Whoosh!
Wind blew against the parched ground, sweeping away dust and debris.
Screech!
A shrill metallic screech became audible in the distance.
"Shit! Where did it come from?" Aden exclaimed, steering to the left, trying to dodge a big tumbleweed.
"That came out of nowhere," Maria gasped, alarmed by the sudden situation, and scanned left and right to look out for more, if there were any.
"That was weird." His vigilance soared, and the feeling of fatigue vanished as if it had never been.
"That must be Bullhead City," Maria pointed at a large settlement ahead.
"Yeah." He commented, the memories of the city, the overlord, and the battle, fresh on his mind.
"Wanna have a look?" It was her first time out of the settlement since 'The Great Silence', so she was slightly curious about Bullhead City. Especially, the supposed location of the overlord's demise.
Being familiar with the tales of the Overlord's slaying, she wanted to see the site for herself.
"Can we do this while returning?" He replied. They had a clear destination, and he wanted to reach there while the daylight still remained to avoid travelling at night.
Sigh!
"I guess you're right. Maybe next time." She commented, somewhat disappointed, but understood his decision.
Vroom!
The vehicle drove past Bullhead City.
***
A few minutes later, they arrived at the Don Laughlin Bridge.
"Is that really the Colorado River?" Maria exclaimed at the sight of the river. The once wide, majestic Colorado was now a mere canal-sized stream, its former glory gone, replaced by a canal-sized water stream.
Skriik!
The pickup came to a sudden halt. Aden stepped out and looked below the bridge, and saw the pitiful state of the once-great river.
"Could the dam above be the reason?"
"Maybe. Let's get going now. We'll inform Franz about it." She commented, making a mental note about the river issue.
Vroom!
The vehicle moved again. And as the time passed, so did they; they saw multiple dead unincorporated communities by the roadside, the first being Laughlin.
Finally, they reached another unincorporated community called 'Searchlight' as the sun hid itself behind the horizon, letting the night take over.
"We have covered about 100km today. We should be able to reach Boulder City by tomorrow afternoon. Let's fill our stomachs and rest here for today," Maria said while searching for perishable food supplies on the cargo bed.
"Okay, sister. I'll go and look for a place to rest. Don't forget to call me if anything happens," Aden left Maria at the truck and moved further into the community to scout.
"You too," she called after him, her voice a mixture of concern and resolve. "If anything goes wrong, just run to me."
***
Swish!
A cold wind whistled throughout the community, generating an eerie sound. He felt like he was in some sort of horror movie, waiting to be hunted.
"That's creepy," Aden mumbled, armed with a shotgun and a Geiger counter.
Creak! Creak! Creak!
As he got closer to the first house, the wooden floor beneath creaked as if ready to give out any moment. So, he carefully made his way to the door, and turned the door knob.
Crack!
"What the hell?" He exclaimed with a doorknob in his hand. One turn was enough for the doorknob to fall out of the door.
Thud!
Shortly, the wooden door gave out and fell.
"Well, we're not staying in this one." He muttered as he moved on to the next house.
Fortunately, the second house was sturdy and in decent condition.
Hmmm
"This should…"
Click! Click! Click! Click!
Suddenly, the Geiger Counter went off and cut his sentence midway.
"Nope." He left the building in search of another; he didn't even watch the scale on the Geiger Counter, the intensity of the flickers was enough.
Phew!
Once clear of the radioactive house, he breathed a sigh of relief and moved to the next building.
"Okay, this one should be fine for a day." He came across another decent building after multiple failures and found it suitable after a closer inspection.
"I should tell my sister about it." He thought as he quickened his steps.
***
Maria was busy with dinner preparation over the firewood she collected. Suddenly, she heard a voice in the distance. "Sister, I found a place to rest."
"That's good, come help me with dinner."
"Okay." Aden approached her, and then washed his hands and chopped vegetables.
Half an hour later, the dinner was ready: sautéed vegetables, meat soup, and loaves of bread.
"Smells amazing." The trip had left him famished and exhausted. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."
"This is not a horse, but it should be enough." She chuckled and set a plate for Aden and herself.
The dinner was quite an experience. It felt peaceful as they consumed their food while the whole world was silent.
***
Shriek!
At midnight, they heard a piercing, beastly noise.
Huh!
Aden woke up abruptly.
Shriek!
It wailed again.
"Sister, wake up," he spoke quietly, trying to wake Maria while not attracting the beast's attention.
"What is it, Aden?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Did you not hear it, sister?"
Shriek!
The wail got closer, so did its steps.
Aden took cover behind a wall with a shotgun, armed and ready. Meanwhile, Maria stood on the opposite side with a handgun.
Creak! Creak! Creak!
The situation grew tense as its steps grew closer, and his grip tightened even further.
Grrrr!
Sniff! Sniff! Sniff!
The pitch black night made it hard to see or observe, so the beast sniffed around to compensate for it. However, its sense of smell was anything but remarkable.
The beast remained clueless even when the shotgun barrel was poised above its head.
Bang!
Immediately, its brain exploded, scattering brain tissues mixed with skin strips, skull fragments, and lead pellets.
Splat!
Some of the remains got over them. Unfortunately, they lacked the time to suit themselves in a radiation suit.
"Shit!" Aden cursed with an urgency, "Sister, we have to wash ourselves."
Shriekkkkk!
The commotion attracted more of its companions, so they had to leave before they could do anything about the splattered bits.
"Sister, can you grab the belongings?" Aden spoke as he got to the door and took a defensive position. Meanwhile, Maria grabbed their belongings quickly.
Once everything was recovered, they quickened their steps toward the pickup. On the way, they hear more screeches and growls of remaining beats.
***
Whirr!
The engine roared back to life, however, the noise also grabbed the attention of the remaining beasts.
Vroom!
"What the hell was that?" He couldn't help but ask as he pressed the gas pedal as hard as possible.
Phew!
He breathed a sigh of relief once the beasts were out of sight. The identity of the beasts remained a mystery.
Splosh!
Suddenly, Maria splashed water over herself and started rinsing.
"You could have said to stop, sister." Aden steered the pickup to the side and applied the brakes.
Screech!
The engines died down, and the silence took over everything. The proper stop gave them enough time and place to make a soapy water solution, then they took a turn to wash themselves.
"Ah! It feels so refreshing." The cold water and the scent of the soap washed over his exhaustion and drowsiness, but his eyes remained red, indicating the lack of sleep.
"According to the map, we're about 20 km away from Boulder City. We should be able to reach there by the afternoon." She commented, with a map in her hand.
"Can you gather some wood? I'll make breakfast for us." She said while looking for ingredients in the cargo bed.
***
"Well, that sucks." He was about 500 meters away from the pickup, but found nothing in sight besides the arid road and barren mountain on the back. Finding nothing but arid roads and barren mountains, he returned empty-handed.
"No wood?" Maria asked. Aden shook his head in response.
"Don't worry. We'll use the backup firewood." She commented and grabbed pieces of firewood.
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
He watched over Maria as she made breakfast, it reminded him of the settlement, he felt like he was still there.
"Sister, can we take a rest? My eyes hurt from lack of sleep." His eyes were red and ready to close at any moment. The refreshing feeling from back then was nowhere to be seen.
Maria nodded as she was in a similar situation to him, barely able to keep her eyelids open.
"Aden, wake up." He heard a soft voice while he was in a dreamy state, unable to discern whether it was real or fake.
"Aden, wake up. It's time to go." This time, the voice was loud. Suddenly, he could feel a tug, and it became frequent without his response.
"Huh!" He woke up and found Maria pulling him. "What's the matter, sister?"
"Look outside the vehicle." She replied
As he rubbed his eyes and took a peek, he found the sun right over his head. Then, he noticed himself drenched in sweat.
"Let's go, sister."
The vehicle left with both inside.
An hour later, a medium-sized city came into their view.
"We're here," Maria exclaimed as they got closer to the city.