Whole New World
Chapter 5
Escape

Dano awoke and hopped out of bed with vigor. Today was the day he finally got out of this city, and found some people, maybe even some females. Dano rushed through his morning routine of getting dressed, brushing his teeth, eating his breakfast and strapping on all his gear. He practically ran out of the hospital in his excitement.

Once outside Dano set his plan into motion. He scurried over to the parking garage and moved one of the sandbag walls that blocked the entrance so his truck could get through. Dano then backed the truck through the entrance and pointed the bed toward the stair well. With the vehicle in position Dano shut it off, and moved up to the armory and storage tents.

He emptied all of the clothing and boot crates, then put six pairs of boots, in his size, in with as many complete outfits he could fit into one crate. As Dano emptied one of the clothing crates he stumbled upon a chest that was marked wrong, for when he opened the top expecting to see clothing, he found weapon accessories. Attachable flashlights, scopes, front pistol grips, and many other modifications in their own packaging. Dano practically giggled as he picked his way through the attachments. He decided to just take the chest, in case his scope or something broke and needed replacement parts. There was plenty of room left in the crate, so Dano decided to run and grab a half dozen pairs of body armor and tactical vests. The vests were rolled up to conserve room, and once all of the armor was in the chest Dano had to force it closed. He didn’t care, he would rather be safe than sorry.

Dano dragged his full clothing and weapon accessories crates down the stair to the truck. He heaved the two boxes into the bed, and tried his best to organize them. The truck bed was about six feet long, by five wide, but the bed box and gas cans took up a good two feet of the length. The bed also pinched in a foot by the wheel wells, making the bed four feet wide. Dano pretty much had to work with a four foot by four foot box.

His plan was to put four crates vertically in between the wheel wells, which left a five foot wide, one foot long gap in between the boxes and the tailgate where Dano could put another crate horizontally. Then he could stack five more crates vertically on top on the four and another one on top of the horizontal one, since they cleared the wheel wells, but not the top of the truck bed walls. Dano could carry up to eleven crates of anything he wanted.

With a pair of crates in the bed of the truck to provide a visual aid Dano believed his plan would succeed.

Dano went back up to the second floor and grabbed three crates of MREs, two crates of 7.62 NATO rounds and two crates of 5.56 NATO rounds and stacked them in the truck. Next he took an empty crate and put a half dozen M4s, two M249s, three M16A3s, two Mk 14 EBRs, a half dozen M9s and as many cleaning kits that could fit inside. It took some effort to organize the weapons, but they eventually fit enough to close the top. After placing the weapons crate in the truck Dano used another empty crate to store all of the medical supplies in the infirmary, and placed the last crate in the bed.

Dano looked his handwork over and felt a little pride. He was now ready for literally anything in the world, he had enough weapons and ammo to defend himself and anybody who decided to help him, and enough food and medical supplies to ride out a couple years. Dano has the sneaking suspicion that he was forgetting something. He stood there, deep in thought, for a minute until it hit him. Dano forgot water.

Dano closed the tailgate and jumped into the driver’s seat. He pulled the truck up to the hospital, and ran inside after shutting the vehicle off. Dano moved quickly through the familiar white halls to the cafeteria, where a couple boxes of bottled water rested in the pantry. He threw them onto his shoulders and walked back to the truck. There was a couple gaps in the bed where the crates couldn’t fit, and Dano placed the water inside of one.

Dano looked at his watch, it was a little after noon. It hadn’t taken long to organize his supplies, and the rest of the day was just waiting to be seized. Dano hopped into the cab of the truck and started the engine. He looked at the hospital one last time. It was, arguably, his first home in this new world, and a pang of nervousness hit him. It was the same nervousness that he felt when he watched his father leave after he dropped him off at college. Dano thrust the feeling aside and drove the truck to the intersection in front of the hospital. He looked around the horizon, and saw that taller building lay to his left and back. The buildings seemed to get shorter to his right, so Dano turned right and drove.

It took a few hours for Dano to clear the city scape he had awoken in. He had to make occasional stops where the road was blocked by a checkpoint, or go around wrecks and rubble. As Dano got farther and farther away from the crumbling sky scrapers behind him the signs of struggle began to grow. Entire buildings collapsed, wrecks of both military and civilian vehicles, craters in the streets and millions of bullet holes in the ground and walls. It struck Dano that maybe the city wasn’t under attack from the outside, but the inside. Maybe a massive riot. Dano shrugged, the information wasn’t really that important.

The city thinned out after a while until Dano found himself driving through the country side. He had found a highway and hopped on, trying to get a more open route. As he drove he saw a reflective, green, metal sign with distances to other cities on it written in white. One of the cities was Binghamton, and it was one hundred and eighty eight miles away. Dano was relieved, he was still in New York State. Suddenly something struck Dano in the brain. It was the urge to go to Binghamton, and it was overwhelming. Dano thought about it for a couple of seconds before agreeing with his urge, nowhere better to go.

Dano had been driving for hours. His legs were tired from sitting for so long, but his urge to get to Binghamton drove him on. He had traveled through several towns, many he didn’t recognize. He had to stop for gas once in a town called Monroe, and again in a town called Liberty. Each town he stopped in or drove through was empty, and doubt was beginning to settle in Dano’s mind.

Dano was down to this last gas can when he entered a town named Roscoe. As Dano moved through the village after he filled his tank, he spotted a green metal sign, just like the ones who had pointed him toward Binghamton. This sign read ‘Delhi, 33 miles’. Dano immediately recognized the town where his college was. Again the urge hit him, but not to go to Binghamton. It wanted him to go to Delhi. Dano didn’t argue and began the trek to his old school.

It didn’t take him long to get to Delhi, and the placed looked just like it had been the last time he remembered it. Small towns were funny like that, never changing. Dano drove down Main Street until he came to the drive way to his school. He stopped, but didn’t turn up the steep road that lead to his dorm and his room. He did open the door, while standing on the running boards, and looked up at the college that dominated this side of the valley. The sun was about to set, and the soft glow of its rays bathed the buildings that made up the college in yellow and orange.

Dano looked for movement, but like always there wasn’t any. The urge in the back of his head told him to keep going through Delhi, to keep moving. Dano obliged, sat and drove down Main Street, away from his college, and in the slightest bit, his old life.

Dano kept driving after the sun set, but only for a few minutes. His fuel gauge was on E, and he knew he was running on fumes. Dano noticed a dirt road coming up that cut through the forest that surrounded the road he was on. Again the urge kicked in and told him to turn down the road. Dano complied, more out of the lack of fuel than the feeling.

Down the dirt road about a hundred yards rested a large, two story, white farm house that looked like it had seen better days. Dano pulled up to the house just as his truck shuddered and quit. Dano grabbed his equipment and climbed out of the cab in the dark. He cursed not attaching a flashlight to his EBR before he left. He could barely see anything in the growing darkness of the night.

Dano stumbled into the farm house, cursing again. If something or someone was in here they had defiantly heard him crash though the front door. Dano squinted his eyes in an attempt to see in the pitch black of the farm house, and was met with limited success.

He tripped and stumbled his way down some hallway until he came to a room at the back of the house. The space was lit by the now rising moon, and Dano could make out the outline of a long couch and some recliners. Definitely the living room. Dano moved through the scantly lit room to the couch and laid down on it. It was comfortable, but in the open. Dano decided to only strip down to his jacket, and keep his M9 and boots on. He kept his rifle close as he closed his eyes and tried to find sleep in the nervousness of his mind. It soon found him, and Dano descended into a fitful slumber.

Dano awoke to a room bathed in light and smelling like dust. He sat up and looked around the living room, and saw some very old looking furniture and no TV. Dano put two and two together and figured that the previous owners were old. He sat up and went through his routine. He pulled his toothbrush and floss out of his pack and brushed his teeth right there, using the water left in his canteens. He spat out the disgusting toothpaste onto the rather expensive looking carpet at his feet.

Dano was a little peeved. Something in his mind had lead him here, and he had a sneaking suspicion it was the women in his dreams. They told him he needed to help people, but Dano didn’t find anyone in this place. Why take me here? Dano sat for a few minutes mulling over the question. Eventually he stood up and pushed the thought aside. Dano left his pack by the couch he had slept on, grabbed his rifle and began to search the large house for anything good to take, or maybe even a clue to why he was here.

It didn’t take long for Dano to scavenge through the house. The previous owners were simple, even though the building was quite big. He did find a large sewing set, which Dano thought could come in handy. He put it in the cab of his truck. There was a gun cabinet on the second story, but it only held hunting rifles and shotguns. Dano had better weapons in the truck, so he didn’t bother taking the civilian firearms. The entire house was searched top to bottom, and Dano sighed. Nothing here to give me any reason to stay.

As Dano began to walk out of the house he spotted a door that he hadn’t looked in yet. Expecting a broom closet Dano was surprised to see stairs that led to a dark basement. He cautiously descended the stairs, and let his eyes adjust to the dark room. When Dano reached the bottom he scanned the cellar.

The stairs he had come down ended about three feet from a wall, so Dano had to turn to take in the long room. Along the left wall were small windows, and about halfway was a sliding glass door. The back of the building was on a lower gradient that the front. Both walls were lined with workbenches with various vices and tools hanging on racks above them. Dano believed that the previous owner must have tinkered a bit from the sheer amount of tools and work space. There was a large stack of cardboard boxes along the far wall, and they looked less decayed than they should be. Basement must block out moisture pretty well.

Dano moved slowly across the room, his rifle raised slightly. His boots made a soft thud on the concrete floor as he walked. He eventually made his way to the boxes and opened the top box, and found at least two dozen glass jars. He pulled one out and inspected the contents. It was applesauce, and, by the light brown tint, was probably seasoned with cinnamon. Dano’s heart jumped for joy, he wouldn’t have to eat MRE’s forever. Dano popped the top of the sealed jar and smelled the contents. The applesauce smelled like alcohol, it had fermented. Dano cursed, as much as he wanted to eat some nice homemade applesauce he couldn’t get drunk out here.

Dano placed the jar back into its place and opened the next box, and found air tight plastic bags. They were the kind where a machine sucked the air out so your food stayed fresh longer. Dano pulled a bag out and saw a thick slab of dried meat about six inches long by two inches wide inside the tight plastic. His eyes widened as he stared at the jerky in front of him. I’m in post-apocalypse heaven. Dano cut the plastic open with his knife, then returned the blade to his pocket. He made a mental note to try and find a place for it on the outside of his clothing.

Dano smelled the jerky, and the scent of spices and meat entered his nostrils. There was no hint of decay or spoiling, so Dano took a bite. The jerky was tough, but delicious. At that point Dano remembered that he hadn’t eaten breakfast. He wolfed down the rest of the jerky and smiled as he enjoyed the taste of the dried meat.

Dano decided not to eat anymore of the jerky. If it had gone bad he would only have to regurgitate one piece instead of a few. Dano put the top back, grabbed the box and set it aside. He began to go through the rest of the cardboard boxes, and found that about half held jerky. The other half held fermented applesauce, and Dano promptly ignored them.

When he was done sorting Dano had ten boxes of jerky in a pile. He decided to put them in the truck, and grabbed the top two boxes. He exited through the sliding glass door, hopefully ignoring the stairs and walking up a nice hill.

Dano looked around the back yard of the farm house with a quick glance. He saw a rather large shed and a faint dirt road leading into the forest that surrounded the farm house. Dano made plans to investigate the shed after he moved the jerky to the truck. He was happy to find that the gradient was at a shallow angle as he climbed the small incline to the front of the house. Dano found space in the bed on top of the water and returned to the basement to get another pair of boxes. He repeated this process four more times until all of the jerky was in the truck. Dano sighed, unslung his rifle and walked to the rear of the farmhouse to check the shed.

The shed was painted white, like the farm house. It had a couple small windows, one for each wall, and a garage door that took up the majority of the wall facing Dano as he rounded the farm house. Dano pried the door open and stepped inside. Along the walls hung several yard tools. Aves, shovels, picks and tools Dano couldn’t recognize. Taking up the most space in the middle of the room was a quad bike, and right next to it a two seater MULE. Both ATVs had a red coat of paint with black plastic highlights. Both appeared to be in working condition, and lacked rust. The shed was well made to block out the elements for that long.

Dano spotted a large tank that rested on a concrete pad that looked like it could hold a thousand gallons. He squeezed in-between the two ATVs, and opened a small hatch in the top of the tank. The smell of gasoline reached his nose, and a large smile grew across Dano’s face. He had found gas, so now he could get the truck moving again. Dano checked the two ends of the tank for a way to get the fuel out, and found a hose attached to a nozzle that you would find in a gas station on the left side. Dano ran out of the shed to the truck, grabbed a single gas can and ran back to the shed. He filled the can to the brim, put the cap back on and began to walk back to the truck.

As Dano walked he sneaked a peak at the trail that lead into the woods. It looked like it used to be a road to a camp or something. As Dano looked the urge popped into his head again, and told him to go down the trail. It made Dano stop walking. He contemplated ignoring the feeling and keep driving down the road, away from the farm house. The very thought made the urge grow in intensity. Dano sighed, I have nowhere else to go.

Dano dumped the fuel into the truck, hopped into the driver’s seat and drove the vehicle around the farm house. He stopped right where the path entered the thick forest. He stared down the route, again contemplating turning around. The urge pushed hard and Dano felt a little anger seep into his brain. I’m going, I’m going. Dano put his foot on the gas and eased the truck down the road.

It took Dano an hour to creep his way down the grown over road before he reached its end. The thick forest opened up to a clearing. To the left of the road rested a lake that was around two hundred yards long in every direction. It looked to round to be natural, and a dock protruded about ten feet into the water. Dano assumed this was a vacation spot for someone. To the right of the road, and sitting in the center of the clearing sat a small brown cabin with grey shingles and small windows.

Dano pulled the truck up to the cabin and got out. He kept his pack in the cab and only brought his rifle along. He climbed the steps to the door, and tried the handle. Luckily it was unlocked. Dano walked into a pretty empty room. There was a bed with white sheets and a red comforter in the back left corner with a large brown chest at the foot of it. The back right corner was dominated by a tall dark wood wardrobe that faced the door. To the immediate left of the door, which rested in the middle of the wall, was a short bookcase that was filled with novels and books, and a large candle holder rested on top. To the right was an old oak desk with papers all over the desk space. In-between the wardrobe and the desk, resting with its back against the wall, sat an empty glass gun cabinet with drawers for ammunition below the case proper. The walls were painted brown and gave off an earthy feeling, and the windows let in the sunlight well. The place was homey, but that wasn’t what Dano liked the most about it.

Dano liked that fact that the urge that had been plaguing him since he woke up from the tank had finally subsided. The two women wanted him to come here, for what Dano didn’t know, but he was sure he would see them soon anyway.

Dano exited the cabin, and walked around the outer perimeter of the building. When he reached the back of the cabin Dano saw a small shed with a matching color scheme as the cabin. There was a crescent moon window carved into the door of the shed, and Dano recognized the universal sign for an outhouse. Dano finished circling the cabin and began to look around the clearing that the building rested in.

The clearing wasn’t large, but was surrounded by thick forest. Dano felt secure in the clearing, and set out to make it his home.

Dano spent the rest of the day emptying the back of the truck. He placed as many weapons as he could in the gun cabinet, as well as filling the drawers with as much ammunition they could hold. The rest was consolidated into one crate and set in-between the space between the gun cabinet and the desk, underneath one of the two windows. There was about four feet of space between the bed and the wardrobe, so Dano put all of his food crates there, stacking them on top of each other. The armor and weapon modification crate went on top of the extra weapons crate, and the medical create was put on top of the bookshelf. The candle holder went onto the desk to make room. Last was the clothes crate, and Dano managed to get all of the clothes into the large wardrobe. Each outfit was hung on its own hanger, and the boots were neatly placed side by side so they covered the entire bottom.

Dano finished the move in as the sun set. He striped down to just his t-shirt and briefs and climbed into bed. He was happy that he had done a decent amount of physical labor today. It would help him fall asleep, and he had a bone to pick with those women. It didn’t take long for sleep to envelope Dano, and he was slumbering before the moon rose.

Dano stood in the familiar inky blackness that seemed to be the backdrop for his meetings. He crossed his arms and waited. After a few minutes Dano blinked, and the two women appeared in front of him. They wore the same cloaks, same facial expressions and held the same regal presence.

The three beings just stood and looked at each other for a while before Dano spoke up.

“So?”

The two women looked confused at Dano’s question.

“So what?” asked the one in navy.

“Aren’t you two going to spout some prophecy or wisdom? That’s usually what happens when you show up.”

The two women looked at each other then burst out laughing. The one in white’s laughter was warm, like a summer’s day, and bouncy. The one in dark blue’s laugh was cool and refreshing, like a nice dip in a river. Dano had to resist the urge to laugh along with the two women, and keep his pissed off expression. The women stopped laughing and turned to Dano.

“We have no such wisdom tonight Daniel.” The one in white said with a chuckle.

“But you do know why you are here.” The one in navy finished, dropping he usual worried frown for a happy smile.

“That urge.”

The two women nodded in conformation to Dano’s hunches.

“You two were pushing me here?” Dano asked, hoping to get an answer to ‘why here’.

The two women nodded again before the one in navy spoke.

“Here you will train for your mission Daniel.”

Dano gave them a look. How was he supposed to train, and in what.

“You training will be very simple.” Said the one in white, her smile returning to normal.

“You will survive.” Finished the one in navy, her frown returning.

“That’s it? All I have to do is survive?” Dano asked, his questions still not satisfied.

The two cloaked figures nodded again then reached out their hands. Dano leaned away from them.

“Can I at least get your names before you zap me back?”

“Just call me Sun.” Said the one in white as she placed a hand on Dano’s shoulder.

“And me Moon.” Said the one in dark blue as she placed her hand on his other shoulder.

Dano felt the familiar rush of love and confidence flow through him as a white light enveloped his vision. When Dano opened his eyes they were gone, and the void began to close around him. Dano sighed right before his mind became dark, and he fell into a deep sleep.

what... what is this?
its a new chapter in your story
i can see that logic, but its *looks at clock* 1 in the morning, i have class tomorrow
we both know you would have probably been kept awake by your thoughts
yeah i know, but still...

lol
looks like i got another one done
dig in fillies and colts
don't forget to comment
that is all
kthanxbai