Day 13: Highway to Hell

“We have to get out of here. There is no way we can take on all of these things!” Josh said, pushing against the door as a window was smashed in beside him.

“There’s a truck parked in the back,” Elise announced, rushing breathlessly back into the room.

“Perfect. Grab that tire iron and let’s get moving!” Jake said. He and Josh waited for the girls to get to the back door before they shoved off the front and sprinted after them. Almost immediately a swell of undead piled into the foyer, growling and shoving as they staggered after the group. “Keys, where are the keys?” Jake yelled as he frantically looked around the visors and dashboard. “There are no fucking keys in this truck!”

“Shit! They’re probably still on her somewhere,” Josh responded, glancing back at the house.

“We can’t go back in there!” Elise wailed.

“We have to! We need to get those keys so we can get out of here,” Katrina replied.

“FUCK!” Elise shouted and took a deep breath. “I’ll go. Just…be ready.”

Quietly, she snuck up the back porch. Phil and Georgia’s bodies had been moved to the greenhouse. Luckily for Elise, it wasn’t too far from where she stood. Slinking against the wall, she hurried forward and silently unlatched the lock on the door. The door creaked when she pulled it open and she caught a hint of stale decay. 

Suppressing the urge to gag, she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. Shit. Too loud. She saw someone turn; one of the undead had heard and was heading right for her. Elise quickly hid, pressing her body under a small workbench she did her best to remain as still and quiet as possible. Her breath hitched. It was approaching. She could hear it dragging its leg behind it as it wobbled into the room. Sniffing? Could it smell her? Did she have a scent? Oh god! It was moving towards the greenhouse. Dim light peered through the windows illuminating the plant life Georgia had once cared for.

Elise watched from beneath the thick piece of wood as a dark shadow from inside the house moved closer to the window. She jumped! A clock somewhere in the home erupted, striking ten and the shadow disappeared back into the light. Exhaling to calm her beating heart, she crawled from beneath the table and hurried over to Georgia. Her nerves were kicking in and she tried her best to keep her hands steady as she fumbled over the woman’s corpse. “Yes!” she hissed, finding the keyring in Georgia’s right pocket.

Keeping a close vigil on the dim windows, she started back inside, again moving along the walls in an attempt to keep herself hidden. She waited a moment, placing her ear to the door to try and get an idea of where the zombies were. From what she could hear, they were near the front of the house. But the soundtrack of moans were gradually growing louder from the other side of the wall.

When she reached the hallway leading outside she could see the others waiting impatiently inside the truck. Almost there. It was at that moment she realized something was wrong. She’d stopped paying attention to the growling and could no longer tell where the zombies were. The only sound she heard was of her own heartbeat, and she had the strangest feeling she was being watched. In a moment, everything became clear. She was no longer hiding, she’d been found!

Elise had no time to react as the creature sprinted towards her. They crashed through the glass door, the noise attracting more. She landed on her back with the zombie slamming on top of her, knocking the wind from her lungs. Dazed and in immense pain, she continued fighting him off as he nipped and clawed at her. “HELP!” she yelled, struggling for breath. She could feel blood seeping from wounds on her back where the glass had pierced her skin. 

Katrina was the first to reach her. She smashed her hammer into the base of his head, shattering his skull. Bits of teeth and blood squirted onto Elise’s face and she pushed him up and over. Katrina helped her stand and they took off for the guys. “GO!” Elise yelled, tossing the keys to Jake as she dove into the backseat.

“Were you bitten?” Josh asked.

“No, I don’t—I don’t think so,” Elise replied, wiping her face off on a towel on Georgia’s backseat.

“You don’t think? We need to know for sure,” Jake added. “Were you bitten?”

“No, I wasn’t bitten. Now would you please get us the fuck out of here?”

“Where are we going?” Jake asked.

“Anywhere, just drive,’ Katrina answered from the backseat. The group moved along streets that hadn’t been completely blocked by other motorists or cordoned off by police. Several fires had been ignited throughout the city, many of them contained or dying out. “Jesus these things are everywhere. It looks like a warzone!”

“In speaking of,” Josh said. “We should probably find someplace to get weapons and food.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jake agreed. They pulled into the lot of a sporting goods store and assessed its potential before making a decision. “It looks empty.”

“Yeah but looks can be deceiving,” Josh replied as he slid out of the truck to join the others.

“Wait,” Katrina stopped Jake before he shattered the front window. “Too much noise. It might attract the zombies.”

“How else do you expect to get in?”

“Just stand back and let the expert handle it,” she replied and pulled a bobby pin from her bun. Katrina skillfully picked the lock, and Elise shut the door once everyone was inside.

“Alright, you two gather the weapons. Josh and I are going across the street to stock up on food and water,” Katrina instructed, grabbing a couple duffel bags from the shelf beside the door.

“Food and water? It’s a Starbucks,” Jake said, scratching his head.

“And? They have donuts, bagels, fruit, bottled water and sandwich meats. You can grab the protein bars and beef jerky from beside the counter if that’ll be enough for you. But trust me, you won’t want to see me without my coffee.” She and Josh quickly and quietly made their way across the street as Elise and Jake continued scavenging store.

Jake came out from behind the counter with one of the latest cell phones, still boxed, in his hand. “What? Like you weren’t thinking it?” he asked of Elise’s stare. “Grab more ammo for the glock.” He shoved stacks of arrows into one bag while Elise dumped as many boxes of shells and bullets into another. Smashing into a gun case, he grabbed up all of the handguns and knives.

“Bags are in the trunk, are you ready to go?” Josh asked, opening the door for his cousin.

“Seven bags, fully loaded,” Josh announced and motioned at the pile for the others to help carry.

“Why don’t we just stay here?” Elise asked, not moving with the rest of the group as they started for the door.

“Take a look at what’s behind me,” Josh said, nodding towards the four zombies stalking the street. “And there’s more coming from just down the road. Lucky for us they’re slow. But to be safe, I don’t think we should wait around for too much longer.”

“Plus, there’s no food, too many windows and we’re on the main road,” Katrina added. “That’s too much to counter for. We need to find a better, more secure area where not a lot of people would flood.”

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