Least Likely To Survive (13 page)

I righted myself in my seat, and started unbuckling my holster when Jack reached over and put his hand on arm, halting me.  “Wait, we are almost to San Antonio, and have no clue what we’ll come across there.  Might want to leave that on just in case.”  His eyes briefly met mine, and I could see the worry lighting his features.  Never mind the little jolts of electricity racing along my arm where his fingers were still resting lightly.

“Good call.  Although right now I would sell my soul for a hot shower and some nachos.”  I said with a sigh fraught with longing as I leaned my head back on the seat.  I didn’t think we would get much rest before the shit storm San Antonio was sure to be.

Jack chuckled as he said, “I know, me too.  Although I never really did like nachos, but I could go for some
Tapas
right about now.”

He didn’t like nachos?  What kind of sick bastard was I traveling with?!  I looked at him for a minute, as the shock of his statement wore out.  Shaking my head, I turned towards the console, grabbed the smokes, handed one to him, and proceeded to light up.  I took a big inhale of the beautiful and lovely poison and blew it out my now partially opened window.

“Are you
trying
to kill me?”  I heard from the peanut gallery as I sighed out my joy.

I turned to look at Chloe, and had to laugh at the look of complete and utter shock and disdain coloring her pretty features.  She obviously wasn’t fond of smokers.  “We are blowing it out the window; I promise secondhand smoke is not going to reach you.”

She just glared at me as she pushed the button on her own window, rolling it all the way down, before turning her attention back to staring out of it.  “I can’t believe I’m trapped in a car with
smokers
; this is
sooo
gross.”

I rolled my eyes for what felt like the millionth time today, and turned back to my own window.  The sun was now dropping low on the horizon, signaling night was fast approaching.  I knew we had to figure out what we were going to do for the night, although I supposed we could just drive straight through, as we did have two adults who could drive.  Then I remembered we weren’t taking the kids with us, and the significance of the city we would soon be in popped back into my head.  I remembered we had planned to find a safe place to leave them, but as my stomach churned, I couldn’t shake the feeling of dread at leaving them anywhere I wasn’t, with all my guns.

I wasn’t sure when I had become so attached to them; it just sort of happened along the way.  Maybe I could just relate to them, as I was an orphan too, and we were all orphans now in the apocalypse, although my status came a little earlier.  I leaned my head back, closed my eyes, and let my thoughts drift towards the past.

It was my thirteenth birthday, and having just gotten home from school, was in my room packing a bag for a sleepover at my best friend, Jessica’s house. 

Everyone knew about my parents, and I never missed the pity in their eyes, or the hushed whispers when I walked by, thusly, Jessica’s parents had always been extra nice to me.  I probably spent more time at their house then my own, as that was the only place I found a semblance of normalcy.  They laughed and joked, and sat down for meals, as I thought families should.  Her parents would always ask how school was, and if we had learned anything new.  Most of the time I wished they would adopt me, so that I too, could live that peaceful and safe existence.

This was not the case however, at my own house.  My parents were constantly fighting, drinking, and using.  I knew it was fucked up for a thirteen year old to know exactly how to cook and shoot heroine, but it was part of my everyday life.

I had just finished shoving my flannel pajamas with little clouds on them into my bag, when I heard the shouting.  I ignored it at first, as it wasn’t unusual, until I heard glass breaking and my mother scream.

I quietly opened my door, and peeked into the hallway, trying to see what was happening.  I couldn’t see around the corner, so I tip-toed into the hallway, and made my way to the living room when I saw them.

“You fucking bitch!  I know you’re hiding my shit!  Where the fuck is it?!”  My father screamed into my mother’s face, as he held her off the ground by her neck.  His face was so red it was almost purple, and spittle flew from his lips with his words.  He slammed her against the wall a few times, and as he pulled her back, I noticed the plaster was cracked and there was now blood smeared onto the beige paint.

Tears streamed down her face, and I noticed her right eye was purple and puffy, and there was blood trailing from a cut on her lip. She tried to tell him she didn’t know what he was talking about, but her words were faint as she was starting to lose consciousness.  He was going to kill her this time, I just knew it.

I ran at him and launched myself onto his back, hitting his shoulders for all I was worth, trying to make him drop her.  He reached around and grabbed my arm, throwing me across the room, where I smashed into the coffee table.  As I landed I heard the wood crack, and felt a snap in my arm, but paid it no mind as I leaped up and ran at him again. 

Using my uninjured arm, I punched his side as hard as I could, and as many times as I could, trying to hurt him enough to leave her alone.  He finally dropped her, and with one hand still encasing her neck, reached around and backhanded me across my cheek.  I flew back again, and this time I didn’t get up, feeling like my whole face was on fire.  I was sure he had broken something this time.  Stars swam before my eyes, and I knew I wouldn’t be awake for much longer when the sound of sirens outside became apparent, and I heard the front door break open.  I felt the floor shake with heavy footsteps as I slowly faded out of consciousness.

I came out of the memory with tears still formed in my eyes.  I wasn’t going to let them fall though, as the past was gone, and it would never come back.  My father had gone to jail that day, and was stabbed to death in a prison fight about a year later.  My mother had continued to use, and eventually killed herself in an overdose when I was seventeen.  I left town then, and had never been back since.

Staring out the window, I couldn’t help musing over how shitty my life had been, and how it would end.  Seemed somewhat anticlimactic that I would be taken out by a zombie, but I would do everything in my power to avoid it.  I hadn’t survived one hell to become the victim of another. 

At seventeen, with nothing but a bag of clothes, and the beat up old Chevy which had been the only thing I was left with of my mother after her death, I had moved to a new town and worked as a waitress while living in the car.  Once I had enough cash, had gotten an apartment, finished high school, and had been on my own ever since.

It felt somehow fitting that zombies would be the end of the world, as I felt they were the only disaster I could actually face and maybe come out the other side still living.  Maybe just surviving even the worst of circumstance was my great skill, as I was a thousand miles from home, and had somehow managed to keep not only myself alive, but the few survivors I had picked up along the way.

Although I knew it was highly improbable, there was a part of me that secretly hoped Jack and I would fall in love, and we would live out this mess with the kids and the dog on that beach in my dreams.  Laughing, and joking, and being the family I never had and had always so desperately longed for.  Yeah, and monkeys might come flying out of my ass.

I glanced over at Jack, and tried to let go of the feelings I was developing for him.  “
It’s not real.  It’s just because we’re in a life or death situation together,”
I tried to tell myself.  I knew I was just lying to myself at this point, but sometimes we have to in order to make it through the day.  He was amazing, and I couldn’t refute that.  Intelligent, witty, and charming, he was everything I had always hoped to find in a guy.  The actual downside was that he was ridiculously beautiful, and also disgustingly rich and famous.  Leave it to me to fall for the one guy I could never dream to have, and let it be him that I’ll be stuck alone with for God knows how long.  The irony of the whole mess was not lost on me.

I heaved another great sigh, as I was wont to do, and continued my study of the scenery.  I must have been lost in my daydream for a while, as the sure signs of urban life had begun to sprout up around us, as we got closer to the city.  “How far out are we?”  I asked to no one in particular.

“We should be in the city limits like, now, depending on the debris in the road.”  I turned around to look at Ty as he said this, and noticed his head was bent over the maps, while Chloe held the Atlas.  They were both hard at work pinpointing our location, and determining our next destination.

I looked around again, and sure enough, there was the ‘San Antonio city limit’ sign passing right next to me.  We had made it to what I was sure was going to be the hardest part of our venture. 

Signs for various things started to appear, as did civilization as a whole.  Just like Denver, and every other city we had been to, there were cars crashed into things, buildings on fire, and of course, what city would be complete without its population trying to eat each other?  Although this was on a much grander scale, as this place was far bigger than Denver, if the signs for the attractions were anything to go by.  Who knew San Antonio had a Sea World?  Totally blew my mind.

I was still observing the surroundings, while keeping a wary eye on the cars scattering the road, as I reached into my pockets and started grabbing new clips and shells.  I began reloading my guns, and checking that each was full, as I heard the sounds of the kids doing the same in the backseat. 

Once my task was completed, I reached into the holsters I could reach on Jack, pulled out his guns and made sure they were all loaded too.  “Thanks, wasn’t sure how I would manage that while driving,” he said to me, as I placed the last one back on his hip.  Yeah, like I was really going to pass up an opportunity to touch him.  I was nuts in an ‘endearing’ sort of way, but I wasn’t completely crazy.

Now sure that all guns were loaded and ready to go, I sat back, and turned on the radio.  “Um, Angie, I don’t think the traffic report is going to be on…”  I heard Chloe snicker from behind me.

“Well duh, smart ass.  I’m looking for an emergency transmission on the AM frequency like all those stupid emergency broadcast tests said to do.  They may be broadcasting where survivors should go.”  I shook my head in annoyance as I continued to turn the dial, checking each station for more than just white noise.  Just as I was about to give up, the speakers crackled and a voice filled the car.

“Dome; alive; have food,” more crackling, “Welcome survivors…” It faded out into more crackling and finally the sweet sounds of white noise.

“Did you hear that?!  It was a person, a
real
person, and it sounded like there is a safe place to go!”  My voice raised a few octaves in my excitement, as I darted looks at everyone in the car.

“Yeah, but it didn’t say where,” Ty said with a frown.  This thought struck me too; I was so caught up by hearing the broadcast, it didn’t occur to me that we couldn’t hear where it said to go to.

Jack cleared his throat, and with his deep rasp, “He said ‘Dome’.  I’d bet he was talking about The Alamodome. We should check that out first,” he looked at me gauging my opinion.  I just stared back at him; fuck if that wasn’t a better guess than I would have come up with.  If I had my way, we’d be going to Sea World.

“Yeah, I think you’re right.  Let’s do it.”  I said with a smile, and then turned to address everyone in back.  “Okay, so obviously killing isn’t an issue with you kids,” I began and was met with twin frowns.  “But we might actually encounter people who are still alive, and that can be even more dangerous.”  This I aimed at Ty, with a look I hope he got the gist of.  I didn’t want to freak Chloe out, but even in times of disaster, there are still evil people in this world that would love nothing more than to harm a beautiful young girl.  I didn’t want to see anything happen to any of us.

Ty followed my gaze as it darted towards his sister, than back at him.  I watched his eyes light in understanding, and then steel over with determination.  He got my point.

I turned my focus to Chloe, trying to figure out the best way to say this, without causing a panic.  “Chloe…”  I started, and then stopped to clear my throat, picking my words carefully.  “You watch TV, right?”

“Um,
yeah
…” she answered looking back at me as obviously I was talking crazy.  “Your point?”

“Well…even though it’s the apocalypse, and you would think that everyone would band together to survive, and these people may be able to help us, it’s still really important that you make sure one of the three of us is always with you, okay?”

“
Duh
, Angie.  I wasn’t born yesterday.  No one’s trying to get raped or abducted or anything else some sick bastard can think of.  And I’ll make sure one of the guys or a big gun is with me at all times, as should you,” she said with a pointed look back at me. 

She had a point though; although not the prettiest girl, I was still a girl, and someone might get desperate.  I breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that she knew the dangers of the world.  Yet still had to shake my head at how sad it was when a twelve year old was well versed in the precautions girls have to take to ensure our safety. Maybe the world ending was a good thing after all, if it meant clearing out anyone who would harm a child.