Project Wiped

Project Wiped

By Robert Hecker

Chapter One

The Gas

It was an amazing day! The sun was shining, leaves were falling to the ground gracefully, and the birds were singing on this beautiful Autumn day in Florida. The year was 2083, no real advancements since 2018, except for a few new technical advancements like holo-screens and better security systems, you know, the boring stuff. The government was said to be “corrupted”, but America would go into a panic without them. They made all big decisions and didn’t make many “bad” choices until the day that their true colors showed, and they weren’t red white and blue.

So, let me tell you how one man could save the earth. Well, he’s not really a man, he was more of a teenager. His name was Jason Williams. He had a rather minimalistic style. He wore a green short sleeve hoodie and a pair of wore down jeans. He was not what one would call large or muscular but was on the thinner side. He looked like a boy just starting to become a man. He had brown eyes and straight, long black hair. He When he was walking home from school he saw in the sky a fleet of seven identical black fighter jets flying across the sky in perfect formation. He thought nothing of it.

“must be a flight drill” he said to himself. Flight drills were rather common in Florida because of the air. The air was fresher in Florida because of the air pollution. In 2056, humans where using too much gas to power cars, airplanes, other items and caused massive air pollution. Those years where the worst years in the history of the world. Then the Chinese developers made electric cars that were less expensive and more efficient and the slow road to fresher air began. By 2078, there was finally a noticeable difference in air quality, Floridians had been the leaders in using the electric options and now boasted the best air in the world. That why the US does their flight testing and drills in Florida.

 As he walked through his street he saw his neighbors planting lilies in their front yard. All the houses on the street where pearl white and looked perfect from far away, but from close up you could tell how cheaply they were actually made. For example, the houses have cracking paint, with patching clearly peeling off. This could have been a simple fix, but the builders insisted that the homeowners used a partnered brands paint because they claimed,

“it works better for that kind of wall”. Since everyone believed the swindling contractors, the homes were never refurbished like they should have been.  But his house stood out among the others because he took such care at maintaining the inside and outside of it.

 He got home and since it was his birthday, he couldn’t wait to see the surprise party his family threw every year. This year was his sixteenth birthday, so he just knew his dad would be preparing something extra special. And by the smells coming from inside the house before he even reached the door, he was quite right about his assumption. He could smell the scent of the steaming hot pizza waft out of the door. He walked through the door and saw his friends and family trying to hide behind something but failing miserably. His dad was behind a wall, but his stomach stuck out from the wall, his grandma’s necklace shined sunlight on the wall which gave away her spot behind the presents. Bloom, one of his friends from school, was harder to spot because she was so skinny and small, but he eventually saw her behind the fireplace because of the suspicious red hair by the fireplace. Gabriela, his sister, was had the worst hiding spot of them all with her pink and magenta dress was hanging out of the table she was hiding under and the mirror behind her showed her position. Finally, his best friend Toby was so well hidden that he didn’t know where he was.

“Was Toby invited?” Jason thought.

Everyone suddenly jumped out and said, “Happy Birthday!” but he still didn’t see Toby, then he felt something behind him and just as he was going to turn around, Toby jumped out from behind him, and yelled

“Happy Birthday!” effectively scaring him half to death. The room erupted into laughter and Jason decided to join in.

Toby and Jason have been friends since the fourth grade, Toby always found some way to trick Jason, who was hard to fool. Once the laughter died down, Jason greeted everyone at the party. After about an hour of talking to gests, playing with friends, and most importantly, eating, Toby bumped his shoulder and pointed to the news report.  It was a report on a bombing on Syria that was followed up with breaking news that the Arabians are trying breach the White House and the ensuing riots as the military worked to defend the White House.

“This must be bad for America's reputation” Toby said

 “I know, America’s getting aggressive all the sudden” Jason said,

 “Do you think they will do something like this to other countries?” Toby said worried about the other counties that might get bombed or attacked.

“Come on man, my mom made all this awesome food, let’s just get back to the party, okay? I mean it will all be here tomorrow. Plus, it is time I beat your butt on my new video game my mom gave me this morning before school!” Jason said trying to change the subject

 “You know your right, let’s just get back to the party. It’s your birthday after all and I am totally going to kick your butt!” Toby said cheerily. Both boys got back to the party, but the reports still lingered in their minds. It was a frightening idea that someone could just shoot a missile from almost anywhere in the world and your town, your city, and yourself along with your family and friends would be gone in an instant. That thought kept him on edge all night, if Syria returned fire then it would most likely be in his town since it was one of the most populated towns in the US because of the fresh air. Now that America chose to wage war with Syria that chance has increased tenfold. The last time that America was in a war with Syria was 2034, when Syria thought America was abducting children from Syria and bringing them back to America.

Toby and Jason were playing his new video game in Jason’s room to pass the time and it was turned up so loud that they didn’t hear Jason’s mom calling from the stairs. Then suddenly, his mom was standing at his bedroom door.

“Are you two coming down for presents?!” Jason’s mom said.

“Oh crap! I almost forgot, sorry mom.” Toby said.

 “Presents! awesome!” Jason said.

Jason went bolting down the stairs as if he were running for his life and sat down so fast he almost fell off the chair. Toby came down soon after him at a more leisurely pace since it wasn’t his presents waiting.

Jason’s grandma said, “think you’ll like what I got you”

The first present was given to him with a card taped to the top Jason pulled off the letter and it said.

Dear grandson, I know you miss me, but I will be back from work soon, it’s just I might have found an astounding discovery in England. A full, intact, had rosaurid skull. It may have some chips and scrapes around the edges, but it will put me on the map and I’ll bring you all with me when this thing is fully uncovered.

I know that my job as an archaeologist can be hard on the family since I am not there as much as I would like to be but try not to think about that right now… okay. Happy birthday grandson

(P.S don’t let your sister steal your 20 dollars)

Jason’s eyes started tearing up, his grandpa was his favorite person in the entire world.  He would let him look at dinosaur bones before the public could. One-time Jason accidentally fell into one of the fossils and his grandpa found Jason trapped in a T-rex rib cage. He was the best grandpa that you could ever ask for and he loved hanging out with him and his fossils. But now he’s gone on an expedition in England it makes Jason feel like a part of him is gone. Being sixteen now he did not want to look like a kid, so he pulled it together and opened the present. It was an old archaeologist hat and he quickly put the hat on his head and opened the rest of the presents that were given to him.

And after all that Jason’s dad brought out the cake, they all sang “Happy Birthday” and when he was about to blow out the candles and even though he didn’t believe that “wishes would come true” he wished that his grandpa could be here with him. Then with his wish still fresh in his mind, he blew out the candles. As he opened his eyes and the last candle went out, sirens start ringing and everyone started panicking. Jason looked out the window and saw the black fighter jets that he saw when he was walking home from school this afternoon.  This time they had a tank on the bottom, it opened and a canister like thing dropped out. The canister crashed into the street and blew up. The explosion shattered the windows knocking Jason into the closet. As he tried to regain his balance, he saw green gas overtake the shattered glass of his window. He knew the sad fact that he couldn’t save his family at the moment but if he could protect himself now he could maybe help them after. Praying his family will be okay, he closed the closet door and took a towel to shove it under the door. Hopefully, this would be enough to block the gas from getting inside the closet. Just as he got the towel in place, Jason felt a wave of dizziness and   passed out a short time after.

Chapter Two

Chased

After being knocked out by the blast Jason crawled over to the entrance of the closet and opened the closet door. Then suddenly, a burst of green mist overtook his body. He wondered why he wasn’t dead or worse feeling extreme pain. When the gas cleared he started looking around the room for the rest of his family. Finally, he got the strength to get up and walk around saw out of the old broken window and saw the sky scorched a dark green color, and craters everywhere from the bombs. The rest or the world was tinted grey because of the lack of light. People were walking like nothing happened. In the crowd his mom was slowly walking down the street. he ran to go and see what had happened

“Mom it’s so great to see you’re okay! what happened?” Jason said, she looked at him with a blank expression

“Is something wrong? Where’s the rest of the family? are they okay? Mom! Where’s my friends” Jason asked frantically… but was not answered. After minutes of asking Jason saw out of the corner of his eye a black jeep, and behind the jeep were six others. Jason ran as fast as he could, but knew couldn’t he outrun them, so he ran down an alleyway. the ally was too small for the jeeps. so, seven men in black suits, red ties, and sunglasses got out and started chasing Jason. he climbed up the nearest ladder to him and started to run on the rooftops. the men were persistent of catching him, so they ran right after him. Jason saw in the distance the end of the line, the end of the roof. He stopped and looked back at seven men pointing guns at him

“Freeze or we’ll shoot” the one man said,

“If you were going to use those guns on me you would have used them while you were chasing me” Jason said. So, Jason knew what he had to do, he ran to the edge of the roof and jumped onto the other roof.

“Whoa! that was awesome” Jason said. the seven men just stood there. Jason ran faster than he ever had before and jumped into a dumpster in the old alleyway and hid behind it while waiting he saw the seven jeeps patrolling the streets, but they soon left. he then saw people with blank expressions just like his mom walking down the sidewalk slowly. Jason soon decided to walk out of his hiding dumpster and into the dull streets of Florida. he looked over to a window and saw TVs, on the TV was president Jackson was giving a speech to the American people,

“The gas was nothing” Jackson said, “do not be scared, it was only a training drill”. Jason knew this was a lie but everyone else believed the clear lie. the channel was then turned off, and he saw next to him was his dad, his sister, and in the distance Toby, and they didn’t notice him, it reminded him of the time he had with them, before all this. He remembered how his family was always there for him, Toby would always help him with his homework, they were always there for him. Now he’s going to be there for them. he went to his house… or what’s left of it anyway, and got his grandpa’s old archaeology hat that he gave him, a backpack with food and other supplies, a map, some cable, and his dad's machete. he didn’t want to use the rusted machete, but if things go south he will need the protection. He put the hat on, but while he was doing it he saw on the table, was a picture of his family. in the picture he’s wrapping his arms around his mom and sister, his dad standing next to him, his grandma and grandpa beside him and his dad. As he saw this, tears started rolling down his cheeks, he wiped off the tears and took the picture. as he walked he had been reminded of his family, Jason slowly got faster up to the point of running, he wouldn’t just roll over and die while people still needed him, this would be the beginning of an amazing journey. the white house must have answers to what happened. no teenager has ever walked across an entire country before, but no turning back now. After pushing through the crowds of people he got to the town line, a metal wall seemed to have been built around the town line. two guards wearing black riot gear, holding tasers, and riot shields were guarding the gate. Jason threw a piece of the road, broken from the canister, one of the guards left they’re station to go check out the noise, Jason slowly crawled closer to the gate, and got out his machete and creeped up behind the guard, and hit the guard with the handle of the machete, the other guard herd his partner fall to the ground, the guard charged at him with his taser and swung it at Jason but he blocked the taser with his machete, the guard punched Jason in the gut knocking him down to the ground, the guard was about the strike Jason with his taser but Jason tripped him before he could strike. the guard hit his head on the ground with such force that it knocked him out. Jason got up still with the wind knocked out of him when he got his breath back. “you have the right to remain silent” he said letting out a smirk. He got the keys from the guard and opened the gate “man, those guys are so fired” Jason said, and walked out to set out a long, perilous, and fantastic journey to save his town, his family, And the world.

Chapter Three

Stranger

Jason was walking through an old town, seemed that it had been abandoned, the sidewalk was smashed, the buildings were cracked, it had been twelve days since he left his town, he got far for a sixteen-year-old, he’s about twenty-two miles away from Georgia, but had become quite lonely. he walked down the cracked road and stopped, wandered into an old hotel lobby, set down his backpack and sat down on a broken chair, took a power bar, and ate it,

“Best lunch in days” Jason said since it had been the biggest meal he had since he left. He looked around the old hotel lobby he sat down in, rats crawled on the floor, mold growing on the walls, and roof had gaping holes.

“Roomy!” he said in a sarcastic voice. He looked out the windows out at the town and saw what used to be a corner store, butchers shop, a gas station, and a restaurant, looked at the roofs of all the places and saw something, it ducked down so Jason didn’t get a good look it, Jason grabbed his machete and walked out of his hotel lobby

“Come out and show yourself!” then looking behind him was a dark-skinned girl in normal orange t-shirt, black shorts, and sneakers, her hair was long and dark, her eyes were a greenish blue. He ran to get his backpack, but she kicked Jason in the head before he could grab it,

“Look, I can’t hit a girl!” Jason said,

“Then I guess you’ll never see this again” she said holding the backpack in her hand,

“That doesn’t mean I can’t steal from one” Jason pulled the carpet out from under her, tripping her and then held her down and tied her up with some cable that he had in the backpack that he took from her and sat her by the wall of the hotel.

“So, you going to let me go” she said as the sound of rats scattering echoed through the halls,

“Nope” Jason said looking for stuff to raid,

“So you’re going to just leave me here for the rats to eat me alive, or starve to death, that’s abuse you know?” she said,

“Okay look! This isn’t easy for me either I’m just trying to survive these weird men in black suits that are probably trying to hunt me down as we speak! And I think the president took my family’s memories, I’m all alone and all got to eat is in this backpack! okay, just… please leave me alone” Jason said. it was eerily silent after he said that. Jason was done looking around, if anything was left it number one decayed, or number two was eaten by rats. He looked out the windows and saw the seven black jeeps back again, he ran to get the girl and shut and locked the door and the windows, well the ones that weren’t demolished.

“What’s going on?” the girl said,

“Remember the men in black I was talking about?” Jason said,

“Oh no! untie me now!” she said, Jason hesitated but after a while

“Truce?” Jason said,

“Truce!” he untied the cable

“Come on hurry!” she said running up a fleet of stairs

“I hope she knows what she’s doing” Jason silently says to himself. The men bust open the door and chase after them, the girl ran as fast as she could and jumped out a hole in the broken hotel wall onto a rooftop and Jason jumped right behind her, they landed on the next roof and continued running.

“By the way what’s your name” Jason said while running for his life,

“Terra” she said,

“OK then Terra my names Jason, so, what happens now” Jason said,

“We walk on that bridge” Terra said. In the distance, there was a bridge made from what looked like rope and branches,

“You sure this is safe” Jason said worried that the bridge might break when they walk on it.

“Yes, it was made by me!” Terra said confidently in what she made,

“That’s what I’m worried about” Jason said. They ran over the bridge and Terra cut the rope holding the bridge up causing the bridge to collapse. unlike last time the men shot to kill, the men shot bullets from the other rooftop and shot Jason in the leg, Jason fell, and Terra dragged him behind a wall. The bullets flew by the wall while Jason was in unbearable pain, Terra had an idea to stop the bleeding, she ripped a strip of fabric off Jason’s jacket and wrapped it around his leg. Jason limped the rest of the way until, they ended up on a balcony with random stuff scattered across it,

“Welcome into my home” Terra said,

“Grab what you need, if you need to and let’s go” Jason said while bullets were still being fired at them. she got car keys, and some bottles of water, and ran down a fleet of stairs with Jason limping behind her. They got down the old, cracked, stairs and got into a garage with a red minivan, they hopped in, Jason in the back seat and Terra in the driver’s seat. She put the keys in the ignition and drove through the garage and went down the street while bullets where flying through the car windows. Terra stepped on the gas pedal and ran into signs and poles on the way.

“Do you even know how to drive this thing!?” Jason said,

“Yes, no, maybe” Terra said,

“That’s that supposed to mean” Jason said,”

I didn’t take my driver’s test yet” Terra said shamefully

“Oh no, that’s bad!” Jason said worried for his life. Terra’s horrible driving skills just about got them through the town before they crashed, got shot, or got killed. They got to a freeway where the roads were clear, streets were dead, and they were safe. Jason’s wound was still bleeding but a lot less because of Terra’s quick thinking.

“By the way thanks for the save back there, you could have left me, but you didn’t, why?” Jason said,

“Because I feel that everyone needs a second chance” Terra replied, Jason didn’t feel alone anymore, he had someone to talk to on this long journey he had to take,

“Wow, thanks!” Jason said amazed that a person gave him a second chance even though he didn’t do anything to help her,

“And I need you to help me get out of this mess you got me in” Terra said,

“Oh… well, that explains a lot” Jason thought.

“By the way” Terra said,

“What’s with the stupid hat?”

“Hey! This hat isn’t stupid! It was given to me by my grandpa. Now he could be dead, brain-washed, in hiding terrified out of his mind. I really don’t know with option is worse” Jason said.

“Oh, I’m sorry… we ARE going to get your grandpa back” Terra assured Jason. After a while He took out his family picture the glass was gone, and a bit of the paper ripped off, he looked at it for a while like he did most of the time when he had a break from walking through dead and lifeless towns and cities torn apart, abandon, and rotting. While he stared at the picture he started to fall asleep happy and at ease. the rain fell onto the car windows and the thunder was roaring in the distance as the sky turned grey from the all the fog, Terra looked at it all and got an idea, she took some of the empty water bottles from Jason’s backpack, parked, made a funnel out of some paper she found on the floor of the car, she placed the bottles outside of the car in the rain and started to fill them. then the car started to roll away with Jason inside it. Terra ran after while yelling for Jason to wake up, Jason finally was woken up by a speed bump surprised to see that the car was moving backwards.

“What did you do!” Jason yelled out the window,

“I don’t know!” Terra replied,

“You didn’t set it to park? Where’s the keys?” Jason asked, Terra pulled the keys out of her pocket and threw it to Jason, Jason unlocked the car door and just as he opened it the car hit one of the other cars that were in the road knocking him onto the seat behind him. Terra came into the car where Jason sat looking at the bent walls of the car. He took a deep breath in and out, he looked like he was trying to not kill something, trying to contain as much anger as he could,

“What did you do!?” Jason said.

“I was filling the water bottles and forgot to put it in park… I think” Terra answered.

“Well, let’s go out on foot then,” Jason said sounding defeated. while getting out of the car he noticed a raindrop that fell on the now destroyed car bumper,

“Perfect, rain” Jason said. they got out of the car and grabbed the water bottles they set out on foot down the old, dead, apocalyptic highway hoping to find a car that’s not destroyed, has keys in it, tires are full of air, has oil, can break, and has enough gas, the car they had was perfect. That would have been a big help to get them where they need to be

“I never asked, where are we going” Terra asked,

“The White House” Jason replied

“Wait what! Are you crazy? The White House is heavily guarded, has a 20-foot electric fence, and it’s far away. How do you suppose we get there?” Terra questioned,

“I don’t know” Jason replied,

“Well that’s enough of a reason to leave” Terra said

“But you’re stuck with me until we get there so let’s keep on moving” Jason said,

“No, YOUR stuck with ME… so, let’s get this straight” Terra said as they both walked into the distance.

 

Chapter Four

A Bunker in the Woods

After three days of walking they found themselves walking through the woods, lost, and trying to find shelter for the night.

“great shortcut by the way” Jason said,

“I thought it was here” Terra replied,

“We have been going in circles for the past hour and a half!” Jason said. They walked on and on then suddenly Terra tripped on something falling to the ground, her hand cut by a stick and her leg hit a small rock on the way down.

“Are you okay?” Jason said while holding his hand out to help her up.

“Yes… what was that?” Terra asked,

“I don’t know,” Jason said clueless about what it was that just happened. Terra took Jason’s hand and got up. They checked under the leaves and twigs and found a trapdoor in the ground. Jason opened it and saw a ladder, Terra and Jason climbed down the old wooden ladder. It looked like it was unsteady and about to break and saw a hallway leading into a dirty and darkened room full of water and cans of soup along with other survival items. Jason saw a gun rack, he knew it was a gun rack because his dad was a hunter and had a rack just like the one in the room, but no gun.

“Terra!” Jason said,

“What’s the matter?” Terra said while stuffing as much soup and into the backpack as she could possibly fit.

“We need to go now!” Jason said grabbing Terra’s hand and pulling her to the hallway when an old man comes out from one of the shelves with a shotgun. Cornered, Jason tosses one of the soup cans and hits the man in the head. The man points his shotgun at Jason but just before he can shoot Terra tackles Jason keeping him from getting killed. they hide behind a shelve the man shoots once more and fails to kill them. then Jason and Terra hear the creaky ladder, they see the man’s shadow going away

“Who are you? Get out!” the old man said. After that, there was a second of silence. Suddenly Jason and Terra heard a gunshot, but not from a shotgun. After the shot, the man’s body dropped to the ground. Terra was about to scream in fear, but Jason held her mouth shut so whoever it was wouldn’t give away their position. Jason looked through a hole in one of the boxes and saw one of the agents from before looking through the shelves

“We have to go” Jason whispered,

“Who is it?” Terra whispered back, still shaken up from seeing a man get shot before her very eyes,

“An agent” Jason whispered. The agent looked like he was about to come to their shelf, so Jason threw a pebble at a trash can lid, the agent shot multiple shots at the shelf nearest to the lid and check to see if he killed something. Jason grabbed Terra’s hand and they ran straight to another shelf,

“We need to run to the ladder soon” Jason whispered to Terra, who was still breathing heavy. Terra nodded her head slowly. Quickly the agent found them and pointed the pistol at them.

“You are under arrest” the agent said,

“Run!” they quickly split up, the agent startled by them not surrendering shot at Terra grazing her shoulder, disappearing back into the maze of shelves. Jason spotted the agent walking to Terra’s side of the room, then he looked down at the ground and saw a trail of blood, the agent could easily find her thanks to the blood leading straight to her. At this point in time, he had to think of something until it’s too late. Jason walked to the shelf next to the agent watching through the small gaps in the shelves. Jason saw Terra sitting with her shoulder bleeding exhausted from running through the halls of shelves. This was it, he had to save her, and this was the only way to save her that he could think of. Jason jumped through the shelf behind the agent as a distraction and yelled,

“What’s with the sunglasses, you know it’s dark in here, right?”. Terra saw the opportunity and ran.

“Are you happy with your last words?” the agent said, “well, it will be if you answer my question… so?” Jason said trying to delay the inevitable,“well, if you must know” the agent said, “they hide my identity, now that that’s answered!”, the agent pointed the gun straight at Jason’s head, then Jason heard the gunshot he had been staling. He didn’t feel anything. He opened his eyes saw the agent still pointing his gun at his head, the agent suddenly fell over backward and saw Terra standing there with the old man's shotgun.

“Are you happy with your last words?” Terra said.

“Hey! awesome one-liners were my thing… thank you” Jason said. Jason looked to the ground and saw the agents face changing like something out of a Syfi movie, Terra’s face turned pale once his face was finished changing, she fell to the floor, as Jason rushed over to her side.

“Who is he?” Jason asked,

“He’s my dad” Terra said crying on her knees. Jason was shocked he had no idea it was her dad, not even for a second. He wrapped his arms around her,

“Please tell me this is a bad dream, because I want to wake up” Terra said, Terra wrapped her arms back around Jason.

“I’m sorry…” Jason said. They stayed in that bunker for a few minutes and then they went back to the ladder and they got up to the surface and closed the trapdoor and started to walk through the woods once more. they ended up finding a jeep parked on a dirt path.

“This is the shortcut!” Jason exclaimed, the one thing that went right today,

“Terra said nothing, she was traumatized by the whole situation she saw two men shot and one of them being her father. 

“By the way, I’m driving this time” Jason said trying to get her mind of what just happened. The only thing that was worse than seeing a dead body was seeing Terra’s face with that horrified expression. He had never seen a face so scared, so terrified. It truly worried him if she would be okay. they got into the jeep and looked around,

“He left his car keys in the car” Terra said holding up the car keys,

“Okay then let’s go through your shortcut” Jason said while putting the keys in the ignition and drove down the dirty, cracked, and crooked path

“It’s okay, we will find president Jackson” Terra let out a small smile just for a second, but then it faded back into the saddened face she’s had ever since the events of the bunker.  

 Chapter Five

A Road Trip to Remember        

Terra woke up and saw Jason cooking toast on the car engine.

“What are you doing?” Terra asked,

“Breakfast, we need to keep our stamina up if we’re going to go all the way to the White House. So, I made toast, just remember to cut out the little bit of mold though” Jason said as they sat down on the ground to eat the toast and started talking.

“Where did you learn to cook with a car?” Terra questioned,

“Television. and I learned to cook from my mom” Jason said remembering how much his mom meant to him,

“Your mom taught you to cook?” Terra said,

“No, not like cooking classes… when she got cancer I made the food every day and I learned some cooking skills on the way… and then…” Jason said struggling to get the words out, Terra put her hand on Jason’s shoulder. Conversation was silent after that. After they finished eating they hopped back in the black jeep and drove back to road, Jason stopped and got out,

“Get in the driver seat” Jason told Terra,

“Umm okay” Terra replied, she got in the driver seat

“Okay, now shift into drive and press the gas” Jason instructed. Terra did what he said, a turn came up in the road,

“Okay now turn the wheel, hand over hand” Jason said directing Terra’s hand ware they should go.

“This is stupid, I don’t need your help to know how to drive” Terra said, Jason was silent and looked at her

“Oh yes driving master please do what you like” Jason said sarcastically,

“Okay, I will” Terra said in a prideful voice. Terra then started to drive as normal,

“We’re going to slow” Terra said shifting from first gear to fourth gear. Suddenly the jeep stopped.

“Oh no what did I do!” Terra said

“What?” Jason said sarcastically “the lord of driving things doesn’t know how to ride a stick shift?”

“Okay I need a little help” Terra admitted,

“Understatement of the year, but I’ll take it” Jason said,

“Am I really that bad?” Terra asked,

“Yes” Jason said without hesitation, Jason kept on teaching Terra how to drive. One week later. Terra and Jason have traveled to Nebraska, they have bonded through the week of being together, they have become great friends.

“Hey, look a town” Terra said pointing out a huge town,

“Your right, great! hopefully there will be a gas station, were basically running on empty” Jason said,

 “Wait, Jason look, people!” Terra said in surprise, they found a populated town! The first one since Jason left. They drove into the town, wonderful places everywhere, they found a gas station and started to fill up the jeep. everything looked brand new, clean, unlike the rest of the world around them. They got out of the car and took a better look at the town around them. they saw big screens broadcasting the news,

“And so America is pressing the attack on England with the new neuro-gas bombs” the news reporter said,

“oh no, my grandpa is in England!” Jason said worried,

“We need to move” Terra said.  Jason saw the agents hiding in plain sight walk towards them,

“Agreed!” Jason said, Jason grabbed Terra’s arm and ran. The agents were behind them. Jason and Terra disappeared in the crowds of people watching the giant screens. Then all the people stopped in their tracks like they ran into a barrier keeping them from moving an inch, the people didn’t talk either, they just stood there, lifeless, and motionless. They kept running, pushing people out of the way. The people just fell over, not even catching themselves.

“We have to get back to the car right now” Terra said,

“Thanks for reminding me captain obvious, you really helped out” Jason teased. They came to a split in the road, Jason down the right side and Terra ran down the left.

Just before they parted Terra yelled, “see you on the other side!” Jason ran as fast as he possibly could run. The men split apart, the majority went towards Jason’s side of the road,“follow the boy!” one of the agents said into his earpiece, all the agents that followed Terra chased after Jason now. Jason saw the end of the line, a roadblock stood right in the front of him. too big to vault, Jason knew what he had to do, he had to let Terra escape. He turned at the roadblock down a road that was short and didn’t connect with Terra’s road at all. Terra wasn’t doing the best either. She kept running until she saw one of the jeeps speeding to her. She ran the other way but saw the agents following her. Jason got halfway down the road then was shot in the shoulder, he dropped to the ground feeling regret that he must part ways from Terra. Then his eyes shut, and Terra became more alone then she ever was before.

TO BE CONTINUED IN “WIPED”