Reset (Book 2): Salvation Read Online Free PDF Page B

Wrecker, like all his kind, had smooth skin, no hair and a slightly elongated head, like a Neanderthal. His nose was wide and flat, a thick substance formed at the base of his small nostrils. His lips were big with a clef that exposed his larger teeth and gums. His mouth was open and from it was more of the thick greenish substance.
    However, more than his mouth and nose, it was the eyes of the Wrecker that said a lot. Eyes that always bulged were so red they looked black. His eyelids were encrusted with what looked like scabs and around his thick neck were glands so swollen and purple, they had grown so big, they were splitting the skin.
    The Wrecker wasn’t lost or injured, the Wrecker was sick. He died from what ailed him. If Rusty didn’t know any better, he would sworn it was the virus. But that was impossible. It had been dormant for nearly ten years.
    Nonetheless, whatever it was that killed the Wrecker, scared Rusty.

FOUR – LOOKING BACK
     
    It was going to be a long trek, time wise to get back to the buggy, but at the speed Jason walked, Nora wondered if they’d make it out of the city before dark.
    He dragged. Typically he didn’t, was there something on his mind?
    She was able to find a couple of those two wheel carts that had a handle like wheeled luggage. They weren’t in the best of condition, but she cleaned them up and packed them with items she took from the Westin and other items she picked up. They moved easier and carried more than the plastic drug store cart.
    She pulled one cart, pen in mouth, map in hand, duffle bag over her shoulder while Jason pulled the other with the guitar over his shoulder. He walked a few feet behind her.
    She paused, looked down at the map, pulled the pen and marked off landmarks. It was a tourist style map with businesses marked on it. It was far easier for her to keep track of where they were and where they were headed by landmarks. She marked off another.
    Remnants of landmarks were easier to spot than street signs.
    “Chernobyl.” Jason said.
    “Oh, he speaks.” Nora turned around. “What did you say?”
    “Chernobyl. I remember looking at pictures.” He paused and took a sip of water. “I remember in school we learned the eco process.” He walked and caught up to her. “I distinctively recall my science teacher telling me. ‘Look at an empty field. In five years you’ll see this, in ten you’ll see that’.” He shrugged.
    “A lot of factors play into what would be overgrown. At least I think...”
    “Theoretically and scientifically, this should look like Nashville. Then again, not everyone left Cleveland. Some stayed. We saw that. But Chernobyl, at least the pictures didn’t look like Nashville. No one lived there. Maybe they did and we just didn’t know. Mutants and such.”
    “I don’t know what to tell you, Jason.”
    “Just idle conversation, I guess. Now that my mind unlocked a lot of stuff.”
    Nora felt a little jealous. “You’re remembering?”
    “Yeah, the bits and pieces are no longer like memories of movies, I know them now as my life. You?” Jason asked.
    Nora shook her head. “My full memories don’t really start until my twenties. Hell, I nearly didn’t remember I was in the service.”
    “They’ll come.”
    “I hope. I want to remember my parents.”
    “What if you remember stuff you wish you wouldn’t?”
    Again, Nora stopped walking. “That was a really odd thing to say. Did you?”
    Jason pouted and shrugged. “Conversation for maybe later.”
    “You’re on. Since we don’t have anything else to do.”
    “There’s always Yahtzee.”
    “Yeah, you did find that.” She smiled.
    They walked for another hour, keeping the idle chitchat alive until they arrived at the lot where they had left the Solar Buggy. They had hidden it behind a building near the overpass and barricade. Roads were too overgrown to drive on.
    Nora set down her things and cleared the brush that she used to hide the buggy.
    “See, from here