Hell Bound (Book 2): A World Apart (4 page)

~~What we fear, we often rage against.~~

Following Devlin further into the empty hallway, passing rows of empty creaking lockers. The metal doors swing open, echoing a ghostly sound bouncing off of the walls. Reminding us that school is out …forever. Walking inside of the gym, Noticing three tables lined the wall against the basketball courts. Three huge stacks of paper sit on top of the first table.

The second table has several boxes on top of it. The third table looks empty. The soldiers must have set up a post here taking names and other personal information.

“Over here,” Devlin says as he walks towards a billboard on the wall near the exit sign. My heart starts beating a million miles per second, squeezing Mathews hand for comfort, we slowly walk up to the billboard.

“All names are in alphabetical order. Do you want help finding your family?” Devlin asks.

“No, we got it. Thank you.” I answer as kindly as I can. I just want him to leave, I need to do this alone. Looking to see if our family is alive or dead seems so personal.

At least twenty papers are stapled onto the billboard. Eleven listed as ALIVE and nine of them listed as DEAD. All of the papers look to be in alphabetical order.

“I'll look for your parents,” Mathew says as he walks to the ALIVE section under T for Taylor. I close my eyes and count to ten and taking a deep breath before I start my search for our boys. I put my finger on the white paper and go to the ALIVE section and look under D for De Luca.

Running my fingers down the D section I stop at two familiar names. De Luca, Alexander, De Luca, James. Tears of joy spill out from my eyes. I want to jump around and scream to the hilltops with happiness. Our boys are alive and safe! Sighing in relief I walk back over to where Mathew is looking for my parent’s name.

“They're alive!” I say excitedly, more tears start to flow down my cheeks like a waterfall. My boys made it this far. They are alive and safe.

Mathew looks at me, with sorrow in his eyes. My heart stops beating while I wait impatiently for him to tell me the bad news.

“Jennifer didn't make it.” Mathew says.

Staring blankly at Mathew for a couple seconds while I take in his words. I completely forgot about Jennifer. What kind of friend am I, how can I forget about one of my closest friends. I was so caught up with my parents and my children I forgot about Jennifer.

“Oh no!” I say, grabbing Mathew and pulling him into a hug for support. “My parents?” I add nervous about the results.

“Alive and well. But they took all survivors to Fort Detrick, Maryland.”

“Looks like we have a drive ahead of us,” I say, wiping the tears away with the back of my hand and forcing a smiling. Mathew leans down and gives me a kiss on the lips.

“I'm so sorry about Jennifer Sam. I know she was your best friend.”

“Me too.” I stammer out trying to force back the tears. She was my best friend. I hope she died a peaceful death.

I scan the gym for Kat and John. They sit on the floor pouring water into a bowl for Athena. Mathew and I walk up to them and sit down on the floor next to them.

“Did you find his father?” I question Kat.

“Yes, Thank God. He is one of the living.” Kat says with a forced smile. With tears in her eyes.

“Your sister?” Mathew questions.

“I don’t know, I was hoping she would be on the alive list, but it’s strictly for California residence. I guess I will never know if she is alive or dead.” Kat says as she puts her head in between her legs and cries.

“Come on John lets go find the little boy’s room and go pee pee,” Mathew says as he puts out his hand for John to grab it.

John grabs his hand and skips away humming. Mathew starts humming along with him as they disappear out of the gym. Giving Kat the privacy she needs to let out all of her pain and anger. I'm not sure how long I sit on the floor, cradling Kat but her crying subsides. She stares at the walls, quiet.

“SHHH everything will be okay,” I say soothingly.

“Thank you for staying with me,” Kat says as she wipes her tears away and sits up.

“Of course.”

“I'll be back, I need to wash up,” Kat adds as she gets up and walks out of the gym.

Standing up I walk towards the other survivors that sit on the other side of the gym in a big circle. They chant something very quietly over and over again. They're creepy voices repeating words I can't seem to catch.

“Hello, my name is Sam,” I say introducing myself sweetly to the group of creepy people but none of them acknowledges my existence.

“Hello,” I repeat again trying to get their attention.

“They won't answer.”

Startled, I turn around to see who is behind me. A man around Kats age, 23-ish, blonde shaggy hair like a surfer, sky Blue eyes stands behind me with his hands in his front pockets. He is a good looking kid with beautiful blue eyes and shaggy blonde hair that falls to his shoulders. Looks like a beach bum

“Why is that?”

“I'm not sure, I came here last night looking for my twin brother and they were in the same corner repeating the same damn thing.”

“What are they saying? What's your name?” I question putting my hand out in front of me.

“Jake.” He says while taking my hand and shaking it. “I don’t know what they are saying. But it’s creepy. They chant too low for me to hear.”

“I'm Sam, and the group I came here with are Mathew, my husband, Kat, John and our dog Athena. Are you alone?”

“Yeah, I came here looking for my twin brother, but unfortunately, he’s on the dead list and my parents live in Oregon. Not sure if they are alive or dead.”

“I'm sorry to hear that, we came looking for my parents and our boys. They are still alive, but..... My friend is dead.” I manage to choke out trying not to cry at the thought of losing Jennifer.

“I'm sorry to hear that,” Jake says.

Mathew, Kat and John walk back inside of the gym followed by Athena at their heels. They walk up next to me, Mathew eyes Jake up and down suspiciously while I introduce everyone to Jake.

“Well, there isn't much food in the cafeteria. We were able to find some snack food in the vending machines but not much. We need to get back to the car and get out of here.” Mathew says whispering more to me and Kat than Jake.

“How do we do that with that horde outside still?” I question.

“There’s an exit in the back. Looks clear. All the zombies are in the front of the high school so we should be able to sneak away without being noticed.” Mathew says.

“Okay, sounds like a plan,” I say nodding my head.

“Sounds good to me to,” Kat adds as she rubs the top of John’s head. He quietly leans against Kat’s leg playing with a toy plane that he must have found somewhere in the high school.

“Excuse me, can I come with you?” Jake asks, taking a step closer to us.

“Me too?” Devlin asks quickly. I didn't even hear him walk up to us. Mathew looks at me and then at Kat for our answer. We shake our heads yes.

“Yes, that's fine. Do you guys have any weapons or food, clothing?”

“I have a pistol, and a backpack full of clothes. No, food.” Jake says, pulling out his gun from the back of his pants.

“I got a handgun, not many bullets because I saved your ass earlier,” Devlin says to Mathew. Mathew nods his head and explains the new plan to our new and bigger group.

“When do we leave?” I question.

“I would say now, but we also need to eat and rest. Tomorrow morning first light.” Mathew answers me.

We all agree and walk to the tables and sit down. We pull out some snack food that Mathew got from the vending machines. The group on the other side still chants, but they are getting louder. I can make out what they are repeating now. You can hear the words clearer now. Valui ad satanam invocandum.

The group starts holding hands and swaying from side to side in their little circle. I can't understand the language. I wish I knew what the hell they are saying. They are making me nervous. Their chanting gets creepier and creepier.

“What are they saying?” I ask our group, hoping one of them took some sort of language class or something.

“I succeeded in summoning Satan,” Jake says answering my question.

“Is it me or should we leave now?” Kat says, looking at the group of people chanting the same words.

“That's scary. What is that, witchcraft?” I ask.

“I imagine so, it’s Latin. I took a Latin class in college.”

“Let's pack up and leave,” Mathew says nervously staring at the very odd group that are now standing up. We jump up and throwing our backpacks on.

The group turns towards us and slowly takes a step closer to us. Their faces look possessed. Their eyes are bloodshot, white foam drips from their mouth. Green lines run up and down their arms. A woman steps out in front of the group, her skin is baggy and looks like she is slowly rotting away. Parts of the skin on her arms are turning brown.

“Umm, I think they are infected,” I say slowly stepping back with the others.

“Yeah, so where is that exit?” Jake says as he pulls out his gun. Mathew, Devlin and I do the same. Kat grabs John and follows us out of the gym. The crazy group follows us, chanting over and over again the same scary Latin words.

“This way hurry,” Mathew says as he leads the way to the exit in the back of the high school.

~~Some will see this as the apocalypse, while others see this as natural revolution. ~~

The crazy group sprints after us, their chanting gets louder with each step they take. Valui ad satanam invocandum, Valui ad satanam invocandum. Their chanting becomes screaming as their sprint turns into a full force run.

Reaching the back exit Mathew tries to push it open, but the door is stuck. I point my gun at the oncoming crazy witchcraft group. Aiming for the closest one. Jake shoots at the lock making the door open.

“Oh, shit hurry up!” I scream as the evil group stops in front of us.

“This isn’t good,” Devlin says, standing in front of John and Kat. Athena stands in front of him growling.

“Done! Let’s go,” Jake says, shoving the door wide open.

The bright summer sun shining through the door. I can already feel the heat seeping into the hallway. The infected group doesn’t bother to follow us outside. Thank god we made it out of there in one piece. I can only imagine those crazy lunatics going after John and sacrificing him to the devil or worse eating him.

“Can we walk?” I question, needing to slow down for a bit. My body feels like I ran a 10k marathon. My legs and butt are throbbing. Begging for me to massage them. Mathew stops and walks to me.

“You okay?”

“Yes tired and sore. Can we walk, please? Just for a little bit?” I ask Mathew as I take a swig of my water.

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

“What’s the plan?” Devlin asks.

“We will need gas and more food. So closest grocery store that hasn't been ransacked yet.” Mathew says, holding my hand in his and slowly rubbing his thumb along my fingers.

Jake walks closer to Mathew “There is a mini mart a mile from here.”

“That should be perfect, hopefully, it’s not crawling with zombies.”

“What do we do about the horde that's following us?” I mention.

“Horde? What horde?” Jake asks.

“There’s a group of zombies that is following us. They have been following us since this whole thing started. They are tracking us somehow.” Kat answers Jake.

“Shit, we have heard from other survivors that the zombies are getting smarter and daring. Didn't think it was true.” Devlin says while rubbing his long grew hairy beard.

“Okay, so what do we do?” Jake says impatiently.

“We don't know. We think they can smell us or have another way of tracking us. We were getting some of our information from a radio station, it’s an AM station, and a fellow survivor has been relaying new information that way.” Mathew says letting go of my hand and taking another sip of his water.

“Really, wow, crazy. I don't know what to say. This shit is so unreal,” Jake says rubbing his hands through his hair. The conversation ends, the group goes quiet.

Finally, we reach the SUV and each of us fall to the ground tired. John kicks little pebbles across the dirt floor. The pebble bounces off another rock and hits Jakes shoe. Jake sits up and looks at John. His face scrunched up, eyes, frowning.

“Did you just kick a rock at me?” Jake questions John.

“Nooo....” John lies and hides behind Kats shoulder.

“Yes, you did Mr. and you’re going to get tickled to death,” Jake says playfully, holding his hands out in front of him. His fingers bent, shape like a claw.

“If you can catch me weirdo,” John says hiding behind Kat some more, Giggling.

“Oh, I will, I'm super-fast!” Jake says running after John. Jake chases John around the car,

Athena must have thought their little game was fun because she joins in. Athena chases Jake, Athena’s jaw snapping shut after she tries to bite Jakes shoes. A little growl escapes her lips as she pouches at Jakes shoes once more. Jake grabs John and tickles his belly until John begs him to stop. Athena bites Jake foot.

“Silly mutt. I’m not hurting him,” Jake says leaning down to rub Athena head. She lets him and rolls onto her belly.

“John Athena wants us to tickle her belly now! Let’s do it.”

“Okay!” John squeal and starts tickling the dog’s belly. After eating a snack and drinking water, we decide to get a move on to the grocery store. After that last incident, I had at a grocery store I'm not too excited to go to another one, but food is going to get low and we have more mouths to feed and a lot of roads to cover between here and Maryland. We need gas and the gas station is right next to the grocery store. Hopefully, it would be an easy task, get in and get out. No zombies or rapist or crazy loony witchcraft people.