The Human Race (Book 2): The Fighting Chance

by Tahnee Fritz

  Ugh! I can’t stand this sadness or the lump that’s now in my throat. I steady my aim with the gun and wait a few more seconds, until I can see the pitch blackness of his eyes. I let out the breath I’ve been holding and squeeze my finger around the trigger. The blast echoes and a few birds fly out of their hiding places. The zombie thuds to the ground and his feet bounce off the grass. I nod at my accomplishment and lower my weapon.

  I tuck the gun in my jeans behind my back and turn to the house. Ryder stands in front of the swing with his bag on and ready to go. Dwayne has returned to the porch, ready to go as well, and the others are heading inside to get their things. Carla tosses me a silly smile before disappearing through the door.

  “We leaving already?” I ask, walking to the porch.

  Dwayne nods, “With that thing lurking around, I’m sure there are others close by that heard the gunshot. It’s best we get moving again and hope we don’t run into anything else around here.”

  I sigh and say, “Yeah, good idea.”

  I hear the others inside the house. This time they’re quiet, packing their bags and getting ready to hit the road again. I look to Ryder and he hands my bag to me. I put the strap over my shoulder, crossing over my body, and lean against the railing next to him. He runs his fingers through his hair and gives me a fake smile.

  “You alright?” he asks.

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

  He shrugs, “I saw the look on your face right before you shot that zombie. You seemed kinda sad.”

  I lower my head and stare at my feet, “Oh.”

  “What were you thinking about?”

  “My dad again. I just wish he was here with us.” I reply.

  Ryder nods, “I know you do. You always want him around and I wish you could have that. I hate seeing you sad whenever you think about him.”

  “I’ll be alright, though. I got you with me and that’s what’s important.”

  The group comes outside with their things and climbs down the porch. Carter lags behind and walks with Ryder and I as we follow them. Once again, Dwayne leads the group with the other guys his age and we head away from the house.

  * * *

  A few more hours ease by and we haven’t run into anything else since the zombie at the farm house. Maybe a few squirrels here and there, but no other living thing is on the road with us. It’s really quiet out here, even with all of us having our own little conversations. Carla and Dennis are talking about hunting something for dinner while Dwayne is trying to figure out if we should start looking for a place to camp soon. That wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. I know my legs are getting tired of walking and I’m starting to get hungry again. Not to mention, the sun will go down real soon and the vamps are sure to come out to play.

  “You know,” I say to Carter and Ryder, “despite the fact that we’re doomed to run into more zombies and vampires out here, I’m really glad that it’s not raining. I always hated that.”

  Ryder shakes his head and smiles, “That’s a little odd coming from a girl who once took a shower in the rain.”

  “What’s this?” Carter chimes in. “I don’t think I ever heard this story.”

  “And you’re not going to. That stays at the hotel in Hatfeld.” I say.

  Thinking of that night, with the cold rain water pouring down upon us, always brings a smile to my face. I don’t even have to close my eyes to see the details of what happened between me and Ryder. How could I ever forget the night I found myself falling in love with the perfect guy? I think I’d have to be pretty dead in order for that to happen.

  We pass an overturned pickup truck, the windows are completely smashed and glass surrounds the cab. The small sedan crashed into the other side of it is clearly the cause of this accident. It looks like the two vehicles hit pretty hard and the driver of the truck probably didn’t see it coming. I can see what’s left of him hanging in the drivers’ seat with the belt still attached.

  Poor guy.

  “I’m so glad I was never in that situation.” Ryder states, putting some distance between him and the wreckage.

  “You wouldn’t believe how many accidents and deaths I saw right when the ‘cure’ took effect. People died in some of the stupidest ways you could possibly imagine.” Carter says. “My least favorite ones were the suicides. I hated seeing how people would just give up, even if they weren’t bitten or scratched.”

  I take a deep breath, “I found this family once, before my dad died. We were scavenging an old rest stop in the middle of nowhere. This family was just lying on the floor in the ladies’ room, with a bullet wound in each of their heads. I always liked to hope they didn’t have any other option. Like they ran out of food and couldn’t go on anymore. I don’t like to think they just gave up on their lives and decided to end it all.”

  Carter fell silent after my little story. I know he believes suicide is a straight path to hell, even in the world we’re living in. Seeing as how I don’t believe in that sort of thing, I just like to assume they go someplace better than this. Maybe when we die, we don’t necessarily go to heaven, but we go to the place our minds find peaceful. Our own personal heaven, filled with the people and things we’ve always loved and cherished. I know it’s a longshot to think a better place exists beyond this life. Once we die, I’m sure that’s it. There’s nothing else after that, other than darkness.

  Ryder takes my hand and squeezes it. I turn to him and he smiles at me. That amazing smile gets me to fall in love with him every time I see it.

  “Quit thinking so much.” He says, quietly.

  I roll my eyes and smile as I look ahead. We pass a few more cars and trees along each side of the highway. The woods are starting to thin out and empty corn fields replace them. There’s a tractor stuck in the field to my right as though it’s waiting for the harvest. At the front of the group, Dwayne stops walking and the rest of us do the same.

  “The sun will be going down soon and I don’t want to risk walking anymore when this becomes vamp territory. We’re going to make camp out here and each of us will take turns keeping watch. We’ll gather firewood and keep it small. I know it’s cold, but the light will let the vampires know humans are around. In the morning, we’ll head out again and find that village.”

  Everyone nods and Dwayne starts walking down the road. I see him scanning the area, searching for the best place to make camp. There’s a building in the middle of the field. It’s a long walk to that building and I think he wants to keep close to the highway. No sense in getting lost or in a bind we can’t get out of. Some of the guys start looking for firewood and Carter steps off the concrete and gathers a few sticks for himself. Ryder stays with me, his hand still in my own. I don’t expect him to wander off with the others. With all of his encounters with the vamps, he’s better off staying behind.

  “I don’t think I’ll be getting any sleep tonight.” He says.

  “I don’t think any of us will. It’s been awhile since we’ve been on the road and it’s a hard thing to get used to again.” I say.

  “Just can’t wait to find this village and be done with all this zombie and vampire shit. I know I said I missed parts of life out here, but the less we see of those things, the better this trip will be.”

  I smile and nod my head in agreement, “These few days will be over and done with before you know it. Then, when we’re back in Des Moines, you’ll miss it again.”

  He shakes his head, “Probably not for a while, though. We can’t all be crazy like the fantabulous Bridget who misses the weird stuff.”

  I smile and say, “No. The world isn’t big enough for more people like me.”

  * * *

  We found a place to camp not far from the highway under two oak trees. The leaves have already changed to their Fall colors and many have started falling to the ground. They were a nice addition to our small fire, making it much easier to get it going. For our dinner, we ate crackers and bread and enjoyed the wonderful taste of wat
er to wash it all down with. This sort of thing takes me right back to all those small dinners I ate with my family. We didn’t eat the best on the road to Florida and we still didn’t eat too great when we got there.

  The dinners in the city are much better. Hardly a day goes by where any one person doesn’t overfeed themselves. There are many options to choose from, like meat and dairy products and breads of all kinds. Someone even managed to make homemade vanilla ice cream. That was probably my favorite discovery after we got settled in Des Moines. I think my family would have loved that find as well.

  The sun went down a few hours ago and the stars came out to play. Two of us are responsible for keeping watch for about an hour while the others sleep. One on each side of the camp, staring out into the vast emptiness around us. I take this shift with Carter. He found a nice spot to sit on the ground while I lean against one of the trees. We haven’t seen any vamps nor heard any sign of an oncoming zombie. The night is pretty quiet and it’s not even the eerie type of quiet either. It’s the perfect-kind-of-night quiet.

  I glance over my shoulder, checking on the sleeping members of my group. Most of them are huddled under a blanket or lying on top of each other to keep warm. Even with the fire still dimly lit, the night air is just too cold to not be covered by something. I’m doing alright with just my hoodie on and my arms tightly crossed over my chest. It’s cold, but I’ve been through worse.

  The field in front of me is still empty when I turn back to it. The tall grass flows gently in the breeze and nothing is lurking in the darkness. This is the kind of night I always hoped for when my dad and I were camping in the middle of nowhere. If we ever had to sleep outside, it was rare for our night to go uninterrupted. Nights like this one, are cherished in the eyes of travelers.

  I glance to the sky. The stars shine bright and twinkle overhead. This is something I don’t see too often in the city. The lights are too bright and the stars are diminished because of it. I miss seeing the stars and finding the constellations. It’s an entirely different world up there. A world that isn’t pure evil and filled with death behind every corner. What’s left of the humans will never see a world like that. We’re doomed to face each day knowing it could be our last.

  I hate thinking like that. I need to shake those thoughts out of my mind and go on with my job. Keeping the group safe and surviving our first night out here is priority number one. I can’t let my thoughts cross over to the dark side and get me in trouble.

  There are footsteps coming up behind me and I quickly snap my head around to see who it is. Dwayne approaches me, zipping his jacket along the way. He has a great way of scaring people in the middle of the night.

  “Why are you awake?” I ask in a hushed voice.

  He shrugs, “I can’t sleep very well.”

  “That sucks.”

  “Yeah, I figured it’d be easier to sleep out here. You know, in a world with the demons that could eat us.” He states, sarcastically.

  I smile, “The others are doing fine knowing that.”

  “I guess it’s just been awhile and I’m a bit nervous about this.” Dwayne says, looking out to the field.

  “What’s there to be nervous about? You have a great team here and we all know what we’re doing. If anything, the zombies and vamps should be nervous about running into us.” I say, hoping that changes his mood a bit.

  He shakes his head, “That’s not what I’m nervous about. I’m worried we won’t find that village or, if we do, it’ll be too late. This mission would be all for nothing and I’d go back to the city feeling like a failure.”

  He and I have a completely different definition of what a failure is. I don’t think finding the village in shambles and going back empty handed, constitutes as a failure. If we get there and we can’t convince them, maybe that counts. I consider failing at something to lose in the face of a zombie or a vamp. Things just changed a lot after the world died and changed my whole idea of failing and not.

  “You won’t be going back a failure, Dwayne. If there’s nothing out there, we’ll be going back as the same people who left. Maybe a bit disheveled and tired, but the same nonetheless.” I say.

  “No, this is different, Bridget.” Dwayne argues. “This is big. We are responsible for finding people out here. If we find that village, there’s hope of finding more humans beyond that. There’s hope of expanding the city walls and building new homes for the people we find. This wouldn’t be our only mission. This would just be the beginning of something that could help us defeat those things altogether.”

  I raise an eyebrow and pass him an odd glare, “I don’t think that’s how we will end the threat of zombies and vampires. They’ll always be out there and always be threatening us. Just because we save a bunch of people and expand the city, that doesn’t mean anything.”

  Again, he shakes his head, “That’s not true. There is a future for this planet. One without zombies and vampires eating our race. I can see a life where we don’t have to fight for scraps and kill just to save our own skins. A life that’s not constantly being devoured by things that used to be a part of us. You can’t say the world will never be safe again, because I know that’s not true. We will have what we used to have and get this planet back in order. Regardless what you believe, Bridget, there is a future here.”

  He turns away from me, unhappy about what I said to him. I follow him with my eyes and watch him sit on the ground next to the fire. He picks up a stick from the ground and starts poking the flames. I shake my head and turn back to the empty field.

  I know every last human on this planet has their own beliefs about things. Some believe there’s a god up there somewhere controlling things down here. Others think there will be another cure to end this thing once and for all. More logical people, the ones like me, know better than that. It’s been six years now and the world hasn’t made progress. Zombies still knock on our doors each day and vampires are waiting for us each night. I know we have the city walls to keep up safe, but they won’t last forever. There will come a time where that place is overrun or something gets inside and the whole thing will be over.

  I run my fingers through my hair and take a deep breath. The field is dark and empty, still no sight or sound of anything lurking in the shadows. This was a peaceful night and one I was actually happy to be awake during. Dwayne and his ideas of a better future sort of ruined it. He never used to be this way. When I met him, he was more than determined to spend the rest of his life in that basement, hiding from the rest of the world until he died down there. After finding sanctuary in the city, he changed and now sees things through different eyes. He wants to believe there’s a better world waiting for us. He wants to believe the zombies and vamps will be cured or killed off.

  I want to believe he’ll wise up and think straight again. There’s no room on this planet for meaningless longing of a better world. When you’ve been through hell and back, like I have, you’ll learn that it’s never going to get any better than this. Zombies will always be here. Vampires will never go away. There will never be a cure and the humans will never have the guns or manpower to take them out entirely.

  We’re stuck in this world till the end of time whether we like it or not.

  * * *

  Morning’s here now. Well, it’s been here for about an hour anyway. All of us ate a small breakfast, taking our separate bathroom breaks, and gearing up for another day of walking. I’m still pretty tired after a night of not enough sleep. Ryder slept like a log, but I kept tossing and turning when my shift was up. My little chat with Dwayne was all I could think about. I never could get to the bottom of why he doesn’t think like me.

  I yawn as I walk with Ryder and Carter behind the others. Dwayne hasn’t said a word to me since we began our trek again. He simply gave us our orders and that was it. I can’t help but feel the tension in the air whenever I get near him. He’s still upset over our talk and I’m sure he hates me for what I believe in. I guess judgment and drama w
ill never die.

  The sun beats down on us as we walk along the highway. We got off on a ramp, heading south a little ways, following the directions Martin’s family gave us. We pass car after car and mess after mess of things that went wrong. Houses and shacks were found charred and left in a pile of debris on the foundations. There’s no sign of living people or a village that we can see. I know there’s still a ways to go, but I half expected to see some kind of sign indicating safety is not far ahead.

  Dwayne walks at the front of the group and I notice him glancing over his shoulder. He’s checking out what the rest of us are doing and making sure we’re not goofing off. He completely ignores me and passes me a snide look instead.

  Carter leans close to me and says, “Is it just me or is Dwayne upset with you today?”

  I roll my eyes and say, “Well, he’s not the happiest person on the planet with me.”

  “What did you do?” Ryder asks.

  I shrug, “Said something wrong. Believe the wrong things about this world. Hell, I don’t know. I’m just me and we all know how frustrating that can be.”

  “That’s for sure.” Carter says.

  “Did you guys talk or something last night?” Ryder says.

  I nod, “He was awake during my shift and we spoke for a few minutes. He’s worried he’ll go back to the city as a failure if we don’t find this village and bring other survivors back with us. He says if we find them, we’ll be starting something new and can finally bring an end to the monsters of the world.”

  “And I suppose you told him what you thought about that and he didn’t like it.” Carter says.

  “What else was I supposed to say? I can’t lie to him, I’m not like that.” I argue. “I just don’t understand what could possibly get him to believe there will ever be an end to the zombies and vamps.”