RADIO

chap 5

"Dibbs, let's get going,” Monty called from the driver's window. 

“Hold on, let me get Rocky,” he said, whistling for the dog. The mastiff hopped up into the back of the dark blue truck. They had had to sneak across their back alley to get to their neighbors garage. The neighbors seemed to have suffered the same fate as the rest of the people so they had no trouble taking the truck. 

“Lets go,” Dibbs said, patting the back of the truck and draping the tarp over the back. “Shh,” he told Rocky. The dog lay down on his stomach and was alert. 

The garage door opened and Monty backed out of the garage. He put trash bags over the windows to try to block out as much from the inside of the car as possible. They couldn't let anyone, or anything, see them. 

Monty drove down the street trying not to bump or hit any of the roaming beings. 

The sun was blocked by the covered windows and Monty tried to stay low behind the wheel. The beings barely moved and Monty did his best to not disturb them but something ran out in front of the car. 

Monty stopped immediately and made eye contact with two people. “Monty!” A man squeaked. 

“Haze?! Jane?!” He squeaked. Dibbs opened the back window and peered his head through, 

“What's the hold up?” He asked. Monty gestured to the back and both of them climbed into the truck. Rocky however started barking, drawing the attention of the beings around them.

There was a whole hoard of the things just a few clicks behind them. 

“Haze?! Jane?!” Dibbs squeaked. 

“Drive!” Haze yelled. Monty quickly backed up, running over multiple beings that flooded the street. He turned the corner and started to drive down through Main Street. “Where are we going?” Jane asked, catching her breath and moving her black single braided hair out of the way of her brown eyes and dark skin. 

It revealed her pajama-like clothes and her round features. 

“We’re going to my family's place, but we need to keep an eye out for a flare. Tris and Duchess need us,” Dibbs explained. 

“Duchess is alive?!” Haze gasped. His brown hair was shaggy and messed up so he tried to fix it. He rested back with a katana in hand. 

“Where the fuck did you get a sword?” Monty asked from the front of the truck, adjusting his rear view mirror. 

“It was a gift from my grandfather, for my birthday,” he panted, “that was too close,” he said, catching his breath and closing his hazel eyes. 

“Yeah, it was crazy! Me and Haze ran into each other at the convenience store when this thing happened,” Jane sighed. “But we’re here now, so let's just find the others.” 

——

Blue smoke shot out into the sky followed a second later by a brighter colored trail. 

“Do you think they’ll see it?” Tris asked. 

“They have to,” Duchess sighed. 

Duchess stood on the top of the roof, looking over the neighborhood. They searched for any moving thing. A car, a group, something. They were getting desperate. Tris was still sitting on the chimney with Brownie asleep in her lap. 

The sun was now up in the sky, beaming down on the destroyed neighborhood. “We can't stay here all day,” Duchess sighed, sitting back down on the slanted roof. 

"I think the universe disagrees," Tris responded.

They sat in silence for a few hours but finally a radio squawked. Tris pulled it out of Duchess’s bag. “Tris, Duchess, this is Monty,” a familiar voice spoke.