The Road Trip At The End Box Set

by J N Wood

  The fire must have been incredibly hot for it to melt metal signs outside the city.

  I could barely see anything ahead of me. The road I needed to travel on went around the north of Tracy, and the wind must have been blowing north, because all I could see was smoke. The road wasn’t visible at all.

  It was very slow driving. I was down to a few miles per hour, and turning the lights to full beam didn’t help because it just illuminated the smoke.

  My imagination was running wild. I expected the burning dead to suddenly appear out of the smoke

  It took me forty five nerve wracking minutes to drive five miles. I stopped on the other side, and opened all the windows to try and release the smoke that had found its way into the car. I twisted around in my seat to take a look at what I’d struggled to drive through. The clear night sky was jet black from where Tracy had once been to as far north as I could see.

  I drove for another fifteen minutes, and found Livermore had fallen to the same fate as Tracy. The main route around Livermore was also north of the city, like the one around Tracy. And it was unfortunately still blowing a northerly wind, so I was back down to a snail’s pace.

  When I finally got to the western side of the city, about twenty minutes later, I joined the CA-84 and it became a lot clearer. Occasionally a gust of wind would drag swirls of smoke over the road, so I still had to keep my speed down.

  According to the map, I just had to drive through a bit of wilderness before hitting civilisation again. There I would ditch the car. The Toyota was a lot quieter than the Jeep but I still didn’t want to risk it in such a built up area.

  It was hard to tell in the dark, but the fields around me looked a very dark green, probably more of a blackened burnt colour.

  The orange glow on the horizon in front of me wasn’t filling me with confidence. The sun wasn’t due to rise for another seven hours.

  As I drove through what should have been civilisation, all I could see around me were the charred remains of Fremont. Every building had been caught up in the fire in some way. The only positive thing was that there wasn’t anywhere near as much smoke as there had been in Tracy and Livermore. The fires must have come through here first.

  If there is a hell, this is definitely what it would look like.

  I was nearing the junction where I’d been planning on ditching the car, but was having second thoughts.

  Surely the zombies would have perished in the fires?

  I pulled over and climbed out of the car. It was incredibly hot, there was only the odd fire still burning but the heat coming off the streets was unbelievable. There was sweat on my forehead after being outside for just ten seconds.

  I looked out over the street that ran under the Interstate-680, trying to spot any kind of movement. I’d made my mind up, and was just about to get back in the car, when I saw a group of people. They were huddled together behind the remains of a large Hilton Hotel. I could just read the fallen sign on the road. I wouldn’t have seen them if more of the building had been left intact, but they were there, all facing the hotel.

  It was highly unlikely they were just a group of friends having a chat.

  I collected my things, and planned out a walking route that would avoid the little zombie mob having a nap.

  My return flight home was supposed to be today. I doubt I’ll be able to get back to Denver for it. I’ve never missed a flight before.

  Everything was on fire, or it was already burnt to the ground and smouldering. Every few seconds a gust of wind would pick up the smoke and burning embers, hurling them towards my face. I constantly had to duck down and cover my stinging eyes. Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the sweat. It was all soaking into the t-shirt I’d wrapped around my nose and mouth.

  It was very hard to breathe at times, especially when the wind died down, and I was constantly coughing. Occasionally I would see zombies doing their dormant state thing, and I would have to painfully hold back a cough. More often than not it would try to force its way through my nose, so the inside of the t-shirt wrapped around my face was covered in snot. All of these things combined were making me even more pissed off with life.

  I stopped to pull my shirt down from my face and coughed. I was doubled over, and felt like the coughing was never going to stop. I’d have killed for a sip of cold water.

  Four hours of avoiding fires, and sleeping zombies, had taken its toll on my body. I’d finished my bottles of water within the first hour. My skin felt like it was on fire, and I was wheezing at every breath. I could barely see, so I was surprised I hadn’t actually walked into a sleeping mob of zombies.

  To be honest it would have felt like a relief to be eaten alive.

  The house was just around the next bend. I couldn’t believe I’d actually made it, and Mountain View was gone, it was all gone.

  This was definitely it. I pulled out the scrap of paper with Jack’s handwriting on it.

  1876 Runningwood Circle.

  The number was still visible on a sign on one of the gate posts, its edges blackened from the fire. The house behind the gate was just a pile of smoking rubble. Nothing had been left untouched by the flames.

  I dropped down to my knees. I honestly didn’t know if the new tears were from the smoke, or from the devastating feeling of failure that rapidly consumed me.

  I’m sorry Jack, I really am. I’m too fucking late. I’m so sorry.

  I leaned forward and held my head in my hands. What the fuck was I going to do?

  Looking up to the sky I shouted, ‘Fuck!’ before lurching forwards and violently coughing again.

  Through the coughing I could hear a strange flapping noise behind me. I tried to place the sound, it sounded like someone shaking out a wet towel. I turned around to see a ball of flames moving around the bend. I tried to blink away the tears, whilst watching the bizarre sight in front of me. It took me a few seconds before I realised something was inside the fireball, and propelling it towards me.

  ‘Oh fuck off!’ I shouted, and stood up. I unholstered my gun and took aim. I couldn’t see where its head was, but I pulled the trigger anyway, once, twice, three, four times. It was still coming.

  ‘Oh come on! Just fuck off will you!’

  Aiming higher I pulled the trigger twice more. It was still getting closer, so I aimed much lower and fired one more time. The ball of flames fell to the floor.

  What the fuck was that? Had someone doused a child sized zombie in petrol and set fire to it?

  The hissing was back again, but I couldn’t see them for the smoke. Either the gunfire or my shouting had drawn some more of them out.

  I honestly don’t care anymore.

  How many times had I fired?

  It really doesn’t matter, so let them rip me to shreds. I’m just gonna kill as many as I can.

  The smoke cleared just for a second or two, allowing me to see some of them.

  One, two, three, oh for fuck’s sake, stop counting them you idiot.

  I took aim at the closest one.

  At least these zombies weren’t on fire.

  I pulled the trigger but only succeeded in removing a section of its neck. I took a deep rasping breath before firing again, this time shooting it full in the middle of its nose. It fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

  The next zombie went down the first time, as my shot hit it right on the bridge of its nose.

  I’m getting better at this shit.

  Six of the fuckers were still coming at me from various directions through the swirling smoke. Did I have that many bullets left in the gun?

  I fired at the next one and missed. These were a bit further away, but I couldn’t afford to wait until they were closer. I fired again and missed, again.

  Fuck’s sake.

  I took a slow breath and swallowed back a coughing fit. The next shot took it down. I swivelled slightly to my right and pulled the trigger, another zombie going down first time.

  I didn’t even have to think about
that one.

  Trying the same tactic, I quickly fired at the next runner, missing by an absolute fucking mile. The shot had been well off target. I took aim again, but found myself on the floor before I was even aware that something had hit me. My face was starting to feel hot. It felt like it had taken the brunt of the impact when I hit the tarmac.

  Fuck’s sake, my face was nearly back to normal after the truck crash.

  A heavy weight was pinning me down. I heard the gnashing teeth before I glanced to my right and saw them. I’d already instinctively thrust out my right hand, the butt of my gun was pressed against the thing’s neck. I couldn’t twist the gun around to aim it at its face, so I pushed with all my strength, swivelling my body around until I was lying on my back. All I could see was a bloated face leering over me, saliva dripping out of its mouth and falling onto my neck. I swallowed back the rising bile in my throat, and grabbed its rotting neck with my left hand. I could feel bones and other disgusting things you shouldn’t be able to feel when you grab a person’s neck.

  My right hand was free, so I rested the barrel of the gun against the side of its head and pulled the trigger. There was a splattering noise as the contents of its head hit the tarmac. Dark red gore poured out of its mouth, landing on my chest.

  I pushed the dead weight off before any more of its insides fell onto me, and managed to get to my feet. Aiming at the next attacking zombie I pulled the trigger. There was just a short series of clicks as the barrel slid backwards.

  Shite.

  I ran towards it and just as it laid its hands on me, I smashed the butt of my gun into the centre of its forehead.

  I’d timed the blow perfectly. Or I was very lucky.

  With a loud crack the zombie slammed into me and fell to the floor. It nearly took me down with it, but I managed to stay on my feet this time.

  That was an excellent way to kill them, really hurts your wrist but very efficient.

  I looked up from the body at my feet. Three zombies were still running towards me. I put my gun back in my holster to save my painful wrist, and glanced behind me to make sure nothing was gonna attack me from Sarah and Doodah’s house. Reaching behind to the side pockets on my backpack, I grabbed the little axe with my right hand, and a screwdriver with my left.

  Unfortunately the three remaining zombies were all a similar distance away, I wasn’t gonna be able to take them one at a time.

  I tried to slow my breathing down and waited.

  ‘Come on then you horrible fucking cunts!’ I shouted.

  A few seconds later I noticed one of them was a better runner, and was slightly ahead of the other two, so I raised my axe and started running towards it.

  It was really swinging its arms and pumping its legs, desperate to get to me. But then I must have blinked, because all of a sudden, it’s arms hung limply by its sides, and it was flying sideways through the air. It hit the ground with a thud, and skidded across the tarmac. I stopped running and saw the other two zombies almost simultaneously fall to the floor.

  ‘What the fuck?’ I whispered.

  I looked to the closest zombie, the one that went down first, and saw a thin black stick protruding from the side of its head. The other two also had similar looking things sticking out of their heads.

  Another zombie appeared through the smoke and started to move towards me, so I repositioned myself and raised my axe again.

  ‘Hey wait. I’m alive man,’ the zombie said.

  ‘What?’ I gasped.

  I tried wiping my eyes, just making it worse. The figure in front of me was dressed all in black, with something wrapped around his face. I glanced down and saw a crossbow in his hand.

  That explains the sticky looking things sticking out of the zombies’ heads then.

  The crossbow carrier turned his head slightly, but kept his eyes on me. ‘Jack! Is this him?’ he shouted.

  ‘You what?’ I asked. ‘What did you just say?’

  The smoke shifted, and two more black clad people appeared, also carrying crossbows.

  ‘Did you just…’ Another coughing fit stopped me. I cleared my throat and tried again. ‘Did you just say Jack?’

  The man placed his boot on the zombie’s face. He bent over and yanked the arrow out of the zombie’s head, coming out with a sickening sucking sound.

  Turning away he said, ‘Hey, this guy is British, could be him.’

  I leaned to my right to look around the crossbow man, and tried to see further into the swirling smoke. The other two crossbow people parted, and a figure emerged from behind them. His head was heavily bandaged and his right eye was completely covered up, but I could tell it was definitely him.

  ‘Chris!’ he called, and then started to laugh.

  ‘Jack?’ I shouted.

  I couldn’t fucking believe it. The tears definitely weren’t just from the smoke now.

  ‘Jack!’ I shouted again, and ran to him. I noticed he had a slight limp as he walked towards me.

  When we met I wrapped my arms around him and lifted him off the floor. ‘Fucking hell, I thought you were dead you fucking arsehole! Where the fuck were you?’

  He was still laughing when he said, ‘Okay, not so tight, I’ve got a couple of broken ribs.’

  When we finally stepped back from each other, I held onto his arms.

  He screwed up his face in revulsion. ‘Fuck me Chris. What happened to your face?’

  ‘What? My face, what about your face?’

  Actually, my face did hurt like a mother fucker.

  I looked around Jack to the charred remains of the house behind. ‘Shit Jack I’m so sorry. I was too late. It took me too long to get here.’

  Jack did something I wasn’t expecting. He smiled.

  ‘Don’t worry Chris. Beth left me a message just like you did. They set off for Canada six days ago.

  BOOK TWO : BORDER

  Prologue: Friends Reunited

  ‘What? Really?’ I blurted out.

  ‘Yes, she left me a message outside our apartment.’

  ‘Thank fuck for that,’ I said. The relief made me almost forget about the amount of pain I’d been feeling. ‘Although…’ I began, but managed to stop myself.

  ‘What?’ Jack asked.

  ‘Well…’

  ‘What?’ he asked again, sounding annoyed.

  I’m gonna have to say it.

  ‘I said she might set off for Canada before we got here. Didn’t I?’

  Shaking his head, Jack spun around and walked towards his three companions. ‘Come on Chris. We need to get underground before the sun comes up.’

  DAY FOURTEEN

  Chapter 1: Slowly

  ‘I will not carry you,’ a gruff, heavily accented voice said.

  Was the accent Russian maybe? Shit, did the Russians cause all of this? It must have been them that attacked America. What the fuck? Why have they captured me?

  The Russian invader’s hand painfully gripped my shoulder. I desperately tried to squirm away from my captor.

  ‘Help! The Russians have got me!’ I shouted.

  ‘Chris, shut the fuck up,’ a familiar voice called out.

  I followed the voice in the darkness, to see Jack approaching me through the smoke.

  Fuck, this is embarrassing.

  I twisted my head around to find the huge Lithuanian guy called Gee looking down at me. Jack had of course introduced me to him earlier.

  ‘Shit, sorry Gee,’ I said. My cheeks suddenly felt very hot, like they were beginning to flush red. Luckily my embarrassment was hidden by the t-shirt wrapped around my face. ‘I think I must have nodded off,’ I told him, trying to explain.

  ‘Were you sleepwalking just then?’ Jack asked. The bottom half of his face was covered, but I noticed a slight smile creeping up to the corner of his one visible eye.

  ‘Yeah must have been,’ I responded.

  ‘We cannot carry him,’ Gee said. ‘He is slowing us down.’

  Above his mask, Gee’s cold eyes s
tared straight at me, not showing an ounce of emotion.

  ‘Gee, stop being an asshole.’ This time it was the guy called Michael speaking. ‘Now come on, we have to get to the parking lot.’

  Gee pointed his finger at me, just a few inches from my face. ‘I am not fucking Russian,’ he said. ‘Never call me Russian.’

  ‘Yeah I know,’ I said, leaning away from him. ‘Sorry mate.’

  The big Lithuanian stared directly into my eyes. It was beginning to get very uncomfortable, when he suddenly spun around and walked away. The others followed him, leaving me to try and keep up.

  I should maybe avoid calling Gee a Russian again.

  The woman, Jack had introduced her to me as Shannon, dropped back to walk alongside me. ‘Don’t worry about Gee,’ she said. ‘It takes him a bit of time to warm up. Give it a couple of weeks and you’ll be the best of friends.’

  I couldn’t see the smile through her mask, but I could hear it in her voice.

  ‘Brilliant,’ I said, tripping up on a curb but managing to quickly regain my balance. ‘Sorry, I’m not normally this pathetic.’ I was exhausted.

  ‘That’s okay,’ she said, chuckling. ‘Not far to go now, five minutes maybe.’

  After the Crossbow Crew found me outside the charred remains of Beth’s friend’s house, Jack told me we needed to get back to an underground car park. They’d been using it as their base for a couple of days. I had a million questions for him, but I barely had the energy to say hello when Jack introduced me to everyone.

  It had been a long night.

  The person who shot the first zombie turned out to be Michael, and Shannon was his wife. Gee was just a huge miserable bloke, who seemed to hate me already. He definitely wanted to leave me behind.

  Jack grabbed me around my arm, dragging me from my thoughts. ‘We’re here Chris, it’s just through there,’ he said, pointing with his other hand to an arched entrance in a concrete building.

  Burnt tree stumps lined the pavement. The building itself looked a bit singed from the fires, but as far as I could tell in the darkness, it looked structurally sound.