Stage 6 (Book 1)

by Dylan James

  With looks of incredulous disbelief on their faces, they hesitated.

  I yelled, “Get in the car quick! We gotta go!” They moved towards the edge of the vehicle, and slid down into our car while Steve climbed half way out of the window to get a better aim at incoming Infected. Lucy hurriedly moved to the back with the baby to make room, and the last of the survivors climbed in.

  Steve slipped back in the window as my Mom slammed the side door shut and screamed, “Go!”

  An Infected smashed up against our back window screen, cracking it, and I punched the gas making the car’s wheels scream in protest. I swerved narrowly avoiding a group of Infected in front of us and made a beeline for the nearest freeway. There were now Infected breaking off from the sidewalks and running for us in all directions. I was confused as to why they were all trying to attack the vehicle now when they used to completely ignore it, but I didn’t have time to think about it. Then suddenly there was a loud thump and the ceiling in the middle of the car caved in. Steve swore as my mom screamed and we could hear something scrambling around on the top. I swung the wheel back, and forth, dodging Infected making a beeline straight for us and at the same time trying to fling whatever landed on top of us off. Up ahead there were two groups of Infected running diagonally towards us, as we sped straight towards a collision course. At the last second I tried to spin the car to go around the left group and then back in to the right when as we passed them two jumped on the vehicle. They clung to the outside with superhuman strength as I increased speed to forty, fifty, and then sixty miles per hour. Steve yelled something I couldn’t hear over the yelling in the back and the tension of the moment, and then he suddenly opened his door flinging the Infected on it off into the road. Then he aimed at the Infected towards the back and fired, knocking him off as well. I turned to look back towards the road when all of sudden a face appeared looking down into the car. I slammed on the brakes, involuntarily springing Steve’s door outwards and out of his grasp with the inertia of the stop. I heard Steve yell out in pain while I watched the face on top of the vehicle fly forwards and collapse a good fifty feet away in between a mass of concrete and a three-car pileup. It slowly got to its feet and stood in our way. I could see in the rear-view mirror there was still a horde of Infected chasing us. I gunned the engine and started yet again from a stop, and I could tell it was taking its toll on the car. The car wasn’t responding very well anymore. I couldn’t stop to figure out what was wrong though, so amid Steve’s cursing and yelling something about his foot I aimed the car straight towards the Infected.

  As we got closer, my mom raised her voice on each word, “What the hell do you think you’re doing!?”

  Then the man with the gun rolled down his driver’s side window and stuck his head out. I gritted my teeth as I prepared for the imminent crash into the Infected. Then a shot rang out and the Infected dropped, a clear bull’s-eye marked on its forehead not two seconds before our car would have slammed into it. The whole vehicle jumped and swerved as if going over a speed bump too fast, and I fought to maintain control. I took the car back into our lane, and pushed the gas to the max. We didn’t see any other cars on the freeway, and I quickly sped up to fifty mph, the fastest I felt comfortable going in a time like this. The car was surprisingly silent for a few minutes, while everybody was just no digesting the lightning moments that had preceded this.

  Then my mom forced a smile and asked the survivors, “Well hello there! How are you? I’m Jane, what are your names?”

  The man with the gun replied simply, “My name is Kevin.” Obviously he was the leader of the group, whether assigned this position or not this is how it stood. Kevin then went on to say, “This is Debbie,” pointing a little violently I thought, to a middle-aged woman holding her sides and shaking back and forth probably from hysteria. Then he gently touched the other survivor’s arm and introduced her, “And this is Sarah. She and I went to the same college.”

  Sarah smiled weakly and shook my Mom’s hand when proffered to her. Karen quickly struck up a conversation with Sarah and asked her what is was like being in college. Sarah laughed, a little surprised, but nevertheless obliged Karen and started to talk to her.

  Steve reached back and shook Kevin’s hand, and asked him, “So what’s your story?”

  Kevin replied brusquely, “Just like anyone else I guess. They came from nothing, suddenly taking over the city. I was in the grocery store when I first saw an Infected, which came in and started attacking people. As I started to run out of the store, Sarah recognized me and yelled me over. After that we just started moving around from place to place, eventually stopping by my place to get my gun. We survived there for a few days, because we were on the third floor and I don’t think any of the Infected even knew we were there. But a few hours ago they started trying to get through the door, and we fled through the back window. We took my truck, and drove through the city, when Debbie,” he paused to look angrily in her direction, “Ran in front of me and caused me to flip the truck. We just stood up top for a while, surprisingly easy because these Infected don’t know how to climb. Then you found us, and here we are. We think that Debbie is suffering from shock or something, because she’s been totally out of it.”

  Ian, who had been staring at Debbie for a while now spoke up calmly, “Jack I think you should stop the car.”

  I hesitated, but heard the barely noticeable strain in his voice, and I agreed. I checked to make sure there was no one in sight, and I stopped. I asked, “Why Ian?”

  He just replied, “Everybody please get out of the car for a second, I want to check the wheels, I think we may have blown them back there.”

  I glanced back and saw fear flash in his eyes, and once again I agreed.

  Kevin protested, “What the hell are you doing man? Don’t stop the car for this moron! We could be attacked!”

  I opened my door, got out and threw his door open. “Ian’s not a moron. He’s part of us.”

  Steve came by and pulled Kevin almost bodily from the car as he reached in and grabbed his baby. My mom coerced Debbie to get out of the car and for a minute we all stood outside the car standing there. Kevin was swearing angrily, but Debbie and Sarah just looked confused.

  I walked over to Ian and asked, “Dude what is it?”

  He whispered back, “Debbie has bite marks on her arms, I think she was Infected a good while ago and that’s why she threw herself in front of their truck and is acting so strange now.”

  A moment of terror went through my mind and I fought every urge to turn and stare at her, or run for cover. I replied, “Are you sure!?”

  Ian told me, “Shhh! Yeah, man I’m sure. What are we going to do?”

  I looked back at the group, whose faces were all centered on mine. Debbie started shaking a little bit, and I said, “Alright everybody except Debbie come over here.”

  Her expression didn’t change, so I figured she was already so far gone she couldn’t understand what we were saying.

  Kevin walked over to me and demanded, “Tell me what’s going on!”

  I replied quietly, “Ian saw bite marks on Debbie.”

  He said, “So?”

  Incredulous, I told him, “That’s how the virus is spread. The bites transmit it and it takes effect within eight-twelve hours.”

  He looked as if he was going to yell at me again, but then stopped and glanced at Debbie. My group, which had already known this, was looking over at her with horror.

  Sarah asked confused, “Well what do you mean ‘takes effect” within eight-twelve hours? What happens?”

  Steve replied grimly, “They become Infected. They will no longer know who you are, and will kill you if at all within their power.”

  Lucy looked terrified, and asked, “Well what do we do?”

  My mom spoke up, “Well we don’t actually know for certain she’s Infected do we? How bout we stay here for a few hours and see what happens to make sure-”

  Kevin broke in and yelled,
“That’s no good! We can’t stay here a few hours, those things are after us and they run like hell! Besides we don’t even know what else is in store ahead of us! No, we can’t stay here.”

  Kevin backed off and looked at the sky angrily, although I did not know what he was angry at. Steve gave Victoria to Lucy and he, Ian, and I backed into a little circle of our own and started debating what to do. Steve wanted to leave her here, and drive off, and Ian pointed out that she had been in our car for a few minutes. We didn’t know if any small virus particles whether in blood or saliva or what had been dislodged in the car.

  During this Kevin grew increasingly mad, breaking in to say, unhelpfully, “This is all crap! This sucks!”

  I suggested we leave her here, drive off a few minutes and then decontaminate the car, but then Steve pointed out if the Infected behind us get here and she has turned they will follow her who knows exactly where we went.

  And then Lucy asked, “And what if they get here BEFORE she has turned? That’s a terrible way to die.”

  Kevin then asked, “What if we just put her outside the car, continue on our way until she turns, and then...”

  I shook my head and replied, “No that won’t work either. A lot of animals are Infected and if any of them see, hear, or smell Debbie on top of our car they’ll follow us.”

  Kevin screamed, “The freaking zombie animals are in on it too!? The whole world is going to crap!”

  Then Kevin swore again, turned in one movement, aimed his gun at Debbie and pulled the trigger. A loud shot rang out and Debbie fell to the floor, instantly dead before she hit the ground. I threw myself to the ground as blood splattered out. I saw a flurry of movement out of the corner of my eye and another shot rang out. I quickly jumped to my feet to see Steve on top of Kevin wrestling the gun away from him. There was a bullet hole in the car two feet away from Lucy and Victoria, and Steve wasn’t taking any chances. After taking the gun from Kevin, he gave him a swift punch and Kevin slumped to the ground, obviously unconscious. Steve rose and rushed over to Lucy, taking Victoria from her.

  He said quickly, “That shot will call any Infected in the area to us; we need to get out of here fast. Jane, I’ll help you and a few others to clean the car and clean ourselves as best as we can. We need to make sure there’s no Infected blood on us. Jack, find something to tie Kevin up with.”

  They moved quickly, Steve pulling a pack of antibacterial wipes out of his bag, and the rest helping him mop up where Debbie sat. They grabbed some plastic wrap as well, and placed it over top of the seat even after cleaning to take no chances. I found some old computer wire in the back, and I used it to tie Kevin’s hands securely behind him. I unceremoniously dragged him over to the truck and dumped him in the back of the trunk for good measure. Sarah was obviously in shock, and Karen had taken a break from cleaning to bring her back into the car and comfort her. Steve finished up the decontamination, and Lucy got in with the baby. I asked Steve if he wouldn’t mind driving, since I was kind of tired of it. It was now very dark, and he agreed. I jumped in the passenger side, and he started the car. We shut the last door, and drove off slowly, already putting it behind us.

  I was beginning to realize more and more that dwelling on one bad thing for any amount of time was very counterproductive to both survival and the intactness of the human mind. I accepted what happened, and I moved on to the next thing. Such was life.

  Sarah broke the silence and asked almost sarcastically, “So is there anything else I should know about this virus?”

  I replied, “Yeah, it travels in animals too.”

  The next few hours were spent in complete silence except for the occasional navigational efforts between me and Steve, as each person collected their thoughts about them. At about eleven o’clock at night we came up to a small town called Lavon, in agreement that we would stop here and then head in a diagonal line towards the border through Caddo National Grasslands.

  Steve suddenly shook me and whispered as the others were mostly asleep, “Jack, we’re almost out of gas!”

  I mentally slapped myself in the face for forgetting about something as important as gas, and I replied loudly to wake everybody up “Alright, so why don’t we drive into this town up ahead and go around and pick a gas station with the least amount of Infected. Steve since you’re driving, you’ll get out and fill up the car. My mom, Karen, and Lucy will get out of the car and use their hunting rifles to pick them off at far range. Ian and I will be the last reserve. When the gas is about to be filled up, you warn us ok Steve? Then we all get back in the car and drive off. Ian, you’ll drive.”

  Steve cut me off, “Sorry Jack, but I see several problems with your plan. Number one, who is going to watch Victoria?”

  Lucy volunteered, “I’ll stay in the car and hold her, because I suck at shooting anyways.”

  Steve continued, “Then number two, I’m the best shooter here so it doesn’t make any sense that I’d be the only one without a gun.”

  I replied to this one, “Ok then, Ian will jump out as soon as the car stops and fill the car up with gas. Then he can easily get into the driver’s seat from there. Steve, you’ll be with me just covering the car. Does this sound good?”

  Steve nodded, as we approached the outskirts of the town. It was a relatively small town, and as soon as we entered we could see the exit road a ways up ahead. There was a small grocery store, a motel, a gas station, and about twenty or so houses.

  I said, “The towns smaller than we thought, so I guess we’re forced to use the only gas station there is.”

  Steve pulled into it and there was no Infected to be seen, but there were cars parked in the parking spaces near the store. As we drove up to the station, we strained our eyes through the dark to see that each gas pump had an “ALL OUT” sign next to it. We looked at each other, all thinking the same thing. Where would we get gas?

  I saw movement in the convenience store and shouted, “Look! I don’t know if it’s a person or Infected but there’s something in that store!”

  Everyone craned their necks to peer over seats and see inside the store. There was nothing for a few seconds, and then suddenly we saw a face at the window looking at us. Lucy kind of jumped in shock, and the figure waved at us. Steve pulled the car up closer to the store, and after a quick look around I jumped out of the car and moved to the door. What I saw surprised me. There was a clerk at the counter, and a few people moving around the store, obviously chatting with each other. I cautiously knocked on the door and they all looked towards me. One of them, who was closest moved to open the door.

  He looked confused and said, “The store’s open buddy, you don’t have to knock.”

  I entered and replied slowly, “Are you guys ok?”

  Looking even more confused he said, “Umm. Yeah we’re good. What about you?”

  The figure I saw waving at us I could now clearly see was a boy a little bit younger than myself, staring at me with a hint of curiosity.

  The clerk noticed our car outside waiting by the gas pump and voiced loudly, “Oh you’re here for gas? Well you’re out of luck, sorry but this whole town ran out of gas a few weeks ago. Some mishap with the supplier.”

  Dismayed, I asked, “Really? How do you guys all get around?”

  The man who let me in laughed and said, “If you haven’t noticed already, this is a pretty small town. We can walk everywhere we need to go.”

  I then said, “But what about the Infection? How are you surviving?”

  They all glanced at each other for a second, and then a person in the back said, “What Infection?”

  Utterly at a loss for words, I hesitated before asking, “Have the Infected not been here yet?”

  Getting kind of angry at my tone, the man who let me in said, “Listen buddy, we have no idea what you are talking about. Care to explain?”

  Bewildered, I answered, “The Infection??? The virus that has taken over the entire state of Texas and is transforming us all into violent preda
tors? How could you not have heard about it?”

  The man quickly glanced back at the kid that I saw in the window, but then turned laughed contemptuously and replied, “We don’t get very many visitors, and most of them are about as crazy as you are.”

  My voice began to rise, and I said, “Haven’t you been listening to the T.V.?? They advised us to evacuate to the nearest fort!”

  The man said, “We don’t pay much attention to television, it corrupts the mind.”

  Exasperated I said, “So none of you have encountered any Infected people or strangely aggressive animals?”

  They all shook their heads.

  I asked, “So you all are just living just as normal lives as you always have?”

  The man replied, “Yup.”

  I bid them good day, and walked out of the store. I moved back to the truck and hopped into the passenger door.

  I told them all, “Alright there’s strangely good news, and some pretty bad news. The good news is that the entire population of this town has not seen nor heard of any sign of the Infected, and in fact have had no change in their lives. The bad news is there hasn’t been any gas here for a few weeks.”

  They digested this information, and we thought about what to do.

  I told the group as a whole, “Well this is much better news than we hoped for! Maybe the Infection is being contained, if this town hasn’t even heard of it!”

  The whole car lit up in smiles of hope and excitement. Steve pulled the car out into the road and drove off into the center of a parking lot, angled towards the road out of the town.

  He caught me looking at him and shrugged, “It never hurts to plan your escape route.”

  The baby started crying, and Lucy said, “I think she’s hungry. I know I am.”

  Come to think of it, I thought, none of us had eaten in more than a day.

  I said, “Well let’s take advantage of the situation. We’ll sit here for a while and make some dinner out of the food we brought with us, while we are thinking of what to do.”

  My mom said, “Jack, most of the food I brought is in the form of canned goods because they can last a long time. They need to be heated up.”