Apologies for the long delay, please forgive me, but life sometimes has a unfortunate consequence of getting in the way.
Chapter 9: On the road again
The morning seemed to creep up on them, like a lion stalking deer out on the African plane. Slowly dawn broke over the city, the sun never quite making it through the thick cloud that hung over Chicago.
Randy's eyes opened slowly, as the limited light hit his eyes and made him want to simply turn over and go back to sleep. The weight on his left arm finally roused him. His eyes opening to see a mass of blonde hair lying next to him, and the previous night's conversation came back to him. He remembered he had talked for what seemed like hours, finally looking down to see Beth had fallen asleep. Unwilling to disturb her he had merely laid down beside her and let his own body relax into unconsciousness.
Now awake, he paused at waking her again, knowing that in sleep they could at least for a while forget what had become of them, how their lives had turned out. But as the lion finally breaks cover to kill her prey on out in the open, so the dream must also inevitably end.
Beth rolled over onto her back trying to supress a yawn and stretching her stiff muscles.
"What time is it?" she enquired as Randy glanced down at his watch.
"Time to go." He replied as they both silently got out of bed and got ready for the journey ahead.
The four of the met in the lobby once more, none of them had said anything, they just all seemed to appear there at the same time, just seeming to instinctually know when it was time to go. Making sure they all had everything they needed they headed out on to the empty street. It was just before eight in the morning and a dull a day as they had ever seen. It was important that they kept out of sight. Being found and searched now was not how any of them wanted to start the day.
Randy led the way, leading them towards the city's edge. Many people avoided this part of town, it was full of unsavoury characters. Right now that was working in the groups favour, moving quickly through the ever dilapidating streets. Houses went from simply being boarded up, to being in total ruins. Crumbling brickwork, and peeling paint wasn't the worst of it either. Some of the houses had been burnt out. The wooden window frames blackened with the long forgotten fires that once ravage their interiors. Keeping her head down making sure she didn't fall over any rubble Mickie didn't want to look at the devastation. It made her sad beyond belief, to think that once this had been a thriving town, full of children coming home from school, full of the hopes of the future. With all the potential in the world to do whatever they wanted to do. Reduced to this, just a pile of bricks and motor.
Soon though the street opened out on to industrial land, surrounded by fields and this at least seemed to have remained untouched. Randy peeled off to the left and lead them down a small track, it was more like two furrows in the ground, a ridge of unkempt grass ran between the furrows and angled slightly downhill. As the four of them descended the hill the car yard came into view. Most of the vehicles looked derelict, but a few of them were not. Most were military transports, but there was also what looked like a old mustang in one corner and Mickie walked over to it. She ran her hand across the bent hood of the car. It red paint dulled by years of being out in the bright sunshine. It was one of the saddest things Mickie had ever seen, and she was stunned by the realisation.
"Hi there what can I… my God Randy Orton." A familiar voice spoke making Mickie jump slightly as she spun round to see Matt Hardy shaking hands with Randy, then John in turn. Leaning forward them to embrace Beth Mickie finally stepped out of her reprieve and into the here and now.
"Matt" she said embracing him, he was thinner than she remembered, smaller somehow, but it was defiantly him. His eyes held a sadness that she was now familiar with and as she pulled away from him, his head lowered to the floor. His boot scuffing the earth away, his hands reaching for the peak of his baseball cap that had seen better days.
"So what brings you guys here, I can't believe you would make the journey just for a social call." Matt said, he had obviously not been immune to the effect that the past year had had on them all.
"We wanted to get our hands on a car." John said looking around the yard and spotting one or two that might do the job for them.
"A car a, should I ask why or would it be better if I didn't?" Matt asked as he moved towards the small house that sat at the rear of the yard. The rest of them followed. Reading the invitation to join him, in his movements.
"Probably better not to ask, but we do have money." Randy said as Matt pushed open the door and let them inside. The house was small, but it was also warm. A real log burner sat in the corner of the kitchen. Its flames warmed the room, and cast it in a soft glow. As they all gathered around the wooden table in the centre Matt placed his hands on the aging wood and lent forward slightly.
"Then I may have something for you." He said with a slight smile as Randy grinned back at him, like they had already some unspoken agreement. The moment however was broken with John's question.
"So where is Jeff?" He said looking around as though he expected the eccentric enigma of a man to appear through on of the doors. Matt silence told them all they needed to know, Matt didn't need to say anything at that point but as though some force was driving him to, the words fell from his lips.
"He was killed a few months back, a gang made a raid on the place, Jeff stepped in to protect the money and was shot for his efforts. I wasn't here, I was taking a car up to the city, he was already dead when I returned." Matt's voice dropped off, the guilt obvious in his tone. Mickie stepped forward and laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder. She didn't voice her condolences, they went unsaid as silence permutated the room like an icy wind.
"So about a car." Randy said finally knowing the moment could last no longer, and however sad Jeff's death was, there was nothing they could do about it right now.
"What was it you were looking for?" Matt asked as Randy explained that they needed to get out of the state. Matt didn't ask why and Randy didn't tell him either. They both agreed that the best car for them was a small four by four he had recently finished fixing up. leading them out to it Mickie glanced once more at the broken down Mustang in the corner of the lot. She wished they could have saved her. Fixed her up and taken her on their journey. It seemed such a shame that something once so beautiful was now probably going to be broken down for her parts.
"Here will this one do." Matt said pointing to the truck and Randy's head nodded almost immediately. She was a good size for four people. Had deep tread tires on her so of they encountered particularly bad weather on their journey it shouldn't pose too much of a problem. The car was done out in a military green, and had blacked out windows at the back. Randy opened the driver's door and climbed in. it seemed strange to be behind the wheel again after so long, but he was certain he had not forgotten how to drive.
"How much?" Randy asked as Matt tapped the windshield and looked around at the others. He could tell this was important to them, and for some reason he got the feeling this was going to be important to all of them.
"Shall we call it $500, for cash." Matt said gauging their reaction to the price and finding that it was John who dug around in his bag and produced the cash straight away.
"Sold." He said with a mild grin that played at the edges of his mouth. Matt took the money as Randy got out and let the girls in the back seat. John went around to the passenger side door and opened it, climbing in next to Randy who had hold of the driver's door, but had not yet closed it.
"Tell me one thing, will you be coming back?" Matt asked as Randy went to close the door.
"I'm not sure, but if we don't come back it will be because we don't manage to do what we are planning to do. It won't matter then either way." Randy said looking at Matt properly for the first time. The urge to ask his old friend to come with them suddenly welled up inside of him. Matt was all alone here now. With Jeff gone his life was almost isolated form any other human being, part from those who he did business with.
"Then I hope you achieve whatever it is you are hoping to do." Matt said as Randy closed the door and leaned on the open window. Knowing that now was not the time for nostalgia, Matt was not the person they had once know, none of them were. It was too great a risk to involve him in their plans and closing the door was Randy's only real option.
"So I do." Randy replied as he turned the keys in the ignition and the car roared to life. Placing the vehicle in reverse Randy backed out of the lot and span the car around. Placing a wheel in each ditch either side of the grass he drove the truck up the hill and back out on to the street. Not heading for the city however he turned the car and headed for the highway.
The first hour had been spent in silent tension, each of the wondering when they were going to be pulled over and asked to step out of the vehicle. It however had not happened. Once they had reached the highway, they had not seen another living thing. The countryside passed by like a green and brown blur. Trees mingling into the background as the truck ate up the miles. Randy focused on the road ahead had not really noticed the passing of time, the rest of them however had been almost continuingly aware of it. Almost as though a sand timer had been perched on the dash board and they could see the time literally slipping away.
The race was in fact to reach Salt lake City before the worst of the weather set in. They would likely freeze to death trying to sleep in the car, and finding safe places to camp every night was going to be difficult, if not impossible. It was about 1400 miles to Salt lake, all West, heading along the I 80, but they knew the interstate could be dangerous for them. As they drew closer to the state border Randy turned the car on to the road heading for South Dakota.
"Dude what are you doing, you're going to add days on to our journey." John said as he looked at his friend who was still focused on the road ahead.
"Maybe, but I would rather add distance and avoid any army convoys that are traveling along the interstate." He replied as Beth leaned forward.
"How much gas do we have?" she asked unable to see the dials from her position, as she also took a good look at the sky out of the front windscreen. The blacked out windows at the rear had not given her a good idea of just how dark the sky had gotten since they left.
"About half a tank, we should be ok for another two hundred miles or so." Randy said as Beth's fingers dung into his shoulder.
"I think we should find a place well before that. We don't want to be running out of gas in the middle of nowhere." She said indicating towards the sky and Randy's head nodded slowly. The temperature in the car was nice and cosy, but outside it was probably hovering around the zero degree mark. Everything was telling him that snow was soon to be on the horizon, which would not only make their journey harder, but also take longer. The fact that they had no idea where they could refuel, or when they would have to skip off the main route to avoid any patrols was now only a few of the obstacles they were going to have to overcome.
Right here right now, alone on the highway, there plan no longer seemed like the best of ideas. This was no simple trip almost half way across the breadth of the country, this was far more dangerous than any of them had previously considered. Checking the time Randy saw that it was almost four o'clock, it would be getting dark very soon, and with the cloud cover, that darkness was due to arrive far sooner rather than later. It was time to find somewhere to settle down for the night, but where to begin was eluding him right now. They had not seen a sign for a town in miles and they had no idea how bad things were out here. Switching on the headlights of the truck Randy realised just how dark it had gotten when the road in front of him was suddenly illuminated.
"There!" Beth cried just as the headlights bounced off the settling fog as Randy slowed the truck and looked at the road sign.
"Carpenter 39 miles" Beth read as the sign pointed down a road that looked like it had seen better days. Randy swung the car around and headed down the road, none of them had any idea of what they would find once they reached the odd sounding township.
Well there you go, what will be at the end of the road? Its is going to be worse than what is to come? As ever reviews are welcomed, and I promise they make me want to update faster. Thank you for reading XxX
