The Downward Spiral Book 1

Chapter 8. Difficult Decisions

I couldn't believe it.

The toll bridge we used to get into the city not even a few hours ago, was up.

This bridge hasn't been up in years.

And it was a wide drawbridge. It stretched far over the Fontana River and can take close to half an hour across it to the next town. Basically, it was near impossible to get across without this bridge or a boat.

Both Ray and I had our mouths hanging open, paralyzed in shock.

"H-how could this have happened? We haven't seen anyone around for hours." Ray stammered in disbelief.

"There has to be another way out of here. Do you think there's another route or freeway we can take to get us out of here? I don't care how long it takes, I just want to go home already!" I growled angrily, already flipping the truck in reverse.

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" He hissed, obviously not thinking clearly in his scared state of mind. "I don't live out here!"

"Duh Einstein, check your phone. Don't you have a GPS or something?

"Yeah, but-"

"I don't care what you have to say, just navigate us out of here already."

I sped off back the way we came. Goosebumps formed up and down my arms and I rubbed my bare shoulders and rolled my window up. The shadow of my truck loomed ahead of us as the setting sun fell and my mind was racing on what to do next.

Ray quickly read the directions to me while I did close to 90 heading to the next freeway.

Right as I turned down the next street for the freeway entrance, I cursed in surprise and yanked the steering wheel fast the other way, accidentally sending us spiraling off of the street and up into someone's yard.

"What the hell was that?!" Ray cried, his shaky hands clutching tightly onto his seat.

I pulled the truck along the curb and shut it off and looked at him with wide eyes. "Did you not see that?"

"Wha..."

I put my finger over my lips and shush him, closing my eyes restlessly.

It was quiet but then we heard distant growling in the symphony with many others. The last bit of sunlight vanished out of sight in my rearview, the entire city now shrouded in a dark ominous blanket.

"There were hundreds of them walking around that freeway exit, blocking it completely. There's no way I can get past them."

"Oh...what do we do now?"

I shrugged feeling all my energy drained out of me. We spent the entire day running and hiding for our lives until I was finally exhausted. "I don't know." I sighed softly and laid my head back against the headrest.

My stomach suddenly growled loudly and I realized we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.

"Oh! That's right!" Ray shouted excitedly and started rummaging through his bag. I raised a brow out of curiosity and he pulled out a zip-lock bag full of pieces of fruit that I cut up yesterday, a few bags of chips from home, and his trail mix.

"Oh my God. Nice one Ray. You saved the day." I smiled weakly and instantly grabbed one of my bags of chips while he handed me a lukewarm cherry sports drink. "You remembered to bring my jalapeno cheese too, right?"

He rolled his eyes and held up a tiny container of my precious cheesy heaven.

"Yeah I got your damn cheese." He groaned, shaking his head and placing it into my hand.