End of the Road (39 page)

Frantically, I rolled up the windows to
keep them out, but it didn’t make any difference as they clawed and
growled at my truck. As the minutes dragged on, I felt increasingly
sick to my stomach, along with some sudden muscle cramping.

Then without warning I felt a huge surge of
pain in my chest, as if it were both caving in and burning up at
the same time. It amplified at an astronomical rate, my veins
pounded underneath my skin, and the pain radiated out to my limbs.
My breathing got shorter and more agonized with each second, and
the dizziness got so bad it made my vision blurry. Within seconds I
felt a heavy impact from the front of the vehicle, and the sound of
grinding metal and shattered glass scraped my ears.

I don’t know how long I was out, maybe a
few seconds, possibly minutes. All I know is I awoke to the sound
of my truck windows shattering, and the fuzzy view of the crazies
clamoring their way inside. I was still weak, but I managed to put
my boot into a few of their heads before climbing out of the car
and falling to the concrete.

As soon as I managed to stand up I realized
I was surrounded by total chaos. Cars were smashed into each other,
some were even on fire, bodies littered the ground, and some of
them even got back up after appearing to be dead. Choppers flew
overhead and I heard some gunfire in the distance. It couldn’t have
been more than a few hours since I left for work this morning;
granted there was a traffic jam, and I wondered if this may have
been part of the reason for it.

The dizziness and the pain continued to
escalate, and I found it harder to concentrate as I attempted to
navigate through the back streets. All I could think about was my
sister, so I pressed onward. I knew those streets pretty well, so I
ducked into some alleyways to avoid attention. I was able to avoid
a lot of the commotion for a while, stumbling between buildings and
sneaking through back parking lots. I made a wrong turn somewhere
down the line, as I found myself at a dead end. My disorientation
kept getting worse and the weakness was getting the better of me…
or so I thought. As much pain as I was experiencing, I could still
move relatively quick.

Then I heard it, the growls of those things
behind me. I felt a rush of pain as my heart beat faster. I turned
around and saw two of the crazies making a disorganized beeline for
me, their red eyes blazing even in the broad daylight. The blood
pulsed inside, and I got a surge of energy out of nowhere. I’d been
weakening quickly up to that point, but as soon as I saw them
heading for me I just… snapped. As the first one closed in, I
braced myself and grabbed its arm and swung it into a nearby parked
car. It looked like it was out of commission for the moment, but I
wasn’t fast enough as the second one leaped on top of me from
behind. I tried to stand back up, but its weight kept me
off-balance.

I thought I had the upper hand when I
reached behind me to grab onto the freak, but I only grabbed its
shirt; it slipped out of my grasp. I turned to look - it was
female, or it used to be, and she had these claw-like fingernails
that were snapped off at the edges. She swung her outstretched hand
at me. I tried to dodge, but I wasn’t fast enough and her nails dug
into and across my face, from one side to the other. I reeled from
the impact and fell backward, fearing that she’d caught my eye in
the swipe.

Then the fear suddenly dissipated. It felt
like I lost all my thoughts, my emotions, even the pain I was
experiencing earlier. I was overcome by something, probably
adrenaline, as I had this massive surge of energy. When those
things came after me again, I unloaded everything I had into them.
I swung at them repeatedly, each blow disintegrating their faces a
little more. The male lunged at me and I swung him around into the
wall, smashing its head into it until its blood painted the bricks.
I barely felt the other biting into the back of my shoulder as I
continued to turn the first’s head into a bag of crushed bones. He
fell down into a pile on himself, twitching a little.

Meanwhile the female’s
teeth were firmly attached to my shoulder, and I yanked on her hair
and slammed her to the ground face-first; before she could get up I
stepped on the back of her neck with all the strength I could, only
satisfied when I heard a deep
snap
. I still felt the rush, and in a
way I actually felt… good. Like I’d satisfied some primal
urge.

I looked around to see if there were any
others nearby, but the only thing I saw was my reflection in one of
the windows. But what I saw wasn’t me. I looked no better than the
monsters ravaging downtown Dallas. I was covered in blood, a chunk
of skin missing from the back of my shoulder where the crazy bitch
had bitten me, and I saw where she had sliced into my face. The
gash ran deep; it trailed from the middle of my right check, up
across the bridge of my nose, barely missing my left eye, and
ending just above the left eyebrow. The wound was pouring blood,
some of it dripping into my eye, but most of it down my nose and
cheeks.

That didn’t even bother me as much as the
smile. To this day I can’t figure it out. I had this strange grin
on my face, as my blood seeped into the corners of my mouth and
stained my teeth. I looked like a goddamned homicidal maniac, like
I’d gotten off on killing those things. The sight scared me almost
as much as everything combined over those last few hours, or
however long it was.

The rush lowered in intensity, and I felt
the pain from the shoulder bite building up quickly. I knew I
couldn’t have been too far from home, and I kept hoping that
Danielle was safe.

I kept getting more and more dizzy as I got
closer to home. Truthfully I don't completely remember the trip,
all I know is that the torturous pangs in my body were getting
worse and it made it near impossible to concentrate. Call it
instinct, intuition or whatever you want; I still ended up on the
right path. It took a lot of effort for me to recognize where I was
going – I guess that fight messed me up worse than I was aware of.
It didn't matter, nothing did. It didn't help that I was also
starving; the only thing I ate that morning was a bowl of cheap
cereal, and it had been hours since then.

I had to keep dodging the craziness that
was breaking out around me. There was no way to know when the
freaks would show up around a corner, or come out of a building in
a swarm; there was just no way to predict what they would do.
Animals are a hell of a lot more predictable than these
bloodthirsty things. A few scratched at me as I ran, and I slammed
into another one while maneuvering around cars and other
bodies.

I felt like I was heartless at times; I
lost count of how often I spotted an innocent person being chased,
attacked and killed at the hands of the red-eyed crazies. There was
too much going on, and not enough time to do anything. Maybe I was
being selfish, since the only life I cared about saving was my
sister's. Then again, I'm sure a lot of other people were thinking
the same thing.

All the crap that happened earlier – the
woman being attacked, Jason acting like a nutjob, the entire city
going psychotic, being nearly killed a dozen times that whole trip,
getting my face disfigured – I realized none of it mattered... as
long as Danielle was safe.

Finally... the entrance to my neighborhood.
The decrepit project section on the outskirts of Dallas never felt
more welcoming, despite the creeps that lived there. I sighed in
partial relief, though the heavy breath made my chest ache again.
By that point I was dripping in my own blood and caked in dirt and
sweat. My throat was parched, my head felt like it was caving in,
my feet were throbbing and my stomach was screaming. The street
itself was relatively quiet, if you could ignore the sirens,
screams and chaos of the miles I'd just traveled. My vision blurred
even more and I couldn't focus more than a few feet in front of
me.

With the heat still bearing down, I tried
running down the street to the next crosswalk where I had to turn
left, and from there it was only a few houses up. It was more of a
stagger than a run; the little energy I had left was bleeding out
along with the rest of my body.

There it was – the crappy house I had to
practically crawl on my knees to get. The fact that I made it gave
me enough strength to clamor up the two steps, unhook the keys from
my belt and unlock the door.

...Then the pain surged unimaginably. My
chest practically imploded, my heart pounded uncontrollably, faster
and stronger than it ever had, and my arms and legs numbed. I
screamed out, convinced it was a heart attack. As I collapsed, I
began convulsing – it seemed that pulses of lighting were coursing
through me, immobilizing me.

Three

It was painful to open my eyes, the light
burned my vision. The haze over them soon cleared as I rolled over
facing away from the sun. The door was open, and there was the
faint odor of something sweet emanating from inside, and a slight
breeze of lowered temperature. My stomach cramped as I felt jolts
of adrenaline stabbing me. I struggled to push my body up, my
breath ragged and shallow. As soon as I reached my feet, the blood
rush hit my head, dizzying me for a minute. I regained myself and I
felt even more cramping – I was starving. The smell hit me again,
drifting hypnotically through the air.

I stepped inside, kicking over the keys
that had fallen from my grasp. I didn't think to close the door; I
was barely aware of the door. The interior was darker and cooler
than the outside, the blinds were drawn and the buzz of the window
air conditioner droned in my ears.

Silhouetted against the kitchen light was
the outline of a young girl. She sat with her back turned toward
me, perched motionless on the sofa.

The hunger became intoxicating as I moved
toward her. The odor was much stronger now, with a slight acidic
undertone. I felt my foot kick against something on the floor but
she showed no reaction to it.

I made no effort to be silent. I lunged
forward with ease and grabbed a handful of her hair, which made her
shriek in fear. I stopped for a moment, startled by her outburst.
She panicked and flailed against my grip, screaming something
incoherent. She turned her face toward mine, and the look of fear
turned to surprise; her eyes glossed over and a whimper escaped her
throat. Shakily she extended one of her hands, her thumb curled
into the palm and all four fingers pressed together, and pressed it
against her forehead first, then her chest, then to her other hand
closed into a fist.

I somewhat recognized the sign, and I held
still trying to process what occurred. There was something in the
back of my mind, clawing to get out. A frightened voice not unlike
my own urged me to let go of the girl. I didn't understand the
words, only the feeling behind them.

Then it disappeared, and I was hungry
again.

Four

I woke up much later, feeling like I had
suffered a massive case of hangover. I was weak, dehydrated, dazed
and my head throbbed. A bright light seared my eyes, piercing into
the already existing headache. The light moved away suddenly, and I
made out a few shadows behind the background light of wherever I
was. There was a faint rhythmic beep in the distance.

A few voices trickled through, muffled at
first but then they formed into words, most of them too big for me
to understand. I felt a gloved hand against my forehead, and in my
stupor I jerked away from the touch, only to aggravate the pounding
even more.

A picture appeared in my head of me
struggling to reach the door of my house, seeing my clothes covered
in blood – it hit so fast it almost physically hurt me to think
about. I winced, the aching in my body becoming much more
pronounced, and I became intensely aware of the fact that there
were wires connected to various parts of me.

The hand returned, followed by an older
man's voice. “It's all right, son. You're safe. Nod your head if
you understand me.”

Though I was still confused, I did in fact
understand him. I think it was just the uncertainty of what was
going on, but I didn't exactly feel like I was in danger. I gave a
small nod.

“Good,” he said. “Now I'm going to raise up
part of the bed so you can sit up.”

The light hum of a machine started, and I
felt my head and back being bent upward slowly. I was still
extremely dizzy, and I realized how much my throat was hurting.

Nearby I heard a woman talking: “His vitals
look good, Doctor.”

“Excellent,” the man responded. “We'll do a
few more tests to make sure everything checks out, but so far he's
looking good.”

I didn't know what kind of tests they were
talking about. I vaguely spied the doctor scribbling something on a
piece of paper on a small table next to me. I didn't feel like
moving, but when I looked down, I noticed my wrists were bound with
heavy straps. I tried to yell for help, but all that game out was a
raspy grunt, causing my throat to hurt more.

“Take it easy,” the doctor said calmly.
“It's been a while since you've been normal, you need to rest for a
bit longer. My name is Dr. Scott, and this is Gracie.” He pointed
at the nurse.

I barely glanced at them; I wasn't sure
what he meant by “normal,” but I willed myself to stay calm. My
mind raced; I had the words, but there was difficulty saying them.
It was as if I'd forgotten how to physically talk. I tried anyway,
speaking slowly. “Why... am I... tied down...?” My voice sounded as
if it had gone through a paper shredder – I almost jumped hearing
it. The aching began to fade, and the beeping of what I assumed was
a heart monitor slowed to a steadier pace.

“When you were waking up, you were
seizing,” Dr. Scott explained, removing the latex gloves and
disposing of them. “In fact, it was the fourth episode. To be
frank, we didn't think you would survive the process.”