Apartment 905 by Sahin, Ned (readnow .TXT) 📕

there is anything that we need to do to turn this beast on. She finds a Swiss knife instead and uses it to cut off the plastic zip around her hands.

Someone opens my door and points a rifle on my face.

“Step out of the truck, now!” Leyton says.

If I move fast enough, I can push the rifle away and jump on Leyton. Another option is to close the door as fast as I can. Once it’s locked, no one can enter this tank-like truck.

I hear a shot fired.

Leyton goes down in pain.

“I guess I have to come with you now,” Toshi says, holding his rifle.

“Hop on, brother!” I say. Toshi has proven one more time that he is a friend I can rely on.

He gets in the truck on the passenger side and sits next to Val. I close my door and push the lock button. I glance at Leyton holding his bleeding leg.

“Move that switch forward,” Toshi says, pointing the control panel above my head. I look up. Near the sunroof controls, there is a switch with a safety lock label on it. I move it forward and turn the engine switch on again. The beast roars like a lion ready to go after his hunt.

I drive right into the half-open thin garage door. It cracks from the middle allowing the truck to pass through. The Saviors outside run to each side of the driveway. Some of them even salute. I am not sure if it’s because of their respect to this doomsday beast or they think the state leader is inside.

“Miguel, we are coming to the front gate in a truck!” I say on the radio. We hear the shooting pauses for a second.

“Come fast, Matt!” he yells.

We approach the front gate. Several Saviors behind the gate are shooting outside.

“Open the gate!” Toshi yells at the guard in the booth. The gate starts sliding to the right. We pass as soon as there is enough opening for the truck to fit.

It’s hard to see where Miguel and Diego are. Across the road is a dense tree line. They might be hiding behind trees.

I decide to turn right and speed up. I see a van parked about a half-mile away. Miguel must have hijacked it to get here. I pull over behind the van. Miguel and Diego running toward us while still shooting at the gate.

Diego gets hit from his shoulder and falls down.

“Toshi, help them!” I yell. Toshi and Val jump off the truck. They carry Diego to the van while Miguel starts the car. Saviors go through the gate and run toward us, randomly shooting.

Toshi runs back to the truck. Val looks at me for a second as she stands near the van. She smiles and waves her hand. Then she gets into the van. Miguel pushes the gas pedal, which makes the van spin. I do the same. We turn to the ramp and get on the highway while Saviors are still running toward us.

We are now on the eastbound of the highway. This road goes to the Atlantic Ocean which is the opposite direction of where I want to go.

“Miguel, do you copy?” I say on the radio while taking an exit to go to the westbound.

“Si, Matt,” he responds.

“I wish you and your family luck, sir. It was nice meeting you...” I say. The radio signal starts to make a static noise as we get farther away from each other.

“You too, son... Thank you for everything you did for us,” he says with an emotional wave in his voice.

We are on the westbound going over 90 mph now. I can’t believe a truck that is as heavy as the Centaur could go this fast.

“Are we going to the West Coast?” Toshi asks.

“Yes… So, we can find my family… and we can find a ship for you to sail to Japan,” I tell him. “But there is one more thing we need to do first.”

Chapter 15

We drive about an hour and pass a nearby city, Durham. I remember Exit 173 from the duty list at the Saviors cafeteria. Their logistic camp should be somewhere here.

Toshi didn't believe me at first when I told him about my plan. Going to a Saviors camp after what happened in the Raleigh base is highly risky even though this camp is only for logistics. They do things like growing plants and canning food there. There should be only one or two guards if there are any.

After I told him why I have to go there, he supported my plan.

I take the exit and slow down while turning the ramp. The Centaur is fast and strong like the creature it was named after from Greek mythology. Even if this truck was built to rule the chaos, its steering angle is worse than a semi-truck.

We see several greenhouses about a mile away from the end of the ramp. I continue to drive with caution and try to see how serious they are about security. As we get closer, I see only two Saviors at the gate.

I pull over the Centaur about half a mile away and turn off the engine. Toshi and I both grab binoculars from the truck’s command center. From here, it looks like Saviors at the gate are the only guards in the camp security. They have only sidearms and don’t appear to have rifles or shotguns around them.

Compared to the Raleigh base, this camp’s security is next to nothing. Even the gate itself is worse than what they had at Asheville camp. There is only an iron pole separating the camp from the road.

They say that kindness unlocks every door. We decide to see if it will open the gate at this Savior camp.

I start the truck’s engine and drive to the gate at 20 mph. Toshi gets into the command center.

I stop the truck a few yards from the gate. Both Saviors stare at the Centaur with their mouths dropped