“I think there’s safety in numbers. Once we find your wife and daughter and get back to the house, we’ll have a decent-sized group. Hopefully, we’ll find more to add to it,” Vince said.
Max nodded his agreement but didn’t have room in his mind to worry about finding other people until he had Anna and Camille back home safe and sound.
Chapter 2
Night 3
As the heavy darkness of the moonless night descended upon them, Anna’s voice grew hoarse from yelling Camille’s name over and over again. They drove with the headlights on, knowing that they were lighting themselves up like a Christmas tree buffet for all of the zombies in the area. Suburban streetlights were few and far between, not allowing them safe visibility to avoid the dead on the road. Emily had swerved to avoid more zombies than Anna could count, but without the headlights, they would have hit the dead and lost the SUV in the process. Going on foot at night with innumerous zombies, surprising them at every turn, was a prospect they both dreaded, and all Anna could think about was her fourteen-year-old daughter out there somewhere on foot all by herself.
They had been driving around for hours. When they didn’t find Camille right away and saw the path of destruction from the horde, Anna had insisted on following it further. She feared that her daughter hadn’t been able to get away or hide. If she were hidden in a nearby house, she would have heard Anna calling her name. The reality was that Camille could have been anywhere.
“We’re driving on fumes, Anna,” Emily said. “What do you want to do here?”
“I can’t go home without my daughter,” Anna said adamantly. “Let’s try to get gas at the next big intersection.”
“Do you think the pumps are still on? That they’re going to work with a credit card?” Emily asked doubtfully. “We need to have a plan in case we can’t get gas.”
“We find another car, or we go on foot. I’m not giving up,” Anna said as she pulled her card from her backpack. “You try my card while I keep watch.”
Abundant street lights were leading into the intersection where the cross street briefly widened to four lanes. On the road ahead of them was nothing but blood, guts, bones, random body parts, and crawling zombies that were paralyzed or unable to walk on broken bones. The same zombie slush they’d been driving through since leaving Anna’s house. The smell permeated everything so thoroughly that all they could smell was death.
As they approached the intersection, they looked carefully at two brightly lit gas stations. At least a dozen zombies shuffled around aimlessly in the street, and several dozen more staggered around both gas stations, likely drawn by the lights.
“There’s too many here for us to stop,” Emily said. “They’re already turning toward us.” The nearly silent SUV wasn’t so silent when there were no other competing noises in the darkness.
“We’re lit up and moving, so we’re practically ringing the damn dinner bell,” Anna replied in aggravation. She didn’t want to deviate from the path the horde had taken but knew they were going to have no choice but to take a detour to find gas. They could loop back when they were done.
“Do you think Camille could have gotten this far on foot? Maybe we should gas up and head back, check some of these side streets,” Emily said.
“I don’t know. I just don’t know. We could be going the wrong way, just getting further and further from wherever she is,” Anna dropped her face in her hands.
“I think we should find a place to get gas, then start backtracking,” Emily said. “We may be pushing too far to the east, and we haven’t gone south yet.”
“All right, let’s head south to the next gas station and work our way back from there,” Anna said, then starting yelling Camille’s name again.
“Maybe stop yelling for a minute so you don’t draw more zombies to us before we can get gas,” Emily suggested gently. Anna glared at her for a moment, then conceded that Emily was probably right.
They drove about ten blocks to the next main intersection. There were only a handful of zombies nearby, and they weren’t clustered together. Emily pulled up to the gas pump, swiped Anna’s card, and hoped for the best. She was stunned when the transaction was approved and immediately started filling the tank while Anna kept watch.
A dead man in a mechanic’s uniform was slowly shuffling toward Anna. He held a wrench in his hand but didn’t realize it and certainly didn’t know what to do with it. The front of his overalls was stained a dark red from his previous meals, and dried blood was caked around his mouth. Anna sighed then kicked the zombie in the knee to knock it down. As soon as it fell to the ground, she thrust her knife into its ear. She hopped back up quickly to make sure none of the others were getting too close. There were only about half a dozen more nearby, and they were all making their way toward them and their SUV, but they all moved slowly. Anna looked over at Emily to see if she was almost done pumping the gas.
“I’m going to run inside and get some gas cans. We might not be able to fill up again, so I want to get as much as we can,” Emily said. “Are you good here?”
“Yeah, I’ve got them. Be careful going inside. It could be full of zombies for all we know,” Anna replied. Emily nodded then headed for the door.
The inside of the gas station looked like the set of a horror movie. Dead bodies lay scattered on the floor, and a headless zombie lay on the counter next to the register. Blood was splattered freely on the walls, shelves, counter, and floor. Someone had put up a pretty good fight in the store. Emily slipped and nearly fell after walking through an unseen puddle of blood. She gasped at the amount of blood on the floor and the eight bodies within sight. She stood quietly for a moment to make sure she was alone. She didn’t hear any rasping or moaning, but she didn’t have a clear view of the whole store.
She silently made her way to the side aisle where car supplies were sold, and carefully stepped around two bloodied bodies. The gas cans were only a few feet away and were nearly within reach when an ambulatory zombie took her by surprise as it rounded the corner in front of her. As it caught sight of her, it lurched forward, raised its arms, and reached for her, its hands grasping her long blonde hair and taking hold. Emily let out a startled yelp as her hair was violently pulled, forcing her head forward, and the zombie’s face came within inches of hers. She thrust her knife and missed entirely. She tried to kick the zombie away to buy herself time, but its hands had too tight of a grip on her hair. She cried out when she felt her hair being ripped from her head, blood running down into her eyes. She took a breath, focused, and plunged her knife into one of its eyes. When the zombie didn’t drop, she thrust her knife in further and twisted it as hard as she could. The zombie fell, lifeless, but took her down with it as both hands still grasped her hair. Emily struggled to free herself from the fingers intertwined with her hair, sobbing as her head rested against the chest of the dead body. She sliced her knife through the fingers of one hand and pried open the fingers of the other before she was finally free. Handfuls of her blood-stained hair stayed with the zombie, and more blood ran down her forehead into her eyes. She got to her knees, but before she could stand up, she felt a cold hand grip her shoulder from behind. She screamed and tried to swing her knife around at the zombie that managed to sneak up on her. Her knife uselessly tore through its cheek, exposing its broken teeth. She used her whole body to push back against its chest, desperately trying to keep the snapping jaws from reaching her. She turned to her side, grabbed the zombie by its shirt, and pulled it in close to plunge her knife through its ear. Breathless and with tears running down her face, she got to her feet and made sure no other surprises were lying in wait for her. She wiped the blood from her eyes, grabbed a few gas cans, and hurried back out the door.
Anna nearly bumped into Emily coming out the door. She’d heard her scream and had feared the worst, so she had her gun out and was ready to start firing.
“I’m fine,” Emily said in a shaky voice. “Let’s just fill up these gas cans and get
out of here.”
Anna got a good look at Emily’s bloody, matted hair and the blood running down her forehead and had a good idea about what had happened inside.
“I took out the few that were lingering out here. You fill up the gas cans, and I’m going to see what first aid supplies they have inside. Your head is still bleeding,” Anna said.
Emily tried to clear her head as she filled each gas can. She shook with revulsion thinking of the zombie holding her by her hair and the other that managed to sneak up behind her. She wasn’t used to fighting or using a weapon of any kind. She resolved to be more careful and knew she needed to work on her aim. She ran a hand through her blood-streaked hair and thought about cutting it off or at the very least making sure it was tied up in a bun. She watched the parking lot for more zombies as she continued filling the cans.
Anna stepped inside the little store and immediately saw the two zombies that Emily had fought off. Both were good-sized men; Emily was lucky to have survived that close call. She gingerly sidestepped puddles of blood on the floor as she made her way down another aisle to the very limited first aid supplies on one of the shelves. Peroxide, bandages, cold medicine, and aspirin. That was it. The nurse in her was pretty irritated at finding such limited supplies. Why wouldn’t they at least carry some gauze or tape? The band-aids were useless, so she grabbed several bottles of peroxide and a roll of paper towels then checked to make sure the front door was still clear before she went back outside.
Emily had just finished filling the last of the gas cans and was placing them in the back of the SUV. The closest zombie was across the street, so they had a minute. Anna grabbed a wad of paper towels and held them to Emily’s forehead.
“Tilt your head back so I can pour some peroxide. Hey, at least you’re already blonde,” she said with a little laugh.
Emily couldn’t help but laugh herself. She turned her face to the night sky so Anna could clean her wounds. She went through two full bottles of peroxide before she was satisfied. She took a few seconds to clean the worst of the blood from Emily’s face as she kept an eye on the zombie, slowly shuffling their way.
“Okay, we’re good,” Anna said. “Let’s get going before some of his friends join him.” She glanced at the lone zombie stumbling persistently in their direction. They both got in the car, Anna behind the wheel this time. Emily had done just fine driving them, but Anna felt the need for a little more control as she searched for her daughter. She wanted to be able to make every single little turn as she felt like it.
They had already gone about ten blocks south to get to the gas station, and they were a few miles east of Anna’s home. She decided to start driving in a grid pattern north and south between the street they were on and the street ten blocks north that the horde had gone down. There were countless roads, developments, and little side streets. Nearly an endless number of places Camille could be. And that was if they were even headed in the right direction. Camille could have gone north toward the lake, or she could have looped around and gone west past their house.
With fewer zombies in the immediate area than had been at the first gas station, Anna drove up and down streets yelling Camille’s name out the window. Her voice was hoarse, and she didn’t sound like herself, but she could still yell her daughter’s name.
“Anna, you’re going to lose your voice completely,” Emily said. “Just focus on driving and not hitting any zombies while I call her name for a while.” Anna was stubborn as hell but knew that her throat and voice could use a break. She drank some water as she drove, and Emily called out Camille’s name.
Her search grid was hard to follow because there were so many winding streets. She despaired over the many that she missed, worried that her daughter would be hiding somewhere they had skipped. She made another turn, and suddenly there were zombies everywhere. She plowed into a half dozen of them before she could hit the brakes or attempt to steer around them. She looked at the crowd of at least fifty of the dead to see what had their attention. There were a hundred more swarming a house on the right. The zombies in the street were overflow that couldn’t get any closer to the house.
“Oh my god,” Anna exclaimed. “Someone’s in there. Camille could be inside that house!” Before Emily could respond, Anna pulled her gun and started firing at the zombies in the street. She wanted their full attention so she could try to lead them away from the house. The gunfire was effective as nearly every single zombie turned its head to see what new meal might be awaiting them.
“Shit, Anna!” Emily hollered over the raspy moans. “They’re going to swarm us. Switch it into reverse now!” There were so many zombies in the street that they were already pushing against the front of the SUV and were quickly surrounding the sides of the vehicle.
Anna put the SUV into reverse and put her foot down on the gas. Much to Emily’s surprise and terror, she only went about five miles an hour. Anna wanted the zombies to follow her so she could circle back around and see if Camille was in the house. Several zombies found grips on the hood, and one held onto the passenger side mirror, going for a forced jog as Anna drove backward. She hit the gas just a little bit harder to free them from the clinging zombies. She sped up a little more then turned around so she could drive straight forward. She slowed back down to make sure she still had their attention as she laid on the horn and fired her gun wildly. The zombies followed. Anna slowly led them two blocks down and one block to the side, then sped up and rushed back to the house. A man leading three young children out the front door was hurrying toward his truck in the driveway. No sign of Camille. The man waved his thanks as he got into the truck and drove away with his children safely inside.
Anna choked back a sob. She’d thought that her daughter might be inside that house. While a part of her was happy that she had been able to help the trapped family, another part of her felt devastated. For a few minutes, she had felt such hope that she might have finally found Camille. Now the searching started to seem futile. There were hundreds of streets to search, and so many neighborhoods within neighborhoods. She was beginning to feel hopeless, but there was nothing to do but continue searching.
Chapter 3
Night 3
It was after two in the morning when they heard a series of gunshots. It sounded like someone had emptied their gun. The echo around the silent area somehow made it harder to determine where the sound of gunfire had come from. Max was pretty sure it wasn’t coming from his home nearly a mile behind them. It seemed to come from the other direction, but there was just no way to narrow it down. He listened but didn’t hear anything else. He was so focused on the gunshots that he didn’t see what was coming up on the road in front of him. Just as Vince yelled for him to look out, it felt like the truck was being pummeled with boulders. Max had driven right into a couple of dozen zombies. Some glanced off the bumpers while others flew through the air. Three landed heavily on the hood, with one right on top of the windshield. The safety glass immediately broke apart, and the zombie fell onto the dashboard and rolled into their laps.
“Holy shit,” Vince yelled as he batted the head away from his leg. Gnashing teeth nearly tore through his jeans. As he pulled his knife, another zombie fell from the hood into the car. With one hand, he held the thrashing zombie by its long dark hair to keep its teeth away from his leg while he used his other arm to push against the chest of the second zombie reaching right for him. Max stabbed wildly at the second one but missed as he tried to simultaneously drive through the crowd and keep the third one from coming through the window. He hit the gas, braked, swerved back and forth, and hit the gas again to no avail. The third zombie crawled through the broken glass and grasped the steering wheel as it tried to reach for Max.
Max pulled his gun and made the easy headshot with the zombie only inches from his face. The sound of the gunshot inside the truck was deafening, even with the busted-out windshield. Blackish blood sprayed his face, and his ears started ringing. He continued to try to escape the
crowd of the dead while Vince struggled to hold off two zombies by himself. Max finally had a clear shot at the second one, so he took it. The body instantly dropped, lifelessly and heavily, landing firmly on top of the first one that Vince was trying to fight off. The dead body pushed the long-haired zombie right into Vince’s stomach. Before he could do anything, he felt the immense pain and pressure of the teeth sinking into his body. It tore a large chunk of flesh from his abdomen then dug further for a rope of intestines. Within seconds it was chewing through the slippery strand and pulling out more. Vince screamed in pain, unable to reach the zombie’s head with the other body lying on top of it. He reached blindly with one hand as he tried to push the second body off his lap with the other, and the zombie bit down on his fingers, tearing them jaggedly from his hand. Tears running down his face, he cried out loudly at the anguishing pain shooting up his arm. A second later, the pure agony caused him to pass out.
“Fuck,” Max yelled. With Vince passed out and the second zombie dead on the floorboard, he shot the feasting zombie in the head. He finally made it past the dead in the road and drove another half a mile before he felt safe enough to stop. He looked at Vince with most of one hand ripped away, and half of his abdomen pulled free and falling out onto the two dead bodies. Whether he had passed out or had died, it didn’t even matter at this point.
“I’m sorry buddy,” Max said quietly as he thrust his knife through Vince’s ear. He was still amazed at how quickly everything could go to shit. One minute they were driving while the next, they were fighting for their lives. He shook his head and looked around at the mess. There was bloody gore all over the inside of the truck along with three dead bodies, four if he counted Vince. He looked around outside and didn’t see any zombies nearby, so he got out of the truck and pulled the headshot zombie from the truck. It still had one hand on the steering wheel. After he rolled it to the ground, he went to the passenger side. Full of anger, he grabbed one body at a time and pulled the dead weight to the ground. He took one last look at Vince, then gently pulled him from the car and laid him on the ground. Feeling like an asshole for doing it, he went through Vince’s belt for his spare knife and gun. Their backpacks held all of the extra weapons, ammo, and water, so he said a quick goodbye to Vince and got back in the driver’s seat. Using his shirtsleeve, he wiped as much blood from his face as he could. A quick look in the glove compartment revealed a pile of napkins from fast-food restaurants. He opened a bottle of water to wet the napkins and wiped the rest of the blood from his face. His hands were covered with gore, so he used an entire bottle to clean them up. They were still bloodstained, but he felt better having gotten himself cleaned up a bit. His head was reeling with what had just transpired. He felt guilty about Vince, but he knew he’d done the best he could. Driving through a crowd of zombies while fighting off the three that had come through the windshield had been a nearly impossible feat. He was lucky to still be alive.
SUBURBAN JUNGLE: A Post Apocalyptic Zombie Survival Thriller (Chronicles of the Undead: Book 2) Page 2
