It cut free and as he pulled himself forward using the steering wheel as a handhold, he heard two meaty smacks behind him. Glancing over his shoulder he saw the creature’s hands were on his headrest and the face of a dead man, eyes open and leering with hunger, was only a few feet away. Turning away Billy pulled himself upright, standing on the back of his seat, and began to climb through the shattered window. Putting his right foot on the steering wheel he was lifting his left foot when it jerked to a halt. Looking down in fear, already knowing what had happened, he saw the dead man had wrapped both hands around his ankle.
Fear swept over him but not panic. He braced with his other foot and yanked with all his might. Even though two of the creature's fingers were gone, he didn't break the grip of the dead man, but he did manage to dislodge him from the back seat. Now the complete weight of the dead man was pulling him down towards the concrete below. As he strained against the weight and gravity, he moved one hand on top of the windshield frame and the other on the hood, trying to pull himself through the broken window. He could hear the people on the bridge next to him and the two guys above him calling out warnings and advice, but his mind didn't absorb the words as his whole being focused on not letting go and not slipping to his death
Suddenly and without warning, the windshield frame snapped loose from the body of the car, and in that moment the driver knew there was nothing he could do about it, he would now plummet to his death.
He jerked to a stop before he had fallen more than a few inches. "I said grab my hand!" The man above him yelled through gritted teeth as he strained to hold two men's weight. Gabe, leaning down across the hood, had managed to grab the drivers wrist just as the windshield shattered and Chris was behind him holding onto his belt. With great relief Billy grabbed hold of the wrist of the hand that held him, so they were gripping each other wrist to hand, hand to wrist.
"I've got you, kick him loose!"
The driver looked down to see that the dead man had lost his grip on his ankle with his bad hand, and now was only holding on by one hand. Using the heel of his other foot he kicked downward across his own shin. That was all it took, the creature lost its grip.
As it fell, Gabe noticed that the dead man never looked scared or panicked as it plummeted, but just kept reaching up towards Billy and groaning.
Billy climbed the rest of the way up the hood of the car and let out an audible sigh of relief when he reached solid ground.
"Thank you!" Billy said, first shaking Gabe's hand and then Chris'. "You guys saved my life!"
Gabe smiled a large sincere smile. "Just returning the favor, but I am sorry about your car …"
Billy looked back down at the car where it hung precariously. "Yeah, that kind of sucks. But hey," He turned back to them and smiled half-heartedly, "I'm glad to be alive."
"So you live around here?" Gabe asked.
"No," Billy reflected, “I was at a race yesterday. . . and then all this started." Billy gestured at the dead people on the ground behind them. "I'll tell ya, I wish I had stayed with my pit crew, they were some tough customers."
"Hey," Jack piped in. "I heard you had canceled being in that race a couple days ago."
"Oh," Billy smiled and reached up to rub his chin before proceeding, "I see you're a fan. Ya, I had, but then I decided I couldn't do that to the fans."
"Well, I was going to offer you a ride, but if you don't live around here," Gabe paused, unsure how to proceed.
Billy rescued him from his dilemma. "Well, I'm without wheels now, so I'll take a ride where ever you guys are going."
Chapter 7
Pulling out of the gas station there was a communal sense of relief to get away from the shambling people that had been coming towards them.
Still within sight of the gas station they came up to a T intersection that the signpost revealed was Highway US 1. Turning South, Chris broke the silence, "U.S. One, AKA Dixie Highway, we could follow this all the way to Florida." He let out a half-hearted laugh.
"I think we need to get off the road for a bit" Gabe interjected almost immediately. I'm not saying we aren't going to want to get down South where it is safe, but with what we just saw, and the way the roads were this morning, I think we really need to figure this out."
"I think we should just keep heading to Florida" Jill interjected with a worried tone in her voice."
"I'm not suggesting we don't, but we need to get supplies and get somewhere safe now. This is getting crazier by the moment."
"I don't think..."
Gabe, who was sitting in the front seat stared at Jill for a second before realizing she wasn't pausing to think, but was looking at something over this shoulder. Turning back around to look out the window, Gabe was stunned at what he saw out the window. Two people were clearly eating a third person who had been pulled halfway out of their car through the driver's side window. As they drove by neither of the people seemed interested in them and Chris slowed down. One of the men chewing on an arm that was still attached to the now-deceased driver looked up at them. His expression was empty and cold.
"Look at his lifeless eyes," Jack said quietly, "They really are zombies. Just like the ones on that documentary."
Gabe looked up and away and noted that in the late morning light this small town looked like something straight out of an episode of Mayberry. There where little locally-owned shops lining the streets with potted flowers in the windows and awnings over the sidewalk every so often. Somehow the carnage hadn't seemed so bad when they had seen it on the highway. The highway isn't like your home town and it had felt removed from their own lives. And even from the perspective of the window at Gabe's house, they hadn't seen how it affected the whole town, just the visible rectangle right outside the house.
Up ahead there were people in the street, or Zombies, Gabe corrected himself, they were NOT people anymore. They were dead and they were dangerous. Like the previous ones they had seen, most of them showed open wounds of one sort or another as well as bloody evidence of their demise, or the bloody demise of one of their victims. As they continued down the street, the zombies that weren't eating someone began to focus on their SUV.
"UH, hold on guys, this is gonna get ugly." Chris began to drive faster down the narrow road as more and more of the towns dead denizens began to be attracted to the noise of the car. Chris was able to swerve past several but it was still nerve-racking as grasping hands managed to slap at the side of the vehicle. The ones ahead, attracted by the commotion, came out into the road ahead of them, Chris swerved to avoid a group of three and sideswiped an abandoned car in the road. As he corrected, another zombie trotted into his path and he pulled the wheel hard to the right. The SUV jumped as the right two tires went up onto the curb. Chris managed to get control again narrowly missing an electrical pole.
"Don't dodge them, just go straight down the middle." Gabe said as he made a chopping hand motion, "If we lose a tire or get stuck, we are done for."
"What?" Brad interjected incredulously. "We can't just run these people over!"
"They are dead!" Gabe snapped back
"They might find a cure." Brad pleaded as Chris began to take Gabe's advice and caught one of the zombies with the front passenger's side corner of the vehicle.
"If science can cure their disease and heal them of their torn out arteries and missing limbs, a few broken bones shouldn't be a problem."
The rest of the town was only a couple blocks long and with Chris not trying to dodge every zombie that was in their way, it went a lot quicker. Several more ran out into the road but Chris didn't try to avoid them if it would require any dangerous maneuvering. After smashing into a couple of different zombies with the corners of the SUV, Chris was braced for the body to fly into the windshield as they hit one that was particularly tall, but instead the zombie went down under the car.
"Oh Crud." Chris said struggling with the wheel. "He is stuck in the wheel well or something.!" Chris struggled with the wheel for a moment and t
hen everyone heard a loud thud from the back tires. "There he goes."
They went around a corner and the town abruptly ended as a sign indicated the county fairgrounds on one side and a state park on the other. There was a collective sigh of relief.
"We’re losing them but it looks like the whole town is following us." Billy said from the back of the SUV.
"Well even if they could run normal they wouldn't be able to keep up with us." Chris responded.
The SUV was quiet for a few moments as they drove through the countryside.
"Do you hear that?" Gabe asked
A quiet hiss was just discernable over the road noise.
"DANG!" Chris shouted. "The engine is overheating." He said, pounding the steering wheel in frustration.
"Over there," Gabe pointed just ahead. "That campground. Pull in there."
Pine trees lined the side of the road leading up to the turnoff and the sign announcing they were entering the campgrounds of a national chain of campsites. Pulling off the road onto a blacktopped driveway they could see a brick building ahead, but trees lined the both sides of the driveway, blocking anything else from view. As they came to the end of the line of trees it opened up into a field on either side. "Here," Gabe gestured to the left side of the pavement, "Park over there."
As everyone piled out of the SUV steam could be seen pouring out from under the hood. Billy walked to the front of the SUV with a toolbox in hand. "I found your toolbox..." Billy looked around for the owner.
"Thanks." Chris smiled and took the box. "Pop the hood kid."
Reaching into the trucks driver’s side door Jake pulled the lever releasing the hood. As Chris lifted the smoky hood, steam bellowed out forcing everyone back for a minute. Once it cleared Chris and Billy leaned in to take a look.
After a minute of poking around Chris and Billy conferred, "Yeah," Chris addressed everyone standing around, "Looks like the radiator hose pulled loose on the bottom." Billy shook his head in agreement. "Easy fix," Chris said as Billy tossed the duct tape in the air for emphasis, "but it will take a bit, kinda hard to get down there."
"Okay," Gabe spoke up, "Jack, you stay here while Billy and Chris fix that and keep an eye out for... anything." He gave a knowing glance, reluctant to say "zombies". "Everyone else who wants to, let's walk up to the main building and see if anyone is here."
As Chris and Billy got to work the rest of them headed up to the brick building. Approaching the building they could see two shingles hanging by the front door. One read "Office/Registration" and the other read, "Store". Gabe signaled the others to be ready and brought out his pistol while Brad brought moved his shotgun to his shoulder in ready. Gabe quietly approached the door and began to cautiously opened it. He paused with the door opened just a few inches, but not seeing or hearing anything alarming, he continued to push it open when a bell rang loudly, dashing his composure. He reached up and grabbed it but Jill was outright giggling and Brad let a snicker escape. Gabe rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the room in front of him.
To his immediate right was a checkout counter and in front of him were four chest-high store aisles that appeared mostly clear. As the group filtered into the room they could see that just beyond the store area, divided only by a change from wood flooring to tile, were some chairs. The rest of the sitting area went out of view around a corner.
"Anyone here..." Gabe said hesitantly.
The group could hear a rustling noise around the corner and Gabe and Brad both lifted their guns and pointed in that direction.
"Wow!" A man walking around the corner said as he saw the guns pointed at him.
He took a step back and placed his hand on his far hip. "There ain't nothing worth taking here guys, I already gave it away to my campers that decided to leave this morning."
"Oh, no,” Gabe lowered his gun and put his hand on the barrel of Brad’s shotgun, slowly pushing it down, "We were just worried there might be... Zombies."
Seeing them lower their guns the man took a half step back into view. Gabe noted the man had the largest semi-automatic he had ever seen strapped to his hip and had his hand resting on it.
"Well, no Zombies here, just what we saw on TV. Almost all my customers decided to make a break for home first light this morning. Just some young kids left here and not any supplies to speak of..."
He left the last statement hanging in the air, showing he was still wary of the group's intent.
"Well, we ran into a lot of Zombies getting here, it is chaos out there." Gabe offered and saw the man nod in understanding so he plowed on. "But we damaged our radiator getting away and pulled over down your driveway to fix it...." Not hearing any questions Gabe continued, "This is Brad and Jill and I'm Gabe." Tucking his gun into his belt Gabe reached his hand out and the man took it and they shook.
"Well my name is Donald and welcome to the Friendly Traveler Campground."
Having rolled with the events of the last day Gabe was caught off guard by the emotions he felt meeting someone else with the same name as his friend he had just lost barely half a day ago. But this Donald was an average-sized white man in his middle ages with thinning brown hair and dark brown eyes. Thought when Gabe shook his hand he noted that this was a man that worked for a living and had leather hard hands and a strong grip.
"My better half Shirley is around here somewhere. So what are your plans then? You wanting to camp?" Donald asked the last question with a slight hopeful smile.
"Well, we aren't sure yet." Gabe said realizing that at this point they really didn't have an immediate plan. "Right now we need to fix our truck. It wasn't safe where we were at, and we were talking about driving to Florida. But our immediate plan was to go by a camp store that the guy at the gas station said was a little ways down the road."
"Yeah, that would be Bobby Ray's place. Normally I would try and talk you into shopping here," He waved at his empty shelves, "But I guess you probably have a better shot finding something at the Army Surplus.” He shrugged his shoulders but then brightened up. “Okay, well let’s take a look at your truck. I’m pretty handy."
Gabe started to lead him towards the door and then saw an ATM in the store.
"Let me give this a shot." Said Gabe detouring toward the ATM.
After punching a few buttons the machine started spitting out 20's. Gabe quickly collected them and tucked them in his wallet without showing them to anyone.
"Well that was lucky." Gabe said, smiling now as he followed the older man. "Maybe things are going to be okay."
Outside Gabe led the group back towards where they had left the truck.
"If you want to stay I can give you guys a good rate considering everything that is going on." Donald considered as they continued to walk. "I have some left behind tents I can let ya borra for free too."
Donald suddenly stopped and put his hand out to stop Gabe, blocking everyone behind them as well. Gabe started to ask him what was going on but then he saw it too.
From where they stood they could see down the tree-lined driveway to US 1. The truck was also visible from their vantage point and Gabe could see Billy and Chris working under the hood and Jack, now armed with Chris’ .22 rifle, was sitting on top of the truck looking down the driveway. But from his viewpoint Jack couldn't quite see the main road and it was what was on the main road that had grabbed Donald's attention. Gabe could see zombie after zombie walking by in groups and one by one.
Everyone froze and stared in shock and fear. Jill gasped but quickly covered her mouth. Gabe began to drop to the ground slowly and signaled everyone else to do the same. They all managed to lay down on the ground without making a sound. Gabe considered whether he should try and crawl or maybe even call out to the group at the truck. Since Jack could not see the main road from his position, the three men at the truck were completely oblivious that separated from them only by a thin line of trees walked hundreds of flesh-eating zombies. Most of the zombies only looked forward and trudged along, but enough
of them would occasionally swivel their head towards the opening in the tree line that every time that Gabe started to try and quietly crawl sideways out of sight of the road he would have to freeze in his tracks for fear of getting seen.
Almost five minutes passed before the last zombie went out of sight. Gabe gave a sigh of relief but he motioned for them to stay put and waited another minute before giving them the okay to stand up.
"Oh my Gosh," Jill whispered. "Was that like everybody from that town that was chasing our car?"
"Apparently so," Gabe whispered back. "I can't believe the guys never even saw them..."
Gabe froze again as another group of zombies walked into view. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw something change at the truck. Both men were out from under the hood and in what seemed like slow motion to Gabe, Chris reached up and pulled the hood down with a slam.
The zombies at the end of the driveway turned at the sound and saw the group standing there and immediately turned directions and began a slow awkward jog towards them. Gabe surprised everyone when he started running towards them.
Before the oncoming zombies had made it up the driveway and past the tree line Gabe was able to make it to the truck. As he got close the three men noticed him coming and watched him with quizzical looks.
"No guns, no guns!" Gabe said in a harsh whisper continuing to the back of the truck.
As he rummaged in the truck the first zombie came around the corner of the trees into view and made a moaning sound.
Dead Faith (Book 1): Dead Faith Page 5
