The Road Trip At The End (Book 2): Border

by Wood, J N

  ‘The story sounded like it was heading in that direction, it was beginning to sound a bit like Deliverance,’ Jack said.

  ‘Anyway,’ I said. ‘Your new chums, what’s going on with them?’

  ‘There were about forty new chums in the school.’

  ‘Forty?’ I asked, in disbelief.

  ‘A lot of them were from their local archery club in Austin.’

  ‘That explains the crossbows then?’

  ‘Yep. They turned that school into some kind of fortress. Michael, Shannon and Big Gee all said they wanted to go north, and agreed to help me. So here we are.’

  ‘Did Gee live in Austin?’ I asked.

  ‘No, I’m not sure where he came from, obviously Lithuania originally, but I don’t know where he was when all this started. I’m not sure if Michael and Shannon know either. Apparently he just turned up a few days after the virus.’

  ‘That’s a bit suspicious, don’t you think?’

  ‘Chris, what are you talking about?’

  ‘Nothing, just thinking out loud. How the fuck did you get here before me?’

  ‘I think we set off the day after you by the sounds of it,’ Jack replied. ‘Although we took the I-80, and until we made it to Sacramento, it was relatively easy. Relative to your journey anyway. You should have left me a more detailed message.’

  ‘The knock on your head hasn’t improved your sense of humour. I did wonder if I should go that way. Fucking hell.’

  ‘We had to dig our way out of the snow a few times, but there weren’t any burning airplanes, or racist rapists chasing us.’

  ‘Lucky you,’ I said. ‘And I’m almost certain they weren’t planning on raping me.’

  ‘Ask Michael about crashed airplanes, he’ll have something interesting to tell you.’

  ‘What is it?’ I asked.

  ‘No, ask him. He’ll want to tell you it.’

  ‘Why can’t you just tell me now?’

  ‘Because it’s his fucking story,’ Jack said.

  ‘Go on, just tell me now.’

  Jack shook his head, saying, ‘No.’

  ‘Just fucking tell me,’ I said, drawing out the words.

  ‘For fuck’s sake. He saw a fucking passenger plane get shot down by American fighter jets,’ he hurriedly blurted out.

  ‘Hey, that’s my story,’ Michael sleepily said from the corner of the room.

  ‘Sorry Michael, he forced it out of me,’ Jack said, almost sheepishly.

  ‘That’s okay, you tell it so well,’ Michael replied. ‘Keep the volume down though, I’m going to try and get a few more hours sleep.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Jack and I whispered in unison.

  I looked over to the still snoring Lithuanian. ‘Why did Gee come with you?’ I asked, keeping my voice down low.

  ‘Not sure, he mumbled something about Canada, and hunting. We were glad for the help though. He mostly keeps himself to himself. You’ll like him. I think the first English words he learnt were fuck, fucking and shit. Because that’s pretty much all he says.’

  ‘He certainly doesn’t like me,’ I said.

  ‘Nobody likes you. You’re a twat.’

  ‘Fair enough.’

  ‘I think we should try and get more sleep,’ Jack said. ‘Big Gee’s snoring woke me up earlier, but I’m going to try again.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll try as well.’

  Jack crawled over to his makeshift bed and laid down.

  They’d done well to find this little hiding spot. And Jack had done well to find these people, well, two thirds of them at least. Talking of achievements, Michael was punching above his weight with Shannon. She was obviously very intelligent by the sounds, but also very attractive. I didn’t expect Michael’s clean shaven and round face after witnessing the crossbow guy easily taking down that zombie.

  ‘Are you sure you weren’t asleep?’ Michael asked me a few hours later.

  I lowered my head in frustration. ‘No, I wasn’t asleep, and ignore my sleepwalking earlier, that isn’t a regular occurrence. Unless I’m drunk.’

  ‘Were you drunk?’ Shannon asked.

  ‘Oh for fuck’s sake. Ignore my last comment as well. I wasn’t asleep, or drunk. A huge swarm was wandering about at night. But like I said to Jack, it’s the only one I’ve seen.’

  After Jack had suggested trying to sleep again, I stared at the ceiling and listened to Gee’s snoring. A couple of hours later everyone began to stir.

  Gee was now stood in the corner, just staring at me. Jack, Shannon, Michael and I were stood around the desk. We were all eating energy bars that Michael had retrieved from his bag.

  ‘If this is true,’ Shannon said, giving me the briefest of glances. ‘Then it could cause us huge problems.’

  I let out an exasperated sigh, rolling my eyes.

  If this is true. What the fuck?

  ‘We can’t let it change things now,’ Michael said. ‘Let’s stick to our nocturnal travel plans.’

  Why don’t these arseholes believe me? Why would I make this shit up?

  ‘What is the plan?’ I reluctantly asked.

  Let them believe what they want. They’ll soon find out.

  Shannon produced a road map from her bag, unfolded it and placed it on the desk. Gee continued to stand in front of the door, while the rest of us leaned in.

  ‘To start with, we cycle back to the bus–,’ Shannon said.

  ‘A bus? Like a big tour bus?’ I asked, imagining the huge things with beds, and lots of space.

  ‘We found a school bus,’ Jack replied, smiling. ‘With a big snow plough on the front.’

  ‘Like in Road Trip?’ I asked.

  ‘Yep, but much better than that,’ Jack answered.

  Michael and Shannon looked at us with blank expressions.

  ‘It’s a film, Road Trip,’ I said, looking at them in turn. ‘Not seen it?’

  ‘We don’t have a television,’ Michael said.

  Shannon turned her attention back to the map. ‘So, after we get to the bus–,' she started.

  ‘You don’t have a TV?’ I interrupted. ‘How do you watch stuff?’

  ‘We don’t,’ Shannon replied. ‘We mostly read.’

  ‘We’re not gonna have much in common,’ I told her.

  Shannon shrugged her shoulders, saying, ‘Okay.’ She flapped out a baseball cap and placed it on her head, tucking loose strands of her curly hair behind her ears. ‘We cycle to the bus, and then the best route is probably this.’ She traced a route along the map with her finger. ‘Staying on the US-97 means we avoid Portland completely, and can go around Seattle. Everything takes a bit longer now, so three days tops, two if we get lucky.’

  ‘Erm…’ I raised my hand into the air. ‘I don’t have a bike.’

  Gee started to laugh scornfully from the corner.

  ‘What?’ I asked him, with an accusing glare. ‘I’m literally just finding out what the plan is.’

  ‘It’s okay,’ Michael said. ‘Jack was adamant you’d be here, so we got you something. I’ll apologise now, it was the best we could find.’

  That doesn’t sound promising.

  It turned out Gee’s laugh wasn’t because I said I didn’t have a bike. I think he’d been laughing at the prospect of seeing me ride the thing in front of me.

  ‘Yer joking aren’t ya?’ I asked, looking down at a blackened mess of a bicycle. At one time, it had probably been a very nice mountain bike.

  ‘We changed the seat, the chain, the wheels, and obviously the tyres,’ Michael informed me.

  I could almost hear the pity in his voice.

  ‘Couldn’t find any new grips,’ he continued. ‘So I gaffer taped them. Don’t try changing gear though, it’ll just lock up.’

  ‘Erm…yeah. Thanks very much. I think.’

  Everybody else’s bikes looked brand new, and in pristine condition. I picked up mine by the handle bars, bits of metal flaked off in my hands.

  ‘What gear is it in?’ I asked. ‘I’m no
t gonna have to ride it in top gear the whole way am I?’

  ‘Third, I think,’ Michael replied.

  ‘How far away is the bus?’ I asked.

  ‘Twenty five miles,’ Shannon answered.

  ‘Fuck’s sake,’ I said, under my breath.

  The five of us rode along the freeway, me obviously at the back. I couldn’t even keep up with the injured Jack. It reminded me of the kids on their bikes in E.T. Michael even had a basket on the front of his. His crossbow was positioned in it so he could easily grab it.

  I had an idea so I pedalled a bit harder to catch up with Jack.

  ‘Hey Jack,’ I said, once I was alongside him. ‘If we pass my car, why don’t we just drive the rest of the way to the bus?’

  ‘Yep, best thing you’ve ever said. My ribs are killing me.’

  ‘What was that?’ Shannon asked, slowing down to let us catch her up.

  ‘I’m not entirely sure to be honest, but I think I left my car a bit further up here. In Miltas, or Mapitus, Multipass, Millipedes? Something like that.’

  ‘Milpitas?’ Jack offered. ‘That’s about fifteen miles away.’

  ‘Yep, that’s it,’ I said.

  ‘Quiet guys,’ Michael hissed. ‘Zombies on the right.’

  A group, maybe in the hundreds, were congregated in a car park off to our right. They were tightly packed in together and unnaturally still. They certainly looked like they were in their dormant state.

  Gee looked over his shoulder towards me. ‘Sleeping,’ he simply said.

  ‘Fuck off Gee, you twat,’ I whispered. ‘There’s not many of them. You couldn’t even call that a swarm.’

  Before he turned to face forward again, I noticed a slight glint in his eye.

  ‘Yeah, the car is a good idea Chris. Change of plan guys,’ Shannon said, trying to get the attention of Michael and Gee. ‘Aim for Chris’s car, he says it’s up this road. We can drive the rest of the way to the bus.’

  Gee and Michael both nodded in agreement.

  It was just over an hour later when I recognised the junction where I’d left the car. Hate was not too strong a word for how I felt about the burnt piece of shit I was sat on. Jack was also really struggling, looking like he was in a lot of pain.

  I pointed to the freeway above us. ‘It’s just up there.’ I turned my attention to Jack. ‘How did you cycle all the way into Mountain View?’

  ‘Slowly, really slowly,’ he replied.

  We climbed off our bikes and walked them up to the freeway.

  ‘Have you got a thing for Toyota Corollas?’ Jack asked, as he laid his bike down on the side of the road.

  ‘Yes, it’s my favourite car,’ I replied, while quickly checking in my bag. Relief flowed through me as my fingers touched the car keys. I’d completely forgotten what I’d done with them.

  ‘Really?’ Jack asked.

  ‘No, not really. It’s alright though. Does the job.’

  ‘Open her up Chris,’ Shannon said. ‘We’ll throw our stuff in the trunk.’

  We were soon driving up the I-680. The five foot three and very svelte Shannon was in the passenger seat alongside me. She’d insisted on sitting in the front after explaining she gets car sick. I looked in the rear view mirror, laughing when I saw the annoyed expression on Jack’s face. He noticed me looking and gave me an ironic smile.

  Big Gee must have been at least six foot five, and was sat behind Shannon. Jack was squashed in the middle, and I know that he’s six foot one, while Michael was sat behind me. He was probably about five foot nine or ten, but I wouldn’t have said he was exactly svelte. They’d all asked to drive, but there was no way I was handing the keys over to anyone.

  ‘How much further Shannon?’ Jack begged.

  ‘Not far,’ she replied. ‘I can’t look at the map for too long without feeling sick though.’

  ‘Pass it back,’ Michael said.

  A couple of minutes later, after Michael had finally managed to fold the map into a manageable size in the cramped space, he said, ‘About six miles to go.’

  Gee and Jack both groaned in frustration.

  Chapter 2: World’s Strongest

  The car’s headlights illuminated a big yellow school bus, only this one had massive tyres, and a very battered snow plough attached to the front.

  With more groans, the three guys spilled out of the back doors.

  ‘They look like monster truck wheels,’ I said. ‘And what happened to the snow plough?’

  Shannon paused as she was climbing out of the car. ‘We picked it up on the other side of Reno. It’s just what they use to move the kids about in the snow. And we didn’t just use it to plough the snow. We used it to move anything that was in our way. It’s a bit of a gas guzzler, but Gee is a very good gas scavenger.’

  We retrieved our stuff from the boot, and climbed aboard the bus. It might not have had the comfort of a big tour bus, but there was more than enough space to fit five people. I counted thirteen rows of seats behind the driver.

  ‘I take first driving shift,’ Gee said, climbing into the driver’s seat.

  Nobody objected. I certainly wasn’t going to.

  ‘I’ll navigate,’ Michael quickly said, the map still in his hand.

  Jack, Shannon and I took up the second and third rows of seats.

  ‘Never been on an American school bus before,’ I said. ‘It’s like we’re in a movie.’

  ‘I know,’ Jack agreed. ‘That’s exactly what I said when I first got in.’

  ‘Is it good, this Road Trip movie?’ Shannon asked. Her back was up against the window, with her legs stretched out in front of her.

  ‘Meh, it’s alright,’ I replied. ‘I was thinking of Forest Gump just then though.’

  ‘Yes, me too,’ Jack declared.

  ‘Not seen it,’ Michael and Shannon said in unison.

  ‘Fuck off,’ I said. ‘How have you not seen Forest Gump?’

  ‘Just haven’t,’ Shannon replied.

  Gee turned on the engine, saying, ‘I watch Forest Gump.’

  ‘I wonder if Tom Hanks is still alive,’ Jack pondered.

  ‘Who is Tom Hanks?’ Shannon asked.

  ‘Fucking hell,’ I exclaimed. ‘Right, I’m not talking to you. That’s just fucking ridiculous.’

  Gee turned the wheel and guided us back onto the main road. I could see an actual smile on his face.

  As we were leaving the rest area, Michael told Gee we should avoid going anywhere near Sacramento again.

  ‘Was Sacramento bad then?’ I asked Shannon and Jack.

  ‘Yep, pretty awful,’ Jack replied. ‘We drove around it, trying to keep to the outskirts, but there were still a lot of dead bodies. The streets were filled with them. Hundreds of thousands maybe.’

  ‘And a lot of zombies,’ Shannon added. ‘They were unavoidable. We had to drive through a lot of the sleeping ones, which obviously woke the others up. You can drive for hours without seeing any at all, and then the next minute, they’re everywhere.’

  ‘It’s scary driving through that many, all of them banging against the side of the bus, trying to get to us,’ Jack said. He looked to Shannon before continuing. ‘It was after Sacramento that we had a little issue.’

  Michael had swivelled around in his seat to look back at us.

  Shannon let out an exasperated sigh. ‘Yeah okay. I got bitten by a zombie.’

  There was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds, my eyes darting between Jack and Shannon.

  ‘Oh, right,’ I eventually said, not really sure what to say. ‘How’s that been then?’

  ‘Fantastic,’ she replied. ‘Absolutely fantastic.’

  ‘She’s fine,’ Michael said, turning back around to look at the road.

  ‘When we stopped after Sacramento,’ Shannon continued. ‘I got out to use the bathroom. There was a zombie stuck between the plough and the bus, and it fell out as I was passing. It caught me by surprise and clamped its teeth into the back of my leg. I just froze.
Luckily Gee killed it before it did any serious damage.’

  Shannon stood up and faced the front of the bus. She started to fiddle with something in front of her.

  ‘You seem alright,’ I said to her. ‘No cravings for human flesh then?’

  ‘No not yet,’ she said, and pulled her trousers down to her knees, catching me by surprise.

  ‘Whoa!’ I said, looking away. ‘You didn’t need to prove it, I believed you.’

  ‘You can look,’ Shannon said. ‘I’ve got my big underwear on.’

  I turned my head back around to see if she was telling the truth. She was. They were huge. ‘Did you steal them off your granny?’ I asked, laughing.

  Jack let out a little chuckle.

  ‘Thanks Chris,’ she replied. ‘We are in the middle of the apocalypse. Now look at my bite so I can pull my pants back up.’

  The lights in the bus were down quite low, but I could still see nasty looking puncture marks in her skin, forming the shape of a bite mark. They were just below her big granny pants.

  ‘Yep, seen it,’ I said.

  Shannon pulled up her trousers and sat back down.

  ‘I hope you’re taking care of that? You don’t want an infection,’ I said, and smiled at Jack. He looked back at me with a straight face, shaking his head.

  She spun around to face me. ‘That is not a laughing matter Christopher. We can’t just go and see a doctor now. We need to be taking care of ourselves. An infection could easily kill you.’

  ‘Okay, alright, I get it,’ I acknowledged, raising my hands. ‘What does that mean then? The zombies haven’t got the original killer virus? And they also can’t pass on the zombie turning virus thing. Or does it just take a while to turn into one? Or what? I don’t know.’

  ‘Your girlfriend said the virus had gone,’ Jack said to me.

  Shannon shot me an accusing look. ‘Jack said you were married.’

  I looked at Jack and shook my head. ‘Yes, I am married. Jack is just taking the piss. She was a friend, but also a girl. Well, a woman. She was of age, fucking hell, it doesn’t matter. She did say she thought the virus had gone though. I’m not entirely sure she had any scientific data to back the theory up.’