The truck ride had been rickety and Kelsey was in shock. Everytime she blinked, she saw her moms dead eyes staring at her hungrily. She remembered Bethany's hand reaching out to her begging for help. That one bump in the road. Kelsey wanted to hand over Colby, lay down on the floor of the truck, close her eyes, and never wake up. This couldn't be real! Just that morning everyone had been laughing and eating breakfast.
She could almost hear her mom giggling at her dad's lame attempt at humor. she could just about see her dad smiling down at her, as he snuck a bite of bacon. She could hear her baby brothers gurgles in the background, as he tried to understand what was going on around him. She could almost imagine seeing her older sister talking on her cell, to their moms utter annoyance. She had been in a good mood. The whole family had been in wonderful spirits for once.
There was no typical sibling rivalry from Amber. No yelling up the stairs to hurry her arsenal up because she was late, by her mom. No dad sneaking into the room with a great burst of "Good morning sunshine." followed by a cold rush of ice water to wake her up. It had been a beautiful morning. And it was gone. She didn't even know if Amber or her dad were okay.
Her sister had called, just before the game, to say she would be late and traffic was a bitch. It had been okay with Kelsey because her sister was COMING! She loved her elder sibling to death, even though they were four years apart and Amber found her utterly annoying. At fifteen, Kelsey was looking forward to it all, including the soccer championship and the trophy she had been set on winning.
It had all, in her dad's words, Gone to high and out shit. She wondered if her dad was okay. Was he alive? He hadn't been able to come, because work called with a new job offer; one he'd been waiting for.
He'd been dressed, and off to the campus at Highland University. He was a history teacher with high hopes for an English teaching position. Was he okay? Did he and Amber find each other? Kelsey looked down into the face of her baby brother. How was she going to tell them what had happened to her mom? She wanted badly to be in her bed, to be back in that morning again.
How was she going to take care of her brother until she found her dad and sister? She gazed back out the window. The lady next to her had her eyes on the road, and knew she was looking for safety, but Kelsey didn't think anywhere was safe anymore. Hardly aware of their surroundings, she knew they were in the parts of town her mom would've rolled her windows up and locked the doors. Which never happened, unless the store close by had been closed for whatever reason. Of course then she would have made sure to set the alarm to go off, turning the sensitivity up to what Kelsey liked to call, Moth-Wings-Alarm.
The alarm was so sensitive, it would go off even if something as small as a bugs wings, brushed by too close. There was plenty of times they'd walked out to the alarm going off, discovering it hadn't been a break in, just a cat getting frisky with the car. Other times it would be a dog finding the car a good, marking-my-territory, spot. Kelsey snuggled Colby close. She kissed his bright head. That's when she felt a bump and blood spattered across the windshield. The lady cursed under her breath and turned the windshield wipers on. The blood wasn't fast to disappear, in fact even when they could see out it, there was still blood on the sides fighting strong to stay on. The women gave up when it wouldn't go away completely and just turned it off. There was flesh stuck in one of the wipers.
Kelsey looked out the window and saw a street overflowing with people. Didn't they know how stupid that idea was? They were trying to pack into a small store. Didn't they know they were pretty much turning themselves into bird feed? Too each his own, she supposed.
"Well at least the apocalypse has one benefit." The lady said, but Kelsey didn't think she realized she'd spoken out loud. Kelsey didn't mind, she just looked back out the window. She thought of her mom back in the park, that time between bite and breakdown had been unreal. Had her mom known what she was doing? Had she even been aware of her body or surroundings? Kelsey knew she had, at least until she'd been smacked. Her mom had figured something was wrong and wanted her to go. Kelsey was glad she'd run, just sad that it had been away.
She thought of her sister again wondering where she was. She couldn't help, but think of worst case scenarios. What if Amber had been amidst the worst part and died in the process? What if one of those things had bitten her and she was now roaming around as one of the dead? What if her dad had been attacked on his way to work, and was suffering horribly?
She felt her brother stir uncomfortably, his diaper full of pee, so she began humming Everything Will Be All Right by Sir Elton John, to him. It was the baby's favorite song. The knowledge was gathered, only because he calmed down right away whenever it played. Kelsey felt hot tears falling down her face and made no move to wipe them away. Tears didn't help anyone with anything, but they were there, so that was that.
Kelsey hummed as they passed many streets, her brother fell quietly asleep in her arms. He had small bubbles of spittle fall down his baby cheeks and she used the blanket to wipe it away. She loved her brother and she would make damn sure he was safe, even if it killed her which she wouldn't admit scared her terribly. Kelsey didn't know where they were anymore, she didn't care as long as they were safe. She needed to feed and change her brother soon. It was the one thing she had been happy to learn. She loved feeding her little brother while he fell asleep. It was a surprisingly relaxing time for her.
"Kristys." She heard the women whisper.
Looked like maybe the women did have a place in mind. The street sign they passed by read 12th street. Wonder were they were going? As they came up to a street sign that read 14th street, she heard the women curse and drive them over to the front of an old apartment building. The lady looked around outside, seeing if any of the creeps were out and around. She must've seen nothing because she put the Ford in park and turned it off.
The women had a plan, Kelsey could see it, and it was even more obvious when she started searching for something. Kelsey came to the conclusion, that she was looking for some kind of weapon. She opened the compartment in front of her and her face lightened up slightly. She pulled out a pen.
Beggars can't be choosers, Kelsey thought.
The lady turned to Kelsey and she opened her mouth to speak. "I need to get out, I'm going over to that building," the women pointed to the front of the old looking apartment. The sign was an old one spelling out Oakland. She continued speaking, "I know a women who lives here, this might be a safe place to stay, for the night at least. I can't get in without talking to her first, so I need you both to stay in the truck, I need you to duck down and stay quiet. I don't want any of those Bone-Daddies to see you and get hun--well you just need to duck down."
Kelsey had looked at her face to face. It was the first time she got a good look at the women. The lady had beautiful eyes, they looked soft like honey and the color was unique; hot chocolate with flecks of green mint. Her face was tanned and strong with a tricky pixie attitude to it. Her hair was dark, almost black and trimmed to frame her face.
"I promise I won't be long, just sit in here. I'm going to lock the door and leave the keys in here with you. If for whatever reason, I don't come back, take the truck." She said.
She looked like she wanted to say more, but instead she nodded and turned. Pausing only to look around she looked reassured. She headed out the door. Kelsey stayed up in sight, only long enough to see if the lady was let in. She had the pen at her side, her grip was slightly shaky, like she was squeezing it really hard. It seemed like the lady was arguing with someone quietly. The more time dragged on she could see the women getting edgier. She glanced around every once in a while, then her head snapped around like she'd hear something.
Kelsey had started to feel on edge too, and wished to be inside safe. It took about three minutes, before she'dâ seen the door open. The lady looked back at her one more time, she made hand gestures. She was telling her to be quiet, keep watch, and keep low. She'd finished with a bright smile, then disappeared inside, leaving Kelsey alone with her baby brother and the breeze outside.
Now that Kelsey was alone, she had a horrible gut wrenching feeling. She felt like at any moment those things would come to break into the truck and eat her alive, like Bethany. She could almost hear Karma whisper in her ear, that she could have saved Bethany if she'd just been faster. If only she had gotten to her sooner.
It'd been maybe five minutes since the women, whose name Kelsey remembered she didn't actually know, had gone inside. Kelsey was nervous. She was cradling her brother to her, praying that everything would be over soon. She caught herself holding her breath, and had to take in a lungful of oxygen, to keep from passing out. She was absolutely terrified. With her brother to protect she felt so weak. At fifteen, she looked much younger and was constantly called a shrimp. Right now she would bet a shrimp on a plate being served with sauce, was less scared then she was. Even on a fork about to be chomped on.
She mused, thinking that any shrimp on a plate right now, was probably not being eaten. The people who'd been about too, were probably slaughtered where they sat. Kelsey felt weird realizing she was thinking of shrimp. She heard something outside the door, and her heart sped up. It was so loud she was having a hard time listening over it.
Would you be quiet, she had thought, I can't tell if that was footsteps or not.
She felt her brother move around in his sleep. She decided it was okay to hold her breath. She listened intently to the noises outside. It had sounded like someone shuffling out there, but the question was, were they dead or alive? She was hoping for alive and terrified of dead. She heard a small moan. Was it from a breather? She lay silent.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. Kelsey nearly peed her pants and was just barely able to stifle a scream. Who was it? THUMP. She heard. Was that a hand pounding on the door? She wasn't about to look and find out. One good thing about being small, was she could fit into smaller spaces. She'd backed up as far as she could into the shadows of the truck floor. The doors were fairly high, so she had high hopes no one could see if they looked in. Unless they were right up against the window. She wished the windows were dark tinted. Another THUMP, Had her praying to every god or goddess in the world.
Please God. Please Buddha. Please Jesus. Please Aphrodite. Don't let us get found!
There was no more thumping, and Kelsey almost sighed in relief. Then she heard yelling in the distance. It was kind of faint, like someone out of breath. It was getting closer, and she could tell now what was being yelled.
"Please let us in! Let us in! Oh God I don't want to die!"
Preaching to the choir dude, she thought. The voice was louder and closer. Too close. What if he tried to get in the truck? What if he tried taking the truck? His commotion had to be attracting the wrong kind of crowd. She started chanting. Go away, go away, go away. The voice outside was almost to her now. Shut up at least!
"Is anyone alive? Dear god help us!" To her surprise she heard the second voice, another guy. "Would you shut the fuck up bro, your gonna get us killed out here!"
She thanked the guy, when the mans yelling ceased. Now if only they'd pass her up? She was about to relax more when she didn't hear either voice for a few minutes, until she heard something bad. Something was wrong. Something had gone very, very wrong.
"Whoa! Oh shit dude, RUN!"
"He's a big one!"
"Dude!"
There was some kind of shuffling noise.
"Oh God Bo!"
She didn't know what happened, but suddenly she felt the truck lurch up and down, hard. Someone was on the roof. And they were making way to much noise. Her heart almost stopped. She heard loud crunching and male sobbing. She could only assume the dead had gotten one of the men. She covered her mouth hiding a gasp. Then male sobbing came from the roof, and it got worse when she heard the guy on the ground scream.
"Brice! Oh it hurts! Please! No more, no--!" It was cut off with a horrible loud scream and liquid gurgles.
The man was dead. The crying above continued. It sounded like he was trying to cover his mouth up, and be quiet. Like Kelsey herself. She started silently begging him to go away. If he stayed up above her, there was a chance her brother and her, would be found. She felt a tear silently drip down her cheek.
"Maybe they'd eat him and leave her and her brother?" She felt selfish and insensitive thinking it.
It went deadly quiet. Then she heard it. No. There was more then one. The guys friend was no longer one of the living. She wanted to yell at the man. Scream in his face for putting her baby brother in danger. She started a new chant in her head. Saying it over and over.
They won't find us, they won't find us, they won't...
She was cut off by a giant WHAP on the passenger side window. She looked up, into a half eaten face. She couldn't hold back the scream now. To make it worse, her brother woke up and started crying. Kelsey became petrified. She ascertained the guy above swearing, as he heard her brothers cries. Kelsey felt like she had no choice. Shooting across the seat, she honked the horn. It made a loud HONK sound. They guy cursed again, she saw a foot shoot out and kick the dead man, breaking his nose to the side. He groaned, not noticing a thing and continued forward. The man kept kicking it.
Kelsey heard a SMACK. It sounded like it came from the bottom of the passengers side door. Which meant, this undead guy had leg problems.
"Sum-bitch!" The guy above her screamed.
The dead man had almost pulled him from the roof. She honked the horn again. Where was the lady? Had she lied and gone in where it was safe? Was she abandoning a small baby and teenage girl, to a fate almost worse then death? Another tear slid out and down fast, Kelsey became frustrated. The chick had also taken the only possible weapon!
"Damn her!" She thought holding her brother close.
She rocked with him in her hands, praying for mercy when she heard the biggest BANG, ever. She looked outside. She saw the lady walking out of the apartment. She had a gun in her hands. She was followed closely by a slender blond women with a menacing sneer. The gleaming murderous look in her eyes, gave Kelsey a strange feeling of hope. The giant machete looking thing in her hands, gave her relief. The cavalry was here! The man above must have heard the shot, but he was to busy kicking at the dead guy, to say anything.
They must have hoped the gun shot would distract the dead from the truck, but it didn't work. They could see lunch right in front of them, and they didn't want to give up their prospective meals.
The blond women came around the truck yelling at the guy up on the roof. "Cover your ass and balls son, this is gonna be a doozy!"
She heard two more BANGs and the dead guy standing, started sinking down. She saw his half face go from snarling and hungry rage, to gone and dead, for good. The blood had propelled from his mouth, spitting on the window leaving, smears of red and green-yellow ooze behind. Kelsey didn't scream. She puked. When she saw it was safe; and that was after the blond women had hacked the other dead guys head off, she unlocked the door. The women helped her out. The five of them, the young man included, ran into the apartment, slamming the door shut behind them. The run inside wasn't strenuous, but they were gulping in air like they were drowning anyway.
"Whooie! God damn that was a freak show! You weren't joking! Got him in the goddamned heart. That fucker didn't go down, til' you blowed his head off!" The blonde was breathing in and out excitedly. The dark haired women looked at her friend weirdly.
"Your a psycho aren't you." It wasn't a real question, more of statement but the blond took it as a compliment.
"Well in view of our newly reformed friendship, I thank you deeply." The dark haired women said.
"No telling what that ruckus might have attracted." One of them said.
The blonde started up the stairs talking to herself about blood and guts and the wonders of slicing. The guy who had been on the roof was pale, and looking like he was going to be sick. Kelsey looked at the dark haired women who smiled and nodded toward the stairs. She followed the blonde up. Her dad was right again, it had indeed gone to High and out shit.