Zombie Outbreak: A Zombie Apocalypse Short Story (4 page)

“Stop it!” I jumped up. “You’re both so irritating, and those things are probably heading this way now because you had to fire that gun.” I looked at Steve. “I’m sorry about your friend, but he was about to turn into one of those things. I’ve seen a loved one turn into one of those things, and believe me, it isn’t any easier once they’re a monster.” Then I looked at Mikael. “You should have waited until he turned and explained everything first. You’re more of a monster than those things are.”

“She’s right,” Candy said. “Let’s just go. Steve, you can ride in the back with Mae.”

“He’s not coming with us,” Mikael said. “We don’t even know him.”

Candy laughed for a moment before pulling out a small handgun. She aimed it at Mikael’s head. “We all go, or you don’t go.”

“Where did you get that?” he asked.

“You think I was going to just let you have a gun?” she asked. “Everyone has to watch out for themselves, right? Now everyone just get in the car.”

Mikael glanced down at the shotgun in his hands.

“Don’t be stupid. I know it’s empty. You had two shots in there, and you used one to alert the dead ones to our hiding place back home, and you just used the last one on Calvin.”

Without another word, Mikael got back into the car.

“Come on,” Candy said and got in the driver’s seat.

“What about Calvin?” Steve asked, looking back at his friend.

I grabbed his shoulder. “He’s okay now. He won’t turn into one of those things. That’s better than being buried.”

Steve and I got into the car, and we were on the road again within minutes. We chatted a little about where we were going, but there wasn’t much to say. He was still in shock about his friend’s death, and I wondered why I wasn’t still bothered by Grandma’s.

***

By early evening, Mikael was driving and the rest of us were napping. I wanted to dream about far away, happy places, but I only dreamed about shooting Grandma over and over again. As the car skidded to a halt, we all were woken with a start.

“What is it?” Candy asked, alarmed.

“Nothing,” Mikael said. “Look.”

There was a small group of cars and tents. They formed a makeshift campground. A few men with guns guarded the area. Outside, there was a sign that said, “We have ammo to trade.”

“They’re trading ammo for other supplies?” Candy laughed. “I think I miss the days of using money to buy things.”

“You can’t eat money,” I said.

“We don’t have much ammo,” Mikael said. “You two didn’t grab any on your way out. We only have another box of shot gun ammo.” He glared at Candy. “I don’t know how much you have for your little gun since you kept it a secret from me.”

“We don’t really have anything to trade for the ammo. Besides, we’re almost to Washington,” Candy said.

“We don’t even know what we are going to find in Washington. How do you know it’s really safe there?” he asked. “We do have a few things to trade.”

“Like what?” Candy asked.

“Just some stuff we don’t need!” he shouted. He was always shouting. “Give me your handgun. It’s more discrete. These people probably won’t like to see me carrying a giant shotgun. I don’t want to make them mad before I even start talking.”

She handed him her gun without a word.

“Okay, everyone out of the car, but stay close by,” he said and tucked the gun in his coat pocket.

We all climbed out of the car and leaned against it as Mikael approached the leader of the other group. Mikael looked back as if checking to make sure we hadn't wondered off. Mikael began talking to the leader, but it was impossible to hear what they were saying. Every once in a while, they would both look back at us like they were afraid we might suddenly run away.

Finally, Mikael started walking back toward us. He looked a bit annoyed. “He only wants one thing, but he’s only willing to part with two boxes of shotgun shells.”

“Are you going to do it?” Candy asked.

Mikael nodded and opened the passenger seat door. “Yeah, will you get in there and find the car registration?”

Candy climbed in the car and opened the glove box. She looked up, puzzled. “We’re giving them the car? And what does it matter if we have the registration? It’s the end of the world. I don’t think the police are going to care if they don’t have the car registration.”

Instead of replying, Mikael smacked her on the back of her head with the gun. She immediately passed out, and he slammed the door shut.

“What did you just do that for?” I demanded.

“Okay, here she is.” Mikael shoved me forward. “Give me the ammo.”

“What the heck are you doing?”

“They haven’t seen a woman since this thing started, and they’re afraid they won’t see another beside you,” Mikael said. “You have to understand this is for me. For me and Candy.”

“Get away from her,” Steve said. He grabbed me and pulled me away from Mikael and the other group’s leader. “You’re staying here, and we’re going. You can put on a dress for them!”

“No, she’s staying here. You’re dying, and I’m going,” Mikael said, and aimed the gun at us.

“You said she’d be willing,” the leader said. “If she’s fighting, you only get one box.”

My heart began to pound as I listened to Mikael and this man argue over whether I was worth one or two boxes of shotgun shells. Mikael, as usual, was yelling at him. No one was paying attention to anything except the argument. Behind Mikael, the bushes parted, and a dead one slipped through. He was so close to him, and Mikael wasn’t paying attention.

“Okay, one and a half,” Mikael agreed.

They were coming to an agreement, and I didn’t have enough time. The dead one was still too far away. Any moment, Mikael would notice it, and I would be sold for one and a half boxes of ammo. I thought of Grandma and how much I wanted to live, and I didn’t hesitate. I raced toward Mikael and shoved him hard. He fell backward, into the arms of the dead one. It immediately began biting him, tearing the flesh off his neck. His blood spurted out, and he tried to scream, but he choked on his own blood. He collapsed to the ground, but that didn’t deter the dead one. It dropped to its knees and ripped Mikael’s stomach open, exposing his entrails and devouring them with an animalistic fervor.

Steve grabbed my shoulder, and pulled me. “We have to go.”

We started to head for the car, but the leader aimed his gun at us. “Stop!”

I was ready for him to shoot me, but instead, someone let out a scream, and then another. The leader turned around to find out what had happened. Steve shoved me in the car and climbed in the driver’s seat. I watched out the back window as the dead ones overtook the little camp of terrible men.

I couldn’t stop gasping for air as we raced down the road. I kept picturing Mikael being ripped apart. I couldn’t stand the sight, but I was so glad he was gone and would never harass us again.

“Calm down,” Steve said. “We made it out.”

“Did you see it?” I asked, meaning Mikael.

“Yes, but you had to do it to save us.” He looked back at me. “That guy deserved it.”

“Did he?” I asked, but Steve didn’t respond.

A few moments passed as I composed myself. Finally, Candy began to stir.

“Where is that dirty no-account husband of mine?” she asked as she woke.

“It’s okay,” I said and leaned forward. “You’re safe.”

“What did you do, Mikael?” she asked. “Mikael?” She looked at Steve and then into the back seat. “Where is he?” She stared right at me, but I couldn’t answer.

“He’s dead,” Steve said. “The dead ones attacked after you got knocked out, and killed everyone. We barely escaped.”

“He’s dead?” Candy asked.

I was ready for her to begin sobbing. He was mean at the end, but he was her husband, and I knew she loved him. He wasn’t always so cruel and selfish. I know that once he was kind and sharing. However, she did not start crying.

“What an idiot,” she said. She paused and I’m pretty sure it was to fight back tears. “Why did he knock me out?”

Steve looked at her for a long time before answering. “We have no idea. We were attacked before anything really happened.”

“I think he didn’t want you to get mad,” I said.

Steve glanced at me in the rearview mirror as a warning, but it was unnecessary. I wasn’t going to tell her the truth ever.

“Why would I get mad?”

“I think he was going to trade your gun for ammo for his gun,” I said. “Remember, he wanted to take your gun out there instead of his?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said, but I wasn’t so sure that she believed us.

We continued driving for about a half hour when suddenly, Steve stopped the car. We were next to another SUV, and it had a ton of bags and suitcases on it.

“Let’s stop to check it out,” Steve said. “I bet we will find a lot of useful stuff.”

“What if it belongs to someone?” I asked.

“I don’t think it does anymore.” He pointed to the driver’s seat.

The driver’s seat door was open, and there was a bunch of dried blood. The blood continued to the ground, and the trail led off into the forest.

“Oh no!” I pointed at a bloody baby seat in the back.

“That’s horrible,” Steve said.

I felt like we should have mourned longer, but those suitcases called to us, and it was dangerous to just sit on one spot for too long.

“Okay, let’s get started,” I said.

We headed for the SUV while Steve held the shot gun and watched for any dead ones. It looked like the people had been stocking up on supplies for quite a while. With luck, we would find a bunch of great stuff.

“I found some food,” Candy said. “It’s still good, but it’s almost expired.”

“Here’s another first aid kit,” I said.

Our first two finds made us believe that we were going to get lucky, but our search went downhill from there. The rest of the bags just contained clothes and bathroom necessities.

“I think these people were just going on vacation when this happened. They only have clothes,” I said to Steve.

“Why don’t you grab a few? We might want some,” he said.

We began rummaging through the bags and grabbing a few articles of clothing. I jumped out of the car with an arm load of stuff. As soon as my foot hit the pavement, something grabbed me, and I screamed.

I jerked my leg, trying to run away, and the dead one came with me. It was hiding under the car. I tumbled to the ground. The dead one still held my leg, it pulled at me, trying to reach my foot for a bite.

“Mae!” Candy and Steve raced toward me to help.

I let out another scream and kicked it in the face, praying it didn’t bite me. Again, I kicked it, but it kept holding onto me. Finally, I gave one last kick and caved in its skull. It released me and stopped moving.

“Are you okay?” Steve helped me to my feet.

“Yeah, let’s just get out of here.” I picked up the stuff I had dropped. “I hate everything.”

We threw the stuff we’d found in the car and climbed back inside. I wanted to cry, and I wanted to scream. I just wanted to find a place where I didn’t have to be scared. More and more, I wanted the safe zone in Washington to be real.

“I don’t want to stop again,” Candy said. “We’re almost to Washington DC. Let’s just head there.”

We all agreed with Candy and continued our drive. Unfortunately, we had only driven a few more miles when Steve brought the car to a stop.

“Crap,” he said.

“What’s the matter?” I leaned forward. There was a man standing in the road. There were some small, light barricades on each side of him, blocking the road. He held a gun and motioned for us to get out of the car. On the side of the road were more men and women with guns.

“We’re not getting out, are we?” Candy asked.

“Heck no,” Steve said. He rolled down his window. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“You have to get out of the car. We aren’t letting people pass here. It’s not safe. You’ll join our group and share our supplies,” the man said.

“Just a second.” Steve rolled up the window.

“You don’t believe that, do you?” I asked and pointed at the others. “They are all pointing their guns at us. This is them stealing all our stuff, not sharing.”

“I know,” Steve said. “We aren’t getting out of this car.” He rolled down the window again. “No thank you,” he said. “We are going to continue on our own.”

“Sorry, we can’t allow you to go,” the man said.

Some of the armed people began to approach us.

Steve glanced at them and then at the man standing in the middle of the road. “Buckle up,” he said.

He rolled the window up and stepped on the gas. We sped forward, toward the man, and I was sure he would leap out of the way, but he didn’t. We collided into him. He hit the car with a thud and rolled over the top of the car. I screamed and turned around. He lay in the middle of the road, dead.

“Keep your head down,” Steve shouted.

We all ducked down, expecting them to start shooting, but they didn’t. I kept peeking my head over the back of the seat to see if they were following us. Soon, they disappeared into the distance.

“Are they following us?” Steve asked.

“No, I said. I don’t think they had a car with them. I didn’t see one.” I turned back around to face him. “You killed that man.”

“Would you rather we stopped and given them all our stuff?” he asked. “I thought he would move out of the way. I can’t help it that he didn’t.”

“I wasn’t judging you,” I said. “Thank you for getting us out of there.”

“Are you serious!?” Steve cursed and pulled the car over. “I think that man gave us a flat tire.”

“I don’t want to stop here,” Candy said. “Those people aren’t very far away.”

“We can’t keep driving on a flat,” Steve said.

“The road is blocked anyway,” I said. “Look.”

A large fence a few yards ahead blocked the road. Beside it, a sign said that we were just entering Washington DC.

“This must be the place they were talking about,” I said.

“Perfect timing,” Steve said with a happy laugh.

We jumped out of the car and gathered all our belongings.

“Let’s head inside,” Steve said.

We slipped through the gate, expecting to find soldiers and other people. There were a few trailers and tents, but there was no sign of humans. One of the trailers had a sign that said, “check in here.”