The road ahead of her seemed to be clear. She spotted no signs of trouble or cause for concern. Still, she remained cautious and on guard.
The Chevelle left the bridge. It climbed the slight incline that weaved through luscious landscaping of tall-leafy trees and an assortment of bushes and rich verdure. The sun’s rays poked through the canopy overhead and shone on the road.
Sarah eased off the gas, taking the sharp, blind corners at a modest pace. She kept a keen eye on the road ahead for any signs of trouble.
The back end of a truck came into view, then the rest of the vehicle. Its taillights glowed a dark red. Sarah slowed even more as she closed in on the smoking, dark-gray pickup.
A mural of blood painted the middle of the street and trailed off toward the front of the vehicle. The driver’s side door hung open, but she spotted no bodies inside.
She looked in the direction of the white sedan she’d passed. Had it stopped and the driver investigated the scene, or did it drive by and avoid the grisly wreck altogether? She didn’t know.
Sarah pulled into the other lane, making a wide arch around the wreckage. She studied the truck as she drove alongside it, searching for any passengers inside the cab.
The head of a deer laid on the side of the road with the rest of its body hidden in the tall grass. Its mouth slagged open, tongue hanging out the side to the pavement.
The cab was empty. The airbag had deployed from the steering wheel and hung deflated, sagging toward the floorboard.
Sarah pulled over to the side of the road in front of the truck and stopped. She glanced to the rearview mirror at the busted grill and crumpled up hood of the truck.
Blood from the deer speckled the contorted steal. Smoke vented from the engine, sifting out from under the hood. She shifted into neutral, applied the emergency brake, then checked her sideview mirror for any incoming traffic.
The road was clear with no cars speeding around the blind corner of the winding road. She glanced at the shotgun for a moment, then pulled the handle on the door, deciding to leave it behind.
It creaked open. The grumbling of the throaty engine filled her ears. The scent of smoke tainted the air from the wreckage.
Sarah stepped out of the Chevelle and faced the truck. She moved down the side of the muscle car and closed the door. Her eyes soaked in the grisly scene of the dead animal.
“Hello?” she called out toward the truck. She skimmed over the grass between the deer and the front of the pickup, then across the road.
The driver of the vehicle seemed to have vanished, leaving Sarah to wonder where they had gone. She stepped past the trunk of the car and looked to the thick foliage around her. The dense vegetation made it hard to see through.
Her arms closed tight around her chest. An eerie feeling slipped over her as she glanced at the deer’s contorted body. She peered at the cab once more, trying to figure out where the driver had gone. Perhaps the white sedan had provided help or some other passerby had lent a hand.
A rustling noise in the thicket close by rattled her. She flinched, stopped, then searched for the source.
Sarah looked at the truck again, then moved back toward the car. The driver and any other passengers must have already been picked up and attended to.
She glanced at the dead deer one last time, then to the trees and bushes. She brushed against the side of the idling muscle car. Her fingers grabbed the handle, lifted, and pulled the door open.
Sarah turned and settled back into the bucket seat of the Chevelle. She secured the seat belt across her body and latched it into place. She grabbed the stick shift as her foot worked the clutch. She shifted into first gear and hit the gas.
The Chevelle pulled away from the grass and back onto the road, leaving the wreckage and the dead animal behind. She drove another ten minutes before spotting the outskirts of Dover and the tops of the brick buildings in the quaint town.
The road ahead had little to no traffic with only a car or two seen in the distance driving away from her. Sarah pumped the brake and checked the intersections before continuing on.
The large, beautiful homes that came into view past the wall of trees and thick brush sat behind steel fences that encompassed the properties. The spacious front yards had the bright-green grass well-manicured, for now.
Sarah skimmed each home she passed, searching for any hint of power within the windows. She knew better, but hoped that some had been spared from the cosmic event that struck the earth.
The remainder of the residential neighborhoods she drove through had much the same look and feel. All set dark and void of any power.
The grumbling of the Chevelle’s engine and the bright-blue paint job turned the heads of the few people outside of their homes. They’d stop and stare at the muscle car as she turned the corner and continued down the street.
The closest grocery store to her was Simon’s Food Mart, a local establishment that had been in the town for as long as she could remember. It was a family owned and operated business that lasted even with the big box stores that had come into town.
Sarah hoped the store still had some food on the shelves and was open for that matter. Breaking into the business didn’t set well with her, but if push came to shove, she’d do what was needed.
A black SUV materialized past the cedar wood fence on the other side
