Hidden/Spoiler:
“Tire Iron”
Aaron pulled into the motel’s driveway off of the interstate he knew he had made it. The little light in on his dashboard flashed on and off, crying for gasoline. He had doubted himself the whole time, but he made it anyway. The near 3 day drive to Newburgh, New York was a killer. But because he was pulling into the driveway he felt great, almost like he had died and was reborn. Even as he stepped out of the car to see the disturbing image of yet two more mutilated corpses on the sidewalk nothing could end his high. In fact he didn’t even notice them, just stepped over them and continued on his way. He looked down the long hill down and away from the motel. There were huge mountains reaching up and out of the ground tearing through the sky and blocking his view of the late June sun. That reminded him, it was late afternoon and he knew Troy would be here any minute…. He had to get here soon or he wouldn’t make here in one piece. He looked over to his right shoulder at the huge Hampton Inn, and he realized that that hotel would have been a much nicer option. But there would be people in there. Bad people. People who would kill him for his supplies. People who would kill him for sport. It was 5 days after China had invaded the United States, and the initial craziness of the American citizens had died down. The Chinese had sold the United States laser weapons a year before the invasion knowing that a solar flare that was to come would disable all of their weapons, leaving them open to invasion. The Chinese had also let genetically engineered animals into the United States to wipe out the rest of the Americans. Some of those citizens being Aaron’s family. But Aaron had been to smart and played his cards right, which helped him escape.
He walked up to the front of the motel. He stepped over the three more dead bodies that laid sprawled on the ground, bullet wounds all over their them. Dried blood covered the dirty cement around them. Aaron knocked on the front door nervously with one hand. The front of the building was much nicer then the back and there were two entrances that both led to the main lobby. The door was made of metal rim around the outside and the center was glass. Aaron smiled; he knew glass could be broken easily.
He went to pick up a rock to smash the door with when he heard the distinct, drawn out howl of one of the Chinese genetically engineered wolves. Seconds later the evening air was filled with the sounds of giant wolves. Aaron threw the rock aside and ran for his truck. He knew that the smashing of the window would only attract the wolves. And he certainly wasn’t in the mood for any unwelcome guests. He opened the front door to his old truck which he had left unlocked and jumped inside. Breathing heavily, he looked out the rear window then out the front again. His heart was beating a hundred miles an hour.
The calls continued to draw closer. He debated staying in the truck but then realized he’d be a sitting duck. He needed to get inside that building. Aaron quickly searched through the car for anything that could be useful in getting into the motel. He rummaged through the back of the truck, the howls of the monsters growing ever closer. He grabbed his tire iron from his glove department and stared at it for a long moment. He remembered just 5 days ago he had been a normal high school senior with his whole life ahead of him, he had a part time job helping his dad fix cars, decent grades, and a handful of friends. Everything a guy could ask for.
He looked around for another entrance other then the front door. His eyes stopped on the maintenance room door that looked as if it led into a room of the hotel. It had a doorknob. That’s what Aaron looking for. Aaron looked around to see if any wolves were in sight and said to himself, “Okay, I have the tire iron, I found a door, but how do I get to it in one piece?” he opened the front door to his car and slowly stepped out of it. He looked down the long hill that led to the highway, only to meet the eyes of at least ten wolves that were the height of a basketball player and as long as the public bus Aaron used to take to work. He turned around and ran for the door. He could hear the wolves panting loudly behind him and knew the wolves would be on him in seconds. He fastened the tire iron on the door knob of the motel and ultimately forced the door open. He whirled around and slammed the door shut on the wolf’s snout. The teeth of the wolf were the size of bananas and as sharp as steak knives. Aaron raised his arm with the tire iron in it and knocked the wolf’s teeth out. It reared back and Aaron shut the door completely. He fell against it with a thud and sat with his back to the door. “Troy!” he called, “You here?” There was no reply. He stood up and walked out of what appeared to be a maintenance room and walked towards the main lobby. He heard what appeared to be a fight. He slowly edged his way along the plain wall and peered around the corner at what was happening in the lobby. It was Troy fighting a man with a shotgun.
Troy had gotten into the building hours before Aaron and had just been waiting around when Aaron called out from him. A man with a shotgun ran out of one of the rooms and Troy knew there was no doubt he was going to kill Aaron for his stuff. Troy had waited behind the front desk for the man to walk by before he tackled him into the wall and started to punch and claw at the shotgun in his hands. He had held the man off just long enough for Aaron to get to the scene and help him out. The man smacked Troy across the face sending him onto his back. He pointed the shotgun at Troy and moved his finger to the trigger. Aaron had gotten behind the man unnoticed and right as the man pulled it Aaron smacked him on the head with his tire iron. The shrapnel flew everywhere, but it didn’t hit Troy. Troy stood up and smiled at Aaron. “That was okay, although I am sure I could have done better.” He said to Aaron trying to seem cool, even though he was physically shaking. They both looked down at the man who was now laying flat on his face. They knew he was dead just by looking at him. The indent of the tire iron was soaked in blood and gross to look at. Troy grabbed the shotgun and looked down the barrel. He jokingly closed one eye and said, “Hey I think I can see another slug,” Aaron laughed and slapped Troy on the shoulder. “It’s nice to see you again, moron,” Troy laughed and said, “Yeah you too butthead!” They talked for about an hour just chilling out and searching for useful supplies. Behind the counter Troy called, “Hey, Aaron come check this out!” Aaron ran over to the front desk to see Troy fastening a MECH-ODF 720 on to his hand. Aaron started laughing like a madman and told him to try it out. (the MECH-ODF 720 is a metallic device that locks around your hand and forearm and can be used to manipulate objects in the environment around you by using your brain waves and transmitting the energy from your thoughts into the glove.) Troy squeezed his eyes shut and pointed the device at an ugly green couch in the corner of the hotel. The device muttered “CALIBRATING….CALIBRATION COMPETE……..SEARCHING FOR TARGET…….TARGET LOCKED.” in a women’s voice and when Troy opened his eyes the couch was levitating right in front of his eyes. Aaron was literally so excited they found this device he was jumping up and down like a little kid who just ingested ten pounds of candy.
That’s when things went wrong. The MECH-ODF 720 was only in ALPHA testing, meaning there were some glitches. Troy placed the couch back down and picked up a lamp. Unfortunately the lamp was made of metal and that was the one thing the MECH couldn’t handle. “RECALIBRATING RECALIBRATING RECALIBRATING RECALIBRATING RECALIBRATING RECALIBRATING” the device kept saying. The boys’ smiles had vanished. “SHUT IT OFF!” Aaron screamed over the MECH. Troy kept hitting the off button of the device. It finally shut off, but it sent the sparking, spiraling lamp out the glass front door with a crash. The security alarms went off. Aaron and Troy looked at each other for a second like they didn’t know what to do. Then at once they were off towards Aaron’s truck. They ran through the broken glass of the front door and around the side. In seconds this place would be crawling with freak animals. “Wait, lets get the stuff from my car real fast I have a lot of food!” Troy shouted to Aaron over the security alarm when they reach his truck. Aaron exhaled slowly “Fine, but we have to move now!” he screamed back. They bolted for Troy’s car. They reach it and opened the doors. Just then the alarm stopped. Someone had disabled it from inside the motel. They hurried even faster, their ears ringing as they threw the food in the back of Aaron’s pickup. They kept hearing a distinct belching sound, though they had no idea where it was coming from. “FREEZE AND STEP AWAY FROM THE CAR!” a stranger called from behind Aaron. Aaron and Troy stepped away from the Aaron’s truck. “Give me the weapon, NOW!” the man screamed at Aaron. Aaron looked down at the tire iron in his hand. In a matter of 2 hours it had saved his life 3 times. He put the tire iron on the ground and kicked it to the man. The dark outline of the man bent down and picked it up. “okay now I need your car keys, sir” the man said to Aaron. Troy stepped in “Wait!” the man pointed the shotgun they had forgot in the lobby at Troy, “Was that you burping a few seconds ago?” the man stopped for a second, but that was all the time Troy needed. “OBJECT LOCKED” The MECH muttered. The shotgun was instantly torn from the man’s hands and thrown onto the ground. Aaron laughed and picked up the shotgun. “I’d like my tire iron, sir?” the man ran at Troy in fury, catching him off guard. But just before he had reach him a gigantic animal lunged out of the darkness and seized him in its maw. The tire iron clinked to the ground. Aaron instinctively grabbed it. The man screamed and howled but in a matter of seconds he had been devoured and swallowed. The monster stepped into the light. What had probably once been an innocent bearded dragon lizard was now a giant, ten foot long behemoth that stood before them now. Aaron gulped and looked for a way out. There was no escape. Their backs were against the truck. Another dragon stepped out of the darkness. Then another. Three ten foot long beasts stood before Aaron and Troy now.
One of the lizards stared at Aaron for a good minute. Aaron was sweating so much he could barely grip the tire iron he now held in his hand. Then the silence was broken when the lizard started exhaling loudly like it had just ran a marathon. The other lizards joined in. Troy looked at Aaron for answers and Aaron shrugged. Is that methane that they are exhaling? Aaron thought. Then it hit him. “DUCK!” Aaron screamed at Troy. Startled by the sudden noise of its prey, the lizards all belched at the same time causing an incinerating flamethrower of burning methane. If Aaron and Troy had been standing they would have been toast on the spot. “Get in the truck!” Troy screamed to Aaron. They both ran around to the driver’s side of the truck, one of the lizard’s claws catching Aaron’s leg. He let out a cry then hit the ground. Troy helped him up quickly and he jumped in the back of the pickup truck with the food. He threw the keys to Troy and he jumped in the front seat and backed up over one of the lizards. One down two to go. Aaron thought. He stood in the back of the pickup truck maintaining his balance, grasping the tire iron in one hand, the shotgun in the other. As Aaron had expected, Troy would still abide to the speed limit of forty miles an hour, giving the two remaining lizards (who now were seeking vengeance for their friend) came scampering down the highway after the car. Aaron had to force himself to temporarily drop his tire iron so he could shoot the last shell in the shotgun. Just as Aaron had one of the lizards in his sight Troy did a ninety degree turn to avoid hitting some dead bodies, causing Aaron to lose his balance fall backward against the car. One of the lizards leaped and caught the back of the truck with its two front arms. He took his shoot wisely and the lizard’s hands blew up in a bloody explosion of flesh, and the lizard let go of the car and laid on the road, making no attempt to continue its attack. The last lizard however was the leader, Aaron could tell by the look in its eyes. Aaron picked up his tire iron and screamed for Troy to go faster, Troy was more then happy to do so. The lizard made its leap when it was close enough to the truck and perched on the back of the pickup truck, standing on two legs. The pickup truck whined under the weight of the lizard. Aaron’s dad’s favorite saying echoed in the back of his head as he looked at the beast. Finish what you began. The lizard swung its razor sharp claws at Aaron. He just managed to get out of the way. The lizard had made a fatal mistake, it had left it left flank open. Aaron caught his balance and slammed the lizard in the ribs with tire iron. It was just enough to send the lizard over the side of the pickup truck and on the highway. Aaron looked down at his bleeding calf and screamed to Troy “Where are we going!” Troy looked back and said, “To a five star hotel!” And on that note Aaron laid in the back of the pickup truck to watch the sun rise.
Aaron pulled into the motel’s driveway off of the interstate he knew he had made it. The little light in on his dashboard flashed on and off, crying for gasoline. He had doubted himself the whole time, but he made it anyway. The near 3 day drive to Newburgh, New York was a killer. But because he was pulling into the driveway he felt great, almost like he had died and was reborn. Even as he stepped out of the car to see the disturbing image of yet two more mutilated corpses on the sidewalk nothing could end his high. In fact he didn’t even notice them, just stepped over them and continued on his way. He looked down the long hill down and away from the motel. There were huge mountains reaching up and out of the ground tearing through the sky and blocking his view of the late June sun. That reminded him, it was late afternoon and he knew Troy would be here any minute…. He had to get here soon or he wouldn’t make here in one piece. He looked over to his right shoulder at the huge Hampton Inn, and he realized that that hotel would have been a much nicer option. But there would be people in there. Bad people. People who would kill him for his supplies. People who would kill him for sport. It was 5 days after China had invaded the United States, and the initial craziness of the American citizens had died down. The Chinese had sold the United States laser weapons a year before the invasion knowing that a solar flare that was to come would disable all of their weapons, leaving them open to invasion. The Chinese had also let genetically engineered animals into the United States to wipe out the rest of the Americans. Some of those citizens being Aaron’s family. But Aaron had been to smart and played his cards right, which helped him escape.
He walked up to the front of the motel. He stepped over the three more dead bodies that laid sprawled on the ground, bullet wounds all over their them. Dried blood covered the dirty cement around them. Aaron knocked on the front door nervously with one hand. The front of the building was much nicer then the back and there were two entrances that both led to the main lobby. The door was made of metal rim around the outside and the center was glass. Aaron smiled; he knew glass could be broken easily.
He went to pick up a rock to smash the door with when he heard the distinct, drawn out howl of one of the Chinese genetically engineered wolves. Seconds later the evening air was filled with the sounds of giant wolves. Aaron threw the rock aside and ran for his truck. He knew that the smashing of the window would only attract the wolves. And he certainly wasn’t in the mood for any unwelcome guests. He opened the front door to his old truck which he had left unlocked and jumped inside. Breathing heavily, he looked out the rear window then out the front again. His heart was beating a hundred miles an hour.
The calls continued to draw closer. He debated staying in the truck but then realized he’d be a sitting duck. He needed to get inside that building. Aaron quickly searched through the car for anything that could be useful in getting into the motel. He rummaged through the back of the truck, the howls of the monsters growing ever closer. He grabbed his tire iron from his glove department and stared at it for a long moment. He remembered just 5 days ago he had been a normal high school senior with his whole life ahead of him, he had a part time job helping his dad fix cars, decent grades, and a handful of friends. Everything a guy could ask for.
He looked around for another entrance other then the front door. His eyes stopped on the maintenance room door that looked as if it led into a room of the hotel. It had a doorknob. That’s what Aaron looking for. Aaron looked around to see if any wolves were in sight and said to himself, “Okay, I have the tire iron, I found a door, but how do I get to it in one piece?” he opened the front door to his car and slowly stepped out of it. He looked down the long hill that led to the highway, only to meet the eyes of at least ten wolves that were the height of a basketball player and as long as the public bus Aaron used to take to work. He turned around and ran for the door. He could hear the wolves panting loudly behind him and knew the wolves would be on him in seconds. He fastened the tire iron on the door knob of the motel and ultimately forced the door open. He whirled around and slammed the door shut on the wolf’s snout. The teeth of the wolf were the size of bananas and as sharp as steak knives. Aaron raised his arm with the tire iron in it and knocked the wolf’s teeth out. It reared back and Aaron shut the door completely. He fell against it with a thud and sat with his back to the door. “Troy!” he called, “You here?” There was no reply. He stood up and walked out of what appeared to be a maintenance room and walked towards the main lobby. He heard what appeared to be a fight. He slowly edged his way along the plain wall and peered around the corner at what was happening in the lobby. It was Troy fighting a man with a shotgun.
Troy had gotten into the building hours before Aaron and had just been waiting around when Aaron called out from him. A man with a shotgun ran out of one of the rooms and Troy knew there was no doubt he was going to kill Aaron for his stuff. Troy had waited behind the front desk for the man to walk by before he tackled him into the wall and started to punch and claw at the shotgun in his hands. He had held the man off just long enough for Aaron to get to the scene and help him out. The man smacked Troy across the face sending him onto his back. He pointed the shotgun at Troy and moved his finger to the trigger. Aaron had gotten behind the man unnoticed and right as the man pulled it Aaron smacked him on the head with his tire iron. The shrapnel flew everywhere, but it didn’t hit Troy. Troy stood up and smiled at Aaron. “That was okay, although I am sure I could have done better.” He said to Aaron trying to seem cool, even though he was physically shaking. They both looked down at the man who was now laying flat on his face. They knew he was dead just by looking at him. The indent of the tire iron was soaked in blood and gross to look at. Troy grabbed the shotgun and looked down the barrel. He jokingly closed one eye and said, “Hey I think I can see another slug,” Aaron laughed and slapped Troy on the shoulder. “It’s nice to see you again, moron,” Troy laughed and said, “Yeah you too butthead!” They talked for about an hour just chilling out and searching for useful supplies. Behind the counter Troy called, “Hey, Aaron come check this out!” Aaron ran over to the front desk to see Troy fastening a MECH-ODF 720 on to his hand. Aaron started laughing like a madman and told him to try it out. (the MECH-ODF 720 is a metallic device that locks around your hand and forearm and can be used to manipulate objects in the environment around you by using your brain waves and transmitting the energy from your thoughts into the glove.) Troy squeezed his eyes shut and pointed the device at an ugly green couch in the corner of the hotel. The device muttered “CALIBRATING….CALIBRATION COMPETE……..SEARCHING FOR TARGET…….TARGET LOCKED.” in a women’s voice and when Troy opened his eyes the couch was levitating right in front of his eyes. Aaron was literally so excited they found this device he was jumping up and down like a little kid who just ingested ten pounds of candy.
That’s when things went wrong. The MECH-ODF 720 was only in ALPHA testing, meaning there were some glitches. Troy placed the couch back down and picked up a lamp. Unfortunately the lamp was made of metal and that was the one thing the MECH couldn’t handle. “RECALIBRATING RECALIBRATING RECALIBRATING RECALIBRATING RECALIBRATING RECALIBRATING” the device kept saying. The boys’ smiles had vanished. “SHUT IT OFF!” Aaron screamed over the MECH. Troy kept hitting the off button of the device. It finally shut off, but it sent the sparking, spiraling lamp out the glass front door with a crash. The security alarms went off. Aaron and Troy looked at each other for a second like they didn’t know what to do. Then at once they were off towards Aaron’s truck. They ran through the broken glass of the front door and around the side. In seconds this place would be crawling with freak animals. “Wait, lets get the stuff from my car real fast I have a lot of food!” Troy shouted to Aaron over the security alarm when they reach his truck. Aaron exhaled slowly “Fine, but we have to move now!” he screamed back. They bolted for Troy’s car. They reach it and opened the doors. Just then the alarm stopped. Someone had disabled it from inside the motel. They hurried even faster, their ears ringing as they threw the food in the back of Aaron’s pickup. They kept hearing a distinct belching sound, though they had no idea where it was coming from. “FREEZE AND STEP AWAY FROM THE CAR!” a stranger called from behind Aaron. Aaron and Troy stepped away from the Aaron’s truck. “Give me the weapon, NOW!” the man screamed at Aaron. Aaron looked down at the tire iron in his hand. In a matter of 2 hours it had saved his life 3 times. He put the tire iron on the ground and kicked it to the man. The dark outline of the man bent down and picked it up. “okay now I need your car keys, sir” the man said to Aaron. Troy stepped in “Wait!” the man pointed the shotgun they had forgot in the lobby at Troy, “Was that you burping a few seconds ago?” the man stopped for a second, but that was all the time Troy needed. “OBJECT LOCKED” The MECH muttered. The shotgun was instantly torn from the man’s hands and thrown onto the ground. Aaron laughed and picked up the shotgun. “I’d like my tire iron, sir?” the man ran at Troy in fury, catching him off guard. But just before he had reach him a gigantic animal lunged out of the darkness and seized him in its maw. The tire iron clinked to the ground. Aaron instinctively grabbed it. The man screamed and howled but in a matter of seconds he had been devoured and swallowed. The monster stepped into the light. What had probably once been an innocent bearded dragon lizard was now a giant, ten foot long behemoth that stood before them now. Aaron gulped and looked for a way out. There was no escape. Their backs were against the truck. Another dragon stepped out of the darkness. Then another. Three ten foot long beasts stood before Aaron and Troy now.
One of the lizards stared at Aaron for a good minute. Aaron was sweating so much he could barely grip the tire iron he now held in his hand. Then the silence was broken when the lizard started exhaling loudly like it had just ran a marathon. The other lizards joined in. Troy looked at Aaron for answers and Aaron shrugged. Is that methane that they are exhaling? Aaron thought. Then it hit him. “DUCK!” Aaron screamed at Troy. Startled by the sudden noise of its prey, the lizards all belched at the same time causing an incinerating flamethrower of burning methane. If Aaron and Troy had been standing they would have been toast on the spot. “Get in the truck!” Troy screamed to Aaron. They both ran around to the driver’s side of the truck, one of the lizard’s claws catching Aaron’s leg. He let out a cry then hit the ground. Troy helped him up quickly and he jumped in the back of the pickup truck with the food. He threw the keys to Troy and he jumped in the front seat and backed up over one of the lizards. One down two to go. Aaron thought. He stood in the back of the pickup truck maintaining his balance, grasping the tire iron in one hand, the shotgun in the other. As Aaron had expected, Troy would still abide to the speed limit of forty miles an hour, giving the two remaining lizards (who now were seeking vengeance for their friend) came scampering down the highway after the car. Aaron had to force himself to temporarily drop his tire iron so he could shoot the last shell in the shotgun. Just as Aaron had one of the lizards in his sight Troy did a ninety degree turn to avoid hitting some dead bodies, causing Aaron to lose his balance fall backward against the car. One of the lizards leaped and caught the back of the truck with its two front arms. He took his shoot wisely and the lizard’s hands blew up in a bloody explosion of flesh, and the lizard let go of the car and laid on the road, making no attempt to continue its attack. The last lizard however was the leader, Aaron could tell by the look in its eyes. Aaron picked up his tire iron and screamed for Troy to go faster, Troy was more then happy to do so. The lizard made its leap when it was close enough to the truck and perched on the back of the pickup truck, standing on two legs. The pickup truck whined under the weight of the lizard. Aaron’s dad’s favorite saying echoed in the back of his head as he looked at the beast. Finish what you began. The lizard swung its razor sharp claws at Aaron. He just managed to get out of the way. The lizard had made a fatal mistake, it had left it left flank open. Aaron caught his balance and slammed the lizard in the ribs with tire iron. It was just enough to send the lizard over the side of the pickup truck and on the highway. Aaron looked down at his bleeding calf and screamed to Troy “Where are we going!” Troy looked back and said, “To a five star hotel!” And on that note Aaron laid in the back of the pickup truck to watch the sun rise.