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  TEN – FLAT TIRE

  Ray of Sunshine never responded, despite how quickly after his post Judd had made a comment. They waited and nothing happened, finally, Judd sent one more message stating that they’d be away for an hour or so and left his phone number.

  He and Dawson ventured out, aiming for the car which was not far from the bank. The entire walk, Judd just wanted to keep an eye out for a clear route back to Dawson’s street, because his road was off of Broad Avenue, a main road which was pretty blocked.

  The temperature was oddly high for April, pushing what Judd thought was about eighty. Much warmer than the day before. The heat caused an incredible stench to the air. Dawson had to run back into the house not ten seconds after the first time out the door.

  Judd grabbed a cloth, doused it with air freshener, put the can in his back pocket and they left again.

  “Did you want to see Mr. Westerman?” Dawson asked, as they walked.

  “No, I’ll pass.”

  “It’s pretty sick.”

  “I’ll take your word for it.”

  “Why is it so hot?”

  “I don’t know,” Judd replied. “Maybe because there are so many fires in town. Lots of smoke you know.”

  “You gonna grab your guitar?”

  “I’d like to.”

  “Why do you think that Ray guy didn’t get back to us? You think he’s dead?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “I had a dream everyone dropped dead.”

  Judd stopped walking. “That’s a pretty intense dream for an eight year old. Bet you were scared.”

  “Not as scared as I was when it happened. I kept thinking it was a dream, a joke, the kids were pranking me. They weren’t. Why is the sky so weird?”

  “What?” Judd’s head spun. “What are you talking about?”

  “The sky looks weird.”

  “It’s probably the smoke.”

  “Doesn’t look like smoke.”

  “It’s smoke,” Judd looked up quickly, took a step, stopped and looked up again. Dawson was right. The sky was so bright, the clouds were orange and the blue portion looked almost pink behind them. Judd’s eyes burned after only a few seconds of peering up. “Okay, I don’t know what’s causing it, just don’t look anymore.”

  “Why?”

  Judd grew tired of replying with, “I don’t know.” so he shrugged.

  They made it to where they left the car. Again, Judd looked around seeing how he could move the car closer to Dawson’s house, he believed he could get it nearer by taking a side street.

  The car was so hot inside it was suffocating. Judd wound down all the windows, plugged the phone into the charger and pulled up the address of Rita’s work.

  The bank, however was only a few blocks away and they made it there in a few seconds.

  Outside, Dawson sat in the car and stared at the First National Bank.

  “Do you know if this is the place your dad works?”

  Dawson nodded, opened the car door and stepped out.

  Judd looked at his face, he looked so brave, heaving in a deep breath into his small body.

  “You okay?” Judd asked.

  “I think … I think we don’t need to go in there,” Dawson said. “Look around. He’s gonna be like everyone else. If he wasn’t, he would have been home.”

  Judd placed his hand on Dawson’s shoulder and gave a firm squeeze. “I’m going to go in and check, okay? Just so we know. You all right with staying out here?”

  Dawson nodded and Judd went into the branch.

  He preferred to wait outside, Dawson was sure of his father’s fate. Not far from the big glass window, Dawson stood staring at the bank. His eyes teetered between focusing on seeing inside and looking at his own reflection.

  It was weird. He could see himself and all the crashed cars around him. Just as focused on trying to see Judd, he saw something move behind him.

  Dawson gasped in shock and spun around. Nothing was there. His heart started to beat and he faced the window again, only to hear something drop.

  It caused him to jump and Dawson screamed out. “Judd! Judd!”

  He wasn’t going to wait and ran straight to the door, grabbing for it at the same time Judd stepped out.

  “What’s wrong?” Judd asked.

  “I heard and saw something.” Dawson grabbed on to him.

  “Where? What did you see?”

  “Something. I don’t know. I was looking at the window. It was back there.” Dawson pointed across the street.

  “I don’t see anything. Maybe you saw a bit of me inside.”

  “Maybe.”

  Pause.

  Dawson looked up to Judd. “Did you see him? Did you find my dad?”

  Judd bit his bottom lip and placed his hand on Dawson’s head. “Yeah, buddy, I did. I’m sorry.”

  Dawson nodded, sadly. “I thought so. Let’s go.” He wasn’t giving up hope. There was still his mother. He walked to the car, but not without looking back one more time to see if anything, or anyone was there.

  The lady’s voice on the phone gave them directions that took them close to his mother’s school. They left the car about a block away and walked the rest of the way there.

  “This is it. This is the school,” Dawson said. “I’ve been here with my mom. I know her class. She brought me here on take your kid to work day.”

  “That’s pretty cool. Your mom seems like a nice lady. I mean she does like my videos.”

  Dawson was optimistic. In his mind he kept thinking his mother just stayed to protect the kids, she didn’t want to leave them alone. Judd had to break the glass on the front doors, they were locked. Dawson took that as a sign they were protecting themselves from the undead. He didn’t once let it enter his mind that she wasn’t fine and sitting in her classroom.

  Not once.

  Until they walked through the main doors, caught the overwhelming rotten smell and saw the teenage girl hanging by a belt from the railing of the upper stairwell.

  She had clearly taken her own life.

  Before he could react, Judd grabbed onto him, trying to shield him, but something inside of Dawson fought it. He broke free of Judd’s hold and ran.

  “Mom!” he called out as he raced up the stairs. “Mom!” his mother’s classroom was on the second floor and Dawson didn’t stop.

  “Dawson! Wait,” Judd yelled.

  Dawson didn’t. He got to the second floor, ran down the hall to the last room on the left. “Mom!”

  His shoes squeaked on the linoleum as he came to an abrupt halt.

  There were no students in the room. He caught his breath, felt a little better, believed the room to be empty until he saw his mother laying in the back of the room.

  “Dawson.” Judd said out of breath.

  “Mom?” Dawson ran to her and slid to the floor. His mother was on her side. “Mom?” He shook her. “Mom, wake up.” He knew by looking at her that she was dead, but he couldn’t accept it. Maybe she was in some deep sleep.

  Judd reached for him. ‘Dawson, I’m sorry.”

  Dawson swiped away his hand. “Mom? Mommy? Mom!”

  Judd sat down next to him. “Come on, Buddy.”

  It started with a simple rebellious, “No.” Then he repeated it over and over, louder each time until every emotion raged out of control and Dawson screamed continuously.

  He didn’t want it to be happening. He didn’t want it to be true. But it was.

  His mother was gone and there was nothing he could do about it.

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  Judd was at a loss. There was absolutely nothing he could do for Dawson, except let him go. It was painful to watch and brought back memories of when Judd found his own mother when she died of an aneurism.

  He stayed on the floor with Dawson, until the boy said he was ready.

  “We can’t leave her like that,” Dawson said. “We can’t.”

  “Do you want me to bury her?” Judd asked. “I can get a shove
l…”

  “No. Can you move her from the floor. Maybe put her at her desk.”

  “Sure. I can do that.” Judd had Dawson step aside and he lifted Rita. She had already been decomposing and her body was swollen and heavy. He carried her to the front of the room and placed her in her chair.

  Dawson walked up to her and whispered. “Bye, Mom.” He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “She’s so cold.”

  “I can bury her, Dawson.”

  Dawson shook his head and ran out of the room. In fact he kept on running. Judd listened to his feet as they pounded the floor, fast and furious.

  He waited outside for Judd.

  “I’m not going to ask if you’re all right,” Judd said. “I know you’re not. Let’s go.” He placed his hand on Dawson’s back.

  “When we get back I think I’m just gonna go to my room, if that’s okay?”

  “Sure, Buddy, that’s fine.”

  They didn’t speak on the walk to the car, and Dawson stayed quiet with his head against the car door as they drove. He said only one sentence, “Don’t forget your guitar.”

  Judd managed to get closer to Dawson’s road than he did the previous day. On the other side of Broad Avenue and one street down, Judd parked the car, stuck his phone in his pocket, grabbed his guitar, strapped it to his back and walked slowly with Dawson.

  As they approached the end of the street, just near Broad, Dawson’s head lifted, then Judd saw. A man stood there on the corner.

  With a smile, Judd looked at Dawson. “Another survivor.” He tugged his arm and both of them, excitedly ran toward the man facing the other side of the street, as if waiting to cross.

  “Hey!” Judd called out. “Hey!”

  A few feet from him, the man turned around. He was a bigger guy, heavy, his face was sweaty and red from the heat. His thinning hair was a mess and he wore a dirty and dampened mechanic’s uniform from a tire shop, the name ‘Chuck’ was embroidered on his chest.

  “Oh, man,” Judd said. “Are we glad to see you. We thought we were the only ones alive.”

  The man just stared at him, he didn’t respond. Judd thought at first, he was in shock.

  “Judd…” Judd extended his hand. “This is …” he withdrew his hand.

  The man had a flat expression, staring at Judd, not blinking, not saying a word, showing no emotions, or even comprehension. There was something about him that sent a chill through Judd. Maybe he was in shock, but Judd wasn’t waiting around.

  He swept Dawson into his arms. “Let’s go.” And, after side stepping, Judd kept an eye on Tire Man, as he crossed the street with Dawson and picked up the pace.

  Tire Man slowly rotated his body and watched them.

  “Where we going?” Dawson asked. “What about that man?”

  Judd didn’t answer, he just kept going.

  “Wait. You missed my street. Where are we going?”

  Judd only told Dawson to be quiet until he made it far enough away. Then he cut through the back yards of houses to get to Dawson’s street. He didn’t want Tire Man to follow.

  “Why did we leave him?”

  “Shh.” Judd set him down and whispered.

  “Why’d we leave him? He was like us.”

  “No.” Judd shook his head. “Didn’t you notice? Something was wrong with him.”

  “Maybe he was scared. Maybe he was hurt.”

  “Maybe.” Judd kept moving toward the house, but he never stopped looking behind them.

  No sooner did they step into the house, Dawson slipped back into his sad state. The rush of seeing Tire Man then running from him, had faded and Dawson grabbed the family pictures and went to his room.

  Dawson may have forgotten about Tire Man quickly, but Judd didn’t. In fact, Judd had what he thought was an irrational reaction. He locked every door and window in the house, pulled the blinds, and cranked up the air conditioning. He checked on Dawson frequently and made him something to eat. He could hear the boy crying, but every time Judd knocked, Dawson pretended he was alright. Before eight PM, Dawson had fallen asleep.

  Judd wasn’t tired. He nursed a beer and sat in front of the computer staring at Ray of Sunshine’s Bird account.

  He wondered about the man who made the chirp, but his mind was never far from Tire Man. Who was he? What was wrong with him? Maybe the man was so shocked by the events that he didn’t know how to react, or what if he were deaf and Judd just ran from him?

  He rocked back and forth, staring at the screen, most of the lights in the house were out. It was quiet for the longest time, until the wind started picking up outside causing a steady rattling on the window next to the desk.

  It was hypnotic, and Judd was obsessed with refreshing the Bird site.

  “Reply, chirp, something.” Judd stared.

  Buzz. Ring.

  Judd jumped a foot in the air, tipping back the chair and nearly toppling his beer when his phone rang and spun from the vibration on the desk.

  With a sweep of his hand, Judd snatched up the phone, not even looking at the number. He answered the phone, just as a loud ‘crack’ of thunder caused him to jolt again.

  “Hello.”

  “Judd?” the male voice asked.

  “Oh my God. Yes, is this Ray of Sunshine?”

  “Don’t feel much like sunshine at this moment, you?”

  Judd sat down. Unless Ray was visiting from abroad, his clear Australian accent told Judd he wasn’t anywhere close.

  “No.” Judd rubbed his eyes. “No sunshine here. Where are you?”

  “Osborne Park, Perth? You? Obviously American.”

  “Ohio.” Judd exhaled, calming his nerves. Lightning flashed, four times, and a few seconds later, the thunder blasted. “I can’t tell you how glad I am someone else is alive. Are you alone?”

  “Not anymore. I found a few. You?”

  “Just me and a little boy.”

  “Bet it was bad there, when it happened. Middle of the day.”

  “Yeah, it was, people fell off of buildings and cars crashed, I don’t know how many people died that way.”

  “We were lucky, it happened here at 10:37 at night. We weren’t the first though. Did you hear?”

  “Man, I haven’t heard anything. I can’t find out anything.”

  “A shift started east of here. New Zealand, Marshall Islands, good day before it hit here. We were told about it.”

  “A shift? What do you mean?”

  Judd pulled the phone away from his ear, when the storm grew louder outside, causing a hiss of static.

  “Hello?” Judd called out. “Ray?”

  “Here. Connection is getting bad. I’ll try to stay in touch. Have you got the storms there yet, Mate?”

  Judd glanced toward the window. “Yeah. How did you know?”

  “They’re everywhere,” Ray said, the sound of his voice dancing in and out of static. “They’re bad. Stay clear of the windows. Check the satellite feeds. Keep on top.”

  “Listen …”

  “I have to go. Have to get secure now. Watch out for the …” A rush of line noise and the call went dead.

  “What out for the what?” Judd asked. “Ray? Ray?”

  Nothing.

  Judd looked at the phone, the call had dropped. At least he had Ray’s number to try and reach him again. He set down the phone and moved his chair closer to the computer. He didn’t have any idea what Ray meant about checking the satellite feeds, and he deduced the warning was about storms.

  He opened the internet, pulled up a search bar and searched for live satellite feeds.

  Surprisingly, the government had a live satellite map. He learned something new.

  When the image appeared, Judd didn’t know what he was looking at. In fact, he thought something was wrong, because the image looked like one big swipe mark of purple and red.

  It flickered, then went black.

  “Swell.”

  The room lit up with the flash of lightening again, and suddenly it soun
ded like someone was running a garden hose against the window.

  “You aren’t shitting me, the storm is bad.” Judd stood and parted the blind. He couldn’t see anything because of the bush that blocked the window. He finished off the beer and went to the kitchen for another. While there, he checked the kitchen drawers and found a flashlight on the counter. The storm was loud and picked up in severity. The last time he heard wind like that, the stage was swept away. With that thought, he set down his beer and flashlight on top of the railing post and went upstairs to Dawson’s room.

  “Hey,” he called out softly. “You awake?”

  Dawson didn’t answer.

  He walked to the bed and listened for the sounds of his breathing, then blanket and all, he lifted Dawson and carried him downstairs just to be safe.

  He placed the boy on the couch, then walked over to retrieve his beer. The second the beer touched his lips, the lights went out.

  Judd turned on the flashlight. It didn’t give off that much light, but then again, Judd didn’t need it. The lightning was intense and the sound of water against the windows went from a garden hose to buckets.

  “This is insane,” Judd said. “How bad is this storm?”

  Even though Ray warned him Judd walked over to the big living room window. He had to see what was going on out there.

  He separated the blinds wide enough to peek out. As soon as he did, lightning flashed four times, long and strong. It not only brightened the entire street like daylight, but it illuminated the frightening sight of Tire Man standing in the torrential downpour in the front yard, not moving and staring straight at Judd.

  ELEVEN – TROMP

  There was no healing time, none at all, and Morgan’s pain was worse. She was fine during the night when she shifted and moved in the computer chair, but once she was still for that brief sleep period, the pain was atrocious. Her head was better, every other appendage as well. It was her ribs. It looked like two of them on the right side were broken or cracked. Each breath hurt. She would have never imagined the pain.

  She balked at all of Ross’ suggestions, she’d ride it out with ibuprofen and follow the advice she got on line. Everything he suggested, with the exception of deep breathing practice, was old world and proven by medical experts to be incorrect methods of treating broken ribs.