David turned the key again and again but the car didn’t even make noise anymore. The big guy was still standing there, in the rearview mirror, his broad forehead casting a slight shadow over his eyes. The woman had gone after the boy. David glanced at the Beretta. He wasn’t scared as such but exhausted and utterly helpless. He’d been driving for hours and he had stocked the car with supplies which, it seemed, was going to go to waste at this point. He stuck the Beretta down the back of his jeans, opened the door and got out.
“I don’t suppose I managed to turn you around with my little speech mate?”
“No”, the big guy grinned.
“Shit.”
The big guy laughed. “But I wasn’t all a bad dude to begin with man. Pop the hood.”
“Oh mate that’s just… Thank you, really!”
“Zip it, I didn’t do anything yet.”
“Right.” David got in quickly and pulled the hood release. The big guy walked up to the front, looked under the hood, tilted his head back and started roaring with laughter.
“Dude, come here. Look at this! Fucking look at this! And tell me what’s wrong with your car.”
David got out awkwardly, walked around the front and peeked into the engine compartment.
“It’s out of oil?”
The big guy had to support himself on his knees. He actually got down on one of them, he couldn’t help it. “It’s out of… Out of oil! Dude, you didn’t even check for oil! What the fuck man, hahahaha!”
David started laughing too. “You’re right mate I didn’t. I absolutely didn’t check for oil. I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about!”
“You really don’t dude!” The big guy regained some of his composure. “But you see this, this little red wire. The one that’s not connected to the battery. It’s used for something we humans call electricity, ahahahahaha!”
“Oh fuck off mate, is that it?”
“That’s it!” He had to take a breather. “How the fuck did you even survive man?”
David looked away, his lips slowly curling around the edges. The big guy was looking at him, expectantly, grinning. David braced himself.
“I got lucky. I, uh, looted a house once and someone had modified some power tools, probably to take with them on the road. And well they… Oh fuck it, they ran on car batteries mate!”
“AHAHAHAHAHAH!”
David had to take a step back, grinning. The big guy was on the ground, tears streaming down his plump, flushed cheeks and he couldn’t string together a complete sentence even though he really wanted to say something.
“You must be… The dumbest…. Motherfucker… To ever… Survive… Anything!”
David snickered. “I know how to rip them out and then you just kinda plugged it in. It was a simplified design alright!”
“Simplified design! Well it fucking had to be, didn’t it?” He started wheezing and coughing but got up and wiped his eyes with the back of his bear paw. He slapped it on David’s shoulder. “Aw dude, God bless you man, I needed that.”
“Don’t mention it. Hey, lucky for you I’m not self-conscious.”
“Heh, well. I took your pistol from you a couple of minutes ago but I sure as hell ain’t gonna kill you now am I? Hahahah! Here you go.”
Oh… My… God…
David looked up at him, shocked. His big, sweaty face and narrow eyes was showing nothing but good intentions. He looks like a panda. He took the gun.
“Jesus mate… I don’t know what to say.”
He wiped the remaining tears and saliva from his face and grinned. “Don’t worry about it dude. Come on. lemme show you how to hotwire a fucking car already!”
David looked around and started laughing. Italy was rapidly becoming more and more apocalyptic as he was going farther south. The few intact cars that were left up north were nowhere to be seen now, replaced instead by burned out wrecks. Sometimes only the skeletons remained, even the seats and tires burned away. David hadn’t noticed it before but the vegetation was slowly turning weaker. It was very small changes but the hills didn’t show the same amount of color as he remembered them doing a small week ago. There’s no purple left. David was finally seeing some of what Riley had talked about. And he couldn’t believe it. Riley, you were wrong. I mean you were right but you were so wrong...
“I don’t suppose I managed to turn you around with my little speech mate?”
“No”, the big guy grinned.
“Shit.”
The big guy laughed. “But I wasn’t all a bad dude to begin with man. Pop the hood.”
“Oh mate that’s just… Thank you, really!”
“Zip it, I didn’t do anything yet.”
“Right.” David got in quickly and pulled the hood release. The big guy walked up to the front, looked under the hood, tilted his head back and started roaring with laughter.
“Dude, come here. Look at this! Fucking look at this! And tell me what’s wrong with your car.”
David got out awkwardly, walked around the front and peeked into the engine compartment.
“It’s out of oil?”
The big guy had to support himself on his knees. He actually got down on one of them, he couldn’t help it. “It’s out of… Out of oil! Dude, you didn’t even check for oil! What the fuck man, hahahaha!”
David started laughing too. “You’re right mate I didn’t. I absolutely didn’t check for oil. I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about!”
“You really don’t dude!” The big guy regained some of his composure. “But you see this, this little red wire. The one that’s not connected to the battery. It’s used for something we humans call electricity, ahahahahaha!”
“Oh fuck off mate, is that it?”
“That’s it!” He had to take a breather. “How the fuck did you even survive man?”
David looked away, his lips slowly curling around the edges. The big guy was looking at him, expectantly, grinning. David braced himself.
“I got lucky. I, uh, looted a house once and someone had modified some power tools, probably to take with them on the road. And well they… Oh fuck it, they ran on car batteries mate!”
“AHAHAHAHAHAH!”
David had to take a step back, grinning. The big guy was on the ground, tears streaming down his plump, flushed cheeks and he couldn’t string together a complete sentence even though he really wanted to say something.
“You must be… The dumbest…. Motherfucker… To ever… Survive… Anything!”
David snickered. “I know how to rip them out and then you just kinda plugged it in. It was a simplified design alright!”
“Simplified design! Well it fucking had to be, didn’t it?” He started wheezing and coughing but got up and wiped his eyes with the back of his bear paw. He slapped it on David’s shoulder. “Aw dude, God bless you man, I needed that.”
“Don’t mention it. Hey, lucky for you I’m not self-conscious.”
“Heh, well. I took your pistol from you a couple of minutes ago but I sure as hell ain’t gonna kill you now am I? Hahahah! Here you go.”
Oh… My… God…
David looked up at him, shocked. His big, sweaty face and narrow eyes was showing nothing but good intentions. He looks like a panda. He took the gun.
“Jesus mate… I don’t know what to say.”
He wiped the remaining tears and saliva from his face and grinned. “Don’t worry about it dude. Come on. lemme show you how to hotwire a fucking car already!”
David looked around and started laughing. Italy was rapidly becoming more and more apocalyptic as he was going farther south. The few intact cars that were left up north were nowhere to be seen now, replaced instead by burned out wrecks. Sometimes only the skeletons remained, even the seats and tires burned away. David hadn’t noticed it before but the vegetation was slowly turning weaker. It was very small changes but the hills didn’t show the same amount of color as he remembered them doing a small week ago. There’s no purple left. David was finally seeing some of what Riley had talked about. And he couldn’t believe it. Riley, you were wrong. I mean you were right but you were so wrong...
… Riley was sitting in his chair, smiling slightly, giving David that terrible feeling that he might not die after all.
“Before I die I have something important to tell you.”
“Jesus Christ, do you have to be so fucking blunt about it Riley, really?
Riley made that sound he made when he heard something he thought was funny. It wasn’t a laugh really but more like he spoke his amusement without using words. It was so Riley and David loved it.
“That’s kinda your problem kid. You came barging in here with your head stuck all the way up your ass. Knocking’s not enough, David, and In fact you shouldn’t even do that. You might’ve been hidden away up there, and how you even did that I’ve no bloody idea, but the rest of us were down here, where it got bad. And it got really bad David. Even in the villages where people were supposed to know and love each other. People simply don’t care anymore. And I know I sound like a grumpy old dying bloke when I say that David, but with the way things are now... I never believed it before David. Do you hear me?”
He said it like an actual question and it was. Riley never raised his voice. He never had to.
“I get it Riley.”
Riley did that smile again that made David feel young and naïve and attentive. “David, son, you really don’t… You see a man standing at the side of the road, you drive past him. This is your only option. You see a woman with a kid at the side of the road, you drive past them too, but you won’t be able to do that, will you David?”
“… No.”
“Well then you check your perimeters. This is necessary David, alright?”
“Okay Riley.”
“That means bushes, ditches, cars, trashcans, containers, you get me.”
David grinned. “What about billboards?”
“Billboards? You know, I never knew a guy stupid enough to hide behind a billboard, Dave.”
“Right…”
They were silent for a little while.
“So what trick did you fall for?”
It was a fair question. David knew Riley would see it like that. He looked up at the weathered, leather face and saw tears streaming from the blue eyes.
“She knocked, David.”
“Before I die I have something important to tell you.”
“Jesus Christ, do you have to be so fucking blunt about it Riley, really?
Riley made that sound he made when he heard something he thought was funny. It wasn’t a laugh really but more like he spoke his amusement without using words. It was so Riley and David loved it.
“That’s kinda your problem kid. You came barging in here with your head stuck all the way up your ass. Knocking’s not enough, David, and In fact you shouldn’t even do that. You might’ve been hidden away up there, and how you even did that I’ve no bloody idea, but the rest of us were down here, where it got bad. And it got really bad David. Even in the villages where people were supposed to know and love each other. People simply don’t care anymore. And I know I sound like a grumpy old dying bloke when I say that David, but with the way things are now... I never believed it before David. Do you hear me?”
He said it like an actual question and it was. Riley never raised his voice. He never had to.
“I get it Riley.”
Riley did that smile again that made David feel young and naïve and attentive. “David, son, you really don’t… You see a man standing at the side of the road, you drive past him. This is your only option. You see a woman with a kid at the side of the road, you drive past them too, but you won’t be able to do that, will you David?”
“… No.”
“Well then you check your perimeters. This is necessary David, alright?”
“Okay Riley.”
“That means bushes, ditches, cars, trashcans, containers, you get me.”
David grinned. “What about billboards?”
“Billboards? You know, I never knew a guy stupid enough to hide behind a billboard, Dave.”
“Right…”
They were silent for a little while.
“So what trick did you fall for?”
It was a fair question. David knew Riley would see it like that. He looked up at the weathered, leather face and saw tears streaming from the blue eyes.
“She knocked, David.”
It turned out hotwiring a car wasn’t simple. Kevin the panda explained that newer models had kill switches, hidden components and other things David had never heard about. What was essential, he explained, was to route power to the dashboard. There were several ways to do this, the simplest involving an electric drill bit to drill the lock but, according to the Panda, these were hard to come by, especially with power in them.
“So you gotta pop the hood which maybe means breaking the window but don’t bother smashing up any ‘04 models or later ones. They’ve got those kill switches and shit we talked about and you won’t be able to do it…”
“Aw man I could’ve hotwired that Shelby then.”
“What?! You found a working Shelby? Where?”
“This road, about eight hours that way, going 90.”
“Fucking aye dude, I might go get that!”
“Really? It’s a long way mate.”
“Dude it’s a Ford Shelby! I don’t even care what model it is…”
“Said GT500 on the back. Looked kinda old.”
“Fuck me man, that’s probably a classic!”
“Well, enjoy. So what do I do?”
“Right. It’s simple. Even I can do it…”
The Panda explained how to locate the red coil wire on different models and how to hook it up to the positive side of the battery, thus generating power to the dashboard.
“What happens if it’s the negative side?”
Kevin looked at him for a beat. “You ever seen back to the future where the kid and the old man fucked up the present by stepping on a cockroach or something?”
“… Yeah, have you?”
“You get shocked dumbass!”
Then you had to locate something called the starter solenoid along with the positive battery cable, usually located under the steering wheel. “You cross these two without getting shocked and you’re good to go! If you do get shocked then only the car is, hahahaha!”
“You know those are hit and miss sometimes right?”
David was surprised he even had to pop the hood but he scribbled down roughly how to do it and was left with a strange feeling of actually having learned something practical. He wasn’t used to that but it felt good.
By now the woman had come back with the boy and they were both standing at the side of the road, a little distance between them and the two men. The woman looked scared and pathetic while the boy merely looked bored, staring at the gloomy hills that were quickly turning darker. David felt he had to say something.
“Hey, what’s your name chum?”
“Luke.”
“Really? That’s cool.”
“Why?”
You idiot, of course he wouldn’t know. “Kevin will tell you the story later, right Kev?”
“Hah, sure!”
The boy didn’t look too pleased about that but David pushed it from his mind. Kevin wouldn’t do anything like that.
“Listen Luke, would you tell her I’m sorry for scaring you guys. I really am.”
“Che gli dispiace per spaventare noi”, he said vacantly, without looking at her. “I wasn’t scared.”
The kid wasn’t bragging. It was simply a flat statement and David actually believed him.
“Right… That’s good Italian by the way, you should be proud.”
“Yeah.”
There’s no emotion in this kid’s voice at all. Why does he talk like that? David turned to Kevin and put some distance between them and the boy.
“What happened to him?”
“The mom died a few months ago”, Kevin mumbled.
“Right.”
“So where’re you gonna go?”
“Rome. I want to see the state of it.”
“Do what you want man. But you’ll be better off going back north.”
“Why’s that?”
Kevin looked at David with a strange expression. As if he couldn’t even explain it properly. “Things got way worse down south, man. I mean I haven’t been to Rome or anything but…” The tone in his voice left no room for doubt in David’s mind. If a man like Kevin got quiet all of a sudden, one immediately listened.
“You might be alright though. Just keep that attitude you got going, you’ll be fine. Maybe.”
David said farewell to Kevin and Luke and awkwardly waved at the woman. It was getting dark but he still couldn’t stand the sight of her. And he was determined to keep going south, despite what both Riley and Kevin had said. He couldn’t sit still any longer and going north felt like fleeing. I don’t do that anymore.
“So you gotta pop the hood which maybe means breaking the window but don’t bother smashing up any ‘04 models or later ones. They’ve got those kill switches and shit we talked about and you won’t be able to do it…”
“Aw man I could’ve hotwired that Shelby then.”
“What?! You found a working Shelby? Where?”
“This road, about eight hours that way, going 90.”
“Fucking aye dude, I might go get that!”
“Really? It’s a long way mate.”
“Dude it’s a Ford Shelby! I don’t even care what model it is…”
“Said GT500 on the back. Looked kinda old.”
“Fuck me man, that’s probably a classic!”
“Well, enjoy. So what do I do?”
“Right. It’s simple. Even I can do it…”
The Panda explained how to locate the red coil wire on different models and how to hook it up to the positive side of the battery, thus generating power to the dashboard.
“What happens if it’s the negative side?”
Kevin looked at him for a beat. “You ever seen back to the future where the kid and the old man fucked up the present by stepping on a cockroach or something?”
“… Yeah, have you?”
“You get shocked dumbass!”
Then you had to locate something called the starter solenoid along with the positive battery cable, usually located under the steering wheel. “You cross these two without getting shocked and you’re good to go! If you do get shocked then only the car is, hahahaha!”
“You know those are hit and miss sometimes right?”
David was surprised he even had to pop the hood but he scribbled down roughly how to do it and was left with a strange feeling of actually having learned something practical. He wasn’t used to that but it felt good.
By now the woman had come back with the boy and they were both standing at the side of the road, a little distance between them and the two men. The woman looked scared and pathetic while the boy merely looked bored, staring at the gloomy hills that were quickly turning darker. David felt he had to say something.
“Hey, what’s your name chum?”
“Luke.”
“Really? That’s cool.”
“Why?”
You idiot, of course he wouldn’t know. “Kevin will tell you the story later, right Kev?”
“Hah, sure!”
The boy didn’t look too pleased about that but David pushed it from his mind. Kevin wouldn’t do anything like that.
“Listen Luke, would you tell her I’m sorry for scaring you guys. I really am.”
“Che gli dispiace per spaventare noi”, he said vacantly, without looking at her. “I wasn’t scared.”
The kid wasn’t bragging. It was simply a flat statement and David actually believed him.
“Right… That’s good Italian by the way, you should be proud.”
“Yeah.”
There’s no emotion in this kid’s voice at all. Why does he talk like that? David turned to Kevin and put some distance between them and the boy.
“What happened to him?”
“The mom died a few months ago”, Kevin mumbled.
“Right.”
“So where’re you gonna go?”
“Rome. I want to see the state of it.”
“Do what you want man. But you’ll be better off going back north.”
“Why’s that?”
Kevin looked at David with a strange expression. As if he couldn’t even explain it properly. “Things got way worse down south, man. I mean I haven’t been to Rome or anything but…” The tone in his voice left no room for doubt in David’s mind. If a man like Kevin got quiet all of a sudden, one immediately listened.
“You might be alright though. Just keep that attitude you got going, you’ll be fine. Maybe.”
David said farewell to Kevin and Luke and awkwardly waved at the woman. It was getting dark but he still couldn’t stand the sight of her. And he was determined to keep going south, despite what both Riley and Kevin had said. He couldn’t sit still any longer and going north felt like fleeing. I don’t do that anymore.
He couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Maybe it was the tone in Kevin’s voice as he had warned him about going south. Maybe it was the hunted look on the woman’s face or maybe he was just experiencing the effects of exhaustion. But Luke’s voice wouldn’t leave him. As he drove north he remembered how utterly broken and impossibly indifferent he had sounded. So much so that David now wondered if the ill-timed death of his mother had even been enough. “People simply don’t care anymore.” David started crying.
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