O
nly two days since the malfunction at the fair, and around central Ohio, life had changed quickly. An unknown virus had begun sweeping across the nation, causing death tolls to skyrocket. As the first wave raged on, it claimed the lives of nearly four million world-wide. As an individual country, the tally reached nearly six-hundred thousand. The magnitude of destruction brought on by the raging disease had swept, rather abruptly, through the heart of the city. Unfortunately, the inner city of Columbus wasn't the only area suffering against the newest, and strangest, curse befalling mankind. Although much of the city had fallen into a state of despair, there were still a few who were expected to keep the economy afloat.
Kaleb, Jakob and Hunter were among those in the calling of an essential worker. Unlike so many other small businesses however, Kaleb's own business hasn't taken a cut in staff. Splitting the four zones they shared, in half, they used the seventy-one interstate as their divider. Kaleb took zone two and zone four, which covered everything east of the highway; while Jakob covered the west side of the city. Hunter got stuck with zone five, which covered most of the downtown area. The early evening hours had begun to set in, blanketing the eastern coast in an ebony darkness, and dropping the already cold air, even cooler.
Kaleb was slowly passing through the silent, empty streets of Gahanna. Slowing his speed, in need of gas, he couldn't help but stare, ever so blankly, at his only companion, Akhyra. He couldn't believe the magnitude of destruction. Every shop and business they drove past had been closed; homes had even been left boarded up and abandoned. Pulling into a nearby gas station, Kaleb brought the truck to a stop beside one of the pumps. Turning back the key, Kaleb shut the engine off and after a brief second, pushed the door of the truck open.
Slowly stepping out of the truck cab; intentionally leaving the keys on the driver's seat, Kaleb began making his way toward the pump. Reaching into his back right pocket; pulling out his wallet, he flipped it open and pulled his fuel card out. Scanning his card against the pay pad, he waited for the
'Approved. Thank you, valued customer.'
before sliding the nozzle into the neck of the fuel tank. Once that was done, he selected the grade of fuel and began filling the gas tank. Finally taking a moment to look around his surroundings; he glanced toward the convenience store, noticing all the interior lights were shut off.
"So much for grabbing any sort of a snack."
Kaleb commented, quietly, to himself.
Around the area everything was silent, the only sound coming from the clicks of the gas pump as Kaleb continued to fill the gas tank. As Kaleb continued to skim the surrounding area, his attention was quickly drawn to the trash can. Sticking out of the top of the trash can was a newspaper article titled,
Dead Horizon: A Hidden Corruption.
"With a header like that!" Kaleb said as he pulled the article from the trash can and began reading it over.
"A class II outbreak occurred around the downtown area of Columbus Ohio."
Kaleb read, as he began skimming through the article.
"Three weeks ago, Dr. Hardy and his personal assistant came to Ohio with breaking news and development about a new viral disease. Unfortunately, Dr. Hardy, along with his assistant, and several others became seriously injured and/or infected themselves."
"Very little is known about this new disease that has been spreading rapidly through the nation. Several doctors and specialists are working around the clock in order to bring answers, though sadly, as of time of this writing, all attempts have fallen in vain. Many members of the CDC believe it to be the work of a new drug known as Krokophine or "Krok." Although side effects are still unknown, early symptoms show users begin to have a hard time functioning basic bodily movements. They become disoriented and..."
"Where ya headin' cuz?' 'came a deep bass tone, from near the back side of the truck.
Kaleb had been so deep into the article that he hadn't acknowledged the heavy footsteps of the approaching male. Nonetheless, Kaleb was slowly folding the news article, and shoving it into his pocket, before turning his attention over his shoulder. Shifting his weight slightly, Kaleb once again grabbed hold of the gas nozzle. "Wherever the next call takes me. Just trying to make it through these hard times, ya know?." he replied, still trying to determine the males intention.
"Well, --" the male began saying with a chuckle, "you could say this is your last call." the male finished saying, lifting a pistol toward Kaleb. "I would rather not kill you, so give me the keys to your truck, and I'll spare your life."
Honestly, Kaleb had no plans on dying this day; nor did he plan on losing his property. Looking toward the front of the truck, noticing he hadn't shut the driver's door all the way, he suddenly came up with a quick idea. Releasing his hold against the gas pump, Kaleb refrained from removing the nozzle. "My keys are sitting on the driver's seat."
Kaleb continued to watch the male as he came more into view. Kaleb's heart was racing. He could feel the fast pace pounding against his chest. As much as Kaleb wanted to react, the male kept his pistol trained on him. There was no way Kaleb would have been able to make a successful counter-attack, and so he was forced to wait silently.
"Slowly remove the nozzle and hang it up." The male bellowed, more of a direct order, than a request.
Kaleb did as he was told, removing the nozzle of the gas pump from the filler neck of the truck's gas tank. Barely turning on his heels, so as to not force the current car-jacker to pull the trigger, he began sliding the nozzle back into the holder on the pump. Kaleb watched closely as the male, still aiming the pistol toward Kaleb's head, began moving toward the side of the truck. Slowly, Kaleb began to step back toward the driver's side door. One step. Two steps. Three steps, and soon there came a click from the pistol.
"Stop right there!" The male said. Now in the light, Kaleb could make out his build. He was a black male, roughly in his mid to late thirties. A fluffy, cotton stuffed based winter jacket covered the upper half of his torso. A pair of blue jeans covered his legs, but that was about all they were covering. Apparently, wearing your pants below your ass was still a trend, because that was exactly how the current car-jacker was wearing them.
Once again Kaleb did as he was told and stopped where he was, however, turning his back, slightly, toward the side of the truck. Two snaps of his middle finger and thumb were given, with not much more than a two second pause in between. This small action however, was meant to get Akhyra's attention, which it had successfully done.
"Strike two. One more stupid attempt at getting away, and there will be a hole in your head." the car-jacker said.
Kaleb gave a quick glimpse toward the door of the truck; unfortunately, there was no possible way he was going to make it inside the truck, provided he tried one last attempt. Shifting his attention toward the current car-jacker, Kaleb quickly noticed the lazy-like position the gun was being held. Instead of there being a firm grip around the gun's hilt, he had it leaning sideways. Kaleb continued to watch as the car-jacker continued to reduce the distance between them. Unfortunately, if Kaleb was going to make any sort of action, now had to be the time. He couldn't afford wasting another moment.
Quickly taking a few steps back, almost in a fast sprint, Kaleb grabbed at the slightly open vehicle door. Instead of trying to climb into the truck cab however; Kaleb slid around to the outside part of the door as he pulled it open. As expected, Kaleb's action caused the car-jacker to pull the trigger, firing a single shot, which missed Kaleb as it went through the glass window. No sooner had the door been opened fully, and the single shot had been taken, Akhyra came lunging through the open side. The recoil of the gun must have been more than the car-jacker had expected, as the fired shot had caused his hand to snap upperward.
Once again Akhyra lunged forward, this time toward the car-jacker, who was just recovering from the recoiled shot. Akhyra's front paws were first to connect against the male's chest, causing him to begin stumbling backwards, before finally her back paws, which in turn knocked him completely off balance. Knocking the pistol from the car-jackers hold upon impact, the pistol slid far from the car-jackers reach. Almost instantly, Akhyra had grabbed the male's wrist, and with a bear-trap like grip, began pulling backwards as she shook her head from side to side.
Kaleb took this moment for his getaway. While the would-be car-jacker fought and struggled against Akhyra, who was locked hard on the males wrist, as she began making it bleed; Kaleb picked up the keys from the driver's seat. Quickly climbing into the cab of the truck, Kaleb inserted the key into the ignition and once again turned the engine over. Giving three quick whistles before he shut the door, he began pulling away from the gas pump. Hearing the whistles, as well as the truck pulling away, Akhyra knew it was time to go, and so releasing her hold on the man's wrist, she ran toward the truck and easily jumped into the truck's bed.
Gahanna wasn't a very large town, and so it wasn't long before he was pulling onto the interstate. Kaleb hadn't gotten much further than a quarter mile from the gas station, before he peered through his side mirror, only to notice he hadn't shut the small door to the gas tank. Checking the pocket of his jacket, he also noticed the small lid that sealed over the filler neck was still within his jacket pocket. Pulling over onto the emergency lane on the far right side of the road, Kaleb slowed the truck to a stop before turning on his hazard lights. Giving himself a second or two to simply breathe, Kaleb put the truck in park before pushing the door open and releasing his foot from the brake pedal. Stepping out of the truck, he made his way toward the back and screwed the seal on, just as Akhyra leapt out of the back.
Almost as though she knew her place wasn't in the bed of the truck, Akhyra climbed into the truck's cab, and took her place in the passenger's seat. Kaleb watched his dog for a moment, until she disappeared inside the cab of the truck, before shutting the small door to the gas tank. Climbing into the truck once again, he reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his cigarettes and zippo lighter. Lighting the cigarette with the flame of his zippo, Kaleb took in a deep inhale of smoke. After letting a couple of minutes linger by, Kaleb slowly exhaled the cloud of smoke, as he turned his attention toward his phone.
Noticing a new text message notification, Kaleb scrolled the message open.
'Hey bro, head back to the house, I have something to show you.'
"Heading that way now, it's pretty quiet out here anyways."
Kaleb replied
.
"Make it quick. The Governor just announced a state of emergency. Everything has been ordered to close until further notice."
Jakob's reply came through.
"Explains the problem at the gas station." Kaleb said, turning his remark to Akhyra.
Still reeling over the events from a few moments ago, and noticing that there hadn't been a call in the whole time he sat on the side of the road, Kaleb shifted the truck into drive and began making his way toward the Dublin area. Along the way, Kaleb couldn't help but notice the severe emptiness on the roads. Although there were still a few drivers traveling, the traffic even for the late evening hours, seemed far less than usual.
Of course it didn't take Kaleb long to figure out what the roadways were missing. Semi-trucks! For all the passenger sized vehicles still driving around, he hadn't driven past a single semi-truck in several hours.
How long have the truckers known?
