The Last 3 Days (20): Cluster's F**ked

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10:39:39

Less than ten minutes later, Nick eased the hood closed so as not to disrupt the quiet darkness and climbed into the driver’s seat. The old sedan started immediately and ran smoothly, so Nick reached for the manual gearshift and bumped his elbow against a cooler on the bench seat beside him.

Surely his luck wouldn’t extend this far, he thought, but it did. The cooler held canned drinks. Cold canned drinks. He listened a moment longer as the car picked up speed, up-shifted twice and then popped the tab on a random can and drank.

“Hey!” A voice shouted in the darkness. “Those aren’t for you.”

A pair of menacing eyes stared back at Nick from the rearview mirror. He planted brake and clutch simultaneously, spilling soda into his lap as the car slewed to a halt.

Nick dove out of the car, scrabbling on hands and knees to a safe distance, chased by a drooling can of soda.

The rear window wound down, revealing a child’s laughter. “Do that again.” The face of an indigenous youth appeared.

“Where did you come from?” Nick demanded.

The boy jerked his head back the way they came. “That way. You?”

Brushing himself off, Nick returned to the idling car. “I mean,” he said, “What are you doing here, wherever here is, at night, alone?”

“Waiting.”

“For what?”

“My dad.”

“Where’d he go?”

“For help. He should’a just waited for you.”

“How long ago?”

“Dunno. I was sleeping.”

“Why didn’t he take you?”

“Said I’d slow him down.”

“Which way did he go?”

The boy jerked his head up the road. “He said there was a town not too far.”

“I’ve been walking forever, trying to get home. But I can’t leave you here by yourself.”

Nick picked up the empty can and held it out towards the boy.

“I’m Nick.”

“I’m Dean.”

“Dean, if I drive you to look for your dad, can I have another soda?”

10:02:11

Dean, now sitting in the front passenger seat, pointed at a road sign that said, ‘Cluster.’ Below it an arrow pointed left and below that, ‘2 MILES’.

Nick slowed. A left turn took Nick away from home. “This is the next town.”

“Cluster. That’s the one. I think.”

Nick turned at the intersection.

09:59:21

A glow appeared in the sky ahead of them. Moments later, the source was obvious.

Cluster was burning.

A large crowd watched the fire spread, cheering whenever an oil or gas tank exploded within the inferno.

They drove past a short queue of vehicles lined up at a cross street aimed directly at the flames, where a young woman wearing her bra waved her blouse like a flag. A car full of people accelerated, horn blaring, into the inferno, and a truck moved up to be next.

Nick eased the car past the glassy-eyed revellers and pulled into a gas station.

“What’s wrong with them, Nick?”

“They’re drunk and angry. Listen. I’m going to ask if they’ve seen your dad. Stay in the car, OK?”

Nearby, a drunk young woman, her homegrown beauty unaffected by inebriation, held off several men even more intoxicated with a wine bottle, then stepped away from the crowd.

“Sure thing,” Dean said.

09:55:58

Nick exited the open and unattended gas station with a handful of chocolate bars, which he tossed onto the front seat before taking the opportunity to fill the car.

At another pump, a group of youths assembled Molotov cocktails using scraps of a t-shirt liberated from the youngest of the group.

In the background, a car horn announced the safe return of the daredevils and more cheers. The truck engine revved to dangerous levels then leapt forward, horn wailing, to disappear into the flames.

The drunk woman’s erratic path brought her over to the Beater, where she leaned against the hood to get her bearings. Nick had his back to her as he hung up the nozzle.

“You gonna pay for that gas?” She asked.

Nick turned. “Oh. There was no one inside, so I thought the place was abandoned. I don’t have any money.”

Using the vehicle for support, she moved closer.

“I don’t want money.”

She wrapped her free arm around his neck and kissed him deeply. He responded but then caught Dean watching and stepped away from the embrace. “No. I can’t — “

Then something crashed into him, knocking him to the ground. Covering his head with his arms against a rain of blows, Nick heard Dean screaming.

“Dad! Dad! Stop! Dad!”

The pummelling subsided. Nick opened his eyes to see his assailant hugging Dean.

“Get off me!”

Dean separated himself from his father and pulled him off Nick.

“This is Nick,” the boy explained. “He was helping me find you.”

Hunter studied Nick for a moment, then held out his hand to help him up.

“You pumped Regular, right?”

“Of course,” Nick answered. “I think this thing predates Premium.”

“Good. Long way to go, yet.”

“Dean said you’re going to the city. Can I get a ride?”

The sound of a horn briefly rose above the roar of the fires — then it went silent, replaced by lingering screams.

03:58:48

Darkness vanished in a flash of light as the sun emerged from behind earth, illuminating the asteroid like a burglar in the night.

Unlike a thief, Benevolence B7438 didn’t surrender or relax its determined charge towards earth.

Then a tendril of steam slipped from an impact site and the asteroid cracked.

03:44:09

The closer Nick was to home, the slower they seemed to travel. The highway they had to themselves. So too the main trunk roads through the city. But when he guided Hunter into his neighbourhood, the streets were crowded with people congregating on front lawns or standing in the road watching the sky.

When Hunter brought his beater to a halt at the end of the Burns’ driveway, Dean leaned over the seat to hug him. He shook hands with Hunter.

“You’re home, Nick,” Hunter said.

“Thanks to you and Dean.”

“No. Thanks to you. You fixed the car. You helped Dean find me. If not for you, we’d never have made it here.”

As Nick climbed out, Dean slithered over the seat. “Let’s go get mom.”

Home. He made it.

03:43:48

The front door was unlocked, which was just as well as he’d lost his keys somewhere. The TV was on, but as quiet as the rest of the house, though the Anchor’s chair was empty.

“Dad!” Nick called. “Mom!”

He glanced into the kitchen as he moved past. Nothing. He took the stairs two at a time.

“Mom! Dad! I’m home!”

He pushed open Jack’s bedroom door. “Jack?”

Empty. As was his parent’s bedroom. He walked past his own room and so didn’t see Jay sleeping.

Returning downstairs, he checked the office. Not there, either.

03:41:50

Nick went out the front door and trotted down the driveway, scanning the people gathered in groups for any sign of his parents.

“Dad! Mom!”

No response. Turning back, he noticed the lights were on next door at Eileen’s.

03:41: 44

The Burns and their guests mingled quietly around a table of food and drink in the backyard, constantly scanning the sky for any sight of Benevolence B7438 and debating from which direction would the end of the world arrive.

The Sergeant and Eileen sat beside each other in lawn chairs.

Becky heard a familiar shout from the street. She peered around the corner of the house — and caught a glimpse of Nick.

Nick? She rushed between the houses.

03:41:22

Nick knocked on Eileen’s door a second time. Where is everyone, he thought, when the person he wanted most to see was suddenly right there. Becky.

“Nick?”

Distracted by Becky, Nick ignored the opening door.

“Becky?”

Ryan said, “Nick!” And swung his fist, but Nick was already moving towards Becky, so the blow was glancing.

Nick stumbled backwards, revealing Becky.

“Becky!” Ryan roared.

Ryan lunged out the door towards Becky, but Nick stuck his foot out and tripped him. Ryan sprawled on the walk.

Rushing past him, Nick grabbed Becky’s hand and hauled her into his house, slamming and bolting the door.

Bobby appeared on Eileen’s transom, rubbing his eyes.

“What’s with the shouting?”

“They’re next door,” Ryan barked. “Come on.”

As Bobby joined him, Ryan pointed towards the backyard. “Cover the back.”

03:40:38

Don heard a door slam and moved to investigate, but the sound of running feet slowed him as he reached the edge of the rear wall.

Head down just as he’d been trained, Bobby rounded the corner at full tilt, only to discover he was not alone.

And there was a cop, he thought as he recognized the Sergeant’s uniform.

“Hold it right there, son,” Don said.

The other cop.

“I said, stop!”

Bobby rushed Don, expecting him to move, but Don stood his ground, wrapping his arms around Bobby’s waist then sliding down to trap his legs. Bobby fell to the ground, held there by the Sergeant’s size 13 boot at the base of his neck.

03:40:29

Nick was urging Becky towards the en suite in his parents’ bedroom when he heard his father shout.

“In there,” he told her. “Lock the door.”

And he was gone.

03:40:24

Ryan straightened from the office window he had just climbed through. The sound of Nick pounding down the stairs sent him darting behind the door.

And there, hanging from hooks were two police utility belts, one of them bearing a holstered pistol.

Armed with new purpose, he peered into the hallway.

Someone else descended the stairs and turned into the kitchen. Becky.

He padded after her.