The Saga Of Tom Stinson (Book 1): Summer School Zombocalypse (5 page)

Following the attendant, Tom and the twins stepped out into the downpour. The attendant hopped up on the hood of a car, stepped across the roof, and started to climb over the back wall of the U-Mart parking lot.

“
W-wait,” Tom cried out, “where are you going?”

“
I’m out of here,” the attendant said and jumped over the wall leaving Tom and the twins behind.

Winston started hyperventilating and sank to his knees. “What are we gonna do now?”

“
Back inside.” Emmett pulled on Tom’s shirt.

Tom wanted to scream. There was no one to help them now. If he stopped, they would lose everything. It was up to him. Cupping the sets of car keys in his hands, he pushed the unlock buttons with his thumbs. “Don’t worry, I’ve got a plan.”

Alarms beeped and chirped, and they piled into the closest car that unlocked.

“
Can you drive?” The twins screeched in a “we’re all going to die” voice.

Fast food trash caked the dashboard and seats. Tom spilled a giant gulp cup that balanced on the driver’s cup holder and yelled at the twins to be quiet. “Buckle up.”

His hands shook but he managed to get the key into the ignition. He turned the key and was met by the whir click, whir click of a weak battery.

Over the patter of rain and the whir of the engine, the attendant could be heard screaming.

“
It’s not going start.” Winston fumbled with his seat belt.

“
These cars are in for repair.” Emmett hit the back of the driver seat. “This isn’t a plan, it’s a death sentence.”

Tom twisted the key. “Hang the hell on.”

Whir click, whir click went the engine.

Zombies poured out of the U-Mart’s back door. They yelped. “Drive!”

“
No!” Winston twisted round in his seat seeking a way to escape as he saw that zombies coming from around the front of the store too.

Emmett’s hands pressed against the window. “It’s broken. We need another car.”

“
Which one? Which one?” Winston said. “We can make it, there’s time if we go now.”

“
There’s no time. I can get it. C’mon c’mon,” Tom begged the car.

Hands pounded on the car’s windows spidering the glass. Hands hammered on the roof denting it in.

“
Start!” Tom and the twins hollered.

A zombie smashed its fist through the driver’s window, and broken glass showered Tom. It reached through, grabbed him by the shirt, and pulled.

He remembered his dad’s old truck trick. “Start!” He clenched his teeth as he fought not to be pulled from the car. He was glad that he remembered to buckle his seatbelt. He tapped the gas pedal, counted to three and turned the key. “Start, you bitch!”

The engine suddenly came to life. He slammed the car into drive and stomped the accelerator hard to the floor.

The pavement in the yard was slick with old oil stains, and the rain made it even more treacherous. The tires spun, squealing to gain traction as Tom fought to break free from the zombie. He pounded on the zombie’s arm and smashed its knuckles. He bent its fingers back, but it held him tight.

The wheels bit into the pavement and the car suddenly launched itself forwards. Tom struggled to keep control as it sideswiped another in the shop yard.

The zombie that clung to the outside was mashed between the two cars, leaving its arm in his lap. They were sent ping ponging head on into another car at the pumps, ending their escape attempt in a dead stop.

Stars filled his eyes, and blood trickled down his forehead. Tom raised his hand and wiped the blood away from his brow. The twins voices urged him in the distance, “Go! Go! Go!”

The steering wheel was bent, and the engine stopped. He ran his fingers along the steering column, feeling for the keys. He twisted the key, and the engine roared back into life. He shook his head to clear the fog and fumbled with the shift. Again, he pushed the accelerator hard to the floor. The wheels spun, but the car didn’t move. The bumper was interlocked with the other car.

Hands pounded on the car. Tom cranked the wheels toward the street and gunned it to break free. The car lurched, and the wheels spun, billowing a thick cloud of smoke, but still it didn’t budge. He cranked the wheel in the other direction, and the rear end of the car slid across the wet pavement. The front end of the car now pointed in the wrong direction, back toward the store.

The screech of the wheels acted as a beacon, guiding the zombies through the smoke.

“
It’s not breaking free,” Tom panicked.

“
We have to get out and run,” Winston said.

“
Do something, or we’ll never make it,” Emmett cried. “They’re surrounding us.”

He kept his foot down. Plastic shards and glass flew across the ground as the car’s bumper finally tore free. The car shot backwards and slammed into a post, bouncing the twins out of their seat. Their heads hit the back window. Tom dropped the car into drive and yelled. “Seat belts!”

The car fishtailed out of control through the parking lot, parting the oncoming mob and running a few down. They plowed through and out onto the street. The engine whirred as they raced down the street to home, to safety.

“
Nothing can touch us now,” Tom hollered in relief. “We got away! We got away!”

“
I knew you could do it,” Emmett said.

Taking the risk paid off. In his elation he shook his fist in the air triumphantly. “Yeah!”

But the twins pointed out the front window, and both warned him. “Look out!”

Tom turned. His knuckles went white as an overturned car slid into the intersection, stopping in their path.

Tom slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting the car, but they didn’t slow down. He stomped on the brake pedal again and again, it stayed flat to the floor. “No brakes!”

The twins screamed in harmony.

The tires chirped as Tom swerved to the right. They clipped the other car, causing it to spin 360s in the middle of the intersection.

The twins watched the car out of the back window. “No way,” Winston said. “It’s spinning!”

From down the street another car sped past, crashing into the one they had clipped. It popped up into the air on impact, and its wheels landed on the other car with a dull metal crunch.

“
You have to slow down,” Emmett said. “You don’t know how to drive.”

“
Shut up,” Tom yelled.

“
That car flew onto the other,” Winston said.

Emmett pulled himself forward by the bars of Tom’s headrest and grabbed Tom by the shoulder. “Turn the car around. That’s our street. Go that way.”

Tom shook Emmett’s hand off. “We’re sticking to our plan. Sit back, and don’t get in the way.”

Turning onto his street he coasted down it. The car gradually slowed to 15 mph, and that gave him a chance to take in the neighborhood. “It’s quiet, everything is normal.” Tom pointed. “There’s my house.”

“
How are we going to stop?” the twins asked.

Tom’s next door neighbor’s Suburban was parked in front of his house. “Just like we did at the U-Mart. Hold on!”

Glass fell from the driver’s door as Tom stepped out. The twins forgotten, he ran to his house and burst through the front door, calling for his dad. The house was unusually quiet; it felt strange to him.

The smell of WD40 pulled his eyes to the dining room table. The dirt bike engine that he was working on sat on the table, and the fish in the tank next to the window still bubbled at him hungrily.

It was hard for him to see what was wrong. Something was out of place. He called out for his dad again as he went from room to room. He wasn’t home.

Tom ran outside as fast as he had run in and stood on the doorstep staring at the driveway. His dad’s car wasn’t there. He was only working a half day. What time was it? Where was he? Would he know to come home? Maybe he was trapped at work.

“
You hit my car!” his neighbor yelled as he came out of his house.

Tom’s eyes widened and he went back in, he yelled: “Phone, call dad.”

“
Service unavailable,” the phone replied.

The neighbor pounded on the door. “Get out here, Stinson.”

He ignored him. “Phone, where’s my dad?”

“
Last know location of Carl Stinson’s mobile device: Place of employment Metzger’s Hardware, 134 State street.”

“
I’m calling the police, you hear me?” His neighbor rattled his screen door.

Tom’s knees weakened. He sank down against the wall onto the floor. He hit his hands and stomped his feet.
Damn it. What am I going to do now?
He fought to calm himself.
Get over it. Every plan goes wrong at some point. You adapt, see where you are and move on towards your goal. Don’t think of failure. Only think how you are going to make it.
Resolutely he stood up, he would hide until his dad got home. He could barricade his bedroom and everything would be fine.

A faint scream perked his ears up. His eyes widened as he turned and ran; he’d forgotten the twins. At the front door he stopped cold, a zombie was grabbing at the twins through the broken car window.

Picking up his skateboard, he held it by the trucks and the instinct to protect took over. He charged out of the door. Attacking the zombie from behind, he thrust the skateboard into the back of its head, the tail sunk in deep. It collapsed in a heap with its skull crushed.

“
What did you do?” his neighbor called from his porch. “You killed that person. Have you gone insane?”

“
Get out of the car now,” Tom ordered, but the twins were hysterical and refused.

“
Take us home, you promised.”

“
There’s no way I can get you home right now. It’s too . . .”

“
When?” Emmett interrupted.

“
I don’t know. Just wait until my dad gets home, he will know what to do,” Tom replied. Up the street, zombies were coming. There were many.

Panicking, he thrust his arms through the window and pulled the twins towards him, “All I want is you guys to cooperate. We have to get out of here. We gotta go fast.”

“
You could have taken us home,” Emmett said, “We passed our street, and you kept going.”

Still they refused to move, shaking their heads and holding onto their seat belts. Winston shouted, “Drive.”

“
What’s wrong with you two,” Tom said. “Get out of the car. I get it, you want to go home, and you’re scared. Stop being stupid about it.”

How was he going to get them out of the car? He heard his dad’s voice in his head.
Take our government for instance. With them, bribery gets you everywhere
. And he decided that he wasn’t above it himself. In a tempting but shaky sing song voice Tom said, “There’s Rocky Road in the freezer.”

Reluctantly the twins climbed out. Again, Tom urged them to hurry, but they moved slowly, and he pulled them by the arms.

“
Don’t pull us,” they complained.

“
What are you doing to those boys?” His neighbor demanded to know as he took video with his phone.

“
Hurry, keep your eyes on the house, and move,” Tom said, but they did what everyone else does when told not to look. They looked, and let out a burst of high pitched screams.

The neighbor saw, screamed just as loudly, and disappeared into his own house.

“
I told you not to,” Tom said as he hurried them through his front door and slammed it shut locking it behind them. “I can’t believe how many are coming. I don’t think we are going to be safe.”

“
Do you know what you’re doing?” Emmett asked.

“
We aren’t safe in here. I know that. I think we only have a minute or two before they are at the door.”

“
Thinking and knowing are very different,” Emmett said.

Tom paused a long moment, not knowing where they would go next. “We’re going to get out of here to a safe place where they can’t get us.”

“
But we are inside. We are safe, right?” Emmett pulled back the blinds. “That’s what you said. Get to my house where my dad is. So where is he?”

Grimly Tom replied, “Not here.”

There must be someplace safe, he thought. Sudden inspiration struck. “Tree house! If the zombies can’t climb we will be safe up there, out of reach. We can pull up the ladder and there’s no way for the zombies to get us.”

“
It’s raining, we’ll be miserable. Does it have a roof?” Winston asked.

Tom grabbed the bag of water and the Rocky Road from the freezer. “Follow me.”