Survive

by Ashley Shannon

  “Thanks, Jasper, seriously. You’re saving our lives. We have a car and can be there in thirty minutes or so. Do we go to the front doors?”

  “Nah, man, come to the back, where the auto place is, you know it? We have all the doors locked and barricaded in front, the only way in and out is through the auto departments garage doors.”

  “Alright, we’ll head that way.”

  The two buddies said their goodbyes and hung up. Eli relayed the plan to the five that were still awake.

  “It sounds great,” said Drew. “But what about Nolan? Do we take him with?”

  Eli struggled with the decision. Nolan had shown that he was a team player and that he cared for all of them. He risked his life to make sure Emmy and Rion were safe, causing him to get infected in the process. But taking him with them could mean putting all of their lives in jeopardy. Eli couldn’t risk that.

  “If we take him with us, he could turn in the car and then we’re screwed. Who knows if we could, you know, kill him, before he killed us,” Kimber said.

  “Those things-“ Tripp started.

  “Zombies,” Kimber interjected.

  “Yeah, those zombies look strong and deadly. It would be a huge risk to take him with you.”

  “With us?” Eli questioned, “You’re not coming with us?”

  “I’m going to scout for more survivors and then head to Dubuque myself. Offer up my services at the police station to see if I can help in some way.”

  Eli nodded, along with the rest. Tripp really was one of the good ones. He had lost family members, watched the town he loved burn to the ground, and still wanted to do anything he could to help. Tripp stood up and gave Eli a hug. Drew and Kimber followed, allowing Rion enough time to struggle to her feet. As they were all hugging and saying their goodbyes to Tripp, no one was watching Nolan. They hadn’t noticed that an hour before he had stopped breathing. While they came up with their next plan, they hadn’t noticed that his skin had turned completely white. As Tripp wrapped his arms around Rion the best he could, Nolan scaled the couch and grasped Emmy’s neck.

  A blood-curdling scream rang out from the tiny child’s mouth. Within seconds Nolan was clawing the girl to shreds. Rion screamed and lunged for the girl, only to be pulled back by Eli. Tripp fumbled for his gun but had it out in seconds. Two shots rang out, blood covering the wall behind Nolan and Emmy. The red dots and spray shown against the wood paneled walls. Nolan’s body went limp and fell to the floor. Rion fought free from Eli and ran to her baby sister, moments too late. The girl laid lifeless, covered in her own blood. Rion sobbed, while the others stood, unable to comfort her, unable to do anything. The pregnant teen, about to bring a baby into the world, the first baby she had ever helped care for.

  “I was supposed to keep her safe…” She whispered. Eli knelt down beside her. “I wanted him to stay,” she said, turning to Eli. Tears streamed down her face and she was choking back sobs.

  “This isn’t your fault.” Eli tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “You didn’t do this.” But his words felt empty. He meant them, but he was sure that to Rion, in that moment, they were meaningless.

  “We need to go.”

  “Kimber, give her a second.”

  “No really, she might turn.” Kimber seemed heartless, but Eli knew she had a point.

  “And it sounds like we have company outside,” Tripp said, readying his gun for what they would meet outside.

  CHAPTER TWENTY - ONE

  Tripp walked swiftly to the window at the front of the cabin. It was dark and still snowing, so his vision was impaired, but he could see movement in between the trees surrounding the fishing cabin. The shadowy figures were unlike anything he had seen trudging through the woods when he was on hunting trips with his dad. They didn’t care if they were seen or heard, making him assume that they were not anything of the living variety.

  “There’s a lot of them.” He didn’t turn to look at the others when he spoke.

  Rion was still in a puddle on the floor, rocking back and forth. Eli tried to talk sense into her, but the girl was grieving and refused to listen.

  “I’m parked beside your car Drew, so if we can both make it to our vehicles, we should be able to get out. The trouble will be, well, getting to our cars.” Tripp’s nervous ticks started to present themselves. His hand began to sweat and he started to touch his face as he talked with the hand not holding his weapon. “Do you have your keys?”

  “Yeah, right here, but what happens if I hit them? I don’t think they’re going to move.”

  “Just hit them,” Tripp said, hating how heartless the words sounded. These could very well be townspeople who had survived the fire or students that they knew that had visited the college.

  “Listen to me,” Tripp said, walking over to Drew and looking her in the eyes. “You might recognize them, you might know them, but you have to remember, the people you knew are gone. Those things-“

  “Zombies,” Kimber said, interrupting him with another attempt to get him to understand that they knew what these ‘things’ he kept referring to were.

  “Yeah, that, them, the zombies aren’t the people that you knew. So I want you to get in the car, start it up, wait until everyone is in and the doors are shut. Then you turn on your lights and get out of here as fast as you can.”

  Drew nodded her head, understanding what Tripp was saying.

  “What about you?” That was her only question.

  “I’m going to cover you. I’ll run in front of you and fend them off. Then when you guys are gone, I”ll get in my car.”

  It was a risky plan, Drew knew that, and Tripp had the riskiest part. To cover them, when the noise of them running to the car and then starting it would draw the horde’s attention.

  “You should just run to your car too. We can make it.”

  He looked at the two girls and had no doubt that they could make it, along with Eli. But it was the mess of a girl on the floor that he was worried about. Rion was almost nine months pregnant. She wouldn’t be able to sprint to the car, especially with the ground slick with snow, nor could she fight off an attack by herself. Eli would have to help her to the car, leaving them both exposed.

  “No, this is the way it has to be.” Drew thought he looked reserved. He reminded her of her dad. He was always cool under pressure, so much so that it aggravated her sometimes. Right now, she was thankful that Tripp also had this trait. It was oddly calming, as they talked out the plan to run to what could very well, be their deaths.

  Eli was on the floor trying to console Rion as best he could while also trying to explain to her that they had to leave. It was heartbreaking, watching her fall apart, desperate to undo any of the decisions that had lead her to this place. Her entire family was gone in one day. Eli couldn’t imagine losing his mother or his sister, but to lose both in one day, the thought was unbearable.

  “Rion,” he said softly, not wanting to alarm her, but knowing they didn’t have much time. “We really have to go. You have to get up. I can’t carry you.”

  Rion’s hands went to her face, wiping away the tears. The impending danger outside was finally registering with her.

  “I want to take her with us.”

  Eli’s heart broke. He knew there was no way they could manage that. It would be dangerous enough trying to get all of them to the car safely and alive, let alone bringing the body of a dead girl with them. Plus she could turn at any time. They didn’t know if a body could be too destroyed to become one of the living dead.

  “We can’t. I’m so sorry Rion, but she has to stay here, with Nolan.”

  “But she can’t- be- a-lone.” She sobbed, more tears sprouting from her eyes. Eli took his hands and placed one on each side of her face. He forced her to look at him. Her face was soaked with tears and somehow she had bitten her lip. There was a small drop of blood on her lip.

  “You have to listen to me. Emmy is gone.” It sounded harsh to him, but it might be the only way
he could get through to her. “She isn’t coming back and she wouldn’t want you to die because you were trying to hold on to her.”

  Rion shook her head, trying to not listen to the words she knew were true.

  “Think of your baby! Are you going to let that innocent life inside you die because you won’t let go of someone who is already gone?”

  Rion sniffled and rubbed her hands over her stomach. Eli was right and the two of them huddled together on the floor with Emmy’s body between them, knew it. A pale, blood covered hand placed itself in Eli’s and stood up, then helped Rion to her feet.

  “There might be a weapon or something in the closet, Eli.” Drew pointed him in the direction of a small closet beside the bathroom. He made sure Rion wasn’t going to fall back to the floor and crossed the room to the closet. Inside were some hanging coats and a shot gun leaning against the wall. There wasn’t any ammo, rendering the gun useless. Beside the gun was a crowbar. Eli grabbed it, figuring it was better than nothing.

  “Okay, does everyone know the plan?” Tripp asked. Everyone nodded. He looked out the window again to make sure that there weren’t any zombies too close to the house. The path looked clear and this could be their only chance. Tripp opened the door as quietly as he could, and then gestured them to go, stepping out in front of them and taking aim.

  CHAPTER TWENTY - TWO

  Shots rang out behind them, but the four of them focused on the destination ahead of them. No matter what happened, they had to make it to the truck. Eli carried the crowbar in one hand, the other wrapped around Rion’s hand. They couldn’t let anything stop them. Tripp covered them the best he could, taking careful shots in the dark, always sure to stand ahead of them. He didn’t want to mistake any of them for a zombie. He wasn’t able to go over the plan with them for very long, so he had to be flexible and try to cover them the best he could.

  Drew, thankfully, hadn’t locked the Tahoe and had her driver’s side door open first. Kimber sprinted around to the other side, knocking into a zombie as she round the corner to the passenger side door. The creature snarled at her, it’s fingers catching in her hair. It smelled of rotting flesh, making her stomach turn. This was the closest she had been to one of them, the zombies she insisted everyone call them. But now, faced with one so close, the term zombie didn’t seem quite accurate. The thing trying to rip the flesh from her bones was more animalistic in nature. With it’s glowing yellow eyes, its face jolting from one side to the next, sniffing the air. Kimber wrenched her arm away from the zombie. She screamed, causing Eli to look for her, taking his eyes off of the steps he was helping Rion take.

  “Kimber!” He shouted, focusing on helping Rion, but wanting confirmation that his sister wasn’t being eaten. Rion wasn’t moving as fast as Eli wanted her to, but he knew she was doing the best she could. The poor girl was still crying, the sobs she exhaled floating away in the air thick and foggy, like smoke from a cigarette. Leaving her last family member to turn in a cabin in the woods couldn’t be easy and Eli knew he had to be patient with her.

  “I’m okay! Hurry!” Kimber slammed her door shut.

  Four of the infected headed towards Eli and Rion. With his arm out to shield Rion, Eli rushed towards the Tahoe. In a few seconds, the zombies were coming up fast. Forced to drop Rion’s hand, Eli took a few steps in front of her and began to swing the crowbar.

  “Go to the car!” Eli turned his head over his shoulder and yelled at Rion. The crowbar felt light in his hands until it came into contact with a blood covered face. A sickening crunch sounded, but he continued to swing. Each swing was directed at their head, but it took several hits to stop one in it’s tracks. Eli kept fighting off the zombies and moved towards the Tahoe. He managed to fend them off and caught up to Rion, who had only made it half way towards the Tahoe.

  Both Drew and Kimber were in the truck ready to go. Eli and Rion reached the back seat and he helped her slide in, her hand back in his, and they ducked in as quickly as he could, closing the door behind them. Eli dropped the crowbar to the floor, noticing the blood that covered both it and his hands.

  “Start the car, Drew!” Everyone was yelling while Drew fumbled to find the right key. She hated herself for the amount of crap and cutesy keychains she had on her keyring. Where was the key for the Tahoe, why couldn’t she find it? Her fingers slipped as she raced through the keys.

  Then the metal key ring jingled as it hit the floor. Drew swore and bent down to try to find the key to their escape. Tripp was yelling for them to go, edging his way to his car. Zombies were surrounding them. They moved with a speed that wasn’t something you saw in the movies, low to the ground, as if they were hunting Tripp. Stalking around him, circling their prey. One smacked its face and hands against the back window of the Tahoe, causing the whole vehicle to shake. Eli and Kimber were yelling at Drew, trying to get her to move quicker. Had their lives not been on the line, Rion would have found it funny, listening to the brother and sister duo slipping from English to Spanish and back again as they told Drew to speed it up.

  Five zombies were now crowded around the vehicle. Three on one side, two on the other, and they pushed the car, rocking it back and forth. Rion began to shriek. The momentum coming from the sides of each side was causing the Tahoe to move faster and faster, threatening to tip. For being dead and beginning to decay, the zombies were strong. Swaying back and forth as they were being pushed by the evil undead, Drew frantically patted her hand on the floor under the seat.

  “Got them!” She wrapped her fingers around the keys and brought them to the ignition. She started the Tahoe and flipped on the lights. Twisting from one side to the other, she tried to find Tripp. Accidentally hitting him while making their escape was not something she wanted on her conscious. Instead, she found him lying in the snow, a splatter painting of fresh blood surrounding him. The zombies were gathered around him, feeding off of what was left of him.

  “Dammit!” She yelled, punching the steering wheel three times. Her knuckles broke open, exposing blood the same color as the snow beneath Tripp’s body. With no reason to be careful of who they hit, Drew flung the Tahoe into reverse and slammed into two zombies. One flew backward and the other ended up underneath the SUV. The tires spun on the snow covered ground until they found the gravel drive underneath and gained traction. Drew spun the vehicle around, barely missing Tripp’s car and barreled down the drive and back to the road that would take them to Dubuque. She hoped they would be able to find somewhere safe to stay and rest. Everywhere they had been where they thought they would be safe had turned out to be the opposite. Each of them were very tired, hungry, and in need of time to settle their nerves.

  “We have to get somewhere safe,” she said relaying her own thoughts to the group as she sped down the highway.

  “Jasper said a store is a safe place. Just get us there Drew.” Eli’s voice was calm. All the anger he had felt towards Drew was gone now. It was hard to harbor any kind of anger over a petty kiss when they had watched people they cared about die in front of them. Watching someone turn or lose their life was a sobering experience. It changed one’s perspective. Suddenly what seemed so important, like football games and homecoming dances, grades and detention, didn’t seem like the end of the world. Not when the town you called home went up in flames and the people you knew were dying left and right.

  “I’ll do my best,” was all Drew could say.

  CHAPTER TWENTY - THREE

  Kimber had expected the Wal-Mart parking lot to be deserted. Maybe a few cars left behind, but no people or zombies to be insight. Instead, they were met with a horde. Unlike the mass that was in the woods, the teens could see all of the numbers amassed in the super center’s parking lot. There were maybe fifty or more, Kimber estimated, but some of these looked different from the ones she had seen up close at the cabin. Some of the zombies moved slower than others. Their skin was no longer white, but a dingy gray. The worst part was that the gray skin was starting to fall off. They gray on
es shuffled, instead of ran or jogged, reminding her more of what she had seen on the Walking Dead. These were what society had come to expect from their zombies, but the freshly turned ones were a different story entirely. Drew pulled to a stop at the very edge of the parking lot. The horde was gathered around the far entrance, leaving them a pretty clear path through the parking lot.

  “Jasper said to pull around to the back of the building, to the automotive center,” Eli offered, pointing towards a drive off of the main parking lot that wrapped around the building. “It's that way.” Drew followed the direction Eli pointed, pulling behind the building. No zombies were wandering around the back parking lot. She pulled up to the large metal door. They waited, but nothing happened. Drew grew impatient and honked the horn.

  “Don’t, Drew, they’re drawn to noise-“ but before Eli could finish complaining, the door began to open. Sitting before them, in a bubble gum pink Barbie jeep, was Jasper. He was a pale kid, lanky kid, with dark shaggy hair. The jeep had been decked out with everything you could imagine a kid would find when let lose in a Wal-Mart. In the passenger seat sat a giant stuffed teddy bear, wearing a silver and pink crown and pink aviator sunglasses. A speaker played music loudly and Eli could see it nestled on the small dash of the vehicle made for a toddler. Jasper’s elbows rested on his knees and he looked oddly comfortable in the child’s toy ride.