Note to readers: Snowey is a rabbit. Chile is a chinchilla, (an adorable gray rodent with a bushy squirrel tail) The action takes place in a silver sports car during an attack on the United States. The piece starts in an unpoetic narrative, but when I tell the character Chloe's thoughts then it becomes as poetic as I could possibly write. It may be confusing in parts because you don't know the rest of the story, and there is a lot of it. (sky scraping trees: sky scrapers, Silver Wolf: Silver car they are in, concrete jungle: city of Omaha, Nebraska, and there are many other oddities I have included I'll let you decode them. The thoughts aren't in italics here because it would make the words small and painful to read. The girl in the story likes animals, therefore the animal metaphors and similes)(I want to know if you hated it, was it OK, is it so-so, dreadful, atrocious, enjoyable, good, or is it from a toxic waste site fuming with radiation?)
Okay, that stuff up there was from way back. Months later, I've decide to finally add the second bit to this story.
*A bit into the chapter-*
Her dad clicked a button on his key ring and the front gates began to open. Jets whooshed in the distance like a flock of eagles on the hunt. Then bursts of flame shot up into the air. "Benjamin! What are we going to do!?" her mom said.
"We're going to get a plane to get us as far from any city as possible," he said zooming past the house gate. "Chloe, don't be afraid."
Chloe didn't say anything. She shut eyes feeling tears stream out from under her eyelids. Her heart beat with the rhythm of a cheetah on the brink of death from overexertion.
I hear the roar of the car and of all the others on the road. I can tell that we are going fast by how my back is being planted against the seat. I hear a car slamming on it's breaks it's tires squeal on the wet road like a wild animal. My mother screams. My body lurches to the right onto Snoweys cage as my dad swerves. Snowey lets out a cry that I never knew she was capable of. Chile remains silent as my dad gets the car back in control.
"Chloe are you OK?" my dad asks me. He sounds so scared, just hearing him that way makes me feel guilty about thinking of killing myself.
"Yes," I say, not even believing myself. I hear the rush of other cars passing us. I hear water splash the windows. I feel my body lurch to the side again as my dad rounds a corner. I hear people scream. We must already be in the city, the concrete jungle. What are the people doing outside?
"Benjamin!" my mom says. I can feel the car slow down and I hear my dad honk the cars horn. Other drivers do the same. The sounds seem to interact with one another like the howls of communicating wolf packs. The alpha male is the machine the pack members are the people inside, us.
The car me and my family are in is the legendary Silver Wolf. It speeds through the other other wolves like a spirit. It's growl is one to be heeded. I am a young wolf and I may be carrying a pup inside me. As a consequence of mating with dogs. Regardless, I am not afraid of dying, I accept it. I await for a sky scraping tree to collapse on us.
City devouring eagles scream overhead like banshees. I hear explosive winds whistle through the air. I can both hear and feel the bursts of death as they reach the concrete jungle floor. My dad brakes and does a complete revolution on the surface of the world. The silver wolf howls in pain as his feet are grinded on the concrete jungles solid earth. My stomach didn't have time to turn with it making me feel sick.
"They just destroyed the-" my moms words are overshadowed by a thunderous waterfalls of glass and metal, "district!" I close my eyes even tighter. My very eyelids seem to smoother them underneath as they know that I have no desire to gaze upon the wave of destruction on the concrete jungle.
"I'm going to have to find a way around!" my dad says. The silver wolf changes its course, its going so fast I can't tell which way its going anymore. I hear the patter and shredding of the jungle floor as lead rain descends upon it. Sleeping wolves on the sides of the man made trails howl their death cries.
"They're shooting the population!" my mom says. I wonder what she means by population. Then I begin to think of procreation. As quickly as the lead rain fell it was gone. But the dying wolfs continue to moan in fiery torment. I know many are already dead.
"Chloe! Chloe!" my mom shrieks like a mother wolf howling for her lost offspring to return.
"I'm here," I say my voice as feeble as a barely breathing young wolf.
"Oh Chloe, it's so great to hear your voice," she says still facing away from me. The Silver Wolf was going so fast she wouldn't be able to look back. Where ever the Silver Wolf traveled we had to follow. Snowey makes her horrifying scream again. I can hear Chiles nail sized feet scutter around in his cage. I was happy to know that he was alive.
I hear the eagles changing flight patterns and coming back. I bite my tongue as the sound of explosive whistling winds once again dive toward the concrete jungle floor like diving falcons. The very ground trembles and the Silver Wolfs hind legs bounce along with its stomach. Wolves that were sleeping at the edges of the man made trails howl in protest after being awakened. They are put to sleep for eternity by another storm of lead rain.
The Silver Wolf growls and runs down the trail as fast as the wind. The lead rain is much to slow to catch up with it. The Silver Wolf runs around a sky scraping tree and outwits the eagles. They scream behind us. "I've lost them for now," my dad says. My mom pants like a mother wolf giving light to a new litter.
"We should be able to get a plane at the-" my dad cuts his sentence short as a semi-trailer roaring like a Tyrannosaurus rex charges in front of the Silver Wolfs path. My mom screams as the Silver Wolf runs under the dinosaurs belly.
"We just went under a truck!" my mom screams. The Tyrannosaurus rex's roar fades as into the distance. I never saw the dinosaur but I know that he must have been colossal for us to have ran under it. I did not dare to open my eyes and kept them shut despite the painful pressure. I cannot believe it, I'm afraid of dying!
I hear a snarling wolf running behind us the distance shortening. I then hear its breathing as it runs beside us, then it outruns us spraying the Silver Wolf with water. I hear a sound that I thought we had already lost, the eagles.
"They're back!" my dad says. I fear the return of the whistling winds and the lead rain but they never come.
"They're flying away!" my mom says. The Silver Wolf turns to the left suddenly and I am forced to turn with it. I can hear many other wolves ahead of us. I am pushed back as the sheer speed of the Silver Wolf creates an energy that reverses the laws of gravity. We pass wolf packs one after another.
I hear a heart beat under the Silver Wolfs feet. It beats louder than my racing heart. Ka-Thump, Ka-Thump, Ka-Thump. And then the scream of an eagle drowns out the heartbeat. Startled, the Silver Wolf runs with a new energy over the beating ground. I scream as a whistling wind whooshes behind us. There's an explosion and then a groan as the ground with a heart that I now know is a many legged serpent stretching over a body of water was sliced in two by the eagle. No, no! Please, I don't want to die!
Wolf packs that were still astride its back plunged into the abyss. The upper half of the serpent that we were on still supported us. The heroic reptile would not let us plunge to our deaths. My dad and mother both screamed as wolves collided with each other somewhere in front of us. My stomach again feels like it was going to release its contents as the Silver Wolf revolved atop the many legged serpent.
"There's no getting through that until those drivers get out of the way," my dad says.
How many wolves were injured? And how many were dead? I screamed when I heard the eagle return, or did it come with a partner? A surge of sideways raining lead precipitation tore at the serpents back striking wolves that were trapped on it like us.
"That's our Air Force coming in!" my dad says.
I then hear three or more friendly eagles rush toward the banshee eagles. Whistling winds swoosh through the air and then a banshee eagle screams toward the ground.
"It's heading straight for us!" I hear my mom say. The silver Wolf then begins to run backwards and bashes into the ridges running along the sides of the serpents back. I feel us falling backwards down its side as the eagle crashes down on the back of the serpent and continues to grind forward. No doubt every wolf still on the back of the serpent was slaughtered by the eagle as it fell from the sky destroying everything in its path with its razor sharp wings and talons as it breathed its last breaths.
As the Silver Wolf changed to running straight ahead again I saw bright orange and red flames burn right through my eyelids. "They all died anyways!" I hear my dad says.
"I know Benjamin," my mom says sounding like she is weeping. Behind me I hear the other banshee eagle hit the surface of the water and sink into nothingness. It died alone, unlike its partner who killed many wolves in its last seconds of life. It will soon become food for the fish.
"Chloe, we'll soon be safely in the sky," my mom says. She didn't sound like she had much faith in it every happening.
There was no reason for her to worry for me, I gave up a long time ago. I no longer have any doubt that this is the end of our existence as a species. The good eagles screech over our heads. Chile barks after being silent for so long.
"Don't worry little Chile, we'll be safe soon enough, you'll see," my mom says. I listened in amazement as his bark stopped after hearing my mothers soothing voice. A voice that I often found annoying because it always said the same things. Now I cherished every syllable of it. And yet, I could not help but feel my feelings of helplessness seep back into me.
The Silver Wolf turned and my dad said, "There it is! We'll be up in the air in no time."
"Oh Benjamin! I'm so glad it wasn't hit!" my mom says. "There are more attackers coming!" I heard more of the screaming banshee eagles slice through the air.
"They're dispersing biological agents!" my father says.
I knew what that meant. Fogs of death were being released on the concrete jungle. And we were the pests that were to be killed off by it. The Silver Wolf growled its loudest growl yet and swept past many corners it's hind legs sliding on the slick wet ground.
I heard the blades of many planes spinning and smelled their exhalation of carbon monoxide. The Silver Wolf collapsed from exhaustion and died. "Chloe, pull the seats in and take out three gas masks!" my dad barks at me. I open my eyes.
****************************
A white and gray fog was floating toward them from outside the windshield. Chloe unbuckled her seat belt and proceeded to unlatching the back seat. Snowey's cage blocking the seat from opening all the way so she had to put him on top of Chile. The animals! How would they survive? And did she truly want to survive? She did for a few seconds, but that was only out of desperation.
Once the back seat was open she ran her hands threw it and found the same mask that she and her parents had used when they went exploring in a bat infested cave in Mexico two spring seasons ago. She took two out and handed them to her parents who quickly put them on and turned on the respirators. Chloe took out the third and turned it over in her hands. The ugly black face stared at her wit hateful eyeless transparent plastic lids.
Her parents were already getting out of the car. Chloe stayed where she was. This was it, she had to choose. Do I want to carry on and watch the world destroyed? Or do I just end it now? The pregnancy strip in her pocket was now no more than just a worthless piece of plastic. She didn't care about checking the results.
"Chloe?" mom said tapping on the window. She kept a watchful eye on the gas cloud. Then her dad peeked in at her and a shocked expression appeared beneath his mask. He pulled the door open.
"Chloe put your mask on!" he said.
Chloe shook her head.
"What?" he shouted.
"I'm sorry, daddy, I'm done pretending," she said, "I don't want to live anymore."
Her mom started to cry from under her mask.
"Chloe!" her dad said, grasping the mask out of her mask and pushing it toward her face.
Chloe brushed it off.
"Chloe put the mask on!" Chloe shook her head.
"No, daddy."
"Put the fucking mask on!" he said, almost whining.
Chloe began to weep. She had never heard her father use that word before in her life, and it took somebody like her to get him to say it.
Just from the shook of seeing her father like this she was about to put on her mask before her mom said, "Look the wind is blowing the gas away!" Her dad looked to where the gas was and Chloe did to. Sure enough a strong gust of wind that hadn't been blowing before was now blowing the cloud of death away from them.
Chloe got out of the car and hugged her dad. "I'm sorry daddy," she said crying onto his chest. I'm sorry I missed my chance to die.
"There's no time for this, Chloe! We have to get out of here," he said gently pushing her away. "Lets get your pets and then we go look for a plane."
Chloe and him ran to the other side of the car and got the two animals out. Her dad carried Snowey's cage and Chloe Chile's.
"My backpack!" She put the cage on the ground and pulled out her bag from under the seat and put the straps over her shoulders. She saw a package of ham on the floor behind the passengers seat. She put it inside the pouch of her hoodie, then she bent down to pick up the cage. She left the car door open and walked after her mom and dad who were already making their way to a hanger that was open. Soon they were jogging and Chloe was to. Chile didn't seem to mind. Wait is he even alive? Then she heard his little bark.
"Sir, we only have one plane fueled for travel in this hanger at the moment and its navigation system isn't working," said a black haired man to her parents, who were handing him large bills of money.
"It doesn't matter! We're running out of time here!" her dad said almost shoving the bills into the mans face. The man looked at him with a smug look on his clean shaven baby face.
"Look at the gas cloud out there!" her mom said, pointing outside of the hanger where the cloud was now slowly spreading into view. The wind was blowing loudly. The mans eyes grew wide and he nodded.
"Do you mind if I travel with you?" he said in a frightened voice.
Her parents nodded.
"Of course, sir," her dad said.
"Alright, let's get out of here!" he said, "Are you piloting?"
"Your choice."
And then they were all running to a blue lined plane. The black haired man opened the side door and brought a set of steps down. He ran up them two at a time and toward the cockpit. Her dad who was still carrying Snowey gestured for Chloe and her mom to get on the plane. Chloe went up first careful not to lose her grip on the handle of Chile's cage.
Once inside she walked to one of the back seats and placed Chiles cage in an empty seat against a window. She took her backpack off and shoved it into the luggage area above the seat. Chloe sat down in the seat next to where she put Chile's cage. She then took the package of ham out of her pouch and put inside the pocket of the seat in front of her. Her little body was shaking in the seat.
Her mom entered the plane and sat on one of the seats across the aisle. Then her dad came aboard. "Sir, how do you close this door?" he said.
The man rushed out from the cockpit grasping the luggage areas with his hands as he walked hunched over to the open door. "I got it," he said, closing it with one quick movement. It shut and the wind from outside died down to a soft whistle.
"Chloe, put your seat belt on," her mom said as her dad put Snowey's cage on an empty seat. Then him and the man were making their way to the cockpit.
Chloe put on her seat belt. The propellers on both ends of the plane buzzed to life.
"We're finally safe, Chloe," her mom said.
Chloe smiled at her mother, who returned it. Within moments they were moving out of the hanger and onto the runway. Chloe looked out the window to where the gas cloud and wished she hadn't. In spots where the wind blew the gas around enough for visibility of the ground Chloe saw several lifeless bodies of blue uniformed workers on the ground. With her keen eyesight Chloe saw that they were foaming at the mouth.
She looked away and instead looked at around the plane which was lit it up in a brilliant display of lights.
"Ye-hah!" the man in the cockpit said as the plane started to gain altitude.
Chloe and her family were soaring like eagles. But they still weren't safe. At any moment the screaming banshee eagles could find them and shoot them down.
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