Fight 4 Us (Book 2): Reunited

by Grenda, Brian

  Lisa, Kylie, and Ann stand up from the kitchen table and walk towards Matt. Matt walks over to Derrick and puts his right hand out to shake his hand. Derrick grabs Matt’s hand and they exchange a handshake.

  Matt pulls Derrick close to him and says, “You better hope my sister is safe. That was your wife and it was your job to keep her safe.”

  Derrick doesn’t know what to say.

  Matt let’s go of Derrick’s hand and walks away from him. Derrick watches the group leave the house.

  As the group leaves the house through the front door, Denise slams the door shut behind them.

  As the door slams shut, Lisa says, “I really don’t like that girl.”

  Matt and Shaun stand by their vehicles and address the group.

  Matt says, “I don’t trust Derrick and his story. Nicole is with Ryan and Phil. I trust them, and they are in Tampa. We move on to Tampa then.”

  Shaun says, “Something definitely happened here, but I don’t believe Derrick’s story. Let’s get going to Tampa.”

  Kylie and Ann get into Matt’s car. Lisa gets into Shaun’s jeep.

  Shaun says to Matt, “Drive through the front gate and stop at the security station. The sign I was telling you about is on the front of the security station facing away from the neighborhood.”

  Matt replies, “I will. I want to see this sign for myself.”

  Matt gets into his car and drives towards the front gate. Shaun opens his driver side door and sees that Lisa is mad.

  Shaun looks at Lisa and asks, “Are you okay sweetie?

  Lisa replies, “No. I’m not. That chick Denise pissed me off. I really hope I don’t see her ever again.”

  Shaun closes his car door, starts his jeep, and says, “Me too. For her sake.”

  Shaun drives down the street towards the front gate of the neighborhood. He arrives at the front gate and sees Matt standing in front of the sign.

  He drives up to Matt and says, “See the message. It has to be Ryan and Phil, right?”

  Matt replies, “Yeah. This gives me hope that they are safe. I trust Nicole with Ryan and Phil over Derrick any day.”

  Shaun replies, “Me too. Let’s get going.”

  Matt runs to his car and drives to the end of the street. Matt and Shaun drive onto the I-4 West Highway entrance ramp. They pass a sign that reads:

  Lakeland 50 Miles

  Tampa 82 Miles

  Shaun looks at the sign, and whispers to himself, “Ryan and Phil. We’ll be seeing you guys real soon.”

  CHAPTER 10

  CAR TROUBLE

  “I feel like we are living on the highway lately. Life on the run,” says Lisa.

  Shaun takes a drink of water and says, “I know right. Raleigh to Orlando and now Orlando to Tampa. We have definitely racked up some miles, but hopefully Tampa will be our home for a while.”

  Matt is leading the drive as they drive along I-4 West. Shaun is following behind him in his jeep, but also keeping an eye out for any problems. Shaun’s jeep has a lift on it, which enables him to see further down the road than Matt.

  As they drive down a stretch of highway, Shaun sees a potential problem up ahead in the upcoming parts of the highway. Shaun beeps to get Matt’s attention. Matt looks back through his rearview mirror at Shaun, but isn’t sure what to make of Shaun’s beeping.

  Matt isn’t sure why Shaun is beeping and continues speeding down the highway. The highway suddenly starts to get a lot more congested and partially blocked from a car accident. Tires, car parts, glass, and debris from the wreckage are scattered along the highway.

  Matt starts to slow down, he drives to avoid some debris in the road, but runs over some metal that was lying in the road. His rear passenger side tire is punctured and immediately goes flat.

  Matt’s car starts to swerve and becomes dangerously close to flipping over, but Matt slows down enough to avoid any problems. Shaun sees the whole dangerous incident and becomes nervous for Matt, Kylie, and Ann.

  Matt slowly brings his car to a stop and everyone is safe. Shaun avoids the debris in the road and parks his jeep safely on the shoulder of the highway.

  Shaun gets out of his jeep and runs over to Matt’s car.

  Matt looks at Shaun and says, “We are okay, but my tire is flat.”

  Shaun says, “I’m glad you are safe, but let’s move the car to the shoulder, so that no one crashes into you.”

  Matt slowly drives his car into the left shoulder of the highway and puts the car in park. Shaun runs over to the rear passenger tire and sees that it’s completely flat and needs to be replaced.

  Matt pops the trunk and exits his car. Kylie and Ann stay in the car as Matt walks over to assess the tire damage.

  “Do you have a spare tire?” asks Shaun.

  Matt replies, “I should have a tire iron, jack, and spare donut tire in the trunk.”

  Shaun opens the trunk and starts to take out the bags and supplies that are in the trunk. Matt walks over and helps Shaun empty the trunk.

  Lisa sits in the jeep and provides a lookout for Matt and Shaun. Lisa sees something in the distance moving towards them on the highway.

  The northbound lanes of the highway are very congested and filled with abandoned vehicles. The southbound lanes are congested also, as a previous car accident caused a multi-vehicle pile and major accident.

  Matt and Shaun jack up Matt’s car and start to replace the tire, but they have trouble removing the old tire.

  Lisa rolls her window down and sees that several objects are coming down the highway towards them but she can’t make out what they are exactly.

  The objects are moving very slowly towards them. The debris, vehicles, and traffic ahead are blocking Lisa’s view of the highway.

  Lisa shouts, “Something is coming this way guys.”

  Shaun replies, “What do you mean? Is it something on our side of the highway or no?”

  Lisa looks down the highway and says, “It’s definitely moving on our side of the highway and may be a problem.”

  Matt finally removes the old tire and moves the spare donut tire into place on the car. Shaun runs back to the jeep and grabs his AR-15 rifle. He uses the scope on the rifle to see down the highway.

  “Oh, my goodness. We need to hurry,” shouts Shaun.

  “What did you see?” shouts Lisa.

  “It’s a big group of zombies walking this way. They are forming a herd,” shouts Shaun.

  Shaun runs back to Matt and asks, “You almost done?”

  Matt says, “I got to put the last two bolts on the tire, and then I’m good.”

  Shaun says, “That might not be enough time. A huge group of zombies are coming towards us.”

  The group of zombies are slowly walking through the highway debris towards the group. Screams of terror fill the air as several zombie’s attack people who are trapped in their cars on the highway.

  There are about 20 zombies walking down the highway. They are slowly walking towards Matt and Shaun, but will soon reach them in a couple of minutes.

  Matt finishes up securing the new spare tire. He lowers the car from being jacked up and puts the jack in the trunk.

  Shaun sees a couple of zombies come around an abandoned car and getting closer to Matt’s car. Kylie sees the zombies approaching and opens her car door. She grabs the handgun and shotgun from inside the car and walks over to Matt.

  Kylie looks at Matt and says, “We need to clear these zombies out before we can drive down the highway.”

  Shaun fires several shots from his rifle. Kylie and Matt turn towards the approaching zombies.

  Matt takes the shotgun from Kylie.

  Matt and Kylie walk towards the front of Matt’s car and point their guns towards the approaching zombies.

  Kylie fires a shot and hits a zombie in the neck. Matt fires a shot from his shotgun and kills two zombies.

  Lisa shouts from Shaun’s jeep, “You guys are doing great, but there looks to be a lot more of them coming this way.
”

  Shaun jumps back up to his jeep and sees a path of highway that he can drive down and run over a lot of the zombies.

  Shaun shouts to Matt, “I’m going to drive down the highway and run these things over. Hold right here. I’ll be back.”

  Matt and Kylie take cover by Matt’s car, while Shaun drives away in his jeep.

  Shaun sees a clear path along the left shoulder of the highway that will kill several zombies.

  Lisa gets nervous as Shaun hits the gas pedal. Shaun runs over a group of zombies and keeps driving. The zombies are being plowed down as Shaun drives through them.

  Shaun’s jeep is high enough that the zombies are getting ripped in half but aren’t hurting the windshield or any part of the jeep.

  Shaun clears out half of the remaining zombies. He makes it past the car accident, turns around, and goes back down same path he came from.

  Shaun beeps the horn to attract zombies towards his position. As he drives down the highway path, he sees zombies eating the remains of people in cars.

  Gunfire is heard from where Shaun left Matt. Shaun gets concerned for Matt and Kylie and drives back to their position. More gunfire is going off and then it suddenly stops.

  Shaun makes his way back to Matt’s car but doesn’t see anyone. Shaun exits his jeep and runs over to Matt’s car. A zombie tries to attack Shaun, but he shoots him in the head before he is any threat to Shaun.

  Shaun sees Matt and Kylie sitting away from his car in the right shoulder of the highway.

  Shaun runs over them and asks, “Is everything okay?”

  Kylie says, “Yeah. He just twisted his ankle trying to avoid a zombie.”

  Matt’s ankle is slightly swollen but he should be okay.

  As Matt, Kylie, and Shaun talk, they hear a vehicle coming down the highway towards them. The car is moving at a decent speed, but isn’t speeding down the highway recklessly.

  Shaun jumps out into the highway and starts to wave his hands in the air. He is trying to get the drivers attention. The driver sees Shaun and slows down.

  The red SUV approaches Shaun in the middle of the road and then stops. Shaun points his rifle at the man as he walks towards the SUV.

  The man raises his hands and yells something from inside the car. Shaun can’t make out what he said and walks closer to the SUV. The man points towards the highway debris as Shaun gets closer.

  Shaun looks down the highway and sees five zombies walking towards him.

  Shaun shouts, “Matt and Kylie look alive.”

  Matt and Kylie stand up and point their guns at the zombies. The zombies start to surround Matt’s car. They are banging on the windows and trying to get to Ann. Ann screams in fear as the zombie’s bang on the car windows.

  Shaun shoots two zombies in the head with his rifle. Kylie and Matt are afraid to hit his car or Ann as the zombies are around Ann’s backseat window.

  Kylie runs near the zombies to get the attention of the zombies away from the car. The three remaining zombies move away from the car and go after Kylie.

  Kylie trips on a piece debris in the road. Shaun and Matt shoot two of the remaining zombies, but the last zombie is about to attack Kylie.

  Kylie tries to get up but she can’t. The zombie is right on top of Kylie and lunges at her right thigh. Kylie protects herself and manages to kick the zombie away.

  Shaun puts the zombie in his scope and pulls the trigger.

  Boom!

  A clean head shot right between the eyes as the zombie was looking directly at Shaun when he took the shot.

  The highway is clear of zombies now.

  Shaun looks back at the man in his SUV and gives him a thumb up. The man exits the SUV and walks towards Shaun.

  The man walks towards Shaun and asks, “You guys okay here?”

  Shaun is about to reply when he is shocked who he sees. Shaun smacks Matt on the left shoulder to get his attention.

  Matt smacks Shaun back and shouts, “What are you hitting me for?”

  The man laughs and says, “Now Matt and Shaun play nice.”

  Matt turns towards the man and shouts, “Holy crap! It’s Bobby G.”

  Shaun and Matt walk towards Bobby G and shake his hand. They are all shocked that they found each other like this in the middle of a highway in Florida.

  Bobby G asks, “Are you guys okay? Is the highway blocked?”

  Shaun replies, “The highway is blocked for a little while, but I drove a path and we should be able to get by.”

  Matt says, “I don’t know how good my spare tire is though.”

  Bobby G replies, “Let’s look at that tire. If not maybe we can take a tire from one of these abandoned cars.”

  The group walks back to Matt’s car and they clear away the zombie bodies. Lisa, Ann, and Kylie talk while Matt and Shaun look to clear out any debris that might cause any problems passing through.

  Bobby G looks at the tire and sees that it’s a small spare tire that isn’t made to be driven for very long. It would be better to change the spare for a regular sized tire to match his other tires.

  Matt and Shaun pick up several metal objects and shards that might cause more flats tires. As they are clearing the path, they come across several zombies that are trapped in and between cars.

  The highway produced a major accident that affected about 60 people and a ton of vehicles. It’s not a pretty sight to see. Bodies of people of all ages are lifeless on the highway and inside their vehicles.

  Bobby G looks at Matt and Shaun as they are clearing out the highway and shouts, “You really need to change the tire out, this spare isn’t good to be driving on.”

  Matt replies, “Ok. Thanks Bob. We will see if we can find a replacement tire.”

  Matt and Shaun walk up and down the cars looking for a tire that could fit Matt’s car.

  After about 20 minutes, they come across a similar make and model to Matt’s car. It has the same sized tire that could fit on Matt’s car.

  Shaun runs back to Matt’s car and gets the jack and tire iron. Matt caught a lucky break in finding this similar make and model of car to his, amongst this chaos of this wreckage.

  Shaun walks back to Matt’s location with the jack and tire iron. Shaun places the jack under the passenger side of the car and jacks it up.

  Matt starts to remove the lug nuts from the tire. The sound of a zombie trying to escape from a nearby car is heard. The loud screams and moaning noises from the trapped zombie starts to annoy Shaun.

  Shaun walks over to the car and breaks the passenger side window with the end of his rifle. The zombie tries to reach for him but he is strapped in and contained by his seatbelt still.

  The zombie must have broken his neck during the car accident as the zombie can’t lift his head to see Shaun.

  The zombie blindly reaches for Shaun from the passenger front seat. Shaun aims his rifle at the zombie and shoots the zombie in the head.

  Matt finishes removing his new replacement tire from the abandoned car and calls for Shaun to help him. Shaun walks back over to Matt and picks up the tire.

  Shaun carries the tire back to Matt’s car, as Matt brings the tire iron, jack, and lug nuts with him. Matt and Shaun walk through the debris from the car accident and make their way back to Matt’s car.

  Shaun places the tire next to Matt’s car. Matt jacks up his car, and starts to remove the spare donut tire that he previously installed.

  Bobby G walks over to Kylie, Lisa, and Ann.

  “How are you ladies doing today?” asks Bobby G.

  The ladies reply, “Good.”

  Bobby G replies, “Good. I’m glad to hear it. I’m Bob. I’m Ryan’s dad.”

  Lisa replies, “Holy crap. Yeah. You are. What are the odds of that?”

  Bobby G says, “It’s a small world. The universe made us find each other for a reason.”

  Shaun and Matt finish up replacing the tire and start to load up the bags that they removed from the trunk. Bobby G walks over to help Matt an
d Shaun.

  They finish packing up the car and are set to move again. Matt’s tire is good as new now.

  “Where are you guys going?” asks Bobby G.

  “Ryan’s house in Tampa,” says Shaun.

  “Me too. Do you know where Ryan lives?” asks Bobby G.

  Matt looks at Shaun and they both have a look of concern on their faces. Neither Matt or Shaun has ever been to Ryan’s house before.

  “No, actually we don’t know where he lives.” says Matt.

  “Then I’m glad that I found you guys then. Ryan’s house is easy to find, but you have to know where you are going,” says Bobby G.

  The universe has a funny way of panning out sometimes. What would be the odds that Bobby G would find Matt and Shaun? Something good came from Matt’s flat tire.

  Bobby G says, “I’ll lead the way. We should take exit 18 on Highway 275. I-4 will lead us right into it, but I want to make sure that you know where to go if we get split up or something happens.”

  Shaun replies, “You lead the way Bobby G, but I’ll look for 275 and exit 18.”

  Everyone gets in their vehicles and they drive down the cleared-out pathway along the highway. Bobby G leads, followed by Matt, and then Shaun.

  They pass through the car accident wreckage and debris like it’s an amusement ride. It’s a horrible sight to see. Blood, guts, brains, and limbs are all over the place. Glass and metal from vehicles lie in the road and on the vehicles. It’s lucky that they can even get through the wreckage.

  The group makes their way through the wreckage and the highway is open again. The caravan of two has become a caravan of three now. Bobby G in his red SUV, Matt in his sedan, and Shaun in his jeep.

  The cars pass a sign that reads:

  Tampa 11 Miles

  Everyone sees the sign and immediately gets a rush of adrenaline as they know that they are close to Tampa and hopefully seeing Ryan, Phil, and Nicole.

  Ann looks at Matt and says, “Do you think Nicole and the babies are okay?”

  Matt replies, “I know they are. Ryan, Phil, and Lauren are good people. They are family and wouldn’t hurt Nicole and the babies. I trust them with my life.”

  CHAPTER 11