Crazytimes by Scott Cole

Author:Scott Cole [Cole, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Grindhouse Press
Published: 2020-05-18T20:00:00+00:00

8

ONCE I’M ABLE to escape the scene of the crash, I begin walking west, toward my part of town, and away from the river. I’m not sure why, other than the fact that subconsciously, everyone likes to be at home, whatever or wherever their “home” may be. My house hasn’t felt much like home lately—not since Isa left—so I’m not sure it’s that. But I also feel like staying away from the city’s water supply is probably a good idea right now. Does that have anything to do with the river that flows along the eastern edge of the city, though? I have no idea. That’s something else I probably should’ve paid more attention to in school. Regardless of where the water comes from, I decide I better not drink any unless it’s bottled. Goddamn, I’m thirsty. I can still taste the hot piss from Wok Around the Clock.

I think about taking the subway west, but decide it might be best to stay above ground for the time being. Maybe. I just know I wouldn’t want to be trapped inside a moving metal tube with any of these crazy people. It may not even be running anyway.

Down one street I find a series of bloody, severed nipples lying on the blood-spattered ground like a trail of breadcrumbs. I wonder where the people these nipples once belonged to could be, but decide not to follow the trail to find out.

Everywhere I go, I hear people laughing and screaming, even if I can’t see them. I almost want to laugh at the absurdity of all of this myself, but I don’t. I’d rather scream anyway. But I do neither and instead, just keep walking.

I pass by a guy who I think might be my friend from the coffee shop, but he’s got his apron and shirt pulled up over his head, so I can’t be sure. He’s walking around blindly, flapping his arms like wings, and thankfully he doesn’t see me. I don’t stop him to say hi.

A while later, I get to the western edge of Center City. I’ve kept my Thousand Yard Stare the whole way, and I’ve seen things I never expected to encounter in my life. Things I never would have thought possible outside of old paperbacks and disaster movies.

I walk past the library, which looks like it must have been hit by a meteor. The front steps are ruined and there’s a big hole with wisps of smoke pouring out where the main entrance used to be.

I think of poor Henry Bemis from The Twilight Zone, then remember I have his action figure in my pocket. I take him out for a second, look at Burgess Meredith’s bespectacled face, and squeeze him in my fist. I’m glad I brought him along. He’s my good luck charm now, and I’m going to survive as long as I can, just like he did, no matter what cruel fate awaits me. I’m glad, at least, that I don’t wear glasses.

As

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