The Darkest Night (Surviving the Fall 7)

Rick shook his head. “No, they’ll follow us.” He looked at the car and back at the contents of the shopping cart that Jane was swiftly unloading into the trunk of the sports car. “Dammit. I’m going to fill one of the five-gallon containers. Just so we have some emergency fuel.” He pointed at Dr. Evans’s waistband as he grabbed the plastic tubing and the empty container and ran to one of the nearby vehicles. “Get your gun out, get behind some cover and keep your eyes open.”

Despite the cold weather Rick felt beads of sweat run down his chest as he squatted over the container, watching the amber-colored liquid slowly drain from the vehicle’s gas tank into the container. Without a pour spout they’d have to siphon the fuel out of the container and into their own vehicle but having to go through a bit of trouble would be far better than not having any should they need it.

“Car’s loaded and ready to go.” Jane sat down on the ground next to Rick, her head constantly moving as she scanned the buildings surrounding them.

“Have you seen any sign of people?”

Jane shook her head hesitantly. “I don’t think so, no.”

Rick looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You don’t think so?”

“The shadows and the light are playing funny tricks with all that broken glass and metal. I keep thinking I’m seeing something moving around in the tall buildings but so far it’s turning out to be nothing.”

“As soon as I get this filled and stowed away we’ll get out of here.” Rick leaned his head against the side of the car, watching the thin stream of liquid slowly fill the container. When it was nearly to the top Rick pulled out the tube, coiled it up and capped the container. He hauled it over to the car and stared at the vehicle for a long moment, trying to figure out where to put the flammable liquid.

“The frunk.” Dr. Evans said, still kneeling behind a nearby car.

“Say what?” Rick looked at him, not sure if he had misunderstood what Dr. Evans was saying.

“The frunk? Front trunk?” Dr. Evans pointed at the front of the vehicle and Rick instantly understood what he meant. While fully electric vehicles had helped bring the term “frunk” into the mainstream the recent surge of fully electric vehicles with backup gasoline engines had lessened the use of the phrase. In fully electric vehicles the entire space normally taken up by the engine under the hood was generally available for use as a second trunk to store items. Since new hybrid vehicles still had a gasoline engine—albeit a much smaller one than normal gas-powered cars—the “frunk” was significantly smaller but, in some models, still present.

Rick pulled a lever next to the driver’s seat to open the hood and walked around to the front of the car. The gasoline engine sat on the left side under the hood as he faced it, taking up about two-thirds of the available space. The third on the right was a deep well protected by a thick firewall and heat shield and received a small supply of cool air courtesy of the vehicle’s air conditioning system. This ensured that anything placed in the front storage space wouldn’t become too hot if the vehicle’s engine was engaged.

Rick placed the container of gasoline down into the recess, giving the engine a suspicious glance as he closed the hood. “I know that thing’s got a firewall two inches thick all around it but having that much gas next to an engine makes me nervous as hell.”

“Better than in the back seat or trunk to get fumes or liquid all over us.” Dr. Evans replied.

“I guess. Do we even need it, though? We can just run full electric and—” Rick’s musing was cut short by a metal ping next to him, followed a half-second later by the cracking echo of a rifle shot. He looked at the raised hood of the car, seeing a small hole that had been punched through the metal.

“Let’s go!” Rick shouted and slammed the hood closed, jumping and ducking around to try and avoid getting shot. Jane ran for the vehicle and jumped into the back seat, curling her body into a ball on the seat to try and present as small of a target as possible. Puffs of dust and more metallic pings were accompanied by gunfire from multiple sources as Dr. Evans and Rick piled into the car.

Rick switched on the motor and the lights inside sprang to life. He threw the vehicle into reverse and swiveled around to look out the back window. The street they had driven on to get to the parking lot was rapidly approaching and Rick spun the wheel as they got close, sliding the sports car around and bringing it to a halt on the road.

He then put the car into drive and pushed the accelerator all the way down to the floor. With no internal combustion necessary to deliver torque to the wheels the car instantly sprung forward like it was trying its hardest to

imitate a rocket. Rick clung to the steering wheel, trying to make corrections to their course as small and as smooth as possible to keep from running off the road or causing the vehicle to fishtail. As they pulled away from the parking lot and back down the road the gunfire grew quieter and more sporadic until it either stopped completely or was too far away to hear.

Rick eased up on the accelerator and looked over at Dr. Evans then back at Jane. Both had their fingernails digging into the leather interior as they braced themselves against the sides and roof in an attempt to compensate for the lightning-fast maneuvers they had just experienced. Rick grinned at them and tugged at his seatbelt. “Should have put yours on!”

“No kidding!” Jane shouted at Rick from the back seat as Dr. Evans let out the breath he had been holding since they first started moving.

“That… was incredible.” Dr. Evans whispered, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Maximum torque at zero speed.” Rick smiled again and patted the car’s dashboard like it was alive. “It’s been a while since I drove an electric like that. I used to… wait… do you hear that?” Rick looked questioningly at Dr. Evans and Jane before rolling down his window and slowing down the car. Because the electric motor made essentially no noise Rick could hear what was going on in the city quite well.

“Is that more rumbling?” Jane asked.

Rick nodded. “A lot more.” He stopped the car on the highway, put it in park, opened his door and stepped out onto the pavement. The low rumbling they had been hearing was considerably louder and—worst of all—Rick could actually feel it in his feet. He looked back at Dr. Evans, a note of panic in his voice. “I’m no earthquake expert but I’d say this feels like more than just an aftershock!”

“Then we need to move! Quickly!” Dr. Evans motioned for Rick to get back in the car. Rick jumped back in and Dr. Evans cast a wary eye up at their surroundings. “We’re not even halfway through the city and we’re still surrounded by buildings. If this is an earthquake then we need to get out of here as fast as possible. Also I’d recommend getting to surface streets instead of this elevated highway.”

“No kidding!” Rick pressed down on the accelerator again and the car zipped down the road once again. The rumbling that had only been audible when they were quiet and motionless was now coming through even with the road noise and motion from the car.

“There!” Jane stuck her arm forward between the seats as she pointed at an off-ramp from the elevated highway. “Pull off there!”

“I have no idea where that goes!” Rick glanced between the highway ahead and the off-ramp, trying to make up his mind about where to go. An instant later his decision was made for him. Rick, Jane and Dr. Evans all stared slack-jawed as one of the buildings half a mile down the way they were driving, just off to the left of the elevated highway, began to sway back and forth. Rick slowed down as they watched the building’s movement grow more and more violent until it began to topple, twisting over the elevated highway as it went and carrying a huge chunk of the road with it.

Rick accelerated the car again and moved into the right-hand lane, taking the off-ramp down to ground level as quick as humanly possible. “Nice call.” He nodded at Jane in appreciation. “Now the only question is… where on earth do we go from here?”