I nodded.
“I hate being a third wheel, by the way.” She pointed at Jim. He lay surrounded by bags of chips, his mouth wide open.
“We’re not anything.” I shook my head.
“He held onto you like he wanted some of that Lana cake.”
I twisted my hair into a tight bun on the top of my head. I wiped my eyes with the heel of my hand, getting the crust out. I didn’t want to address her accusations. Truth was, it made me uncomfortable, because I had nothing to say back.
“I can’t deal with you this early.”
“Well, maybe you should. Did you forget that I have the car?” She lifted up a single key on a ring and twirled it on her middle finger. I did forget. I smiled as I watched her spin the ring around and around.
“Where is it?” I asked as I reached onto the bottom shelf and grabbed a bag of sour cream and onion chips. I threw two into my mouth, savoring the salt, but almost instantly, my tongue dried. I needed a drink.
“Hold on,” I said as I placed the chips on the rack. I had to go to the bathroom, bad. I ran near the back of the cash register and found the bathroom door. My heart thumped loud at the shut door like a warning.
I quietly turned the handle and pulled the door open just a crack, peeking inside. The mini room that could barely hold a person was empty. I gagged as the wretched smell from the room assaulted me. I slammed the door shut fast and caught my breath.
Shit. I pulled my shirt up and over my nose and held my breath as I ran into the bathroom and squatted over the used toilet. Luckily, there a roll of toilet paper sat on the sink. Not that it made me feel any cleaner. Nothing worked anymore.
Still holding my breath, I shut the lid. My eyes glassed over with tears brought on by the smell. I ran out of the room and shut the door, gasping for air as I pressed my back to it.
Scarlet laughed as I walked back to my chips. I shoved a few in my mouth, urging her to continue with what we were talking about. I shook my head and sniffed the bag of chips. They smelled much better than the bathroom.
She nodded towards the front window. “My car’s at the front of the lot.”
“Does it still work?” I asked with a mouthful.
“I think so.” But then she pursed her lips. “We should check.”
I looked out the front window. There weren’t any eaters out there, only the dead carcasses of the ones Jim and I had to kill yesterday when we found the gas station.
“Let me get the gun,” I said. I finished off the bag of chips—discarding it to the floor—and then tiptoed over to my sleeping nook. Jim still laid on my bag, so I tried not to move him. I grabbed the handgun which was luckily on the top and followed Scarlet out the back door.
Since there weren’t any eaters out there, and all we were doing was checking out the car, I figured we didn’t need Jim. I could handle it. Plus, he deserved to sleep a little since once we left, he’d be back in control.
Scarlet cracked the door open and looked out, then stepped outside, holding the door for me. We walked around the side of the building. I fingered the trigger of the gun, ready to use it at the first sign of danger.
“There it is,” she said as she pointed to a cherry red Nissan Xterra. With a glance around the parking lot again, I saw we were completely alone. I nodded to her, and we ran to the truck, our steps in unison with each other.
“Do it as quiet as possible,” I said as we stopped near the driver’s side door.
“It’s an engine. Kind of impossible.” She rolled her eyes and smiled at me. We needed a lookout so I walked towards the back of the car and sat on the bumper, looking up and down the road to make sure we wouldn’t get surprised.
Some eaters in the distance walked towards the library. In the yellowish lighting, I couldn’t see all the way down the road. Another grouping of eaters shuffled outside of a building closer to us.
“This is probably a bad time…” Scarlet muttered from inside of the car. “But did I mention I have a sister?”
“No,” I said. I could hear the motive behind her words. She had to have had some sort of angle or else there’d be no purpose to her telling me this. I turned and looked at her through the back tinted window. “Why?”
“Well, there’s a condition to you guys using my car.”
“I would have never guessed.” I shook my head and leaned against the back door of the car. A throb began to vibrate from my temples.
“I just want to go to her house and get her. I promise, it’s not even far. Like a thirty minute drive. Tops.”
“I hate to break it to you, but she’s probably not there anymore.” I felt bad for the hard tone in my voice, but it was true. If she had been at her house, I doubted she just stayed. Although, that had been my plan before I knew how bad the world was becoming. I could find Jean if we moved south.
“I spoke to her the day we got attacked. She said she’d wait for me there and wouldn’t leave. I’m not kidding. Please. Do you have siblings?”
“No,” I answered without elaborating.
“I can’t leave her alone, Lana. She’s my big sister. If you were separated from someone you loved, wouldn’t you want to know if they were okay?”
“Sure, but it’s been two weeks. A lot has happened. She probably left.”
“I know what you’re trying to say.” The car sputtered but failed to start. The heat of the exhaust pipe scalded my ankle. “She’s alive.”
I didn’t know how to make this appropriate. I didn’t have family, but I knew how hard it would be if Scarlet saw her eaten or dead. It’s better to leave it open-ended than have the closure of seeing her bloody corpse.
“I know she’s there.” She popped her head out of the car and widened her eyes, promising me. “It will only take one day out of our time. Where else are you going?”
She had a point. I didn’t answer her. I’d have to talk to Jim first and see what he thought. I looked back out towards the road and pondered her words.
The group of eaters closest to us made a noise that startled me. I spun towards them with my gun raised. They clawed at a sign in front of the diner that said, ‘Early Bird.’ There was a yellow chick painted inside of a broken shell. But the corner of the shell had been ripped off the sign.
The car engine suddenly stuttered to life. She pressed the pedal to the floor and it revved loudly, but perfectly. We’d have a chance to escape now, to get somewhere safe. I sighed in relief and lowered my weapon.
Scarlet shut the car down, but not fast enough. Something growled. The group of eaters’ heads snapped towards us, their red, dead eyes staring at us with hunger inside. They straggled in our direction, each trying to move over the next. Their dragging feet scraped against the cool pavement.
“Shit. Stay in the car and keep it running. We have to get out of here.”
I ran to the front of the car and shut the door, sealing Scarlet inside. I left her in the truck as I sprinted to the back of the gas station. I glanced over my shoulder before I turned the corner and saw about a dozen of eaters, all getting closer to the car.
We didn’t have time to fight them all off. I didn’t think we could risk losing the car. I yelled for Jim as I swung open the back door. It clashed against the brick wall.
I shook him awake. “What’s the matter?” he asked. His eyes shot open with alarm as they trailed up and down my body. His hands brushed across my face. I wanted to get lost with him. But we didn’t have time to spare. Scarlet was out there in the car, and we needed to leave.
“Eaters are coming, a big group of them. But the car starts. We have to move,” I said in a hurry. I panted as I caught my breath. I quickly stuffed food into my bag.
“Let me guess…” he said as he jumped from the ground. He bent down to tie his shoes as he spoke. “You started the car and they heard?”
I shrugged my shoulders because he was spot on. I bet he wished he had left me now. He swore under his breath but gathered his rifle. He slung it over his back and shoved his long-handled knife in
the loop of his jeans.
I grabbed our two bags, plus some extra things for Scarlet, and balanced them over my right shoulder. I didn’t have a knife anymore—long lost in the head of a monster—but I held onto my handgun, out and ready to kill.
Jim paused at the back door, waiting for me. I caught up to him and followed him outside. He stopped at the edge of the building and looked around the corner towards the street.
The truck bumped, shaking like someone rocked it near the road. Scarlet screamed at the top of her lungs. The screech vibrated all the way back to us. Eaters had circled the truck, hitting and bashing their faces into the metal. Smears of blood coated the windows. I didn’t think the car could last too long of being mauled.
“Stay behind me. Only use the gun if you have to.” Jim held up his arm to push me back, and I followed closely towards the red truck. I stayed within an arm’s length.
Two eaters came at us from the side. They weren’t there when I was on lookout. I had no idea where they walked from. Their heads turned towards Jim and me, as if they could smell our scent in the air. They changed direction from towards the road to towards me, their arms outstretched like vampires.
I saw their faces full-on in the morning light, the eyes of monsters, but bodies of humans. My skin tingled as I mentally prepared to kill them. A jab in the face was all it took. One of the eaters wore a flowered dress, shoes long gone. The other in a suit.
Their eyes had a vicious gleam to them. Indents took the place of what were once cheeks, and all that was left was the outline of their bones covered in grayish flesh.
Jim moved first, maneuvering fast despite his large frame. With his long knife, he nailed the man in the suit first, shoving the knife through his sunken eye socket. He pulled the knife out fast and turned to the second eater, the woman.
He shoved her backward. She fell to the ground, wailing at Jim. He bent down over her, his knees on either side of her chest, and jabbed his knife through her nose, silencing her. Jim stood over her body and wiped the blood from his knife on her red rose-covered dress.
At the commotion, more eaters sensed us and started limping and swaying towards us. I tried to come up with a plan of action. It was blatantly clear now that the eaters were attracted to noise. My doubts were all washed away.
Jim stood beside me and waited for the eaters to get to us. It seemed like they broke into groups, all moving in different ways. Two came for Jim, but this time two more stacked right behind, and then two more. Jim couldn’t handle four or six at a time. Nobody could. It was suicide.
I had seen plenty of guns in my lifetime. But I had never shot one before. I didn’t trust my aim around Jim, afraid I might mis-aim and hit him instead. Trying to distract some of the eaters so Jim could take them on, I ran around the side of him and clapped my hands.
“Over here!” I yelled with my hands cupped around my mouth. It worked. One of the eaters and then another began limping towards me, chomping their skinny jaws. “Hey! Here!” I yelled again, trying to give Jim more room.
The first eater got close to me. I wrapped my sweaty hand around the handle of the gun and put my shaking finger on the trigger. My breaths were choppy, ragged exhales. I swallowed a lump in my dry throat as I prepared to shoot the gun.
I squeezed my eyes and shot. The recoil jerked my hands up, and I fired again by accident. My shoulder vibrated with energy as I glanced at the eater. Blood exploded from his left shoulder. He didn’t seem affected, still moving towards me. The gunshot had slowed him for only a fraction of time.
I readied my hands, this time more prepared. My heart raced in my chest, but I ignored it. I had to focus. I squinted, looking down the shirt barrel of the handgun. I waited until I saw his face and shot again. This time I hit him in the throat. A funnel of blood spurted out like a water fountain.
I let out a frustrated breath. Lifting my gun, I held my breath as I narrowed my eyes, getting ready to shoot again. But Jim appeared behind the eater and sliced the back of his head wide open. He shot a look at me over the eater’s dead body, but turned towards the next assailant.
I was about to run to Jim’s side to help, but something grabbed my shoulder and shoved me. I fell backwards but caught myself, avoiding a fall. I lifted my gun, shifted so I was facing forward, and shot the eater right in the mouth. It fell forward in a heap. My entire body shook as I pulled in a breath, calming myself down amid hysteria.
“Get in the car!” Jim yelled at me as he ran around a group of three eaters, confusing them. I debated leaving him, but two eaters came at me from the side, and I was left with no choice. I turned and ran to the car.
My hand stilled on the car door, and I turned and glanced at Jim. He took on all three eaters, using their slowness to his advantage. He pulled one at a time away from the others as he inched towards the car. I leapt into the backseat of the car and slammed the door behind me.
“Drive forward and hit them!” I yelled at Scarlet who panted in the driver’s seat. A sheen of both sweat and tears coated her face. Her rosy cheeks ignited in deep red.
“I’m a shitty driver,” she whined as she held onto the steering wheel. Her knuckles flashed white. She was tiny in the large car, her eyes barely above the line of the dashboard.
“Move then.”
She scooted over the center console and slid in the passenger seat. I jumped from the back into the driver’s side and moved it from park into drive in one quick motion. I hit the gas, pressing it to the ground, and drove forward, running over one of the eaters and propelling him onto the hood.
“Holy shit!” Scarlet yelled as she clung to the handle above the door. The eater’s body mangled on the hood. Still alive, his eyes flashed red as he clawed at the window. I hit the brake making the body fall onto the pavement.
Scarlet pressed herself into the corner of her seat, her eyes wide and erratic. I spun the car around and drove straight for the eaters that almost piled on top of Jim. Adrenaline made my pulse fasten, fueling me in my rampage. There were too many, and we needed to get away.
“Hold on tight,” I said as I pushed the gas down to the floor and rammed three eaters all at once. A bunch more looked towards the car and began walking towards us. I had no idea where they were coming from, but it seemed like an endless supply of bodies.
For some reason, it didn’t feel like killing humans anymore. Instead I sped over speed bumps or clubs on the road. I threw the car into reverse and then ran them back over again, squishing their soft bodies. I drove forward towards the gas pumps, slower, and pulled up beside Jim. I stopped the car.
An eater rammed into the side window. I jumped at the loud bang. He chomped at it, trying to bite the glass. Another ten or so were behind Jim, gaining on him even though they moved much slower. Jim barely got into the car as I slipped it into reverse and backed up in the road.
He clung to the door as I looked over the backseat while maneuvering the car around. The narrow road made it difficult for me to get a good angle to turn back around. The bottom half of Jim’s body hung from the door. He swung his legs in and then sank into the back seat. The door shut as an eater attempted to climb in, holding onto the bottom of Jim’s pant leg.
“Drive to the end of the road, then let me drive.” His voice came out ragged, similar to mine. The rush of killing and driving had gotten to me, making me eager for more action.
I slowed the car down when the eaters faded into the background of my rear-view mirror. I didn’t want to attract more with the noise of the engine. But on the same hand, I needed more distance between us. I didn’t want to go through that again.
I pulled up to the stop sign in a rural area with few houses. My body shook, fingers trembling as my insides twisted. I climbed through the car to the back seat. Jim hopped out, running all the way around the truck.
“Tell him,” Scarlet said in a clipped tone. I frowned at her. “About where we’re going.” She widened her eyes like I was slow, pointedly staring at Jim as he climbed into t
he front seat.
“Did you have a destination in mind?” I tried to sound disinterested and nonchalant, letting Jim figure it all out on his own. I didn’t get why I had to be a messenger. If Scarlet wanted to find her sister, why couldn’t she just tell Jim? Though, I knew he’d be more receptive if it was from me.
“I’m trying to sort through my thoughts. South seems the smartest since we don’t want to be stuck here in the cold winter. But I don’t want to go through any cities.”
“Why not?” Scarlet asked, turning in the seat to face Jim.
“Cities mean more people. I think it’s too risky.”
“I thought we could take a trip south, too.” My voice trailed as I tried to sell the idea.
“For what reason?” He turned in the seat and looked back at me.
“I have a friend in…”
“Clinton. You said Clinton.” Scarlet filled in my blanks.
“Yeah. My friend lives in Clinton, and I’d like to see her now.” I bit the inside of my lip to stop the lie from becoming more obvious. I was a shit liar, and I was sure it showed. But I lied for her—knowing that Jim would latch on to my plan over hers. We didn’t know her. He wouldn’t let her dictate our movements.
“You are a terrible liar.” I hid my smile.
“Fine.” Scarlet leveled with him, rolling her eyes at me—she had a serious eye rolling problem. “My sister lives there, and I promised I’d go get her when the outbreak settled down. It’s only a half hour drive. I doubt we’ll hit traffic.” Her joke fell short.
“John’s plan was to move south too and follow the shoreline.” His eyes widened in the rear-view mirror, connecting with mine. “But we should be okay.” I didn’t know how serious the threat was.
“Are you sure?” I didn’t want to see him again. I didn’t want there to be any chance that we might run into the group.
“The goal was to reach Virginia by winter. We hoped we’d be able to get more southern, but that was the main goal. We should still follow that plan, but if we go to Scarlet’s sisters first we’ll stagger our timeline.”
“That sounds great!” Scarlet said. I nodded and sat back.
The Last Legacy (Season 1): Episodes 1-10 Page 11
