It was complete chaos. Cars were ramming into each other, and people running over others whether it was with wheels or shoes. Getting out of this place was going to be hell and near impossible. "Why are people attacking each other?" the little girl asks me. Luke and I look at each other, not sure what to say.
"The world is ending," the little boy responds. I put my hand on my head and groan. "What are your names?" Luke asks. Not only was it a terrific distraction we desperately needed, but it was also a great question.
"I know what you are trying to do," the little boy responds. "Just answer the question," I groan. It takes him a while but he finally says, "Nate and my sister is Lilith,"
"Well, Nate and Lilith, we are in a difficult situation," Luke pauses but doesn't finish as Nate quickly interrupts him. "People are eating each other. It is not a difficult situation, it's an impossible one," None of us knew how to respond to that. The problem is he wasn't wrong. There was no fixing this. Life as we know it is falling beneath our feet right now.
Luke opens his mouth to say something when a car quickly swerves in front of us. It was a big truck that would have killed us had we run into it. "Brace yourselves!" Luke shouts as we swerve off the road and into a light pole.
I look in the rearview mirror to see the kids holding each other and Kookie. I hold onto my seatbelt and brace myself for the impact.
~~
I open my eyes but my vision is blurry. I hear groans and snarls surrounding us and the smell of gasoline taints the air. The smoke makes it difficult to breathe and I have a huge headache. My head rests on the airbag that must have activated upon impact. Drops of blood scattered the white cloth. I look over to my left and see Luke still unconscious in the driver's seat. I try to lift my head but my body feels like lead.
I opt for taking my seatbelt off instead. Without moving the rest of my body, I lift my right arm to reach across my torso and press the button to unbuckle myself. "Are you alive or dead?" a trembling voice asks me from behind. "Nate...are you...okay?" I ask in short breaths. I hear a sob escape his lips. "We are okay,"
Kookie crawls to the front seat and licks my face. I lift my left hand to push him away. "Stop it boy. I'm fine," I look up to see the pole we crashed into still standing. It was our car that was wrecked. The bumper caved into the car and we were sandwiched between the board. I force my body to sit up. The windows are shattered and I can still hear the screams of people running away from the infected. Tons of vehicles looked like ours, tattered and wrecked.
The infected run past our car in chase of more victims. "Luke," I say as quietly as possible but loud enough so that he can hear me. He doesn't respond. I lift my hand to his neck to feel a pulse. A sigh of relief comes out of my mouth when I find one.
I look outside the window to see more infected running around. If we didn't get out of this car it would blow but if we went out now we would get caught up in the stampede of the infected and humans. But at the same time, if we stayed here we would die for sure. At least we have a better chance outside.
I turn to the side and try to open my door. It slightly opens but gets jammed. I whimper in distress. I angle my body so that my head is toward Luke and my feet are on the door. I retract my legs and give the door five hard painful kicks before it bursts open. I shuffle out the car door and crawl to the driver's door, trying to keep myself as low as possible.
I make it to Luke's door and pry it open. I leave the door slightly ajar and open the door to the backseat. I don't talk and instead, gesture to the kids with my hands. They hesitantly get out of the car. Kookie jolts to my side. I pat his head and open Luke's door again. I take his seatbelt off and drag him out of the car. I ignore my body's ache as I continue to drag Luke by the arms.
The kids stick close and hold each other. They look around with fear. I look at the store across from us and it looks remotely empty. The lights are off, the windows are intact, and the door doesn't have a lock on it.
"We are going to go to that building," I point at the jewelry store across from us. Nate nods his head while Lilith sobs on his shoulder. Luke was a very heavy and very muscular man. It would take me forever to get him across and the chances of getting by unnoticed are slim to none. I needed to bring our suitcase full of food and Kookie's dog food. I lay Luke on the ground and go into the trunk through the backseat. I pull the seats down and drag the suitcase out.
I go back into the car to get Kookie's food when Nate tugs on my pants. I look back and see him pointing. I look at what he is pointing at and see three infected sprinting at us. They would be within range in two minutes. I hurriedly pull out the dog food and suitcase. "I need you to drag this," I tell the kids. I give them the suitcase and give Kookie his dog food. "Bite," I tell him.
Our past training doesn't fail as Kookie does what he is told. I grabbed Luke's gun and holster. "Drag," I tell Kookie. I drag Luke, Kookie drags his dog food, and the kids drag the suitcase across the street.
We attract more attention as we make ourselves open. Three infected turn into ten. "Faster!" I yell. The kids dash across the street and put the suitcase in the building. The first two infected reach us. I pull out a dagger on stab one of them in the head. The other tries to tackle me as I withdraw my knife from the previous infected's head. I duck and the girl tumbles over my body. I stab her head while she is on the ground. I don't wait for the rest to catch up as I continue to drag Luke.
The kids reappear and Nate helps me with Luke while Lilith helps Kookie. It doesn't speed the process up much but they were brave to come back out here.
We make it to the door when the rest of the infected reach us. The kids open the door and I hurriedly drag Luke in. Kookie comes in after me and we shut the door. I move Luke and the dog food to the side before I open the door again. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" I hear when I open the door. I stab the first infected and kick the second one. Another one launches itself at me and I stab it in the throat.
While I am in the process of killing one of them, another one tackles me to the ground I wrestle with it. He chomps his teeth and bares them at me. His breath is disgusting and his body starts to fall apart in my hand. Flesh from his previous victims still hangs from his mouth. Bile rises in my throat but I fight to hold it in.
The infected's flesh gives out and my hand slips from his arm. His jaw shoots for my shoulder but I roll over. Before he has a chance to get up, a dagger cuts through his head. I see Nate shaking above the infected's head. I don't dwell on the fact that he saved my life, instead, I return the favor by stabbing the rest that was behind those three.
With no more infected chasing after us, I go back into the shop. "No, you can't!' I hear Lilith say. I see her standing in front of the door with her hands spread wide. I enter the shop and close the door. "What the hell is going on?" I ask. "These bad guys were trying to lock you out but I won't let them," Lilith says with tears in her eyes. My heart warms at her actions but I focus on the problem at hand.
"You're going to get us killed! You were crazy enough to open the door for those monsters!" says a guy who looks to be in his mid-thirties. It was hard to make out his features because it was so dark. "Her friend might be infected," a female voice arises somewhere in the back of the store. The guy points his axe toward Luke. I whip out my gun on point it at his face.
"Touch a hair on his head and I'll kill you,"