Top-Down

Two siblings tried to find their dad in Chicago. And then this happened:

1. SUBSEQUENT

Levi and Stephanie bombed it down I-57 in their rented Chevrolet Impala, both hesitant to even momentarily gaze into their rear-view mirrors. They wanted to, but neither of them actually did. Levi’s hands gripped the steering column like driving straight was going out of style. All color had left his knuckles. Stephanie’s two hands were busy fumbling with the presets and other various buttons on the car’s stereo. Her knuckles were just fine.

“Will you quit f–king around with the radio already, you know it’s not going to work!” Levi exclaimed with his eyes shut.

Stephanie froze in terror for three or four seconds, and then pulled back and folded her arms. “OK, OK, frick! I’m sorry!” she shouted back so loudly that normally there would have been a ringing in both of their ears. Not today, though.

Both of them returned to the tension-drenched quiet.

It was the middle of the day on a mild June afternoon. That’s about to the extent of normalcy that could be found, recognition of what the clock read and the obvious weather outside. The rest of it was all new, akin to an infant’s first Christmas.

Zipping along at a ridiculous speed, Levi’s Impala rental car had gone from 80 to about 95 miles per hour since they had passed the city limits of the Windy City. This was of little concern to either of them. All that he and Stephanie knew was that they absolutely had to get away from the metropolis of Chicago as soon as possible.

“Look, I’m sorry I cursed at you,” Levi said, coaxingly.

“No, no, I shouldn’t have tried in the first place,” Stephanie said. “Like you, I just want to know what happened to all those people back there.”

“Sister…we’ll find out soon enough.”

“Will we?”

“I sure hope so.”

“You don’t need to yell at me, you know.”

“Yeah, I know. I realized that the moment I opened my mouth.”

“You’re so much better than that, brother.”

The eerie silence populated itself back into the car. They each had a mutual desire to close their eyes and sleep for about the next 15 hours, but the adrenaline coursing through their bodies after the morning they had wasn’t about to allow slumber any time soon.

A metallic green road sign they just had whizzed by beckoned their viewing.

KANKAKEE TOWNSHIP – 3 MILES

“I think we’re far enough away that we can stop to stretch our legs at least,” Levi said while pointing up at the road interchange ahead.

“You think that’s a good idea at all?” Stephanie wondered.

“Look, if it would have gotten us, we’d already be feeling it in some respect. Besides, I’ve got to change these pants, and from the smell of it, you do too.”

She glared at her brother with a dagger in her eye.

“Oh, so what was I not supposed to react to any of that back there?”

“Oh man, I so don’t even care about it and am not judging you at all. I’m merely stating facts here. Don’t take things so personally, Steph.”

Stephanie breathed in a deep sigh, and choked halfway, resulting in a short spell of gag coughs.

“Yeee-ick, yeah let’s stop already. You know, to stretch our legs…and whatnot.”

Levi looked at his sister without moving his head. His eyes had a sarcastic glaze.

“Mmm-hmmm,” he muttered to himself.

“Well! Sooner the better right?”

“Yes yes, sooner is better.”

Levi glanced at his gas gauge. Almost empty, but the warning light wasn’t on yet. The rental car could possibly get them farther than the upcoming town.

After pulling into the nearest Sinclair gas station, Levi did his triple-stop. He tapped on the brakes three times as a force of habit, one that he picked up when learning to drive. Tap…tap…tap. This annoyed Stephanie to her wit’s end, probably a reason she wouldn’t purposely drive with her brother.

Rising out of the passenger’s side of the car, Stephanie wiped the day from her face in a Curly from The Three Stooges fashion. Levi exited the car the same way, but took his forearm to wipe his forehead like a normal human being.

“You think anyone is still around here?” asked Stephanie.

“Hard to say, Sis. But there sure are a lot of abandoned cars on the roads. Yeesh, you think people would drive the heck out of here when they heard the news,” Levi stated while trailing off into a frozen silence of a familiar sort as he glanced into the gas station-adjacent convenience store.

A dingy 22-inch flat-screen television blared from inside, at its grating, pinnacle volume. It was tuned to CNN, and the bearded newsman Wolf Blitzer appeared shaken at his anchor desk after a smash-cut montage of introductory graphics.

“On one of the most tragic days in American…err, you could say, recorded history. A large nuclear device in the Chicago area has exploded, and while we don’t know the extent of damage at this time, it seems to cover at least the sprawling limits of the Windy City.”

Blitzer paused, and removed his trademark glasses, both arms shaking uncontrollably.

Stephanie, now standing right by her brother Levi, grasps his hand in pure horror. He squeezed back. “I have no idea how we’re going to cover this, but we’re sure going to try.”

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