Jeeps
It had been a few kilometers since he had seen them. He walked through the deserted street, glancing over his shoulders frequently, eyes darting at anything that seemed to move. It was grey and cold and the night would come soon. Eventually he reached a Jeep dealership on the corner of the street. A few of the windows were smashed; people found shelter here before.
Without a sound he slipped in through the broken glass and listened very carefully, making sure he was as silent as possible. He tried listening for several things, breathing, footsteps, electronic hissing, water running, anything moving at all. There was nothing. He allowed his breathing to return to normal, deeper, more regular.
Slowly he made his way through the space. The large windows let the dimming light in. The Jeeps shone with their polished and unblemished paint. In one of the outside mirrors he checked his face, which was unshaven and dirty. He bared his teeth, looked at the grime on them, and covered them again. He tried a closed-lip smile.
There was a toilet and some sales offices on the ground floor where sales staff met with customers, all without any sign of life. The upstairs offices with solid doors and windows with blinds were for internal use. Those he could use, as oversaw the whole building. He just had to make sure to check for an alternative exit.
He looked at the street for a while, then made his way upstairs. The first office was void of useful things, drawers plundered and left open. Judging by the pictures this used to be the director's office. Next-door they had a storage room with a server that was stuck in a boot loop. First a beep, fans starting, disks spinning, clicking, failing and coming down. He unplugged the chord and moved on.
There was one office left to check, the conference room. The door was ajar, and a faint light was barely visible from the now dark building. The hairs in his neck rose. The light was so faint he hadn't seen it before. If someone else was here, he could still sneak out unnoticed and find another place to sleep.
He considered leaving right away, but there was also the trouble outside earlier as well. Maybe it was wiser to deal with who or whatever here and now rather than a complete unknown elsewhere. Reaching overhead he took the machete out of his backpack, as he noiselessly made his way to the door. He focused as he pushed the door open and peeked inside.
The conference room has several rectangle tables pushed together and some office chairs in disarray. The light came from the beamer standing on a cabinet in the back and projecting on the other side of the room. There was nobody. His hand was already on the power chord of the beamer to shut it off, but then he noticed what it projected:
The Annulment form
- Is stored inside all Jeeps, all models
- Easily reachable from the fuel cap
- After signing, instantly enforced
There was an illustration as well. It showed an undone fuel cap, and a rolled up document inside the fuel inlet.
Adrenaline kicked into his system and he immediately stepped outside the room. Through the windows he could see headlights of cars reflecting on the opposite building. They knew where he was. His heart was beating in his throat and his mouth dried up. He looked at the Jeeps downstairs and ran for the staircase and went down as fast as he could.
First he fumbled with the cap for a few seconds, then just jammed his machete in the gap and broke it off. He could see something rolled up inside. Cars screeched to a halt outside. He unrolled the document, it had a line to sign. Men were screaming outside. He ran to one of the desks and took a promotional pen. Some windows shattered. He put the pen to the paper and started to scribble. He heard many footsteps behind him. He finished his signature.
As if the dealership was made of theatrical flats, the walls fell outward and revealed the open streets. When he turned around, he could only see only the back of the heads of the men retreating. They got back into their cars and vans and left. The last taillight turning the corner turned the light off.