Mack’s hands curled around the steering wheel of his new car. He could feel the weight of the payments he had to make in the cracked leather. The sun was setting as the coupe jetted across 34 towards the mountains on the horizon. In the seat next to him, Molly looked out the window. She was still roughed from the night of the monster, unable to speak. He was glad she had come with him.
The doctors had figured them dead when they were brought into the hospital. National Guard members posted up outside their rooms to let them perish undisturbed. To the surprise of everyone, both Mack and Molly pulled themselves from certain death. Bones seemed to heal on their own. Infections disappeared as if they had never existed. The acne scarring on Mack’s face cleared up. He met her outside the hospital doors on a sad, cloudy morning.
A man in a uniform had come in to talk to each of them. He explained that they had suffered a strange case of amnesia. That the radiation leak from Fermilab had scrambled their brains. He had suggested a vacation, not to look at or speak to any media.
They were surrounded by miles of industrial cow pens. The stink seeped through the car’s panels and got worse as they went. The sun was setting against the distant mountain range, a brilliant tie-dye of warm colors. Mack smelled Molly begin to sweat.
He looked for a place to rest.
A place with thick walls, he thought.