Last Ride

Date: Lost in time

By: Your's truly

“Pff…”

A puff of smoke exited a young male’s mouth, rising and dissipated into the air. The male was in his late teen, wearing a black baseball cap, a police body armour over a white round collar t-shirt. A pair of dark blue jeans and light grey running shoes covering his lower half to complete the outfit.

He stood at the edge of a cliff. An endlessly stretching plateau ahead of him, decorated only by abruptly risen butte. Behind him, a car parked next to an unmaintained road running from the South to the North. The blue roof, massive spoiler, exaggerated hood scoop, and aggressive body shape hinted at its purpose once upon a time, but now, dusted by sand, the car only looked weighted and beaten. The teen put the cigarette back in his mouth. The wrapping paper burned away with a faint glow, down to the filter. He gazed at the horizon, then turned around, crushed the cigarette butt underneath and walked back to the car, where there was already a young girl sitting in the passenger seat. She already had her seatbelt on, facing forward.

“Sorry keep you waiting.” The teen said as he entered the car. The girl didn’t say anything, but didn’t seem to be bothered either. The teen knew that. She’s unusually mature even for by adult standards, and awfully hard to see through.

The teen turned the key, and after a few pop bangs, the engine was ignited. He took off his baseball cap and placed it loosely on the girl's head. Slowly, the car backed up onto the road, and followed it up North.

Inside the car, the man lazed back in his seat. He rested his left arm on the steering wheel, while his right hand palmed over the gear level. The interior was old-fashioned compared to the cars before the apocalypse: Dials to control the air conditioning, radio decorated by seven segment display and nobs. The mechanical dashboard lit by the red backlight. The needle hovered at the forty-kilometre mark, oscillating ever so slightly, which was about the most entertaining object in the car.

Thump!

The teen floored the break. The seatbelts snapped as the pair was rocked forward.

“You okay?”

The teen turned around asking the girl, though her unfazed, unmoved expression proved his worry unnecessary. With a sigh of relief, the teen got out of the car. A patch of asphalt broke away from the road, exposing the dirt and sand underneath. He squatted down next to the back wheel, caressed a new scratch among the countless surrounding it.

After a long pause, the teen stood up and went back to the seat. Before getting in, he rested one arm on the roof and one on the door frame, looking in the direction where they came from. Over in the distance, a wall of sand peeked its head over the horizon, tumbling across the land.

“We’ve got to go.” The teen quickly got in. Within seconds, the car dusted off further North.


The teen squinted his eyes, desperately trying to see through the impenetrable storm for a shelter. Then as if a miracle, a shadow briefly entered his field of vision. He turned right into the shadow, revealing a gas station. One supporting pillar had already collapsed, burying the pump underneath in debris. On the other side of the pumps was a convenience store, all boarded up except the glass door.

The car came to a stop in the parking slot closest to the door. The teen reached into the backseat for a black leather jacket, then from the door pocket, he pulled out a pistol.

“You stay here.” He said to the girl before exiting the car.

The wind outside was far worse, carrying the sand and stinging his face. The teen covered half of his face with one arm walking to the door. Then, with difficulty fighting the wind, got the door opened and slipped through.

The door slammed shut behind him as he examined the surrounding. Dust floated freely in mid-air, being shone by the orange light let through the from outside. There was no one in sight, and no items were left on the shelves, as to be expected.

The teen paced through the empty isles, when he suddenly stopped in the middle of one at the sight of a food wrap on the floor. He picked up the package and patted away the dust. It was a golden plastic wrap with a transparent middle area, revealing the half dark brown, half cloudy white gummy inside.

It was once his favourite candy.

A squeaky noise then came from the back of the store, pulling the teen out of his memory. He looked in the direction, a dark hallway that quickly faded into pitch blackness like the void. Within seconds, a middle-aged figure emerged from the shadow. He was maybe an inch taller than the teen, not shaved, and wearing a brown trench coat.

For just a second, the two stood opposite of each other in the store, separated by the shelves between them, only seeing each other’s chest and up. The whistle of the wind outside was all that could be heard.

The middle-aged man reached down, sending the flaps of his coat flying, and before those came back down, a flash of light followed by a bang dropping the teen onto the floor behind shelves.

The teen was on his knee battling the sharp pain coming from his left chest, while bullets still flew above his head, hitting and ricocheting off of concrete walls and metal shelves. After what felt an eternity of banging and clanging, the gunshot stopped, followed by nervous swearing.

“Fucking piece of shit!”

Clenching his teeth, the teen stood up with all of his might. The middle-aged man’s head was placed in the centre of his rear sights, then, as he turned toward the teen, revealing the panic on his face, the teen pulled the trigger. The wall behind was splatted with blood, and the man dropped onto the floor without a grunt.

The teen lowered his gun and looked at his surrounding, then down at his chest. It was hard to see with the dark space on top of the black body armour, but there is no doubt the shirt underneath was slowly being soaked by the blood seeping through.

Pressing his hand against his chest, the teen exited the store with his shaky legs, panting heavily. With a trail of blood-drops behind, he got into his car and collapsed in his seat.

“Can you get me some bandage?” He asked the girl.

He waited a bit more.

“Hello?”

“Jess?”

The teen turned his head, only now did he notice the empty seat.

He pushed the door opened and crawled out of the car. There was no sign of the girl. No footprint, no torn off clothes.

“Jess! Jess!” The teen cried.

The wind got stronger, quickly swallowed him, while carrying his howl into the distance.


The sandstorm stopped in the morning. As the sun rose above the horizon, the teen was nowhere to be found, and the blood trail covered by sand. The car was still parked in the same spot, however, half buried under sand. Light beamed through the dusty windshield, and in the front seat, was a teddy bear with a red bow tie, seating in stationary.