The Disillusionists cont'd...

Jay stood in the road in front of the crumpled Winnebago. He tried to catch his breath - he had been jogging for longer than he had since high school. Once the burning in his lungs had subsided and the mucus cleared from his throat, Jay approached the vehicle cautiously. He burst inside and found that May had abandoned it. Climbing into the driver's seat, he tried the key. It ground into life and Jay ground it into gear. The old camper scraped away from the rock, executed a perfect twenty-six point turn and headed back for the campsite.

Gunther dove into the ditch as the headlights flared back and forth on the road ahead. He looked up long enough to see Jay cranking the steering wheel as he coaxed the beast around. The driver's side fender was caved in, the bumper dragged and one wheel splayed out like a cow with a cracked pelvis.

* * *

May climbed up on the tracks and pulled at the cab handle. It was locked and the glass was caged in steel. There must be a radio... She had to find a way to get in. At the very least she could barricade herself inside.

* * *

Mike stood and sniffed the air to the east. He then heard that a vehicle was approaching. Jay returned like a lost war hero. The camper ground to a halt and he stood triumphantly in the door.

"Where did you find this thing?" asked Mike, clapping a hand on his shoulder.

"It was in the ditch a couple of miles up the road."

"She didn't get far..."

They howled like wolves on the hunt and then packed up everything they could find and threw it into the camper.

* * *

Gunther found the car within the distance of a city block. In doing so, he had passed the spot close to the road where May hid in the bulldozer. G bounced a rock against the passenger window. He tried again and then opened the door, sweeping the kernels of glass away from the seat and leaning in to pop the hood. Inside the engine compartment he pulled a couple of feet of wire away from what looked like the block heater and then stripped the ends of it with his teeth.

He wedged one end under the hot battery terminal and sparked the other against the starter. Nothing. He stripped more wire away and patched a bypass around the onboard computer and tried the alternator and then the starter motor again. Amazingly, the car wheezed to life. He pocketed the wire and slammed the hood. Once in the driver's seat he forced it in gear and then realized the steering lock was still engaged. He grabbed the rock off the floorboards and started smashing the steering column to breeak the plastic shroud and lock pin. The car stalled and he had to get out and do it all over again.

* * *

May would only wake when the sun broke through the precise line of firs at the far edge of the clear cut and shone on her face in the parched cab.

* * *

Gunther slowed the car - peering ahead - looking for May. She couldn't have got that far ahead. She was of course, falling further behind.