One Minute to Midnight (45 page)

"Get a good look?" She
asked.

"I'm sorry, I uh, just
bumped…"

"Don't sweat it. I don't mind. Who
else am I going to show these to?" She said.

Danny pulled a t-shirt over her head
and slid her hand down his cheek flirtatiously as she walked by,
grinning as she passed. "Come on." She said. Falcon felt the blood
rush from his head, and quickly followed her out the door with a
warm fire brewing down below. He was hooked. She went to the window
and looked outside to see if any mutants were milling about, and
seeing that the coast was clear, placed Baxter in her sling, tossed
her rope ladder over the side, and climbed down.
"Follow me to the back yard." Danny vanished around the
corner.

"Wait up, you guys it's not all that
easy to climb down a danged rope ladder when you're literally just
bones." Tony yelled.

Danny entered a two-car garage a
moment later, and slid the large white door up manually. She stood
in front of a mid-sized sport utility vehicle and took a bow as
Falcon and Tony approached.

"You are a lady of many surprises.
Does that thing run?" Tony asked.

"Of course it does. I changed the oil,
tuned it up, and even put a fuel stabilizer in the tank to keep the
fuel fresh."

"Right on! A Toyota 4Runner! These
things last forever, at last that's what my dad used to tell me."
Falcon's smile wavered a bit at the thought of his parents, but
Danny rubbed his shoulder, her eyebrows raised in
concern.

"Let's get to the airport and see if
anything still flies out there." Danny said.

The 4Runner fired up, and then they
drove out of Dannyville, headed for the freeway. When Danny arrived
at the off-ramp, she was confronted by a sea of rusting cars. Torn
up hulks littered the highway, stretching into infinity. In the
distance, they could see the remains of a city skyline, touching a
beautiful morning sky of azure blue. Danny wound her way through
the twisted wrecks, their passengers still at the wheel where they
had died. The highway was a mass grave. Signs for the airport began
to appear along the right side of the road, and she followed them
while Tony and Baxter sat in the back, and Falcon rode shotgun; he
had, after all, called it. When they crossed over a bridge, Falcon
could see a herd of mutants battling a pack of wild dogs, all of
them competing for their only source of food.

"I hate what this world has become."
Danny said.
"It wasn't much better than this when all of the people were here,
though." Tony said.

"True, but even though it was a
miserable shit hole, there was company." Danny replied.

"I just hope my parents
are still alive out there. It's been too long, and I'm not sure of
anything anymore." Falcon said. He was looking out the
window.
"Boo hoo! You make me sick, Falcon. Not only was my family killed
in a neutron bomb blast, but I'm a walking, talking skeleton,
dammit!" Tony screamed.
"I'm a talking beaver, are you serious? What the hell is that
about? Don't get me wrong, you guys are great, but I would love to
have my life
and
wife back again."
"Yeah, well everyone's lost someone, you know what I mean?" Danny
said. She took the exit for the airport, and when they arrived,
they saw a variety of airplanes, big and small, and all of them
defunct.
"Let's see if we get anything working, shall we? I need to find a
smaller plane like a twin engine Cessna or a Beechcraft." Danny
said as she drove through the gates of the airport and headed
toward the hangars. "This is a spooky feeling. A few years ago,
there would have been an armed escort and a prison sentence
attached to this little adventure."

The airport was dead quiet as they
drove past one of the terminals. A seven-forty-seven was parked at
the gate, still waiting for passengers to board after all these
years. Its tires were flat, and there were two skeletons in yellow
vests laying by a cart filled with luggage. Danny drove down the
hangar row and found what she was looking for.

"There it is boys. A small turboprop."
They approached the plane and could see that it was in good shape.
Being covered from the elements had preserved it, and after she ran
a few checks, fired up the engines, and walked the plane, they were
ready to go.
"I sure am going to miss all of this. I mean who doesn't like
running from and fighting mutated abominations, right?" Falcon
asked.

"I just hope you're right about people
being out in San Francisco, but we'll find out soon enough. This
little guy should have enough fuel to get us there." Danny said.
She threw her arms around Falcon and gave him a kiss on the lips,
and he returned it.
"Get a room!" Baxter yelled.

There was a sudden commotion out on
the flight line, and when Tony went to check it out, he saw
hundreds of mutants wandering around in the mid-morning
sun.

"Guess the sound of the engines must
have brought the send-off committee. We should leave." Tony
said.

They all jumped into the
plane.

"Cross your fingers!" She
yelled.

The engine exploded to life with a
bang as white smoke exited the exhaust, and she began to move the
throttle forward. The mutants were running at them now, and closing
the distance fast.

"There's too many to shoot! We'll
never make it off the ground. Bastards have the runway covered!"
Danny shouted.

She taxied right, following the arrows
down the runway strip, and as she bumped and jostled along the way,
the mutants were still on their tail. The monsters were quickly
blocking their only clear route.
"When I have to turn left up there on the runway to get enough
speed for liftoff, I won't be able to because of the obstacles.
There's just too many mutants."
"Hey Falcon! Get back here, I have a plan." Tony yelled. Falcon
unbuckled and moved to the back of the plane.

"That's not a real safe thing to be
doing right now." Danny said.

"Sweetheart, we ain't gettin' off the
ground unless one of us does something drastic." Tony
replied.
"Kid, I'm going to open that door and make a run for it. Give me
your pistol." Tony said.

"That's crazy!" Falcon
said.

"No time to argue." Tony opened the
passenger door and motioned for Falcon to give up his gun.
"Here you go. How are you going to keep from being torn apart?"
Falcon asked.

"That's for me to worry about and for
you to shut the hell up about. Just close the door and lock it
after I'm out. I'll lead them away from you." When Falcon handed
him the pistol, Tony jumped out of the moving plane.

Tony rolled, stood up, and ran away
from the plane, shooting the pistol twice. He was successfully
drawing the mutants away from the plane. Danny turned left and they
were on the runway, watching Tony run around like a crazy person
with a herd of mutants after him. She pushed the stick forward to
gain max engine speed, and they were bumping and gliding toward
freedom. In less than a minute, she had enough speed to gain lift
and they were airborne. The last any of them saw of Tony were his
bones being engulfed by hungry, mutated humans in a mass attack.
Falcon saw Tony wave at the plane just before he was drug under.
Nothing was said between the three for hours as they sat in
silence, mourning Tony and the loss of their lives before the
wars.

"Something tells me we'll
see him again." Falcon said.
"I sure hope so." Danny replied. Falcon saw her wipe a tear from
his peripheral vision, but didn’t mention anything. They were alive
in a world gone mad, and had each other for the trip to
California.
"I'm pleased to be in your company, even if you
are
humans." Baxter said.

Danny turned and smiled at him,
shaking her head. "Always running your mouth. We love you, too."
She said.

Danny checked her maps to estimate
where they were, and because the instruments on her panel were
still functioning properly, she ascertained they would be in San
Francisco in a few hours. Falcon could feel his parents out there
somewhere, and he knew that whatever happened, he was with three
stellar companions, and they could start over.

"I think we're going to have a lot of
fun in this new world." She said. Falcon nodded and they both
turned to look out into the sky.

Meanwhile, back at the airport, Tony
picked himself off the ground, placed a few torn off bones back on
his body and stood. The mutants had lost interest in him because
even with all his commotion, there was nothing to eat once they
caught him. Tony adjusted his shirt and pants, picked up his
stepped on hat, popped it back out, and placed it atop his skull.
He brushed some dirt off his jeans, and then pointed west.
"It'll take me a little longer, but I like the solitude anyway."
Tony walked toward the setting sun.

The whole gang will return in the
novel A New Day Dawns

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Lang is a science fiction, fantasy, and
horror author living in North Carolina with his wife and
son.