My stomach growled loudly when I parked at the Northlane bridge and I nudged Ray awake.
"Hey, do we have any more food left?"
He sat up in his seat and stared into space for a moment before grabbing his bag and looking inside. I nervously watched him dig through it until he brought out a baggy full of soggy fruit and a bag of already opened chips with hardly any chips in it. "Nothing new since last night. I still have this trail mix."
I grabbed them and munched on a handful of nuts and m&ms before opening the door, swinging my legs off of the seat. I surveyed the area and luckily didn't see any of those freaks walking around here. The crisp wind whipped at my face as I listened and the waves crashed against the rocks below us.
I spotted a small square concrete building by the ramp with some kind of red spray paint on the side of it.
"Ray, why don't you go check out that building over there? It might be able to have the controls to lower the bridge down."
He hesitated, not bothering to open his door. "Y-you're not coming with me?"
"Obviously not like this." I said pointing at my foot. "Don't be a chicken, I don't even see any of them out here."
"What if one of them comes out?"
"That's what the brick is for, just bash his face in with it or throw somewhere to distract him to give you time. Don't worry, I'll watch your back."
He sat there for a moment and I rolled my eyes. "Do you want to stay in this hell hole of a town or do you want to go home? Cmon brat, be a big boy already."
Ray pulled his inhaler out and took a hit of it before stuffing it into his jean pocket. "Alright, I'll do it."
"Finally." I muttered under my breath when he slammed the door shut.
When he reached the building, I yelled out, "What does that red paint on that wall say?"
He jumped out of his pants in fright at my voice and placed a finger over his mouth to shush me. His legs were shaking as he looked at the sign to read it and then he made an attempt at the doorknob.
As he trotted back towards the truck I heard a faint splash come from below.
What the hell was that?
I looked over the edge, searching the depths of the water underneath the bridge, looking for any movement. There was a huge shadow casted from the ramp over the small riverbank and I squinted my eyes to try and see what made the splash.
Was I hearing things?
"We have a problem."
"What?" I asked and then almost flew out of my skin when I turned back to see Ray in front of me.
"Wait, you were watching out for me right? Like you said?" He panicked.
"Of course I was, dork. Now what's wrong?"
He pointed back at the building. "Well, there was a message on the wall, it said, "Lower bridge on other side, Survivors Denver." It looks like that building is just a toll booth, but to lower the bridge, we have to do it from the opposite end."
"But how are we supposed to get across if the ramp is up?"
The splash came to mind and I remembered the river below.
"We can always drive back and check the freeway again?" He offered.
I shook my head. "It's too risky, with my feet all cut up like this, I don't think we could survive another night here."
YOU ARE READING
The Downward Spiral Book 1
ParanormalBlood? My wrist was covered in it. It wasn't dried up or reeked of the combination of that black gunk from all those other freaks. It was fresh and warm too. Where was it coming from? I checked my body. My t-shirt was splattered in everyone else's b...
