The Survival Pact

by Christy Sloat

  Emma raised her hand giving us the signal that meant stop. She crouched down in a crawling position and we followed. Guess we were getting dirty again. I sighed and followed them toward the back of the gas station. I could see lifeless struggling to maneuver in the heavy rain and I realized that it must’ve been God doing his work again. He had sent this horrible heavy rain to take out the humans who were left.

  I ignored the fact that I was one of those humans and crawled with my friends. Emma reached the trash cans and we stopped again.

  She pulled out her gun and handed it to Lou. “Watch my six, Lou.” She grabbed two cans and took off running toward the two pumps located in the back of the lot.

  I watched with my heart in my throat as she reached the pumps and began filling them. I knew that I had a job and it wasn’t to watch her. I swallowed and took off toward the lifeless. My job was to keep them from seeing Emma.

  I was the diversion and Lou was the lookout, and I wasn’t thrilled about it.

  “Hey!” I called out to the lifeless. They turned toward me automatically. A shiver went down my spine as one of them crawled along the ground in my direction. I couldn’t tell if it was a he or she, that’s how badly it was decayed. Its eyes were black voids because there were no eyeballs in its sockets.

  The others were decayed but just not as bad. I shot one in the head and silently congratulated myself. But the time for high-fives and celebration hadn’t begun. I stabbed the crawler in the head and it lay motionless.

  I jumped onto the front of a van and crawled to the top, doing just what Emma told me to do. She was right; from this vantage point I could see them all and have a better shot at hitting them in the head. I shot two more and three came out at me.

  As I looked around, I saw that they were coming from all over; I was surrounded.

  “Jesus,” I said silently. All the humans that were once here lay dead on the pavement. The rain still poured and it washed their blood down the road.

  The rain hit harder and a bolt of lightning struck somewhere in the distance.

  The lifeless clawed at the van, but they weren’t able to climb on due to the slick rain. This was working out in my favor.

  I shot another and then realized I was out of bullets. I put the gun in the holster with shaky hands and pulled out the knife. I lay on my belly and stabbed one in the head and then another. Their hands reached for me but the rain made it almost impossible for them to get up here with me.

  I wondered if they would be able to climb if it wasn’t raining.

  I looked toward Lou and saw that Emma filled two cans already. She waved at me to keep going, so I did.

  “Hey! Over here you dead freaks!”

  Some of these dead were dressed so nicely that it was almost comical. They were all in their Sunday best, dressed for their funerals. And here I was in jeans and a t-shirt sending them back to the ground where they should have stayed.

  Some of their clothes were rotted away, showing me way more of their decaying bodies than I wished to see.

  I stabbed a few more and then got one right in the eye. When I tried to pull my knife out, I realized it was stuck in this woman’s eye socket. I yanked hard and as she fell, with me falling with her. I slid right off the top of the van and onto the pavement.

  “Holy shit!” I cursed. They were surrounding me but they didn’t see me fall with the dead woman. Leaving my knife in her eye, I crawled under the car and pulled her with me as a shield. If they just saw her and not me, I might be safe.

  I hated it, but I snuggled up behind the woman I killed for a second time. I closed my eyes and prayed that this would work.

  I was doing more praying now than ever before.

  The water rose around me as the rain fell harder and harder. Some of the dead fell and were washed away down the street, and others moved on. Once it was a bit clearer, I could be a better diversion. I couldn’t help if I was dead, so I waited it out. I yanked on my knife, finally freeing it.

  When I saw only a few pairs of legs, I crawled out the back side of the van and rounded on the lifeless. I didn’t think, just like last time, I just killed. I made the vow once before to not let anything get in my way, and I remembered that vow as I killed them around me.

  When they were all down I looked toward Emma, she gave me the thumbs up, waving me forward. I ran like hell to get to her and then grabbed a gas can. We hauled ass down the road as fast as we could, catching up with Lou, and ran toward the Jeep. We passed some lifeless as they floated along the road that was now flooded out. Their hands reached for us and their red eyes bulged as we ran past them.

  “Our Jeep may be either stuck or washed out,” Emma said, as she sloshed down the road. “We may have to prepare for the worst.”

  “How are you always so positive?” Lou asked sarcastically. “You completely underestimate my Jeep.”

  I could hear Snack’s barking and my head whipped around. I saw the car to my left, when we totally left it on the right side of the road. Poor Snack was drifting along inside barking at us like mad.

  “Guys,” I said, breaking up their small argument on ‘what car was best.’ “I don’t think Emma’s wrong.” I pointed to the Jeep.

  “Shit!” Emma yelled, as she ran toward it. I had no idea how we were going to get this car out of the river we now waded through. I missed the quiet road we once crouched along.

  “I got this,” Emma said, as she pulled on the door handle and crawled inside the Jeep. I stopped and stared, without any doubt, as she steered the car out of the deeper parts of the river. “Come on, girls. Push me!”

  Lou and I pushed the massive vehicle, trying to save it. “It’s too heavy!” I yelled.

  Lou closed her eyes as she pushed and then she stopped. Catching her breath she said, “We have to dump some of the stuff.”

  “What? No!” I told her as I recalled what we went through to get all that food.

  Lou grabbed my shoulder and said, “We have no choice. We can hit another school when we get to Washington, Kami. Please just help me.”

  I nodded and followed her into the Jeep. We pulled load after load out and tossed it from the car. She advised that we not toss things that we would need. So we kept the non-perishables, the food with the most calories, water and juice, and of course, her peanut butter. Everything else that had a small shelf life went bye-bye.

  “Okay, ladies, get your asses back out there and start pushing me into the woods, now!” Emma demanded in her stern Marine voice.

  “Yes Ma’am!” I said, with a lame-ass salute and hopped out. Now that the Jeep was lighter it moved a little easier. Once in the woods we were able to push it into a thick patch of trees and bushes, where it stayed. With a heavy sigh I leaned against it and watched as lifeless floated along the road even faster with our food going with them.

  “Bye!” I waved to the demons. I hoped they were able to show whoever brought them back to life that they didn’t win this war. Three girls kicked their ass. That and one powerful storm.

  And just as I thought that, the rain subsided.

  Once the roads cleared enough for us to travel we took off toward the small town. Anything that was here to hurt us was now washed away. We would be safe enough to find Lou a hunting store so she could get another weapon. Anything else would just have to die by my hand or Emma’s. Lou drove through the slushy water while Snack rested on her lap and ate off the residual peanut butter that was left over from snack time.

  She pointed at what looked like a shopping mall and I thanked whoever built it in this town.

  “I see a Cabela’s!” Emma yelled. “I freaking love that store! We can get some camping equipment, too.”

  I rolled my eyes. Emma was so predictable. I wished we could find a book store. I needed a book to help get me through the end of the world. I wanted to escape into another reality for just a little wh
ile.

  “Don’t worry, Kam, we’ll find something in there for you.”

  “Not likely.”

  Lou parked the Jeep at the back of the store and we entered through the back. This time I didn’t leave Snack behind. I would never be doing that again. She was going to be permanently by my side from now on. She ran alongside me and once we got out of the storeroom we came into a dark store. The power had been out for days now, but I didn’t like the darkness. I wondered if the rest of my life would be in darkness.

  I clicked on my flash light, thankful it didn’t get wet, and shined it into the store.

  “Hello?” I called out. “Anyone here?”

  It was silent for a while and just when we thought we were alone, we heard it: crying. Snack went crazy barking and jumped out of my arms like a little lightning bolt.

  “Who’s there? Come out right now with your hands in the air!” Emma said, in her usual demanding tone. “If you don’t, we’ll find you and my dog will tear you up.” She was really taking to Snack; making her a little Marine Canine.

  “Okay! Fine!” A young woman, probably early twenties, came out from her hiding place holding her hands up just like Emma asked. “I’m not armed. I’ve been hiding here for days. I thought you were the dead things.”

  She looked terrified beyond belief but Emma kept her gun aimed right at her.

  “Do the dead things you see normally ask if there is anyone in here?” I asked the strange girl.

  She just shrugged and said, “No. But when you’re alone for as long as I’ve been, you get scared.”

  “Well then you won’t mind if my friends go shopping for a little bit, right?”

  She shook her head.

  “Go!” Emma said to Lou and I while she kept her stance.

  I followed Lou as she walked right into the weapons section of the store. She grabbed a bow, looked it over, and then put it back.

  “Not what you’re looking for?” I asked.

  “Nah.” Then she grabbed something and practically jumped up and down.

  “What is it?” I asked, looking at the funny thing.

  “A slingshot. But not just any slingshot. It’s a Wrist Rocket. This thing will shoot anything!”

  “Oh-kay then. Whatever floats your boat.”

  She grabbed it out of the box added some silver balls and a bag for it all.

  “Now,” she said grabbing my hand. “To the guns!”

  “Yippee?” Was I supposed to be excited about that?

  The guns section was very impressive, but I had a gun. Lou made quick work picking out some sort of pistol and a few more just like it. She grabbed as much ammo that would fit inside a bag and handed it all to me. I took the bag, shocked by its weight, and looped it over my shoulder, struggling to carry it.

  I wanted to get back on the road and get out of here, but I was still eager to find a book store. I didn’t care about more guns.

  “Now, let’s get some food,” she said, pointing up. I followed her up a set of stairs and jumped when I saw the stuffed animals that hung along the stores walls. I hadn’t ever seen animals like that before.

  I suddenly missed New York. Even though it was full of people, who all were probably dead now, it was full of life. That was the one major difference between Emma, Lou, and me. I craved life and I tried to surround myself with happy moments. I loved to read and I loved to write. My life was all about creativity.

  Lou was just happy enough that it got her through each day. Her current life, before all this, was thinking about her mom’s impending death.

  And Emma, well her life was about war. She hunted and she killed those who threatened our country.

  Now I saw how much their life made them perfect for the current situation we were in. But for me, I was worthless and I had nothing to bring to the table.

  I sat down on the steps and it took Lou a few seconds before she noticed I wasn’t behind her. She doubled back and sat down with me.

  “Talk about it,” she said, as she brushed a loose strand of hair out of my face.

  “I’m not sure that I can be of much help to you and Emma,” I confessed. I pulled out my journal and waved it toward her. “This is about all I’m doing; journaling about this fucked up road trip we’re on.”

  She shrugged and said, “We all have a role to play here. Yours may not be the same as me or Emma, but it’s still important. Neither of us knew what was going on with these demons out there, but it was you who pointed out what Emma and I didn’t see. And don’t sell yourself so short; you’re getting pretty good with that gun.”

  I nodded, still not convinced.

  “Lou, Kami! Get your asses in gear there’s a truck outside!” Emma yelled from downstairs.

  14

  Lou didn’t bother grabbing anything for us to eat. She said that we would have to just use what we had and hope that would be enough. But as we ran down the stairs she cursed whoever was here because they were screwing up her plans.

  I didn’t care, I ran down the steps and once we met Emma we hightailed it out of there. We left the girl there even though she begged for us to take her. I tried to ignore her pleas to save her life, but it haunted me as we ran.

  Once we got to the Jeep Emma said, “We just gotta hope that the driver will help her, Kami. You can’t worry about everyone else right now. It’s just like this in war. If I listened to every kid or mother who begged me for mercy or to help them, I would never have made it home.”

  “But this isn’t Iraq, Emma,” I snapped, as I cuddled Snack.

  “No, you’re right about that. This is much worse than that. At least I knew I would have a chance at making it home. Here I’m not sure if I’m going to live to even to see tomorrow.”

  She started the Jeep and we left the town.

  Once on the highway the smell of the dead was slightly less vomit inducing. The flood had not reached the highway but the dead had. They left a mess of cars that was impossible to maneuver around. Emma slammed on the brakes and punched the steering wheel.

  “We can’t get passed this mess,” she said.

  She was right. The cars looked like they went on for miles and miles. It was like a traffic jam from hell; or caused from it anyway.

  “We can’t do this on foot,” Lou stated. “We have to back up and find another way.” She pulled out a map and tapped her fingers on her face.

  The knock on the window made us all scream. But thankfully it wasn’t a Lifeless; just a nice enough looking guy. Semi-attractive if it wasn’t for the dirty clothes and blood soaked skin.

  Emma pulled her weapon and aimed it at him. He held up his hands and said words we couldn’t hear.

  “Roll down the window, Em,” I urged. “Let’s hear him out.”

  She did and he smiled. “Sorry for scaring you,” he said. His voice was deep, and maybe it was because I hadn’t seen many men on this road trip, but he was looking cute. “My name’s George. Sorry about my appearance but apocalypse’s aren’t a pretty thing.” Did I hint sarcasm?

  “Yeah. You could use a bath,” Emma said sternly. She wasn’t falling for anything, like usual. “What do you want?”

  He looked back at me and then to Snack. “Oh, you’ve got a dog. I had to leave mine behind. She was a Sheppard; Gizmo. What’s this guy’s name?”

  “Snack,” I answered. George laughed.

  “Cute. Where you all from?”

  Emma opened the door and went all soldier crazy on him. “I’ll ask the questions, George. State your business and why you’re standing on the road by yourself.”

  He looked around, as if seeing the road for the first time. “I lost someone a mile or so back. I decided to go look for her body so I could properly bury her. Which is why I’m currently soaked in blood. I encountered a few dead and I’ve got a camp set up a mile that way.” He pointe
d west. “I saw you girls and it’s been a few days since I saw anyone else out here. That happened before I got here.” He said pointing to the mess of cars.

  “Where is your camp exactly?”

  “Well, it’s not much. Just an old cabin. Maybe a hunting cabin. But I was on my way to my sister’s when the dead started rising. I got to her and it was too late. I’m making wherever I can my home for the time being. No one else in California I need to get back to anytime soon.”

  He looked incredibly sad.

  “Who did you lose on the road?” Lou asked.

  “Just a girl I met. She needed help but I’m not much of a killer and neither was she. We got overrun by the dead and she didn’t make it. I fought my way out.”

  He pointed to a few bruises as proof of his story. Call me gullible but his story made sense.

  “I can show you a way off this highway, if you’d like. And feed you dinner, too. But we gotta get off this road soon.”

  “Why?” Emma asked.

  “See that row of trees behind me.”

  We all looked.

  “Yeah, so what?”

  “It’s a cemetery, and with it getting dark, I won’t be able to see what’s coming out of there.”

  Good point. The sun was getting lower and I didn’t mess around with cemeteries anymore.

  Emma glared at George.

  “Let him in,” Lou said. “Let’s get out of here.”

  George climbed in the backseat with me and Snack growled low at him as he closed the door. Emma put the Jeep into reverse and said, “Okay, now where?”

  George got us off the highway and onto a small road that led to the hunting cabin he found. There were dead bodies lining the streets, and dead lifeless too. It looked like a warzone and I wasn’t sure who won exactly.

  “What happened here?” Lou asked, noting the same things I did.

  “I don’t know. It was like this before I got here. I noticed that the bigger the city the more carnage left on the roads. Oregon wasn’t this bad in the forests. There is hardly any bodies there. I stayed in the woods most of the way to my sister.”

  Emma asked the question before I did. “So if your sister was in Oregon, why are you in Idaho now?”