“Oh no!” I pointed at a bloody baby seat in the back.
“That’s horrible,” Steve said.
I felt like we should have mourned longer, but those suitcases called to us, and it was dangerous to just sit on one spot for too long.
“Okay, let’s get started,” I said.
We headed for the SUV while Steve held the shot gun and watched for any dead ones. It looked like the people had been stocking up on supplies for quite a while. With luck, we would find a bunch of great stuff.
“I found some food,” Candy said. “It’s still good, but it’s almost expired.”
“Here’s another first aid kit,” I said.
Our first two finds made us believe that we were going to get lucky, but our search went downhill from there. The rest of the bags just contained clothes and bathroom necessities.
“I think these people were just going on vacation when this happened. They only have clothes,” I said to Steve.
“Why don’t you grab a few? We might want some,” he said.
We began rummaging through the bags and grabbing a few articles of clothing. I jumped out of the car with an arm load of stuff. As soon as my foot hit the pavement, something grabbed me, and I screamed.
I jerked my leg, trying to run away, and the dead one came with me. It was hiding under the car. I tumbled to the ground. The dead one still held my leg, it pulled at me, trying to reach my foot for a bite.
“Mae!” Candy and Steve raced toward me to help.
I let out another scream and kicked it in the face, praying it didn’t bite me. Again, I kicked it, but it kept holding onto me. Finally, I gave one last kick and caved in its skull. It released me and stopped moving.
“Are you okay?” Steve helped me to my feet.
“Yeah, let’s just get out of here.” I picked up the stuff I had dropped. “I hate everything.”
We threw the stuff we’d found in the car and climbed back inside. I wanted to cry, and I wanted to scream. I just wanted to find a place where I didn’t have to be scared. More and more, I wanted the safe zone in Washington to be real.
“I don’t want to stop again,” Candy said. “We’re almost to Washington DC. Let’s just head there.”
We all agreed with Candy and continued our drive. Unfortunately, we had only driven a few more miles when Steve brought the car to a stop.
“Crap,” he said.
“What’s the matter?” I leaned forward. There was a man standing in the road. There were some small, light barricades on each side of him, blocking the road. He held a gun and motioned for us to get out of the car. On the side of the road were more men and women with guns.
“We’re not getting out, are we?” Candy asked.
“Heck no,” Steve said. He rolled down his window. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“You have to get out of the car. We aren’t letting people pass here. It’s not safe. You’ll join our group and share our supplies,” the man said.
“Just a second.” Steve rolled up the window.
“You don’t believe that, do you?” I asked and pointed at the others. “They are all pointing their guns at us. This is them stealing all our stuff, not sharing.”
“I know,” Steve said. “We aren’t getting out of this car.” He rolled down the window again. “No thank you,” he said. “We are going to continue on our own.”
“Sorry, we can’t allow you to go,” the man said.
Some of the armed people began to approach us.
Steve glanced at them and then at the man standing in the middle of the road. “Buckle up,” he said.
He rolled the window up and stepped on the gas. We sped forward, toward the man, and I was sure he would leap out of the way, but he didn’t. We collided into him. He hit the car with a thud and rolled over the top of the car. I screamed and turned around. He lay in the middle of the road, dead.
“Keep your head down,” Steve shouted.
We all ducked down, expecting them to start shooting, but they didn’t. I kept peeking my head over the back of the seat to see if they were following us. Soon, they disappeared into the distance.
“Are they following us?” Steve asked.
“No, I said. I don’t think they had a car with them. I didn’t see one.” I turned back around to face him. “You killed that man.”
“Would you rather we stopped and given them all our stuff?” he asked. “I thought he would move out of the way. I can’t help it that he didn’t.”
“I wasn’t judging you,” I said. “Thank you for getting us out of there.”
“Are you serious!?” Steve cursed and pulled the car over. “I think that man gave us a flat tire.”
“I don’t want to stop here,” Candy said. “Those people aren’t very far away.”
“We can’t keep driving on a flat,” Steve said.
“The road is blocked anyway,” I said. “Look.”
A large fence a few yards ahead blocked the road. Beside it, a sign said that we were just entering Washington DC.
“This must be the place they were talking about,” I said.
“Perfect timing,” Steve said with a happy laugh.
We jumped out of the car and gathered all our belongings.
“Let’s head inside,” Steve said.
We slipped through the gate, expecting to find soldiers and other people. There were a few trailers and tents, but there was no sign of humans. One of the trailers had a sign that said, “check in here.”
“I think we’re supposed to go there,” I said and headed for the door.
The door was already slightly open, and as I reached out for the handle, it burst open and a dead one lunged at me. It tried to snap its teeth at me, but its jaw was broken, hanging by just a few pieces of flesh. I screamed just as I heard Candy scream as another one attacked her.
“They’re everywhere,” Steve shouted.
I grabbed the knife I had and shoved it through the dead one’s eye socket. It stumbled backward, and I turned to escape. The area was filled with them now. Candy and Steve were fighting them off each other. I ran in to help them. Together, the three of us fought back. I found a crowbar on a box and began smashing in the skulls of the dead ones, making my way toward Steve and Candy. Finally, I reached them.
“Run,” I said, and bashed another dead one’s head in.
The three of us broke through the dead ones and headed toward the city. We stumbled passed the empty tents that were supposed to be safety but now were stained with blood and brains.
“Where are we going?” Candy asked.
“Does it matter?” I asked.
It didn’t matter. Nowhere mattered anymore. Nowhere was safe. We were running away from death and toward death all at once. Tomorrow would come, just as it always had, but we would be different, we would be tougher, we would be colder, or we would be the dead ones.
END
***
Be sure to check out Trip's latest novel:
Legend of Xaloria
In the not-too-distant future, the worlds of online virtual reality gaming and the real world have grown seamlessly together. Millions of people around the world now live in a constant divergence of two worlds, one real, one fantasy, and sometimes the line between grows blurry. One of these people is Jake, a young boy with a mother who mistreats him and classmates who ignore him. Jake chooses instead to spend his days in Xaloria, a fantasy world he created.
One day, when Jake's mother tells him of a major family decision he had no knowledge of before, he decides enough is enough. Along with two friends, Jake chooses to lose himself in Xaloria, the world he created and designed himself.
However, all in Xaloria is not what Jake has expected. And when Jake discovers that the world he built is growing and changing on its own, Jake's life begins to grow more exciting...and dangerous...than he ever would have expected.
The line where fantasy and reality blurs has always been unclear. But what happens when it is erased
completely?
***
A Personal Appeal from the Author, Trip Ellington
My name is Trip Ellington and I have an offer that I think you will find very favorable.
In my continued efforts to improve the quality of my works, I have created a group referred to as my ‘Beta Readers.’ I rely on my Beta Readers to read my as-yet-unreleased stories and provide me with much needed feedback and I keep them informed of my latest releases. There is no charge to become a Beta Reader.
For those of you who would like to help me in this cause and become a Beta Reader, I will send you a digital copy of any of my published stories for free.
To apply for the Beta Reader group, simply click or navigate to this link:
==> http://tripellington.com/beta/
Thank you for being a loyal reader and supporting an independent author.
Sincerely,
Trip
***
Cover Illustration by Yip Lee
Zombie Outbreak: A Zombie Apocalypse Short Story Page 4
