End of the Road Read online

  But then they started to get worse. Brad seemed to almost try to find things to annoy me. Stupid things, like leaving the toilet seat up! I mean who does that? Isn’t that a guy’s cardinal rule for dating or something? How simple can it get? Rule number five - never leave the toilet seat up when your girlfriend sleeps over, or when you are staying at her place. It should be right there alongside other basic stuff about dating. Like never forget to brush your teeth if you expect to make it to first base.

  The toilet issue escalated into other neglectful habits, which Brad chalked up to moments of temporary forgetfulness. Those flashes of temporary forgetfulness were starting to really ruin our relationship! Brad would conveniently forget to tell me something. Or worse, swear that he had, when we both knew he had not! If I voiced my annoyance or displeasure over the incident, or displayed any type of negative emotion over his lack of communication skills, he acted like I was the one in the wrong and would accuse me of being unreasonable and selfish!

  We had all but called the relationship quits. This weekend was supposed to be a chance for us to try and work out our differences. To try to see what the underlying problem between us really was. We were supposed to go away somewhere where there wouldn’t be any outside distractions. Someplace where we could focus on each other and not be influenced by anything else.

  Did he really think I wouldn’t be influenced by freezing my ass off each time I had to visit the little girl’s room? And what about the necessity of proper hygiene if he hoped to have sex? Wouldn’t that be another one of those rules in the dating handbook? Rule number one - take a freakin’ bath if you expect to get laid!

  As the utensils hanging on the wall and the small kitchen window shook with the slamming of the door, I took a step after Brad, but then paused when I heard the snowmobile engine being fired up outside.

  “Thank God!” I said to myself, and went to retrieve our bags from the small living room area.

  At least it seemed like Brad was finally coming to his senses and was planning to take me back down the mountain to the cute little town where we rented the snowmobile! I couldn’t wait to get into a decent hotel room! He should have just booked a room there anyway! It was a sweet little town, lots of cafes and small restaurants and cute little tourist shops.

  I took a deep breath and tried to remind myself why we were here. We could certainly still try to salvage the weekend. I was willing to begin working out our communication issues. Broaching the subject of our differences of opinion in regard to this cabin seemed like a good place for us to start.

  Why had he insisted on making us stay here? Sure it was closer to the trails than staying in town. We both wanted to be able to do a little snowmobiling to break up the angst of possible emotional barriers while rekindling some romance, but with no bathroom? This place wasn’t romantic at all!

  As I made my way to the door, I heard the snowmobile speed off into the distance. I immediately dropped our bags and ran outside. Brad was disappearing in a cloud of dusty snow as he fishtailed down the trail and vanished from my sight.

  “Brad!” I called out to him as I ran, but he just kept on going.

  The ground was slick and snow packed, and I ended up slipping on the glassy surface outside of the cabin door. My legs flew out in awkward angles and the left side of my butt cheek hit the ground with a hard thud. My left hand burned when it came into contact with the icy ground beneath it, as I automatically tried to brace myself from the fall. I immediately snatched it into my body, hoping for some warmth. I had taken off my gloves when we first entered the cabin, and now my bare skin against the ice was like touching a searing hot frying pan! No wonder scientists in movies always used tongs to pick up blocks of dry ice! The cold ground beneath my backside instantly crept through my nylon snow pants and I tried to get to my feet quickly, before the material had a chance to freeze to the ground!

  Brad and the snowmobile were now out of sight. I could still hear its engine as if it was right next to me, but I couldn’t see it. Sound at sub-zero temperatures is funny like that, and I silently cursed its deceit.

  It was only 4:30 pm, but the sun was already starting to set behind the mountains, and I had to squint to look down the trail in the direction that Brad had just disappeared.

  I wasn’t exactly sure how many miles we had actually traveled to get out to this cabin. I had been too preoccupied with looking at the scenery, and trying to keep myself from falling off the back of the snowmobile on the way out here to pay much attention to the time. I was pretty sure that there was no way I’d make it back to town before dark on foot, and it was too cold to try and walk anyway.

  “I hate you!” I screamed down the trail. Hopefully the cold would carry my anger to Brad’s ears and slap him with the sound of my voice.

  Tears welled up in my eyes, as my anger finally overflowed, and I worked frantically to brush the moisture away before it could spill onto my face. It would probably freeze in tiny rivers down my cheeks and I’d have to pry them off of my skin like icicles!

  When I turned back to the cabin, I saw the bucket and the ax sitting near the side of the door. A small piece of paper was pinned under the ax blade and I pulled it out with my half-frozen fingers to read it. The paper was already rigid, and tiny crystals of white were starting to form on its surface.

  “I am just going to leave you here! Let’s see if your selfishness will be enough to get you through the night,” was all that the note said.

  I crumpled it in my hand and burst into fresh tears. The paper felt like sharp metal cutting into my palm, but I didn’t care. I no longer cared whether my tears froze on my face or made it impossible for me to blink. Something within me snapped.

  I picked up the ax handle feeling the weight of the bladed instrument in my hand. An excited tingle ebbed throughout my body and I started to smile. I hadn’t felt this kind of sensation while holding a blade in a long time. Not since I was twelve.

  I looked at my hands and immediately my mind saw the blood that was once there. It hadn’t been an ax then, it was a meat clever and before that a kitchen knife.

  Running the ax blade over the back of my other hand, I cut a thin strip in my skin. The lovely red line lay against my white skin in glorious contrast. I wiped the edge of the blade in the pile of snow by the door and watched as the icy crystals instantly absorbed the red. It was magical! Like watching a flower unfurl to a new awakening through time-lapse photography.

  I took the ax and went back into the cabin to build a fire and wait for Brad to return. I knew exactly what I was going to do whenever I saw him again.

  The therapist had convinced the judge that I was only defending myself, that I wasn’t responsible for my actions due to the abuse that my father had put me through. Years of mental treatment and psychotic medication had all but erased those horrible memories of his death from my mind. But it was time for some new therapy. Neither Brad nor anyone else would treat me like I was an idiot ever again!

  Back to Top

  Chapter 28

  The End of the Road

  By Saxon Andrew

  Eric waited for a good moment to make his break. He hid behind a huge shelf that had been blown over in the blasted supermarket for a flash to light up the street; he needed to get a good bearing for his sprint. He pulled the black ski mask over his face and threw the backpack over his shoulder. He put the Glock in its holster and glanced at the body lying at the end of the long shelf and shook his head. The simpleton should have just let him come in; fill his back pack with canned goods, and leave. But no…he had to defend his territory against all comers. He should have known that anyone who had made it this far was prepared for any eventuality. Now he was just another dead body stinking up the landscape.

  He watched and waited. It shouldn’t be long; the aliens were somewhat prolific in using their blasters. He watched the street closely and slowly shook his head and waited. Humanity was just so stupid. It sent messages out into space assuming that some peacef
ul species out in the stars would one day hear them and decide to come and throw flowers out to their new friends. At the same time wars raged everywhere on Earth. We were just so arrogant and stupid. Stephen Hawking was right. Any alien species that was traveling the universe were doing it for a reason. The most likely reason was real estate. Habitable planets were rare and it all boiled down to location, location, location. Now humanity was being systematically removed as blight on the neighborhood. This was urban renewal on a massive scale.

  Suddenly, darkness was lit up with a flash that turned night into day. Eric saw the overturned tanker and sprinted out of the store and slid under the tractor. He crawled quickly over to the far side of the huge truck and crouched beside it counting mentally. They always fired a second shot to make sure. It should be just about…now! Another flash lit up the night and he sprinted into the alley fifteen yards beyond the truck and pressed himself against the wall. He slid along the wall toward the far end of the alley and waited for another flash.

  The alien’s eyesight did not recover as quickly as human’s eyes and there was a brief three second period where movement was possible before they were able to see again. He looked out at the skyline of Washington and saw that most of it was gone. The Washington Monument was nothing more than a stump sticking out of the ground and the Lincoln Memorial was flattened. What amazed him was the building was gone but Honest Abe still sat in his chair out in the open. How it survived the blast that blew away the building was a mystery.

  He waited and thought about the aliens arriving in orbit two months earlier and flashing the planet with blue beams that neutralized every nuclear weapon on the planet. Humanity’s most powerful weapons were taken off the board before the first hostilities kicked off. Once they were gone, the end was a foregone conclusion. Even F 22 Raptors were no match for attack craft that could fly at double their speed and stop on a dime. It only took a week before the Air Force stopped sending jets at them. Most of the military forces on the planet were hit from space and then the real fun began with the aliens landing millions of ground troops that began systematically killing every human on the planet. Humanity was being exterminated and the end of the road was not far away. Eric shook his head and rushed across the street as another flash lit up the night. He arrived at another alley next to a building and ducked under a blown out wall as he took off his ski mask and walked down a corridor to his apartment.

  Eric was a lawyer working in the Dept. of Justice prior to the alien’s arrival. He no longer had a job. He was home when the beams hit the Capital Building and White House; the crater could now be seen from space. He always hated that long commute in to work but it ended up saving his life. He was far enough away to survive the shockwave. He opened the door and saw Julie huddling in the corner holding her knees to her chest as she rocked back and forth. “I’ve got enough to feed us for a week.”

  Julie shook her head, “They’re a block away.”

  Eric jerked his head up to the television screen on the wall and saw images of the aliens moving up the street next to his apartment and knew they would arrive shortly. Eric was shocked that his apartment still had power. The building had been built with emergency generators in the basement and they still functioned. He had tuned the television to the weather channel which had solar powered cameras around the city showing weather conditions. It allowed him to watch the systematic destruction of the city. Now he saw death approaching and knew there wasn’t enough time to even cook a can of beans.

  He went over to Julie and put his arms around her. They had married a month before the aliens arrived and he knew he wouldn’t have enough time to show her just how much he loved her. He hated the aliens for that more than anything else. He lifted her from the floor and hugged her tightly. She started crying and he felt her shaking in his embrace. He felt the huge explosion at the end of his block before the flash strobed behind it. The picture window looking out on the street was sucked out of its frame into the center of the thoroughfare.

  He turned and went over to the stereo system he had purchased for ten thousand dollars and powered it. Julie had given him so much grief for buying it… but now that was no longer an issue. He pulled a cd out and put it in. He almost turned the volume low but decided that if he was going to die, it was going to be using his white elephant stereo system at high volume. He started the music, turned the volume up halfway, and played their favorite song. He held out his hand to Julie and she came into his arms and they started dancing. The music blared out at an incredible volume as he held Julie tight and listened to the lyrics.

  This is the end, feel the earth move, my heart is now beating only for you.

  There is no present, there is no past, there’s only you to make my joy last.

  Feel the love blow through my soul, your love is all I want to know…

  Eric and Julie had their eyes closed and danced to the music that took their minds away from the coming horror. All the blasts and white flashes disappeared in the loud music. All they could feel was each other. The song ended and Eric kissed Julie tenderly. The kiss lasted a long time and finally Julie broke the kiss and looked up at Eric. He knew they should be dead by now. He turned and looked out of the shattered picture window and saw ten aliens looking in on them with raised blasters. The tall brown creatures were not moving. His heart went into his throat as the number of aliens outside his apartment was growing by the second. The alien in front was staring at them and it said, “We want to hear it again.”

  Eric looked at Julie and didn’t know what to say. She ran from his arms, hit replay, and turned up the volume to full. The song began again echoing out into the buildings around the small apartment. The aliens began swaying side to side as Eric noticed that the one in front that had spoken lowered its blaster and after a moment, it fell to the ground. Julie watched them and set the song to replay automatically. After an hour they went outside as the explosions ripping through the city had stopped. Every alien in the city was standing in the streets frozen in place. Julie picked up a blaster, walked away from a group of ten aliens, and shot them. None of the others moved. Eric picked up another blaster and they walked out into the blasted city killing aliens. Eric used his Glock inside their aircraft that had landed. Soon they were joined by more survivors.

  Eric discovered a week later that the aliens had inadvertently fed the music into their communications system and every alien on the planet as well as the ones on their ships in orbit was frozen. The music became instantly addictive to them and stopping it even for a moment caused them to go into hysterics until it was restarted. The surviving military scientists managed to separate several of the aliens and use music deprivation to get them to teach how to use their technology.

  Three years later, Eric was on one of the alien’s ships that arrived in orbit above the alien’s home world and played music to the planet’s communication’s center. The last alien on the planet died of starvation two months later. Sometimes, the end of the road isn’t what it appears to be. Then again, sometimes it is.

  Back to Top

  Chapter 29

  Stalked

  By Sherrie Giddens

  Dodging in and out of the crowd, I race down the escalator. As my feet hit the lower level I turn toward the north end of the mall. Picking up my speed and lunging into a full run I collide with a stroller, waking the sleeping infant inside. The obscenities screamed by his mother can be heard for several feet as I continue toward my destination, giving a barely audible apology over my left shoulder.

  At the north end of the mall, I bound up the staircase two steps at a time. I am out of breath but feeling rather proud of myself as I plop down on a nearby bench. Taking a discarded but neatly folded newspaper from the bench, I hold it in front of my face.

  I hear her voice drifting down the mall corridor. Her voice thrills me. Then I see her, walking toward me just as I knew she would. My run wasn't for nothing. She and her two friends are laughing and talking as young ladies do, but
it is her that I am drawn to. Her long snow-white hair flows down her shoulders in waves like the drifts formed in a freshly fallen snow. Her hair frames china doll cheeks with the right touch of pink, setting off her deep blue eyes.

  April 20th. Today, in the eyes of the law, she is legal. No longer a minor child but an adult, she can love and be loved with no questions asked. There is no one to stop us, no one to say she is too young. No one to tell me I should wait. I fear she will hate me at first, not understanding. I console myself with the hope that in time she will learn to accept me, and eventually love me as much as I love her.

  Raising my phone just above the confines of the newspaper I snap a photo, just one of many I have taken over the last three years. I spend my evenings going over them one by one, remembering her every move as each photo was taken. Band practice, soccer, shopping, there are photos from every day of her life, since that first day. I memorize her facial features, her smile, everything about her. She is as lovely in her photos as she is in person. An angel sent from heaven could not be more beautiful.

  I long for her. I want to hold her close, to smell her hair and learn of her scent. I want to love her and to be loved by her. I need her in my life; I can barely contain my excitement as I think about the next few hours. Today is the day; I have rehearsed it over and over. I know exactly what I will say and I can only hope that she will understand. I fear she will fight me. Once she knows how much I love her, how much she needs me and how much I need her, she will love me. She has to love me.

  One more time I glance at her above the top of my newspaper. Our eyes meet for an instant. She looks away, and then looks back once more, gracing me with a smile. It is the kind of smile shared by strangers caught in an awkward situation. It is a gift, her first gift to me. Her smile encourages me. I can't stop; I have to move forward as planned. She looks away again and rejoins her friends as they move into the food court.