The Road

I couldn’t go back. Not after saying goodbye for the last time. The empty highway ahead of me felt infinite. It went on forever. 

But that didn’t matter. I had nowhere to go anyways.

My legs recovered enough for me to start riding my bike again. I hopped on and started pedaling. Normally riding my bike was fine and easy but this time I was carrying a backpack full of supplies and my weapons. 

It was peaceful in a way biking on this long, smooth road. It felt almost wrong to be biking on a road once dominated by cars. Now it was all mine to ride on. I weaved my way through the battered-up cars stranded on the road. The skeletons in the cars stared at me but I didn’t look back. All I had to look at was to wherever this road led. 

I couldn’t believe it ended the way it did. We were doing so well too, or at least as well as you could when the world was the way it was. 

My mother’s smile the last time I saw her would haunt me forever. A person like her didn’t deserve to go out the way she did. 

I clenched my handles tightly and started pedaling faster. My blood was pumping and my breathing was angry and heavy. This was unacceptable. I rode and rode and rode.

Eventually, I came across a bridge. The bridge ahead ran across a big lake and was empty of cars. I stopped to catch my breath. I parked my bike and walked over to the ledge of the bridge. The light wind produced some slow waves across the lake. The water used to be clear at some point. Now it was a murky brown. I could see the city that we used to live in, in the distance. Smoke was coming from the tall buildings. You could smell the despair all the way from here. Why did things have to come to this?

Suddenly I heard a pop in the distance from the direction I came from. I quickly hopped on my bike and started pedaling forward frantically. I looked behind me and I saw three motorcycles barreling towards me. 

 “Looks like we found someone boys!”

They all had on clown masks and leather jackets. What do I do!?

I took a deep breath. Think… Okay… Let’s do this.

I stopped my bike and hopped off. I pulled out my crowbar sticking out from my bag and held it in front of me. A motorcycle was coming right at me. I sprinted forward, sidestepped, and swung the crowbar as hard as I could at the clown’s head. A solid hit connected on his skull. The clown crumpled to the floor and the motorcycle ran into a tree and fell over.

The other clowns stopped and hopped off. I held my crowbar in front of me towards them, ready. 

They each pulled out a machete and walked slowly over to me. I quickly pulled out some knives from the side pocket of my backpack. I held the knives in one hand and the crowbar in another. 

One of the clowns started sprinting at me. I readied a knife and threw it as hard as I could at him. It landed cleanly in his thigh. He slowed and clutched his thigh but kept running at me. I readied a second knife and threw it once again. It landed in his neck. The second clown crumpled over. 

The third clown looked at his fallen ally and started walking slowly towards me. I had one knife left, I readied it. The clown screamed and barreled towards me. I sprinted forward, throwing the knife at him. It hit him squarely in his chest. He looked down at the knife and at that moment I swung at his head with all my might, the speed of my velocity adding power to the impact. The third clown was knocked cleanly off his feet and crumpled to the floor. 

I stood there panting. I pointed my crowbar at the clowns and placed my crowbar back into my backpack. I walked over to the motorcycles and looked through the bags attached. I took the medical supplies and the food they had in the bags. Everything else was junk.

Thankfully, my bike was unharmed. As I walked back to the bike, one of the clowns caught my eye. He looked roughly the same size as me, and his leather jacket looked really cool... I thought for a moment... 

The leather jacket fit me perfectly. It was kind of warm too! I felt cool wearing my new leather jacket, riding my bike into infinity. 

I rode and rode until finally, my legs couldn’t take anymore. I stopped on the side of the road and took my bike into the trees. I found a nice set of trees formed in a circle. I pulled my tent out of my backpack and started setting up for the night.

The cicadas and crickets created a chorus of sounds. The frogs joined in and contributed to the concert of the night as well. It was so loud and comforting. You couldn’t hear the sounds of night in the city. Thankfully the animals stayed when the humans disappeared. 

After the tent was set up, I decided to sit outside and just take in the night under a tree. I looked up and could see some of the sky. The stars were peaking through the leaves, shining brightly. 

I closed my eyes and nestled further into the tree. A wave of sadness rushed over me. My mind went back to the last moment I saw my mother…

“MOM! WE CAN STILL BOTH ESCAPE!” I yelled.

My mom smiled at me.

“Yes, but I think it’s my time son. I’ve given you everything my whole life. I will still give you everything after I die,” she said calmly.

“BUT MOM!”

“It’s okay. I’ll see you again. Don’t worry.” 

She then kicked the door of the room we were hiding in open. She brought out her pistol and started shooting at the intruders that broke into our home. 

I picked up the backpack laying on the floor and did what my mom told me to do. I kept hearing the shots and people yelling. I opened the window and started climbing down the wall using the places where bricks were missing as climbing holds. Eventually, I made it to the ground. I stopped and listened closely for any more gunshots. I heard them, but they were becoming less frequent. I sprinted to the side of the house where my bike was and started to unlock the lock on it. Then the gunshots stopped. My heart dropped.

I left my bike and sprinted to the front door and ran inside. My mom was crumpled on the floor, bloodied up.

“MOM!” 

My mom looked up at me.

“I got them all, the bastards,” She said weakly.

“Good job mom, now let's get you healed up.”

Oh god, there was so much blood. 

“Son, it’s okay. Don’t worry about me.”

“Mom… You’ll make it, okay?”

She shook her head.

“It’s okay.”

She placed her hand on my cheek.

I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore.

“You’ve grown up so much. You’ve made me so proud over these years.”

I couldn’t speak, my throat was so tight. Despair was suffocating me.

“I love you,” She said with an angelic smile.

I yelled out as I clutched her limp body. 

I lost the only person who gave me something to live for. 

I shook my head. I got up and left my tent area. I walked back out onto the road.

The moon was big, bright, and red. The thick haze of the smoke in the air made it look a deep, ominous red.

I sat down on the patch of grass in the median of the highway. The moon loomed over me, looking down at me. 

I looked forward towards the road. Infinity awaited.