Take a bite out of time - 1 OF 3

TAKE A BITE OUT OF TIME - PART ONE OF THREE


DECEMBER 21st 2012


They had been on the road until about three minutes ago, working their way down the highway to a cabin they had kept up state for years, a safe haven to hide from the oncoming disaster that now sprung up all around them. Then the road disappeared, replaced with rubble and twisted metal.


The SUV navigates haphazard through the bramble and brush as the ground beneath it shakes and quivers. The sky blankets the forest with a vermilion stain as the clouds churn and evaporate from the extreme heat rising into the atmosphere.

Chuck manhandles the wheel in defense against the trembling earth so as not to careen into a tree or cast down a newly formed fissure in the earth. His wife Janice sits frozen stiff with terror in the passenger seat, her hands pressed firm against the dashboard.

“Jesus fucking Christ we’re going to die we’re going to die!” She screams, nerves tremble her jaw.

“We are not going to die Janice!”

Chuck cuts hard to the left, boulders cascade down the mountainside pulling earth and trees along with them blocking their path.

In the distance an eruption, a volcano births in real time pouring out hot melted stone.

“Look out!” She hollers out a warning two seconds too late. The SUV smashes hard against the tumble of debris. The vehicle spins out and slides left toward the open mouth of a small cave cut natural into the side of the cliff.

The SUV slips seamlessly into the open mouth of the cave skidding sideways until it disappears into the darkness.

They continue for another thirty feet or so then come to an abrupt and violent halt when the vehicle is forced still by the caves ever constricting walls. Sparks illuminate their panic stricken faces and the SUV screeches to a stop stuck sideways in a hard place.

“Janice? Janice I think we’re…Janice!” Chuck looks to his wife, unmoving in her seat to his right, her brow caked with blood. He rips the seatbelt from his frame and slides across to her. “Janice Jesus fuck baby wake up.”

He shakes her with panic force in effort to coax her from her slumber. His finger runs length along the cut on her temple. “Baby come on.”

She coughs weak, a blood bubble pops from between her lips.

Chuck kicks open the driver side door and unbuckles his wife then drags her out onto the cave floor. “You’re going to be fine Janice. You’re going to be fine I promise.”

She stirs, her eyes flutter like butterfly wings. “Chuck? Chuck are we…”
“We’re fine. We’re safe.”

The sounds of an earth gone mad, an earth fighting with itself in a battle to the death, explosion and hell fire, can be heard echoing down the passage from the world above.


MARCH 15TH 2013


A small fire embers and hums in the center of the stone walled enclosure. Around it a thick blanket, the backseat from Chucks Escalade. In the corner of the room light dances over the discarded empty cans once stuffed with non perishable food stuffs.

Janice sits in the earth some feet from the fire pit eating stale bread from a half empty bag of the same.

“Janice?” Chuck steps into the light his backpack draped over a shoulder, zipper open.

“Please tell me you found something out there.”

He drops the pack at her feet. “It’s getting harder and harder to find anything edible lately. All the perishables have, well perished, and all we have to scavenge through are the cars up on the highway and a few country homes about a quarter mile east. We’re going to have to move soon baby.”

She grabs the bags and turns it over dumping the contents on the ground. Two boxes of crackers, a bag of Doritos and three chocolate bars fall out in front of her.

“This is it? My god Chuck we’re going to die down here.”

“That’s why I’m saying we have to leave soon. I know it’s dangerous out there but if we stay here we’ll starve for sure.”

Janice tears open one of the bars and inhales half of it in a bite. They had both been suffering these past few months but the effects had been much more visible on her.

Her once supple frame had now withered to compare to a wafer thin runway model, anorexic and malnourished. Her dark hair was beginning to patch with small tufts of white and grey, stress mixed with poor diet.

Chuck on the other hand was lucky enough to support the frame of your average American and looked slightly healthier than he had when they first arrived in this mess. The bags under his eyes, the fatigue on his face, but he had lost just enough weight to be mistaken for healthy.

Janice opens a second bar, pauses and looks to Chuck.

“You go ahead baby. You need your strength.”

“Are you sure?”

“Tell you what, I’ll eat the crackers.” Chuck takes seat next to her by the fire and pops open one of the boxes of saltines taking a handful to his mouth.

“Yum.” He grins jokingly as he forces the dry, stale crumbs down his throat.
She laughs, her essence brightens slightly. He had a way of bringing the life in her to the surface when he needed to.

A sound like life against metal clangs down the cavern passage from where their car had sandwiched itself between the walls of the cave some months past; Chuck leaps to his feet.

“What was that?”

“I’m supposed to know the answer? It’s not like I’m expecting company.”

He steps slowly toward the sound speaking in a whisper. “Right I forgot we had invited the Klein’s over for dinner tonight.”

She has to cup her mouth to hold back the giggle. He turns to her with a finger to his lips.

Chuck disappears into the shadow past the realm of the small flame, his footsteps fade down the tunnel.

“Jesus fuck!”

“Chuck!” Janice pushes herself up, steps back to the cave wall.

“My god you scared me half to death.” His voice echoes down toward her.

“Chuck what the hell is going on out there?”

Chuck steps back around the corner and into the light again. “Baby it’s okay.”

“What the hell was…that?” Her voice trails as she spots the girl child standing next to Chuck, no higher than his waist.

Her hair matted, blood caked on her sundress and around the corners of her mouth, dirt smeared over most of her body.

“Oh my god.” Janice runs to the child, her paternal instinct takes over. She wraps her arms around the young girl of no more than eight years and lifts her off of her feet.

“I’m guessing she’s been out like that for weeks now judging by the state of her.”

Janice takes the girl next to the fire and sets her down. “My goodness child, where is your family? Your mother, where’s your mommy?”

The girl returns the query with no more than an empty gaze, she says nothing.

“Janice honey, I’m guessing her parents are…yeah.”

“Oh, oh right.” Janice looks back to the child.

“You must be famished.”

Chomps's lip curls subtly round the corner of her mouth, she nods.


END PART ONE