The Last Gallon (2 page)

When
Mark arrived at work there was a note on his desk from his boss. “11am, my office” was all it said. Mark figured it was going to be punishment for missing his last deadline. His son was violently ill a couple weeks ago with the flu and his wife was just recovering from it. He stayed home one day to tend to him while Kara regained her strength. That put him behind and his project was turned in 2 hours late. They had already given him 10 lashes for the mistake but he feared there was more retribution on the way. They generally liked to do something nasty to your family to make sure you don’t disobey again.

Mark’s nearest co-worker Sylvia had missed a deadline by an entire day almost two years ago. Four men from the company burst into her house one night at around 2am. They tied her husband to a chair and let him get mauled by a mountain lion. After the lion was removed they proceeded to take turns raping the both of them. When they were done they doused the man with a bucket of salt water and left. Needless to say she had never missed another deadline again. That was merely her warning; the actual punishment would be more severe.

Mark had expected a similar outcome and had lain awake at night for the first three nights after the punishment. It never came and he dropped his guard. He had a small pistol stashed away that nobody knew about and he planned on using it if they ever laid hands on his wife or child. He knew they would be killed but he would not stand idly by letting those kinds of things happen to his family.

A boring and easily distracted day finally rolled around to 11 o’clock. Mark was glad the wait was finally over as the tension had been killing him. Whatever it was he wanted it done and over with. He proceeded to his bosses’ office and knocked on the door. “Come in” he was told from within.

Mark entered the plush and ornate office. He had been there many times before but he was never any less impressed by the place. It was astonishing the difference between him and this man before him. He lived in a meager 2 room apartment while this man had a 3 bedroom house in the suburbs. He had an 1800 calorie a day food allowance while this man was allotted 2400. They were only one pay-grade apart but it was all the difference in the world.

“Mark, sit down” the man said and motioned to the chair that was purposefully uncomfortable so you would have to squirm before him. The smell of a freshly smoked cigar made the air thick and pungent. Mark never minded cigars
but he hated their smell if he wasn’t smoking them. He tried not to make any faces that would be perceived as being rude, it would only make the situation worse.

“Mark, I am going to be straight with you. We don’t need you
anymore.” Mark grimaced and expected to feel the cold steel of a suppressed pistol at the back of his head. After a few seconds of unbridled fear he summoned the courage to turn and check for assailants. When he realized there were none he turned back to his boss who was highly amused at his reaction.

“We’re not going to kill you Mark; we will let you do that for yourself. We need a new courier and we have decided to offer you the job if you are interested.” The boss said. Mark replied “And if I don’t?” The boss laughed and produced large playing cards from the folder on his desk. He placed them face down in front of Mark. “Shuffle the deck and pick three for you, three for your wife, and three for your boy.”

Mark fumbled the large deck as he nervously shuffled the cards. He knew there was very little chance for anything good coming out of this but decided if there was anything positive for Kara or Joey he would take his fate and allow them to be free. He finished shuffling and paused. “Go on” the man behind the desk urged with a diabolical grin.

Mark flipped his first card. It depicted a man staked to the ground covered in honey in the middle of a fire-ant mound. He shuddered but decided he could handle it if it meant his family went free. “You get 1 hour for every week of service” the boss informed him. 108 hours of fire ant torture was in store. Mark shuddered again and dreaded flipping the next card.

The next card showed a man frozen in a block of ice and someone with a blowtorch melting it. “You have earned two cycles of freezing and melting for your two wonderful years of service” he was told. No matter Mark resolved, I can deal with this if they live. As long as they live I will endure anything.

The last card reli
eved Mark, it was a guillotine and he would be glad to meet his end after the torture he would have to receive. “The blade is made of sugar, it might take a while” his boss said while laughing. Mark clenched his fists in rage, he wanted to jump across the table and pummel the man but he knew if he did it then his family would be submitted to the entire deck, one torture at a time until they finally succumbed. The thing is these guys were experts at perverse torture and could keep you clinging on for far too long.

He began flipping Kara’s cards and realized that any hopes for his family were for naught. She would have the city’s subway system diagrammed
into her skin with a razor and then bathed in salt water. She would then be branded with the names of the entire board of directors. Mark didn’t bother flipping the last card and announced that he would take the job. “You have to finish, this is your motivation to perform” the boss sneered. Mark knew what was coming and shed a tear when he flipped Kara’s last card. It showed a bed and a line of men. “One for every week of service, every day for 30 days. I’m first.” The boss smiled. Mark silently vowed to take the man’s life in the near future.

Joey’s fate was just as awful. Mark knew the deck was
stacked; there probably wasn’t a single positive thing in there.  “This deck is rigged isn’t it?” he asked. The boss smirked and said “You can turn them all over if you want but it is the equivalent of volunteering for those acts.” Mark threw the rest of the deck on the desk and demanded to know his new job.

The boss leaned back and explained that he would be running documents, supplies, or cargo throughout the company’s territory. The big job would be a run down to Atlanta after completing some tertiary tasks on the way. “It’s a piece of cake really, anyone could do it” the boss explained. “So why me?” Mark asked. “Does it matter?” Mark shook his head no. “Honestly I was hoping you would resist so I could take your wife” the man explained. Mark decided that dispatching him
should be his number one priority after the job was done.

When the meeting was over Mark rushed to his desk to do a quick line before heading home. He was to report back the next day to retrieve his car and start the new job immediately. For some reason the company was in a real hurry.

On the train ride home Mark looked at the cards and shook his head angrily. Why did he have to come down from the mountains? This mess was so far over his head but it was all his doing and he hated himself for dragging Kara and Joey into it. He quietly cried and was glad he was alone on the train.

The garbage men were picking up the bodies of the resistance when he arrived home. They had a front-end loader and were unceremoniously scooping up the bodies and dumping them into a dumpster leaving an awful mess on the road-side. The smell made him queasy so he covered his mouth and resisted the urge to vomit as he passed by.

When he opened the door to their apartment Kara looked up in surprise. “What are you doing home?” she asked. “I was forced to take a new job today” he told her as he sat down to explain.

Here it was almost one o’clock in the afternoon and she was still undressed.
A normal person might find the situation sexy but he knew this was a daily routine. Wake up, take pills, and lounge around in a stupor until dinner time. Make some awful semblance of food for when Mark and Joey get home, watch them eat, take more pills and go to bed. It was a sad state of affairs and he was responsible for it.

He explained the job and she immediately piped up “Joey and I are coming with you.” Mark shook his head and told her how dangerous it was going to be. In a moment of clarity that was rare for her Kara showed him how much more dangerous it would be if he didn’t have back-up. She told him they could provide cover fire and help out with the missions. “I’ll get clean and so will you and Joey. We will be clear headed and as long as we are on the road we will be free. We will be a family again” she pleaded. Mark couldn’t argue, she was absolutely right about everything. They would be safer on the road and he wouldn’t worry about his boss “visiting” while he was gone. He told her they could come.

She smiled and jumped up and into his arms. “This is going to work baby, we are going to get free. You wait and see” Mark couldn’t help but smile and admire her enthusiasm. He emptied the cards out of his briefcase into the fireplace to make sure nobody ever saw them.

The next day Mark was sent to an abandoned hangar to see his vehicle for the job. The ride was long and arduous as it was outside of city limits and through a territory that was under siege by a
Bad Lands gang. His convoy got into two short fire-fights but the gang withdrew when they realized the group meant business and would not be deterred.

The hangar was at the edge of a seemingly abandoned airport. Looks were deceiving as the work had been moved underground. The hangar itself was nearly rusted out on the outside but inside looked as high-tech as any modern laboratory. There was a large elevator platform in the middle of the hangar. When Mark and his
guards entered the hangar the platform started to descend into the bowels of the facility.

Moments of churning and machinery whirring finally brought the platform back to the surface and with it came a sight so absurd and awe-inspiring that Mark let out a short laugh which drew the ire of the watchers and
scientists on-hand.

The car was a third generation
Prius but it was not an ordinary Prius. It looked like a stealth fighter. It was a matte black and had deflection panels all over it that masked its shape, increased its aero-flow and also provided armor. It had small silts of ballistic glass in the front, sides, and back like an armored personnel carrier. It also appeared to have gun ports in each door and a panel on the roof.

“Come closer, we will go over the details” the lead scientist beckoned. One of the crony scientists popped the hood and Mark got a smile, this certainly was no ordinary
Prius. “That’s a turbo version of the old Toyota Atlantic series engines. We have developed a super-lubricant that reduces friction to nearly nothing. In addition to that every bearing is magnetic. With those efficiency increases the car is still capable of nearly 40 miles per gallon but can travel at 150mph and accelerate from 0-60 in as little as 4.5 seconds.” Mark’s jaw dropped as he heard the specs but it was just the beginning.

“The engine is backed up with a pair of ultra-high efficiency motors. One in the front, one in the back giving you bursts of AWD capability should you need it. The car is on a WRC suspension
and will handle most any reasonable terrain. The car is a carbon-kevlar tub with super fiber core that will withstand all pistol caliber weapons. It will stop or significantly slow most rifle calibers as well. The shape will most likely deflect rounds away anyways. The glass is also rated for pistol calibers. Try not to get shot with a rifle through the glass please.” The scientist smiled at Mark with this statement. “The hybrid system has been modified and the car can cruise on electric for 5 miles at full power or up to near 50 at a reasonable speed. It is meant to get you out of Dodge and will auto-recharge with braking and engine when you have gas again but if you drain it that will take a long time.”

Mark marvelled at the car for a bit before the scientist continued. “Lastly the tub is mine and IED resistant to a point. We wanted this machine to be light and to do so we had to compromise there. The panels underneath are designed to deflect a blast outward and away from you. The car will be thrown and likely destroyed but the safety cell should stay intact and you will live to fight” the scientist showed Mark the way the panels worked and then opened the car’s door and motioned for Mark to have a seat. As Mark was getting in he moved to the other side of the car and got in.

The inside of the car was much like the outside, all business and covered in angled panels. A large cluster of digital gages covered the dash and a console full of switches and dials ran down the middle between the seats. Headroom was minimal to non-existent, especially in the middle as there was a belt-fed weapon mounted to the pop-up turret that Mark thought looked like a sunroof from the outside.

The scientist saw Mark’s interest in the gun but said “We will get to that, let’s go over your internal
defense network first.” The scientist pointed to the angled plates. “These will help in the case a round penetrates the tub. They are all angled to deflect away from passengers. It is a last ditch defense but it could save your life. These controls here will modulate your motor energy, turbo boost and fuel rate to enhance either performance or economy. The computer will usually handle this for you but if you have any issues with it there is a back-up manual system. Just keep in mind that the computer WILL be more apt to give you what you need, when you need it.” Mark nodded in acknowledgement.

“Weapons” the scientist said and Mark snapped to attention. He knew that armament was not only a necessity but probably more important than food or water out in the
Bad Lands. “You see the mounted gun; it is an FN M249 SAW. The belt is fed from a floor mount storage system that holds 5 of the 200 round belts. You will note that there is a scabbard mounted M4 outboard of each seat as well.” Mark nodded; it was a slick mounting system, angled perfectly. The only disadvantage was it made ingress and egress a bit difficult but you would probably leave with the weapon anyways.

“Each door holds a dozen mags for the M-16s and can be used in the SAW as well. This gives you nearly 2500 rounds of 5.56mm on hand. The SAW rounds are the 950AP rounds
and the mags are loaded with barrier blind loads so you should have no problem punching through mildly hardened targets. We thought about a 40mm grenade launcher but we realize that .223 and 5.56 are relatively common in the wild and you will need to reload on your trips.” Mark smiled and nodded again. He came to the conclusion that he would never make fun of a hybrid car again.

“On your inboard side you have a sidearm holster. You and your passengers will be able to pick the arms of your choice before we finish here.” This news made Mark very
happy; he had just the weapon in mind. “You have noted the gunports; all doors have the ability to be fired from. You will also note that the M4s are suppressed. They are still going to give your ears a wallop but if you need them you won’t notice.”

The scientist motioned Mark around to the back of the car and popped the hatch. “Back here we have some storage for supplies. You will note the spare gas tank & water tank. There is also some storage for spare ammo and room for about a week’s worth of MREs and some spare clothes.” Mark looked around and space was definitely at a
premium with all the gear, extra batteries and tank space needed.

“
Wanna drive?” the scientist asked. Mark nodded eagerly as he caught the keys from the scientist. “As long as that key is on your person you won’t have to pull it out” the scientist informed him so Mark pocketed the keys and opened the door.

“Hold the brake and press the power button” the scientist told him. He followed the instructions and the car roared to life. “The engine will always start and warm up; once it is warm if you are not heavy on the throttle it will either not run or idle depending on conditions.” Mark nodded as he listened to the technicalities of the system. The car sounded like a race-car and he figured it would feel like one too.

“The car fully loaded weighs 2400lbs. It has 300hp + 100hp more via the motors available. If you are out of ammo and water the car will obviously be significantly faster. As the situation gets more desperate the car will perform better. It will get you out of trouble. With the aerodynamics as they are it can be a little squirrely. The suspension is giving but tightens itself with speed to keep the machine under control. The computer will determine the need for every system and apply them seamlessly. Stomp the gas and AWD will kick in, stomp the brake and aero panels will move and air-brake the car along with aggressive regeneration and carbon brakes”

Mark stomped the gas, he was tired of hearing about it and wanted to experience the car. It started to spin the tires on the slick surface of the hangar but the rear motor kicked on and provided an obscene amount of instant torque and the car rocketed forward.

Scientists jumped out of the way and Mark was nearly at 60mph by the time he cleared the hangar doors. He ripped the wheel to the left and did a quick power slide that was once again brought under control quickly by the systems. They were on the runway in a flash and approaching 100mph.

“If you look here this is your instant fuel-consumption gage. At full throttle you burn a gallon every 7 miles. You have 22 gallons on board so try not to do that often.” Mark nodded and edged off the throttle. The gage now told him he was getting 44 miles to the gallon and calculated his range at just a tad less than 950 miles. “The computer does its best to give you an accurate range but it will vary each time you move the throttle. If you find the pedal too brutish you can switch to the console throttle, it works like a jet-plane. It is great for steady state operations but I wouldn’t want to defensively drive with it. The good news is all you have to do is touch the pedal
and control will resume there.” Mark smiled and said “That’s cool.”

Mark threw the car around the makeshift track for the better part of half an hour and the scientist finally had enough. “Ok, you’re done; let’s get back to the hangar. I think I am going to be sick if you drive any longer” the scientist groaned.  “We’ll get you fuelled up and you can head over to headquarters for your mission.” Mark pulled up to the hangar and while he was filling up was escorted over to the arms locker to pick out side-arms.

Mark chose a Sig P220 for his personal weapon. He was given 6 mags loaded with Gold Dots and another 3 boxes to put in the back of the car. For Kara he chose an Armscor 22TCM 1911. The round was just starting to gain popularity when the bubble burst but of course the corporation had plenty available. It was basically a shortened 223 round but with very manageable recoil out of the pistol. They gave him 6 mags for her gun as well and 6 boxes of ammo due to the light weight of the round compared to 45acp. He was informed that the bullets were specially designed rounds that could pierce steel and ballistic glass even better than the original factory rounds. Kara would be pleased.

Mark got a Beretta 9mm for Joey. He always liked them and it should be a good sidearm for the
boy. Again he got 6 mags and 4 boxes of spare ammo. They also handed him another 5 boxes of 5.56 for the long guns and holsters for the 3 pistols. He was told to get to headquarters ASAP as they would want him on the road immediately.

On the ride over Mark got his first craving to do a line. He resisted it but knew he was going to have to give in eventually; luckily he had a vial stashed away that he could use. By the time he got to the parking lot he was shaking uncontrollably. He took some out and rubbed it on his gums. Hopefully it would do the trick and hold off further withdrawals.

15 minutes later Mark was on his way home to pick up his family. The scientist was right; they wanted him to get on the road immediately. He had until morning to get the papers from his home in New York to Boston. A 240 mile trip could easily take all night with the various gang controlled check-points, road-blocks and ambushes along the way. If he failed this mission he was told that they would be detained in Boston and likely never seen again.