grab Cal's hand to comfort him, but I was already holding it. I started the car to get out of the city, but it was already running. I drove out of Harlan, but we were already on the highway.
I was staring out the windshield of the car. The kids were in the backseat and Cal was in the passenger seat. We had just experienced what Taylor would later refer to as "Rob's Mind Crush".
"Whoa..." said Taylor
"What the hell was that Rob?" asked Cal, "Did you just hypnotize me or something?"
"I have no idea Cal. I just thought about you, and Rose, and Taylor, and I was able to do whatever I wanted to do. So, I did. And here we are. We're in a car and I have no idea where we are going," I managed to say that even though I was still pretty cracked out.
I looked in the rearview mirror at the kids. Taylor was counting his fingers, and Rose was just staring into her book bag like it was freaking Narnia in there.
"Whab, are you a wizard?" she asked.
"No Rose. I just have one heck of a manifest destiny."
I drove the rest of the day and most of that night. Cal offered to drive during the night while the kids were sleeping, so we switched sides without getting out of the car. We were both a little frightened from the whole day, and we were both afraid of getting out of the car for even a second.
Cal woke me up in the morning and told me that the car was out of gas. The kids were up, so we got outside and relieved ourselves before sitting down on the car. We didn't know where we were going, because, oddly enough, there were no signs of any kind. There weren't even speed limits.
Neither Cal nor I saw any way off of the highway. There were no outlets, bridges, gas stations, nothing. We were on a nameless, almost imaginary, highway to nowhere. Stranger things have happened though.
"What do you want to do Cal?" I asked.
"I could go anywhere," he said as he was lying on the hood.
"What about you kids?" I offered.
"Can't you just teleport us somewhere again Rob? I'm bored," said Taylor. He wasn't much help.
"Dairy Queen," said Rose.
"Well," I started, "The sun says that we are heading north, so... do you want to just walk north?"
"That the only way we can go," said Cal, "I don't want to go back, that's for sure. Besides, there is this nice, big, flat road in front of us. We may as well follow it. I can't believe that something like this would dead-end. That's just stupid."
"Let's grab our stuff then," I said as I hopped down from the roof of the car.
In no time at all, we were all just walking along. It was strange, even though I had stayed up most of the night, I wasn't tired at all. I asked the kids and Cal if they wanted to rest, but none of them were tired either.
As I walked down the road, I remembered back to my very first day that I spent back at my house. I was so scared. The first thing that tipped me off that the world had changed was the silence. I didn't hear any sound now either except for our clothes rustling and our footsteps.
I wasn't scared that there was no sound; it was peaceful. It was like I was sleepwalking through the world, blissfully unaware that there was anything else around me. It was nice.
We walked for hours upon hours, until our feet would have hurt. But, they didn't hurt. I couldn't feel them. I finally told everyone to stop and eat some of their food.
"I'm not hungry," said Rose.
"Neither am I," agreed Taylor.
"Are you hungry, Rob?" asked Cal.
"No," I admitted, "I haven't been hungry all day; I just figured that it was time to eat. Even if I tried to eat, I don't think I would enjoy it at all."
"Guys," said Taylor, "I'm not sure what's going on. Do any of you know what time it is?"
I pulled out a watch that I had in my pocket, but it was stopped at 10:00 AM. I knew for a fact that the sun had been up for hours! It must be at least 3:00 in the afternoon!
"The watch is broke," I reported.
We talked for a bit about how strange it was to walk all day, not be tired, and not see the sun move at all. It was as if the sun had risen that morning and only gone as far as shining on our heads.
After shrugging it all off, we continued.
The longer we walked, the less our surroundings seemed real. The colors were fading and everything slowly turned to gray as if we were walking into a world of concrete. More of the sound disappeared as well. I could still hear and see everyone, but anything else was just a phantom.
I looked at Cal and the kids, they seemed to notice the same thing, but they weren't alarmed by it. Neither was I. I felt like I was underwater with my eyes closed and I was only imagining walking down a highway.
Eventually, I could see nothing but blinding white ahead of us. The kids were still with me, and so was Cal. We were just making our way along an endless white plain that had no road, no mountains, no sun, and no trees. There was nothing but endless space and air.
I had no concept of time or distance until I saw a green plot of land ahead of us. We all sprinted after it and we had reached it in seconds. Cal and I spoke for the first time in ages.
"This is so small," he said, "This is nothing. It's like we're just standing on a putting green."
"You could set up a driving range out here!" yelled Taylor out into the wide expanse.
"But, you would have to use black balls or else you couldn't find them again," explained Rose.
Cal sauntered over to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. The friendly gesture was only a façade. He was actually using it to clandestinely grab my ass in front of the kids.
"I know where I can find some of those," he whispered in my ear.
I let out a nervous laugh and said, "Uh... kids! I see another little thing like this out in the distance, so why don't we all walk there together. How does that sound?"
We all went after it and found another little putting green sized plot of land. I had Taylor get up on my shoulders and he informed me that all he could see were little splotches of land just like we were on, but he said there was a bigger one farther north.
We continued on and I noticed that the little drops of land had features for the first time. There was not just grass, but flowers of all description, trees, rocks. Eventually we were surrounded by the small little worlds, each separate and different from each other.
When we eventually saw the large area that Taylor had pointed out, I almost cried. All of us burst into a run towards it. It was pulling us towards itself, it was electrifying. The little world was filled with hope.
When we arrived, we had no find our way through a small little grove of trees. But then, we saw it what it was. It was home, for all of us. I don't know if it was heaven or if we just ended up in a happy place in-between. All that we could come up with was that it was a perfect place where we could live for the rest of our lives.
There was a little farmhouse by a dirt road which led to nowhere. The little plot of land was just big enough for the four of us to live on. The house was what interested us the most though. It seemed as if it was something out of the 1800s. I knew it was magic as soon as I saw it.
There's no plumbing. By that I mean there are no pipes, yet hot and cold water still come out of the taps and fill the antique tub. The cupboards are filled with food of all kinds. It's a little old-school, but we had food. Guaranteed, good-for-you, food.
There was a room for me and Cal, and Rose and Taylor each have their own bedroom. The interior is all hardwood and is just beautiful. I can still hardly believe it.
The longer we lived there, the more was revealed to us in our little world. It was growing day by day, little by little. There was a pond full of fish, a garden, and later even a town, full of people who have apparently lived there their whole lives, came into view.
All of us agreed that we were never to speak of where we are from or what we had been through with the residents; we were to only speak of our previous lives amongst ourselves. Though keeping that secret is not so hard when there are four people to talk about it with instead of trying to bottle it up alone. It is a small price to pay and it is a price I would be willing to pay many times over.
Months went by, until it was no longer summer and the middle of fall. I was by the pond and resting my eyes when Cal jumped onto the ground and pulled me into a close hug. I guess he thought that I was sleeping because he was surprised when I kissed the side of his face.
I opened my eyes and he said, "Heeeyyyy, you weren't sleeping."
I looked back at him and was in wonder by how much we had both recovered. His whites were whiter, the reds richer. This place was healing us.
"I don't sleep, I wait."
Cal giggled a bit and said, "Oh wow, you are creepy. So, I know it's been a while, do you want to talk about things?"
"Sure, now I do," I admitted. I had been focusing too much on our new home and ignoring all of the things that had happened to us. I was so afraid that it would all go away.
"Do you think the townspeople are real?" asked Cal.
"They don't seem like fake little mannequins to me. I think that we are in a new world or something or that we somehow popped into this one."
"So on the new world subject," started cal, "Do you think that we died?"
"Why do you say that?" I asked.
"Well, this place is just so nice. Don't you think it's weird how it's all so perfect?" he asked.
"I think I would remember starving to death or getting gunned down," I suggested.
"Okay, okay, how did you fast-forward our lives?" asked Cal as he rolled onto my chest.
"I don't know how to describe that other than what I told you in the car," I admitted.
"What about the bullet I stopped?" he asked.
"What bullet? When was this? Where was I?"
"The bullet that was in the gun that the guy held to my head! You were upstairs, remember? It was when we found the lady," explained Cal.
"Oh yeah, it's uhh... it's easy to forget things out here. I'm sorry; it's really embarrassing that I forgot that." I confessed.
Cal sighed and said, "I understand perfectly. It's so nice here. Sorry I bugged you."
"It's hard for you to bug me."
Cal held me a little closer and we both started to fall asleep. The sun is heavy in this world; it's easy to drift off. Everything had a hazy quality as the air was full of mist or dust. The haze wasn't annoying, it was tranquil. I didn't have to see what was down the road anymore, because there is no reason to look.
I gazed up at the sun. It would never blind me. I pulled in a breath and held it for a moment before I let it out slowly. With my exhale, I could feel Cal's head move up and down on my chest. I just stared at the sun for a few minutes and concentrated on my breathing to help me doze off. For the first time in months, I was without pain or worry. I could feel it all lift off of me.
I heard someone running down the path and both Cal and I looked up to see Taylor. He was exploring in the woods, but he sure was coming home in a hurry.
"Hey guys!" he yelled, "You have to see what I found!"
When he got to us, he held his hands open to reveal a small brown snake.
"Oh crap... you've gotta be kidding me," I said.
"Robbie!" squealed Cal before he pulled me into a big hug.
"I know Cal. Yes. I'll do it."
Taylor just stood there watching us both, completely unaware of what the significance of his new little pet meant.
That's the end! I hope you all like it! I really enjoyed this story and all the work I put into it. It sure didn't feel like a chore to write! Please let me know what you thought of it!