Countd0wn

Chapter 10: The Longest Road

I didn't know how much time had passed since Sparrow and Ivy had left, but I knew I  had to get to them before they left. If Sparrow thought I was gone, there was no telling how far she would run away. I couldn't let Ivy think I was dead. And if what that creature said was true, whoever this Dark Man was, he wasn't getting her. Not while I was still alive.

I ran through the forest as fast as I could, and finally made it out to the road. I saw the usual pileup of cars, but no sign of Sparrow or Ivy. Not wanting to make any noise, I moved into the road, and started to move around the cars, looking for them. I stepped quietly, trying to look of any signs of life, when something knocked me onto my back, and a heavy weight pressed against my chest.

When I opened my eyes, I saw a knee holding me down, and a mess of brown and blonde hair hanging down above me, which surrounded a pair of sky blue eyes. "Wren!" Sparrow quickly got off of me and helped me up, holding me slightly.

"Thank God you're ok. I saw smoke rising from the trees and assumed the worst...but I didn't want to leave in case you were alive. Guess it paid off. Sorry for hitting you. Thought you were one of them and..." She said all this very fast, as if her mouth had super-speed too.

I laughed a bit and rubbed the back of my head, it still slightly hurting from hitting the pavement, and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright, Sparrow. I'm just glad you're ok. What about Ivy?" 

Sparrow looked back at one of the cars, which I noticed had it's door open. "I put her in there. She's still out cold, but I can hear her breathing, so that's good. What happened back there?" She looked at me, seeing my slightly singed clothes.

I quickly explained the story about the swarm of creatures, and how they can infect dead bodies, and the lead one in the polka-dot dress that spoke. As soon as I reached the part about the Dark Man, Sparrow's eyes widened, and she shook her head slightly. "No...you honestly don't think they meant..." 

I nodded my head solemnly, and she ran her fingers through her hair, a dreadful look on her face. I sighed, and massaged my head to try to help the pain that I was feeling from my fall, when I remembered what had woken us up in the first place. "Sparrow...this morning, I felt a huge pain in my head, like someone was squeezing it...and I heard a voice. Did you hear it too?" 

Sparrow whirled around, with a shocked look on her face, then nodded slowly. "It...said something about coming home...and sanctuary...." I was shocked, even though I had predicted this before we had run into the swarm again.

But I still had so many questions. Who or what could have sent that message? Was it someone like us? Was it the thing that attracted the swarm? Why did Ivy fall unconscious when it happened? My mind was racing, and Sparrow obviously saw it, because she put a hand on my shoulder. 

"Hey, relax. Whatever happened, it's over now. We just need to get out of here. Who knows how many of those things we attracted with your little fireworks show." I put all of the questions in the back of my mind, and nodded. I grabbed the backpack, along with the Glock, which was now our only weapon, and went towards Sparrow's car.

I looked in the backseat and saw that Ivy was lying down underneath Sparrow's jacket, and looked peaceful, almost like she was sleeping. I just hoped she would wake up. I picked her up, and carried her in my arms. Sparrow walked up next to me, and stared at the both of us. "Alright, where we going?"

I looked over the hill in the distance that the road went over, and pointed towards it. "A few miles down that way is a rest stop. We can shelter there for a few days until we figure out what to do next." I didn't want to go back to the town we usually travelled to, seeing that's where the Dark Man had been last time. I found it strange how accustomed I'd gotten to calling him that.

Sparrow nodded, and picked up her bag, and we began to walk down the road. The skies were relatively cloudy, but it didn't look like there would be any chance of rain. As we passed by several cars, we saw that some of them had dead bodies within them, while others were just spattered with blood.

While we were walking, we spotted an animal. I saw something moving across the road, and motioned for Sparrow to get down. She ducked behind a car, and I gave her Ivy, then drew the Glock. I moved close to where it is, ready to engage whatever it was, but then I saw that was just a deer that had wandered onto the road. It's antlers stuck out of it's head, and it was looking around. It was the first non-infected deer I'd seen in a while.

After an hour or so of walking, Sparrow spoke up. "Is this what normal walking is like? Really, really slow and boring." I looked at her and laughed a bit. It was her turn to hold Ivy, and she was currently on piggyback, her face resting against her back.

"You been using your powers for that long? You just never bothered to walk anywhere anymore?" I asked her, hoping that the conversation would take my mind off of things.

She shrugged, and pulled Ivy up a little more. "Well, if you had the power to basically be anywhere you wanted as fast as you wanted, wouldn't you use it all the time? I mean, you never used your powers to do anything cool?"

I gave her a bit of a doubtful look, and turned to face ahead of me, sighing a bit as I spoke. "Well, think of it this way. You're a guy who can literally shoot plasma out of his hands. How am I supposed to do something cool? Set someone's pants on fire?"

Sparrow saw how sad I looked, and nudged me a little bit with her shoulder. "C'mon, that sounds fun, you gotta admit. But don't you go trying it on me, pal." She made a show of backing her hips away from me, which made me laugh a little bit.

I realized how long it had been since I had laughed for real, and at something that was actually funny. The feeling was good, like sliding into a warm bath. I looked over at Sparrow and smiled a bit. "So, why Sparrow? I know that's not your real name."

She looked at me with a bit of a suspicious gaze, then laughed. "Well what if it is? You don't know me. My parent's could have been incredibly cruel, as well as bird-watchers." She smirked, then walked in silence for a bit before speaking again.

"Ever since the Incident, I changed a lot. Not just with the whole super-speed and bones thing, I mean, as a person. I'm not who I was before all this happened. So, I figured, since I'm basically a superhero, I need a secret identity. So, that's where Sparrow came from." She brushed some hair behind her ear. 

I thought over this for a second, how familiar her story sounded, and then decided to say it. "Funnily enough, I got a superhero name too. Glowman." 

She laughed out loud at this, snorting a little bit. "Seriously?! Out of all the stuff that you could have chosen, you decide to go with Glowman?"

I laughed a bit myself, then motioned over to Ivy. "Well, it wasn't exactly my idea. She came up with it the first time she saw my powers. It's kinda like her way of knowing that I'll protect her. That I'm her own personal superhero."

Sparrow looked at me with her eyes, and gave a glowing smile, like a proud mother. "That's sweet...you really love her, don't you?"

Before I could answer, I saw Ivy stir on Sparrow's back, and my eyes widened. "Ivy!" Sparrow felt her move and picked her off her back slowly and put her on the ground, and we both watched her eyes open slowly and her hands rub her face, like she had slept for a long time.

I looked at her and gave her a huge hug, being careful not to be too tight, and looked into her eyes, my hands on her shoulders. Her eyes were sleepy and drowsy, and didn't seem to respond when she saw me, which made me worry. She spoke with a low voice. "Wren? I...had a dream...the Dark Man...he says he's coming to get you..."