Fight or flight: the instinct that rules us all in times of confrontation. I like to think I'm the fighting type but in reality that's more like Kyle's thing. My name is Jodi, I'm 19 years old and I'm terrified. I'm scared for the future; if there will even be a future for us. Things are changing, people are changing all around me and I fear that soon we will have to fight or flee for our lives.
Today should have been my graduation but instead I'm in a car gunning it down the highway away from everyone I've ever known. Kyle is trying to explain that we're not leaving our families or friends because they're already lost and there is no way to bring them back.
"Remember that movie 'Body Snatchers'?" he asks not taking his eyes off the road. I can see moisture welling up in his eyes and look away, I know he wouldn't want me to know he is crying. "Well it's kinda like that: they may look the same but it's not them"
"Kyle, you know I fell asleep during that movie" I joke, trying to break the tension building up in the car. Usually any feeble attempt at humour from me would make Kyle smile but today his mind is too far away.
Idiot! I scold myself.
Kyle's little brother and his friend Stu are asleep in the back of the car, they're only 16 and yet everyone they love is gone. We're all too young for this; too young not too have any chance at a future.
We've been driving for little over an hour when I fall asleep… and I dream. What a silly thing to do in the midst of the apocalypse.
It's a lazy summer afternoon, the bright sun lights up the azure of the sky, not a single cloud to interrupt the blue. I'm 16 years old, I'm lying on the grass and Kyle is by my side. We're in Kyle's back yard; his kid brother is chasing his dad around the yard with a supersoaker. Kyle laughs out loud as his dad takes a jet of water to the face. He doesn't know how much I envy him and his perfect family. They're like 'The Brady Bunch'. Right on cue his mum comes out with a pitcher of homemade lemonade and a plate of cookies.
"Get 'em while they're hot" she calls.
It's an un-extraordinary day, an un-extraordinary memory, but I would give anything to live here for the rest of my life.
Just as I decide this I'm dragged from the memory back to the present. It is so dark. For a brief moment I think I must have dreamt the last 24 hours, but then I feel Kyle's strong arms wrapped around me and it all comes rushing back. I groan.
"Hey there sleepy head" Says a voice from the back seat. I can hear the smile in that voice before I see it.
"Hey Ian" I yawn as he switches on a dim orange lamp. Ian is the spitting image of his big brother, smaller and slighter and with less of a temper, but identical in every other way: dark hair, slim nose, pale skin and sky blue eyes… Just like Kyle. "You're one to talk, you were snoring hours before I fell asleep." I stick my tongue out teasingly.
"Josie?" Kyle whispers as he begins to stir.
"Yeah?" I turn towards him just in time to see his quick analysis of his surroundings. His face falls.
"Damn… for just a second I hoped I'd dreamed this whole mess" he sighed.
"Same here" Ian said mournfully.
"Me too"
"And Me…" Stu whispered, barely audible even in the confined space of the car. I look at the boy in front of me. He is rail thin with sandy blonde hair that falls over his eyes. He looks so frail sat next to Ian.
"So where exactly are we?" I ask partly out of curiosity but mostly to draw attention away from Stu who looks on the verge of tears.
"Somewhere in the Inyo National Forrest, I didn't know where would be safe so I thought it was best to stay off the beaten track" Kyle explained.
"So where are we headed exactly?" Ian asked after a long pause.
"Wherever there are still humans"
"What if there are no humans left though?"
"There has to be-"
"But if there aren't-"
"I DON'T KNOW!" Kyle bellowed "I just don't know."
