Stage 6 (Book 1)

by Dylan James

  I replied quickly, “Are you sure that you saw somebody in the car?”

  She said back, “I’m SURE of it Jack. There’s somebody in there.”

  Kevin spoke up, “Yeah I think somebody’s in there to.”

  I wasn’t sure if he was just agreeing with Emily to get on her good side, but I had to take his words into consideration as well.

  I yelled back, “Alright, let me see if we have any gas we can give you!”

  He gave me a thumbs up, and reached into his car for something. I jogged over to the bus, and after stepping in I informed everybody of the situation.

  After I finished, I said, “Let’s go over there with a small amount of gas, and tell him that’s all we have to spare. We’ll get a look in the window while we’re over there, and see what he’s hiding. If its nothing big maybe we can even have him join us, and add his car to our group.”

  Ben exclaimed enthusiastically, “I like this plan! However, I don’t like going over there not knowing his motives or intentions. I think we should have somebody covering us with a rifle, wait maybe even that sniper Steve seems to like so much.”

  Steve nodded, and grabbed it out from the back. He said, “Sounds good.”

  He carefully hid himself from view, and exited through the back emergency exit of the bus. He lowered himself to the floor, and carefully began crawling under the bus with his sniper. I lifted the two gas cans we had left, and took the lighter one, and asked, “So who wants to come with me to check it out?”

  Ben volunteered, and we exited the bus and headed towards the mysterious man and his police car.

  Emily stepped out of the truck as we got closer, and said, “I’m coming too. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

  I nodded, and quietly said, “Just stay out of the line of sight between the bus and the car. Steve is covering us with his sniper rifle.”

  She looked scared for a moment, but replied “Ok,” and kept with us. I reached within about ten feet of the man and we slowly approached.

  He moved forward to meet us, keeping us away from the car and said, “Thanks so much!”

  He reached for the gas can when suddenly a face appeared at the window and Emily screamed! It was the face of a little girl, except it was bloody and distorted. The girl was obviously Infected. The man lunged for the gas can as I backed up, taken off guard. Ben quickly moved between us and hit him hard, putting his huge bulk behind it. The man collapsed, and Ben pinned him to the ground while Emily cautiously approached the car.

  Kevin stepped out of the truck and ran over, exclaiming, “Whoa he had a zombie in the back seat of his car! That takes some guts!”

  The man started crying on the ground and said, “Please don’t kill her, she’s my little girl.” Between sobs I heard, “I don’t know... One day... She just started going crazy!” He repeated, “Please don’t. Please don’t do anything to my baby girl...”

  Emily stood back, shocked and even Kevin looked sobered up for once. I asked, “How are you keeping her alive?”

  He tried to stand up, but Ben held him down.

  He said, “I’ve been catching animals. Some are alive; some are mostly dead, but... They get the job done.”

  Horrified, I asked, “How long have you been stuck here?”

  He replied, “Only a day now. I’ve been getting hungry myself, but I won’t leave her... I won’t leave her.”

  I looked around at the faces of Emily, Kevin, and Ben to see they were just as emotional as I was. What a horrible situation to be in.

  I asked, “Why are you keeping her like this? Do you think there’s a cure?”

  He replied vehemently, “There must be a cure! There IS a cure. And I’m taking her to find it, wherever it is.”

  Kevin started to say, “This isn’t just another sickness man,” but I stopped him.

  I said, “If we gave you enough gas to get to the next town, which is only about twenty miles away, would you wait here until we left?”

  His eyes lit up and he exclaimed, “Yes, yes! I’d do anything!”

  I looked at Ben, but he said nothing. I picked the gas can up, and set it on top of the car. I then said, “Alright. Let’s go.”

  I turned and walked back to the truck, and a few seconds later Ben let the man up and followed me.

  The man yelled after us, “God bless you!”

  Ben caught up to me before I got into the truck and said, “Jack, are you sure you did the right thing there? It just seems-”

  I cut him off and said, “No Ben, I’m not sure I did the right thing but when are we sure about anything? Let’s just go, and leave him here to do as he wishes. It’s still a free country. What’s left of it anyways.”

  Ben let it go, and headed back to the bus to explain it to the others. I climbed into the truck, and soon the bus’s engine sputtered to life behind us. Kevin turned the car on in silence, and we soon left the man behind us, waving goodbye and smiling at his good fortune.

  Emily spoke up a few minutes later, “That was terrible. That little girl was Infected, why did we leave her like that?”

  I replied, “Because I don’t think it’s up to us to decide, Emily. That was his daughter, his car, and he had much more of a right to decide her fate than we did. If he wants to search for a cure, then by God I hope he finds one.”

  Emily opened her mouth to speak, but then was quiet. We drove through a few more car wreckages, and a few more towns afterwards but it was always the same. They slowed us down, but the Infected mostly ignored us, and we simply went around any obstacles that came our way. It was late in the day when we were half way between towns, when the bus started flashing its brights at us.

  Obediently we slowed down to a stop and I wondered aloud, “What do you think they want?”

  Kevin shrugged. He said, “Who knows? Maybe they want to make a campfire and roast marshmallows?”

  I looked at him sarcastically and he continued defensively, “Hey why not hope for the best?”

  I was about to get out of the car when Shawn said, “Let me handle this one; I need to get out and stretch for a bit.”

  I agreed, and sent Shawn to find out what they wanted. He returned a few minutes later, and muttered, “Chilly,” as he hopped into his seat and shut the door. He sat there for a few seconds while we all looked at him, and then exclaimed, “What!?”

  I replied, “What did they want! We didn’t send you over there to catch butterflies; you were supposed to figure out what they wanted.”

  He laughed and said, “Oooh, yeah, well they want to spend the night here. Apparently they want to fashion a wheelchair for Lucy, among some other modifications for the bus that have proven difficult to do while moving, especially through all the obstacles we’ve encountered. They’re nervous about staying in one spot though, and the plan is for one person to always be awake in both vehicles to watch out. Either one of us turning on the car is signal that we need to move. Steve particularly wanted to stress that nobody should leave the car, because he thinks the Infected will leave us alone so long as they don’t figure out we’re inside. That means don’t let them see us, smell us, or hear us. We’re supposed to back up towards the bus if we agree, and send me back over there if there’s a problem.”

  I took a few seconds to let the plan sink in. I had wanted to get the Washington as fast as we could; it felt good to have a goal in mind.

  I asked Kevin and Emily, “Well do you guys have a problem with this?”

  Kevin said, “Nope! I’m totally fine with getting a good night’s sleep.”

  Emily shrugged and said, “I don’t mind I suppose.”

  I said, “Alright then, I guess you can back the car up a bit Kevin. How are we going to divide up the watch?”

  Emily volunteered, “I’ve always liked the nighttime, so I’ll take the first watch. The first watch is until one am right?”

  I answered, “Yeah that sounds right. And considering Shawn spent the entire last night sleeping, I think he should get the
next shift, from then until ‘four. Then Kevin can take over until ‘eight or so, and he can wake me up to drive for the day. Sound good?”

  Everybody agreed, and Kevin backed the truck snugly up to the bus. Their lights flashed in acknowledgement, and I curled up in my little corner of the truck. I looked out into the night, thinking about the events that had transpired that day. Had I made the right decision with that little girl and her Dad? At the very least, should we have kept our gas and ignored them? I felt there was no question about whether we should have killed the girl, or both of them and taken the car. It was right to leave them to their predicament... Or was it? My mind was so full of conflicting emotions I wasn’t able to come out with a clear answer. I just wished that we’d stop finding ourselves in these tough situations.

  Day 12

  I was awoken in the morning by Kevin, peering over me and saying loudly, “Rise and shine sleeping beauty! You wanted to drive didn’t you?”

  I rubbed my eyes slowly and asked through a yawn, “Everything go ok during the night?”

  He looked thoughtful for a second and then said, “No the zombies man, they came out of nowhere. We’re all dead!”

  I moved to open my door and said, “Ahh shuddup Kevin.”

  Suddenly he reached out and grabbed my hand reaching for the door and said tersely, “Well one thing did happen.”

  Curiously I asked, “What??”

  Shawn, who was beside me, hoarsely pointed out the window and said, “That...”

  I turned to look out through the back window, and recoiled in shock. There were maybe thirty or so Infected around the bus, roaming slowly around it.

  Kevin said, “Yeah, we think that the repairs and stuff that Ben did last night must have attracted them. They came as a group about twenty minutes ago, from behind the grass around us. We didn’t even see them until one apparently smacked into the bus, and made somebody scream from within. That got them all riled up, and they’ve been virtually patrolling the bus non-stop. If you’ll look, you can’t actually see anybody in the bus. I think they’re all crouched on the floor, hoping that the Infected will just go away.”

  I said, “But that could take hours before they lose interest.”

  Kevin replied simply, “Yup.”

  Emily said, “Well I think we should just go out there and shoot them all. There’s not that many of them, we could take ‘em!”

  Outraged, I retorted, “And what happens when they start sprinting towards us Emily? What happens when we shoot five bullets into their chest, and they’re still crawling towards us? No, we can’t waste ammunition and risk our lives like that. We’ll either have to try and make a run for it, or just wait until they go away.”

  Emily slumped back in her seat without replying.

  Shawn asked, “How do we know if they’re ready to leave?”

  I thought for a second, and then replied, “That’s a good point. Maybe they’re waiting for us to do something; we ARE supposed to be the more mobile scout-type vehicle.”

  Kevin exclaimed, “Hey, I have an idea!”

  I groaned and said, “Alright this ought to be good. Kevin, what’s your idea?”

  He said, “No dude I’m serious! One of us steps out of the car, and yells or something to get their attention. Then he steps back in the car, and we make a u-turn and lead all the Infected off in the wrong direction. After a few miles, we turn around and catch back up with the bus, with the Infected successfully put behind us. And after a few more miles they’ll be far enough behind us for us just to forget all about them.”

  We all glanced at each other, eyebrows raised at this heroic idea.

  I said, “Why not?”

  Kevin cheered, and high fived Emily. A little surprised, I realized Kevin had been changing a lot lately. He seemed more open and fun then the serious pessimist we had first met. I found myself actually liking him, regardless of our past differences.

  He asked me, “Hey Jack, you want to do the honors?”

  I grinned and bowed as low as I could in my seat, and replied, “Why thank you, I would love to.”

  We performed another awkward seat-change, and suddenly I was in the seat of power: the driver’s seat. I put my hand on the key, and looked around.

  I asked, “Are we ready?”

  Emily said, “Yeah!”

  Kevin whispered something to Shawn, and then Shawn asked, “Hey Jack. Let’s go?”

  I laughed and yelled, “Let’s go! Who wants to step out and get their attention?”

  Emily said, “I’ll do it! Just be ready, I don’t want them getting too close to me...”

  Kevin whistled and said to her, “You’re going to be zombie bait? You got more guts than me.”

  She smiled and said, “I know.” She opened the door and jumped out yelling, “Oh zombies! Over here!”

  She jumped up and down a few times and whistled loudly. The Infected turned to see her, and then started to approach slowly. She began to move towards the door when suddenly one of them took off at full sprint. We were only ten feet away from the bus, and in a few short seconds the Infected bounded across that distance and reached her as she shrieked frantically and jumped in the car yelling, “GO!”

  I hit the gas fast, and the tires squealed as we shot off like a cannon. We roared past the bus, and the group of Infected broke off and started to follow us. I slowed down so they wouldn’t get discouraged, wondering dimly whether they could even have such thoughts.

  Kevin asked, “Emily, are you ok?”

  Emily’s shoulders were shaking and he put a hand on her, thinking she was crying when she turned around laughing hysterically.

  She yelled, “That was awesome! That thing moved so fast!”

  Kevin looked confused for a second, but then broke out laughing as well and said, “Dammit Emily you had me scared! How do you like that sort of thing?”

  She rolled down the window and screamed, “WHOOOOOOO!” She then replied, “I don’t know,” and laughed, “I guess I like the excitement.”

  After a few miles we turned around, and passed what must have been seriously confused Infected going the other way. I watched in the rear view mirror as they stopped, and turned to look at us hesitantly as if not knowing what had just happened. They began to follow us yet again, but this time we were going much faster than even the fastest Infected could run. We caught up with the Bus a few minutes later, in the same spot we had left it, except now it had turned on and Ben was standing outside with binoculars waiting for us.

  I pulled up by the bus and Emily rolled down the window to say, “No need to thank me for saving your sorry butt, I did it out of the goodness of my heart.”

  He smiled grimly, and then said, “I think we should try and reach Washington today. Lucy says she recognized a few of the Infected from the mall. She thinks they never gave up, and followed us all the way here, and caught up with us during the night.”

  This news chilled me to the bone. The Infected would follow us for that long? Apparently we now had murderous stalkers, whose mission was to eat us alive.

  I leaned over and asked, “So we are just continuing along our original path to Washington?”

  He replied, “Yep. And we had better hurry before those cannibals get back here.”

  I agreed, and said, “Well I guess I’ll see you there huh? With me driving we should be going much, MUCH faster than yesterday with Kevin.”

  He laughed and said, “Well we’ll see.”

  He climbed back aboard the bus, and the doors shut. I drove off ahead and asked Emily to get the map out from the dashboard. I quickly memorized the next few roads I’d have to take, thanked her, and I drove silently, efficiently, and fast. I was determined to make some good time today, and thankfully there weren’t many obstacles along the roads we chose. Shawn and Kevin played occasional games with each other; in particular one of their favorites was guessing what the lives of the Infected we passed used to be like. They would pick one that stood out from the crowd, and the
n talk about his or her profession, family, friends, and how it became Infected. They never seemed to tire of this game, but eventually they moved on to a new game: most attractive “zombies” they could find.

  I found this game particularly revolting, but when I asked, Kevin yelled in mock outrage, “You’re such a racist Jack! Zombie’s can be beautiful too!”

  I had to endure this game for the next couple hours. Shawn and Kevin disagreed vehemently over which made a zombie female more attractive. Kevin was under the impression that the more blood and guts on her, the more “feisty” she was and thus more attractive. Shawn held the opinion that the cleaner they looked, the more attractive they were.

  Emily butted in at one point and said, “Hey! I find all this zombie-rating rather degrading. You shouldn’t judge them based on their looks!”

  Kevin and Shawn sat still for a moment, and then burst out laughing.

  Emily grinned and relented on her joke, saying, “You should judge them based on their personalities!”

  And from that point on the game got increasingly complicated, to the point where an Infected could get bonus or negative points based on how it was walking, or how violent it looked. Adding to the challenge, was the fact that at seventy mph everybody in the car only got a fleeting glimpse of the Infected and often not everybody agreed on how even the same Infected looked.

  They had no end of fun yelling out things like, “Oh look at that zombie-chick! If I had to be eaten alive, I’d want her to do it!”

  Kevin really pioneered the “Road-travel Zombie Games” industry in our little truck, and soon came up with an even more interesting game, which dealt with insulting the Infected. The game was who could use the Infected around us to come up with “zombie jokes” insulting or criticizing them, and although most of them were horrendously bad there were some good ones.

  Kevin came up with a classic, “Why did the zombie cross the road? He wanted to eat the chicken.”

  Shawn and Emily disagreed over how funny that joke was, but Shawn just kept coming up with a rapid series of terrible zombie jokes back to back.