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

by Wood, J N

  Jack ran past us, shouting, ‘Door!’

  He slammed his shoulder into the door, just as the zombies collided with the other side. He hadn’t managed to get it fully closed. Hands, arms, heads and nearly whole bodies were trying to squeeze their way through the gap.

  A second later Ali was next to Jack, putting her weight into keeping the door where it was. I rolled the dead weight off me and clambered to my feet.

  I started swinging the Smasher at the many body parts trying to get in. If I hit a head, it slowly slid down, catching on the other zombies as it fell. Hitting arms didn’t make any difference. Zombies don’t feel pain, so they wouldn’t withdraw their hands and arms if they were hit.

  I bent down and dragged a zombie into the storeroom. It was almost in anyway. I crushed its head with the heel of my boot. I then rolled the giant zombie that had tried to crush me over to the door, leaving it wedged against the bottom.

  ‘I’m going to push one of the shelving units over,’ I shouted to Jack and Ali. ‘Hopefully it’ll force the door closed. Get out of the way when I shout for you to move.’

  They both nodded, the soles of their footwear squeaking on the floor as they tried to hold their ground.

  I rushed around to the other side of the closest set of shelves. I started to gently push it, just to see how easy it would be. It budged a little bit.

  One big shove and it will topple over.

  I took three steps backwards, so I was up against the shelves behind me. I angled myself so my shoulder would hit the shelves in front of me, and ran.

  ‘Now!’ I shouted, just as my shoulder connected.

  Jack dived to his right, Ali went to her left. The shelves started falling away from me, and towards the now opening door.

  There was a loud cracking noise as the shelves connected two thirds of the way up the door, cutting it in two, and slamming the top third shut. The bottom section was still open, wedged into the shelves. Zombies were managing to squeeze their way through the open gap.

  Fuck’s sake.

  Jack was already up on his feet, with his axe in his hands. He was swinging it up and over his head, bringing it down on whatever parts of the zombies appeared first. They were crawling and dragging themselves out from under the side of the shelves.

  More zombies were trying to force their way through the gaps in the empty shelving. I started clubbing at hands, arms, and heads with the Smasher. Ali ran over carrying two boxes. She forced them into gaps, and onto the heads trying to get through. She disappeared into the darkness to get more. I ran in the opposite direction, found a shelving unit full of tents, and starting throwing them towards Jack. Once I emptied the shelves in front of me, I ran back to the piles of tents I’d created, and starting stuffing them into every space I could see.

  Jack was still wildly swinging. He’d almost blocked his side of the shelves with the amount of zombies he’d felled.

  After Ali and I had filled all the openings, I dragged her to the shelving unit behind the one I’d knocked over.

  ‘Let’s push this one on top!’ I shouted.

  Ali nodded and got into position.

  ‘Watch out Jack,’ I shouted to him. ‘This one is coming down.’

  It wouldn’t have hit him where he was standing, but I didn’t want him to move at the last second.

  We stepped back, and then put all of our combined weight into pushing it over. A couple of seconds later and a loud metallic clang rang out in the stockroom. I ran over to take a look.

  Nothing else could have got in through there. We just needed to sort out the right hand side where Jack was fighting.

  I stepped around so I was behind Jack, but out of the way of his swinging axe. Bodies were tightly packed into the gap, they seemed to wobble, almost vibrate, as more zombies tried to force their way through.

  ‘Let’s see if we can drag some more shelves over,’ I said. ‘Maybe rest it against all the bodies?’

  All three of us managed to drag one of the empty shelving units into position. We pushed it up against the dam Jack had created, blocking the dead in. We dragged another over and slowly lowered it into place, so it rested against the upright shelves.

  I lowered my head and rested my hands on my knees, the shock of what had happened only just seeming to hit me.

  ‘Did you see them outside?’ Ali asked. She was struggling to catch her breath. ‘Were they okay?’

  I was struggling myself. ‘I thought it was too dark. I must have seen the headlights through all the zombies as they walked past. The Chevy was moving a bit, like it was being pushed.’

  Jack stared at me, his eyes wide with alarm. ‘Like we were pushed? What if they get pushed over?’ He picked up his torch from the floor, and started to look all around the stockroom. ‘We need to get back to the cars.’

  ‘There must be a fire exit in here,’ Ali said, turning and walking towards the back of the room.

  Jack also left to scan the walls with his torch. I had one last look at our barricade. It looked surprisingly solid.

  I had just turned to follow them, when Jack said, ‘Found it.’

  I looked for his torch light in the darkness. Ali soon joined me, and we found Jack at the far end of the room, standing in front of a door. Above it the words FIRE EXIT faintly glowed in the dark.

  ‘Remember what happened last time you ran out of the back door of a shop,’ I quickly said. ‘Open it very slowly and only a little bit.’

  He placed both his hands on the metal bar that stretched across the door’s width. He very gently pushed, a grimace spreading across his face as he pressed the bar in towards the door. There was a high pitched squeak when the lock was disengaged. All three of us flinched when we heard it. Jack let the door swing outwards just a couple of inches, before he quickly shut it again.

  He turned back to us, his face looked drawn. ‘Nope. There are a lot of them out there.’ He marched past us back towards the barricade, whispering, ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck.’

  I jogged to catch him up, thinking he was going to start dismantling the only thing stopping hundreds of zombies getting in and eating us. He walked up to the box he’d been carrying, and sat himself down on it.

  With his head in his hands, he said, ‘Fucking hell.’

  Ali had caught us up and was now staring at the barricade.

  ‘The cars will have just been pushed up against another shop,’ I said. ‘There aren’t any hills around the mall.’

  ‘You don’t know that Chris,’ Ali said, now pacing back and forth. ‘Anything could have happened to them, and we’re trapped in here.’

  ‘Yeah we’re trapped,’ I agreed. ‘But only temporarily. As soon as this swarm passes, we can go out and find whatever they’ve been pushed into.’

  I sat on the floor and watched the barricade as it occasionally jostled and shook slightly. Eventually Ali stopped pacing and also sat on the floor. I removed the bag from my back and pulled out the carton of energy bars. We each ate one in silence.

  Jack stood up and walked towards the back door, within thirty seconds he’d returned. ‘Still out there,’ he said glumly.

  ‘How long has it been?’ I asked him.

  ‘About ten minutes.’

  Jack had another look at the swarm passing by about five minutes later.

  I went for a wander, shining my torch in every little nook and cranny, trying to find anything that could be of use. I came across a row of five lockers, two of which were unlocked. One was empty, the other contained a single can of deodorant, and a fur covered apple. I took the deodorant and sprayed a liberal amount under my arms.

  Ali and Jack’s torchlights suddenly appeared, moving towards me.

  ‘What was that?’ Jack asked.

  I shook the can in front of me. ‘Deodorant. Do you want some?’ I tossed it at Jack. He caught it and shoved it under his t-shirt, spraying it on himself.

  ‘Fucking hell Chris,’ he said. ‘It sounded like hissing.’

  Ali shook her head,
spun around, and started walking back.

  ‘Nope,’ I said. ‘Just deodorant.’

  We followed Ali and made ourselves comfortable again.

  ‘Do you think that swarm is going to end up outside the camp?’ Ali asked.

  ‘Probably,’ I replied.

  ‘It looked like it was a big one,’ she said. ‘They might not be able to keep them out, if that many join the crowds at the fence.’

  ‘If they’re quiet they should be fine,’ I said. ‘They’ll probably run out of food before they’re overrun by the dead.’

  Chapter 25: Distant Rotors

  It had seemed like the barricade hadn’t moved for quite a while, and we must have been sat there for thirty minutes.

  Standing, I said, ‘Just gonna have a quick look out the back.’

  Jack looked at his watch, and then stood. ‘Yep, let’s have another look.’

  I pressed the bar in on the exit door and peered out through the small gap. There was only a smattering of the dead creatures, as they slowly staggered past.

  ‘There’s not many,’ I whispered, opening the door just a little bit more so I could squeeze my head through. I had a quick glance around the door.

  There weren’t many there, definitely the very back of the swarm.

  I ducked back inside and very gently closed the door. ‘Give it a few minutes, maybe five, and then we can go out.’

  Jack looked at his watch and nodded. ‘Okay, five minutes.’

  Ali appeared at Jack’s side, ready to go.

  We stood in the same place for the next five minutes, Jack staring at his watch.

  Eventually, he looked up and nodded.

  ‘All ready?’ I asked, my hand resting on the doors locking mechanism.

  ‘What about all the stuff we found?’ Ali asked.

  ‘Leave it here,’ I said. ‘I’m gonna wedge the door open with my bag. We can drive around here and pick it all up.’

  ‘Let’s go,’ Jack said impatiently.

  I slowly opened the door and looked outside. The back of the swarm was still visible in the moonlight, but they were passing the far end of the mall’s buildings. I shone my torch to the left. It looked like nothing was moving around out there.

  We quietly made our way around the edge of the building, trying to keep as close to the wall as possible. We got to the end, and Jack peered around the corner, before waving us on. We could see the car park once we took the corner, it also looked clear.

  The anticipation must have become too much for Jack, as he started to jog. Once we reached the next corner, we’d be able to see what had become of our friends and family. He got there ahead of us and stopped. He was quickly scanning the car park.

  ‘The cars aren’t there,’ he said. ‘They aren’t fucking there.’

  I walked past him, heading towards the front of the camping shop. ‘Let’s go and find them.’

  Just as I reached the spot we’d left them, I noticed flashing lights coming from inside a small building, in the middle of the car park. In huge letters above the building, it read BILL’S BURGERS.

  The flashing lights became much more rapid.

  It must be them.

  I turned to tell Jack and Ali, but they were already running towards the lights. I jogged in their direction before speeding up to keep pace with them.

  The Chevy must have been forced through the plate glass windows, and was now inside the shop. I couldn’t see the Honda anywhere.

  ‘No,’ Ali said. ‘Where is the Honda? Where are they?’

  The driver’s side window rolled down, and Roy popped his head out. ‘Hello. We fancied a burger.’

  ‘Where’s the Honda?’ Ali asked him in a panic.

  ‘Don’t know. We didn’t see where it went.’

  The door behind Roy opened and Pete fell out of the car, Theo followed him, carrying Max.

  Pete stretched his arms above his head. ‘That was uncomfortable. Max wouldn’t stay still,’ he said, ruffling the boy’s hair, before Theo put him back in the car.

  ‘Boys, please let me out,’ Sandra said, from inside the back of the Chevy.

  Ali walked over to them, hugging Theo, and then Pete, before leaning in through the open back door. Jack was on the passenger side, talking to Beth.

  ‘You all okay?’ I asked

  ‘Yeah we’re all fine,’ Pete replied. ‘It was scary for a while back there, but they didn’t seem to know we were in the car. We just got caught in the swarm.’

  Roy climbed out and stood by the driver’s door. ‘When we saw them coming, everyone climbed in here, hoping the extra weight would stop them moving us.’ He glanced around at the inside of the burger place. ‘Didn’t work.’

  ‘Where were you?’ Theo asked.

  ‘Just trapped in the back of the camping shop,’ I said. ‘We had to wait until they’d left.’

  ‘Have they all left?’ Pete asked, staring out through the broken windows.

  ‘Yeah they should have all cleared out by now,’ Ali replied as she backed out of the car. ‘We better find the Honda.’

  I looked around at all the broken glass on the floor of Bill’s Burgers, and then looked at Roy. ‘We should sweep a path for the Chevy before we set off. We don’t want a puncture.’

  ‘Okay,’ Ali said. ‘Pete and Theo, you’re with me. Let’s go and find our car.’

  They left the half destroyed Bill’s Burgers, and disappeared into the night. Roy was using a chair he’d turned upside down to scrape away some of the glass. I picked up another and joined him.

  It wasn’t long before we heard the sound of a car approaching. We’d almost finished sweeping the glass out of the way when a banged up Honda pulled up outside.

  ‘It still runs okay,’ Ali said, leaning out of the window. ‘The swarm has moved on. Let’s get our stuff and get out of here.’

  Pete and Theo got out of the car and walked over to the Chevy. The three boys climbed out of the back, swiftly followed by Sandra. She rushed them over to the Honda. Pete followed them, keeping an eye on his surroundings until they’d all entered the car.

  ‘Meet you around the back,’ Ali said, as the Honda slowly accelerated away from us.

  The rest of us climbed into the Chevy, and Roy very carefully drove us out of the burger place, trying to avoid any glass we may have missed.

  We stopped around the back of the building and recovered our salvaged items from the stockroom. After consulting the maps I’d found, we agreed on the best route to take, finding the roads that would take us to a place called Sumas.

  The map was a bit shit. It was more of a Mount Baker visitor type of map.

  The plan was to drive past Sumas, and head towards Mount Baker. Then we were going to miraculously find a stretch of the border with no wall, or fence, or guards.

  As easy as that.

  Driving along the long straight roads made me almost feel like I was on holiday again. Our headlights illuminated farm buildings and homes close to the side of the road. It could have easily been three or four weeks ago, before all the devastation had happened.

  I rolled my window down, thinking I might be able to smell the countryside as we passed through it. A strong smell of human shit and blood soon filled the car.

  I couldn’t press my finger down any harder on the button to raise the window.

  ‘Chris! What the fuck are you doing?’ Jack shouted.

  ‘Oh my god,’ Roy called out. ‘That stinks.’

  Beth had covered her face with her hands. ‘I feel sick,’ she said.

  Theo glared at me, shaking his head.

  ‘Sorry,’ I said, once the window was fully closed.

  We were taking it slowly, just in case another swarm showed up in our path, as it was making its way to the border. By the time we were parked up just inside the city limits of Sumas, about an hour later, we hadn’t hit any resistance at all.

  For the last few miles however, we’d slowly been driving past very similar signs to the ones we’d seen a
s we neared Blaine. Our two vehicles were stationary, parked side by side in the middle of the road. TWO MILES TO BORDER was spray painted on a road sign on the side of the road.

  ‘Turn around and go back to that road we passed earlier?’ Ali suggested. ‘We can drive around. Don’t want a repeat of last time.’

  During the journey, we’d told Roy and Beth about the bad timing of our arrival at Blaine. So everyone was very much in agreement, we would avoid going near the other camps.

  I didn’t want to mention it, but I was very surprised Sandra hadn’t wanted to go and search for her husband and daughter in the camp. She must have had her reasons.

  We spun the cars around and drove back the way we’d come, until we turned onto a much smaller road, almost a dirt track. As we drove along, almost off-road, we made sure to always head east, never north towards the camp at Sumas.

  We eventually managed to find our way to the road that would lead us into the mountains. We were soon surrounded by woodland on both sides of the road.

  It felt like the night was drawing in closer around us, all we could see was the road ahead. Only occasionally, when we turned a bend and glimpsed a path running through the trees, would the headlights illuminate something other than tarmac, and the surrounding blackness of the trees.

  I was really hoping we weren’t gonna hit any snow.

  It was rapidly approaching daylight hours, so all of us in the Chevy agreed that we needed to stop. Roy flashed the headlights at the Honda in front. We pulled up alongside them as they were stopping. Roy rolled down his window and suggested we find somewhere to sleep for the day.

  ‘This map is terrible,’ Sandra said across the gap between the two vehicles.

  ‘Whoa Sandra,’ I said. ‘Don’t take the piss out of the map. I found them.’

  She raised her eyebrows. ‘Sorry Chris, but it’s not a road map.’

  ‘Let’s just take the next left,’ Roy suggested. ‘Maybe we can find a farm a bit closer to the border.’

  ‘Sounds good,’ Sandra said. ‘According to Chris’s terrible map…’ She paused to give me a quick glance. ‘This road is going to take us further away from the border at some point, so we should find somewhere soon.’