Lisa jumped off of him and turned away, trying to keep her tears from being noticeable. Jessica ran forward and hugged him, then delivering a kiss on the cheek. Lisa cringed, but didn’t really care. She knew Russ wasn’t going to go for her.
Then came Donahue, then Jennifer, and even Patrick.
But Willis didn’t come. He was on the floor in the middle of the room with his brains running out on the floor. Russ slowly approached the body.
“I wasn’t soon enough,” he said. “Their experiment was a success. They took control of someone, right?”
Evan nodded at him. “I blacked out, and I suppose I shot him.”
“None of us could move, either,” Jennifer said. “It was like some invisible shield forcing us to watch.”
“Sorry, Reverend,” Russ said. He took the cross draped around the man’s neck and drew a cross over him with it. “I’m probably the last person who should be doing this, but I have a hunch you would have wanted it, buddy.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Lisa said.
Jessica knocked on the door to her mother’s room and explained what had happened. They exchanged brief hugs and walked up into the auditorium, then out the front door with the others.
30
Blood ran the streets as the Humvee traveled toward the highway. The damages and deaths were countless. Bodies lined the roads like dead animals. Evan had experienced it in his dream, so it didn’t really bother him. But as he drove Lisa couldn’t look out the windows as Russ held her in the back seat.
Cecilia and Jessica were also in the Humvee. Patrick had taken the car with the Donahues. He couldn’t stand the look of his wife any longer. They were driving in the beat up Ford Taurus station wagon, staying close to the Hummer’s rear. It squashed the bodies as it ran over them, and the ride in the station wagon wasn’t so bumpy if it stayed right behind.
The gate at the highway was sealed shut and there were two soldiers on the other side. Evan poked his head out the side window and flashed his PMD identification card. They opened the gate without question and allowed them through.
“What happened, Lieutinant?” One of the men asked.
“It’s over. It was pretty nasty, but it’s all over.”
The man nodded as they continued through.
There were thirty or so cars pulled over on the side of the highway.
“Stop!” Russ shouted.
“What?”
“My dad!”
He stood on the other side of the highway eying the Humvee curiously. Somehow he knew that his son was in there. There was something that buzzed in the back of his mind that told him. A voice inside of his head maybe, but it was right. Russ was in there.
Russ jumped out of the car and shouted for him, then ran across the highway.
“What the hell happened, Russ?”
“Don’t ask me that right now, Dad. Is Wichita normal?”
“Yes.”
“Then it’s all over. I don’t ever want to come back here.” They hugged, and both of them ran over to the military vehicle.
“Where’s Nelda?”
The question made Russ want to puke. And when he didn’t answer Joe just stared at the ground.
“I’ve been waiting out here, with all these people for hours. No one knows what’s going on. I was just hoping that my family would be alive.”
“I’m here, old man. There isn’t much left in this town. Can you drive me and a friend to Wichita? We should crash in a motel or something for the night. I don’t know what we’re gonna do, but I really need some sleep.”
“It’s all gone?”
“Yeah. I’ll tell you what happened on the way back to Wichita. I want to leave this place. Please?”
“Yeah, who’s your friend?”
Russ grabbed Lisa from the Humvee. He said his goodbyes with Jessica, Cecilia, Evan, Donahue, Jennifer, and Patrick. It was sad to leave them, because the horror had bound him close to some of those people, but Brownsville was a place that he never wanted to return to. He had lived there his entire life, but seeing it again would remind him of the hell that had happened there.
Lisa kissed him, deeply, and then they ran across the highway to Joe Allen’s car.
About the author:
Douglas Browning graduated with a BA and MFA in creative writing from Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. He currently lives in Wichita and teaches English at Cowley College in Mulvane, Kansas. While his roots are with horror and science fiction, Douglas also enjoys humor and satire. He writes in many different styles. He is married to his wife Patricia and also loves his Australian Shepherd Carrie (named after the Stephen King character) and his cat Farrah. In his spare time, he enjoys reading comic books and playing Magic the Gathering.
Look out for more work from Douglas Browning!
Kids (short story)
For My Mother Tells Me So (Novel)
A Book Without Pictures (Short Story)
Manhood (Short Story)
Super Zombies from Outer-Space Page 19
