by Thomas Baker
JT did not make it so nicely. He gunned the jeep as he swerved around, feeling cocky. His back end swung around almost slamming into the semi. Then he had to stamp down hard on the brakes to avoid crashing into the SUV. Dusty had stopped in the middle of the Interstate entrance ramp.
JT was pissed. He was ready to hop out of the Jeep and give Dusty a piece of his mind. Then he saw the reason why he had stopped so abruptly. Only a couple hundred yards up ahead was a horde of at least twenty, maybe even forty zombies. They all moved up the highway as one unit, heading right in their direction, like a herd of cattle being wrangled to the slaughterhouse. Except JT knew he would be the one eaten if they caught him.
"What are we doing here?" Shouted JT to Dusty.
"Turn it around, double time!" Dusty shouted back, hanging out the driver's side window.
JT threw the Jeep in reverse and started to back up when out of nowhere there was a loud smack against the side. This was followed by screams from the girls. A fast mover had come out of nowhere. It was clawing and flailing, trying to get ahold of Ashley. Ashley screamed, pressing her body as far away from the zombie as possible. The side bars were the only thing between Ashley and the zombie. If it acted as anything more than a dumb animal, it would have already gone around the bars and ripped Ashley to shreds.
"GO! GO! GO!" shouted Hannah in a panic. JT saw a couple more runners had emerged from the horde. Three were coming up the ramp. One of them, a male dressed in grey sweat pants and a black hoodie, lunged himself onto the hood of the Jeep and began smashing its palms into the windshield.
Forgetting he was still in reverse JT floored it. The Jeep shot backwards into the cab of the overturned semi. Ashley's attacker was smashed between the two vehicles. It's broken body hung suspended in the twisted metal.
"Fuck!" JT shouted as he threw it into drive. He tried pulling forward. Tires spun but the jeep didn't move. Somehow he had become hung up with the semi.
The zombie on the hood busted through the windshield. It's head thrust through a hole in the broken glass. It snapped at Tyrone. broken, jagged teeth inched closer to Tyrone's face. Tyrone quickly unbuckled the seat belt and slunk down onto the floorboard, screaming. A shot rang out and the zombie fell lifeless. Through the spiderwebs of what was once the windshield, JT saw Dusty standing next to the SUV, rifle in hand.
JT seized this opportunity. He hopped out of the jeep to see where they were stuck. More gunfire erupted. He looked in the direction of the shots to see Dusty and Gus with rifles drawn. He turned back, needing to concentrate on his task at hand while they were trying to buy him some time.
"No good!" He heard Dusty shout. "We have to move now!"
"Tyrone!" JT yelled, trying to control the panic rising in his voice. "You need to get behind the wheel. When I push, I'll yell at you to step on the gas."
Hannah jumped out of the Jeep beside him and grabbed his hand. She was sobbing "We need to run."
She looked as terrified as JT had ever seen anyone look. He scanned the area. It seemed like out of nowhere the thirty or forty zombies from before had turned into what looked like a hundred. Quite a few of them were fast movers. They were barreling down on them from all directions.
"The tree line!" Dusty commanded, pointing across the bridge. "We have to make it to that tree line to have a chance!"
"Grab something and go people!" Alan chimed in.
They moved as quickly as they could through the wreckage on the bridge. Tyrone was lightning fast, leaving them all behind. Gus and Alan blindly fired behind them into their pursuing assailants. Dusty walked backwards nonchalantly, firing with precision, dropping a zombie with every shot.
John and Ashley were bringing up the rear. John was red faced as he stumbled along. He ran with his hands covering his ears. He looked panicked and afraid.
"Move it girl!" Dusty growled as he fell back beside them. He grabbed Ashley by the arm pulling her to his speed as she struggled to keep up. "Here, take her superstar," he said as he passed her off to JT. JT was running as fast he could while staying next to Hannah. Now he was pulling Ashley along with his other hand as well. She should have been able to run faster than him, but instead she seemed on the edge of hysteria. JT concentrated on keeping them all going. His knee burned in protest at the sudden activity.
Dusty pulled ahead of everyone but Tyrone. He somersaulted over a dead tree that had snapped near its trunk and fallen over. He turned, steadying his rifle on the tree. Gus had fallen behind and was now back with John. The two of them scrambled along as the zombies closed in on them. Dusty started spraying rounds at the ones closing in on the two men.
"We better get to moving or we're about to be missing parts of our ass cheeks!" Gus called over to John, in between breaths.
Pop, pop, pop. The sound of gunfire filled JT's world. Even amongst the chaos, JT was fairly impressed at Dusty's skill and calm composure. JT, Ashley, and Hannah passed Dusty's position. JT turned and could see zombies were dropping fast.
Dusty continued to lay down cover fire as John and Gus huffed and puffed their way past him. After thinning out most of the fast movers he retreated to catch up with others.
"We're going to have to make our way back to the vehicles somehow to retrieve our supplies," Dusty told them.
"Go back there, are you crazy?" Gus said sporadically. He was bent over, leaning against a tree, sucking wind. "They can have my Snickers bars."
JT looked around. "Where's Alan?" he asked.
Gus could not give him a verbal answer. All he could manage was pointing to his left, making a circular motion and then a charade version of what JT guessed was driving a car.
"Did he break for the cars by himself?" Dusty said, incredulous.
Gus gave him a thumbs up in response. Dusty turned back surveying where they just came from.
"Gus, can you and Hot Shot handle things here?" Dusty asked. "Should be safe for the moment. I'm gonna double back, catch up with Alan. Tyrone, John you're with me. Time to earn your keep."
Tyrone looked surprised at Dusty's request. "I'm ready sir."
John looked terrified.
"You really think I'm going to be much help?" John stuttered.
John clearly did not share Tyrone's enthusiasm. Gus slid down the tree until he was sitting on the ground, still catching his breath. Hannah and Ashley went over and joined him.
"Go," JT said, taking Dusty's spot at the tree.
He kept a watchful eye as Dusty, John, and Tyrone disappeared back through the trees.
Dusty led the three of them to about fifty yards out from their abandoned caravan.
"Stop here, while I run a quick recon," Dusty said, eyeing the two men.
John looked as if any minute he may throw up or pass out. Sweat was plastered all over his face. He was still wearing his suit. Moron.
Dusty hoped this civilian didn't flake out on him. Tyrone was bouncing on his toes, looking scared but also in control of it. Kid has courage at least.
Dusty looked through his scope trying to find Alan among the twenty or so dead still milling around the semi and their cars.
"They all look like slow ones," Tyrone whispered. "I can be at the car before they get near me. Let me go, I can make it."
"Calm down, kid. Don't get yourself killed. Let me try to find Alan first. I don't want this to turn into another rescue mission."
Movement on the toppled semi drew Dusty's attention. He couldn't quite make out what was going on. He trained his scope on the semi. It was Alan. He had climbed on top of the overturned semi trailer. As Dusty watched, Alan slid on his belly across the trailer until he was looking over the edge. Alan looked up and down the length of the trailer. He eased over the edge of the trailer, jumping down to the ground. He looked off to his right, tearing up the ground like hell was behind him. Alan slid into the still running SUV, leaving smoke and tire tracks behind him as he took off. He was headed right in their direction.
The SUV bounced and shook as Alan ran over all
the dead bodies in his way. Alan passed them without slowing down, his eyes large and wild. He took the SUV off road, into the tree line. When it was out of sight, Dusty turned back to the semi. That's when he saw what had caused Alan to bug out.
"Shit," Dusty rasped harshly. "Guys, get ready to run for your life!"
The largest group of runners Dusty had ever seen followed in the SUV's wake. Numbers that he quickly calculated would be overwhelming. Where were they all coming from?
No time for that now. He got moving, watching Tyrone leave him behind once again. That was when he realized he didn't know where John was. Had to be behind him. Dusty didn't know if he could save him this time.
Dusty got into the trees, Tyrone long out of view. He looked through the bushes. John was running but Dusty could tell it was a losing battle. John wasn't going to make it. Should I risk myself trying to pick them off? There is no way I'm going to be able to get them all. I don't want the sound of my rifle to draw them all down on me.
There was a tap on his shoulder. Dusty turned around and just about took Tyrone's head off with his rifle butt. Tyrone flinched back.
"Don't ever sneak up on me dammit!" Dusty hissed.
"Point taken," Tyrone said, visibly shaken. "Alan just sent me back to tell you the SUV is right over there."
Tyrone pointed at some thick bushes not far away. Dusty made a decision.
"Follow me."
Staying low, Dusty sprinted to where Tyrone had pointed. There was the SUV. Dusty yanked the door open.
"Tyrone get in the back. Alan, turn this thing around. John...it's too late to save him."
Without a word, Alan cranked the steering wheel. He doubled back and the SUV emerged from the trees. Dusty could tell, they were too late. The three of them could only watch on in horror.
John tripped and was instantly pounced on by a couple of runners. He hopelessly screamed for help. It was like watching a pride of lions take down a gazelle. Blood flew up into the air, along with bits of his suit as John was ripped apart. Dusty felt guilty but also relieved when so many zombies had covered John that they blocked the gruesome sight. The last thing Dusty saw of John was one of his black dress shoes. It flew up into the air and land right in front of them in the dirt. His foot and half of his calf was still inside of it.
"No reason for us to sit here. Let's go," Dusty said, thumping Alan in the arm.
Alan looked over, his eyes glazed. He shook his head and put the SUV in reverse.
Once again the sound of the car attracted attention. This time the zombies were too close to the wooded area to lose them. Dusty could see the fast movers in pursuit in the rear view mirrors.
Ground and grass flew up behind them as the SUV rocked its way through the undergrowth. Dusty bounced and swayed in his seat.
"That way," Dusty pointed, "we need to pick up the rest of them."
Alan followed Dusty's motions and found the rest still around the big tree where they had left them.
Dusty rolled down the window. "Everyone in!" he shouted.
"We can't all fit in there," JT argued back.
"We have to make it work and make it work right now! Unless you want to be zombie food like John! Shut up and get in!" Dusty was tired of this guy. Right now he wanted to leave him behind.
Tyrone jumped the back seat, laying down on the heap of their gear, to make room. Ashley scrambled in and went over the seats, next to Tyrone. Hannah and JT dived in the backseat. Gus was the last one in. The undead army closed within a few feet. Alan mashed the gas pedal spraying dirt and clumps of earth as they gained traction and took off. The undead kept coming, unaffected by the cloud of debris the SUV made in its wake.
Ashley and Tyrone were protesting in pain as tents, weapons, and various other gear poked and prodded them with every bump. Alan refused to slow down as long as he could see zombies in the mirror. Dusty clenched his teeth tight. Alan's erratic driving made him fearful they were going to crash at any moment.
Dusty felt like days had gone by before the zombies started to disappear behind them. They burst through a barbed wire fence onto a graded dirt road. Alan stopped the car in a cloud of dust. They all crawled out of the SUV.
"Leaving it running again, just in case," Dusty barked.
Immediately Dusty did a recon of the field. He swept his scope back and forth across the fields they fled across. Satisfied they had lost their pursuers, or they had given up, Dusty turned to the others. They were all just standing around the car. Most of them looked in shock.
"I haven't had that much excitement since my first fuck," Gus said, mindlessly walking around in circles.
"Ewww, really?" Ashley said, disgusted.
"Alright people. Everyone okay?" Dusty said. He kept trying his best to ignore Gus's crude comments. He needed everyone focused on the mission of staying alive.
"Wait a sec, where's John?" Hannah looked confused.
Tyrone and Alan stared at the ground as she looked for an answer.
Dusty looked grim. "I'm afraid that he was our first casualty."
There was shuffling and mumbling within the group. John's loss took Dusty back to thinking about how this started. Every morning since, he went to sleep and woke up with twinges of guilt. Maybe part of it was survivor's guilt, but he couldn't help but think that he should have stayed at his post, with his troops, when the zombies attacked. Or at least tried to convince a few to come with him. It all happened so fast though...
Dusty shook his head. It was too late to do anything about that now, but here was a chance to maybe make things right. He decided he was going to stay with these civilians. Protect them as best he could. Dusty vowed then he would do everything in his power to make John the only one. Even JT. If they would listen to him, they would stay alive.
"What's that on the ground?" Ashley said, breaking into Dusty's thoughts.
She was pointing at the ground. Something was darkening the dirt around the back of the SUV. Dusty crouched down, touched it, smelled his fingers.
"Smells like gas," he said.
"Musta punched a hole in the tank during our get away," Gus ventured.
Dusty slid in and checked the fuel level. "Less than a quarter of a tank left. Everybody back in. We need to make it as far away as we can instead of letting the fuel we have go to waste. Find someplace more secure for the night. We don't want to be out in the open and exposed like this, when night comes."
"Well if this isn't just turning into a shitfest," Gus said.
"Worst. Day. Ever." Ashley added.
Disheartened, they all shuffled back inside the SUV. Dusty took over driving from Alan and they continued down the road, towards whatever was waiting for them.
JT still couldn't believe they were doing this. When Dusty suggested they go back into a city to stock up and find a replacement for the SUV, JT thought he had lost his mind. Didn't most of them just fight their way out of the cities, barely surviving the first time? It sounded about as smart as walking up to a bunch of drunk assholes fighting each other and waving alcohol around, asking who would like a free drink first. You were just asking for trouble.
They stopped to get some more gas in the leaky SUV. At the station, JT was able to get a little Honda running. They stocked up at the stop with everything from food to toilet paper. JT thought that was plenty for awhile. Like the Honda, they'd find some other car or truck along the way. Dusty didn't think that was good enough. Dusty had decided they should try the next biggest city on the map he grabbed from the rest stop. His plan was to get a couple more big vehicles, maybe even a trailer or two, stop at a grocery store, a gun store, and load them up. JT wanted to say what the hell, they could each find their own RV or tour bus and act like rock stars, but he held his tongue. He had pressed for a vote on what to do next. He had lost. Dusty was a military guy. He had combat experience. So everyone but him and Gus jumped on Dusty's plan.
JT shot angry looks at Dusty's SUV as he followed him to Jackson, Tennessee, according to the map.
They were going down I-40, making good time. Occasionally came to huge multi car crash. Most of the time they had to go around by going off road between the shoulder and the tall pine trees that marched off as far as he could see. The westbound lanes were way more open than the jammed eastbound lanes. Those people had the right idea, getting out of densely populated areas. We're the idiots trying to go back in.
Hannah and Ashley had been pretty quiet the past hour. For Hannah, it wasn't that unusual but for Ashley it was. Maybe they could sense the foul mood he was in.
JT started to see a zombie here or there before they even got to the exit signs for Jackson. He was amazed at how fresh some of them looked. He couldn't think of another word for it. They almost looked like normal people. He wondered why that was. Just like how come some were faster than others. Or how dead people could be walking around in the first place. They might look like people from a distance but they acted like animals. The zombies paused whatever they were doing as the cars approached. They would track the sounds of their passage, make a few steps towards the cars, then continue wandering around. Or worse, go back to feeding on some poor soul. It was at this point that Hannah stopped looking at the window. Instead she pulled out some trashy magazine she grabbed from the truck stop and flipped through it. The wrecks and abandoned cars, along with the zombies, began to get a little thicker now. JT could feel his heart speed up a notch and his muscles tense.
Dusty worked his way down the exit into Jackson. Gripping the wheel tight, JT followed. He saw signs for Old Hickory Mall to the left. He guessed that was where Dusty was headed. Dusty's left blinker came on.
They passed Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen. All empty, lights off, no one home. It was surreal. JT felt like he was on a movie set, not in a real city. The road they were on, North Highland Avenue, was remarkable void of cars, as were most parking lots. The exception was Burger King, which had a bus planted in the front lobby section. Around it teemed ten or so zombies. Once again they turned as one and looked as JT passed. He could see the mall up ahead now, and it was a totally different story.
