Dexter drove up and down many back roads and alleys while in the city. It was as if he were a taxi driver or something.
“Wow, it appears you know every square inch of the city,” Mary said.
“I grew up in this city when it was much smaller. I know my way around. Aren’t you glad you didn’t go back and get your car now?” Dexter joked.
“Come on, you aren’t gonna hold that against me, are you?” Mary said.
“Turn the radio back on.”
The radio was repeating old information. It was a never ending stream of reports about sick people walking, resurrection of the dead, and government denials of the gravity of the situation.
As Dexter navigated around the city, Mary heard a lot of sirens. Working in a city, it was not uncommon to hear sirens here and there, but now every siren seemed to scream, “Something is wrong.”
“The governor is about to speak on the situation,” the radio announcer said.
“That sure was fast. Wonder what he will say?” Mary said.
“The fact that he is speaking after an hour or so since the mayor spoke tells us more than the bull he is going to be shoveling,” Dexter said.
“OK, hold on. We will now bring you the governor’s statement in its entirety.” There was a pause, and then the governor began to speak. “My fellow Georgians, the Centers for Disease Control has informed various leaders, including the president of the United States, your mayor and myself, about a situation in Atlanta. It is a serious health care emergency, and so we have to take some serious steps to ensure both the health of our state, but also our country. We have ended all air travel in and out of Atlanta. The city has turned the airport and about 50 other locations in the city into temporary shelters. We encourage all citizens who are in the city at work or school to go to one of these shelters.
“We understand that there are many who wish to reach their children, but be sure that we are protecting them in the schools.
“The president has deployed the National Guard to our state and we will protect the citizens,” the governor said.
“This is serious. Do you think we should go to a shelter?” Mary asked
Dexter gave Mary a look that said, “Are you crazy?”
“If you cannot make it to a shelter, we encourage you to go into a safe location in your house and lock all rooms. We are discussing closing the interstates. We have already begun closing roads.
“Are there any questions?”
A reporter asked, “Governor, what do you make of these stories of dead people walking and human cannibalism?”
“I’m glad you asked. Health care professionals have assured me that this is not happening. In addition, it is not possible.” The governor took a half joking tone and said, “I wish people would turn on CNN and turn off the Science Fiction Channel when looking for news.” A few people laughed.
“We will take no further questions…”
“And that was the governor,” the radio announcer continued. “It appears we have a serious health care emergency. However, the governor characterized the reports of dead people eating human beings as ridiculous and impossible.”
“Yeah, well, he’s a politician. If his lips are moving, you know he is lying,” Dexter said.
“Don’t blame me, I voted for Lancaster,” Mary responded.
Dexter and Mary laughed as the traffic slowed. Then it slowed to a crawl. A few minutes later, all the cars on the two-lane highway stopped.
“What the hell is this?” Dexter said. “Let me get out and see what is going on.”
Mary opened her car door and stepped out as well. They both looked down the road and saw what looked like a never ending stream of stopped cars on the side of the road going out of town. On the other side of the road going into town there were very few cars.
“This is why I have some binoculars in the car,” Dexter said.
“You got binoculars in the car?”
Dexter laughed. “Well, I leave them in the car for when I go to a football game. Hold on.” Dexter ducked back in the car and opened the glove compartment, pulling out the binoculars.
He looked down the road and said, “There is our problem. Looks like there is an accident up there. It is blocking both sides and a few people can get around the accident at a time,” Dexter said.
“Do we have hours before they shut down the roads?”
“No. I take this back road every day. About a year ago we had a traffic pile up like that and it took me three hours to go three miles.”
Mary joked, trying to provide levity to the situation, “A mile an hour.”
A number of people got out of their cars. “Hey, man, you got binoculars. What do you see? You have any idea what’s happening?” the man from the car in front asked.
“Looks like an accident, buddy. We might be stuck here for a while,” Dexter replied.
“Well with what the governor said, I ain’t waiting around. I don’t know, but I am not believing what the politicians are saying.”
The woman from the car behind yelled.
“What have you guys heard?” Dexter asked.
“I heard that it is an air borne virus and if it hits you, it turns you into a maniac,” the guy in the front said.
“So how do you get it?” Dexter asked.
“Who knows, but a lot of people are getting it from human bites. It looks like you get it easily.”
The woman from behind got out of her car and walked over to her trunk, pulling out a bag. She appeared to be a middle aged woman, but she looked to be in pretty good shape. The woman wore a nice fitting business suit. She took off her high heels and put on some walking shoes.
“What are you doing?” Mary asked the woman in the car behind.
“These boots are made for walking, and that’s just what they’ll do.” The woman laughed.
“We should do the same thing,” Dexter told Mary. “Let’s get whatever we can out of the car and get ready to go.”
“We will walk. You coming, buddy?” Dexter asked the man in front of us.
“Naw, I’m waiting it out.”
There was some erratic honking of horns. The man in the car in front looked down the road and a number of people were starting their cars and driving in the incoming lane. One car hit the guy, knocking him into his vehicle and knocking the door off his car before he could get out of the way. He lay there, yelling.
Dexter popped the trunk and pulled out a black bag. Mary thought she must be the only one without a bag for occasions like this.
Dexter yelled to Mary, “We need to go. And we need to go right now!” He popped the glove compartment and pulled out a revolver. He put it in a leg holster.
Dexter yelled to the woman who was almost to the woods, “Hold on, we are coming.”
The screams continued to get closer as the cars also started driving into each other as if they were trying to drive through the cars in front of them.
Dexter yelled “run,” and Dexter and Mary ran off to the side into the woods where they met the middle aged business woman.
All three got into the woods as soon as they found a good vantage point to see what was going on. The commotion continued until it got to the location where their car was.
Mary saw a woman jump and tackle a man who was a few cars behind. The woman grabbed him and bit a chunk out of his neck.
The man screamed as his blood spurted out of his neck. He lay there as four others devoured his flesh. Mary saw another man who was a few cars up jump under Dexter’s car and wait. A man pulled him out by the legs and a family of four ate that man.
Other people jumped out of their cars, but people from behind overtook them. After being bitten, some turned into crazy creatures while people simply devoured other people. Mary looked at Dexter, who put his finger to his lips.
It didn’t take long, before long the onslaught had moved forward. The three stayed for about 10 minutes, until Mary said, “We should go.”
“What the hell was that?” the busines
s woman asked.
“That, madam, is what happens when shit hits the fan,” Dexter said.
“You got any plans?” the woman asked,
“I’m going to my home. It is about 30 miles out of town, so about 40 miles from here.”
“Do you two mind if I join you?”
“I think we need all the help we can get,” Dexter said.
Dexter turned and began walking towards the woods.
“Do you know where you are going?”
Dexter laughed. “Follow me, I’ll get you there. By the way, what’s your name?”
“Carolyn Lawson.”
Chapter 8 - Carl
Zombie Resurrection: Episode 1 Page 7
