by Bell, A. E.
They were able to pass through the outer limits of Gillette without difficulty. They had not seen an infected since Tommy’s wife. It felt good to be able to relax a little bit finally. Evie hoped that maybe it would be smooth sailing from here on out.
Seven deliriously boring hours later, Evie saw signs for a state park in South Dakota. They had only taken short stops to let Cinnamon out and to gas up. Evie turned to Creed, “Can we please find a place to park the RV and chill for the night? I need a break from riding, and I’m sure the kids do as well.”
Creed sounded annoyed when he let out a deep breath and replied, “Sure, Evie. I mean we are on a family vacation, right?”
Evie fussed at him, “I know this is not a fucking family vacation, but I need a break. Do whatever the fuck you wanna do. Don’t stop, I’ll just sit here miserable.”
Creed knew it was futile. If he didn’t concede, she would be hell to live with. He pulled into the state park. It was dark, but he was able to find a place to park the RV. They didn’t see any other campers, but it seemed to be a large park. Cinnamon was the first one out the door. He made sure to mark every tree surrounding their little camping area. Creed told the kids, “I’m going to search for firewood. I guess we can roast hot dogs for supper. We might have some marshmallows, too.” The kids all started cheering.
Creed started walking into the wood line to start looking for branches to start a fire. Ollie called to him, “Dad, let me come with you.” Creed gestured for the boy to come along. They hadn’t had any alone time since all of this started. Creed had taken the kids into the woods all the time, so the strange noises of the night did not affect the boy. Ollie walked around picking up sticks to help his dad. They could hear the occasional owl hooting in the night, but Ollie stood still when he heard a pack of coyotes howling, that sounded like it was very close to them. He knew that ordinarily, coyotes did not attack humans, but that did not stop him from having a healthy amount of fear.
His dad sensed Ollie’s fear and motioned for the boy to come closer to him. Creed tried to calm Ollie, “It’s okay, I’m not going to let anything happen to you. They are further away then they sound. We’ve got just about enough branches for a small fire, let’s go on back to the girls.” They started walking back to their campsite, and they heard Cinnamon going nuts again. They both took off running towards the campsite. When they got back, they saw Sylvie and Cassie backed up against the RV. Evie and Cinnamon were in front of them. Evie had her shotgun raised, and Cinnamon was barking and growling at something in the woods, but they couldn’t see what it was. Creed ordered the kids back into the RV. “Evie come on we need to see what the hell that is.” It was so dark inside the woods that it was difficult to even see with their headlamps. They saw an animal run in front of them and then they heard branches behind them. Within seconds, a pack of wolves had surrounded them. Their eyes shined bright yellow with the light from the headlamps. Creed fired off three shots at one of the coyotes while Evie was shooting at another one. They were both able to wound a coyote. The other coyotes ran off. There was now two coyotes lying on the ground yelping in pain. Creed walked over to them and put a shot in both of their heads. He directed Evie, “We have to pull them away from camp, we don’t want any animals coming to feed near the RV.” They each dragged one of the coyotes off further into the woods.
When they got back to the RV, the kids were all gathered in a corner waiting for their parents to come back. The dog was standing guard in front of them. Creed reached down and patted Cinnamon on the head, he wagged his nub and licked Creeds hand. Sylvie asked, “What happened out there? We were scared to death.”
Evie attempted to reassure them, “Honey, it’s okay. There were just a couple coyotes, but we have nothing to worry about it we scared them off. Plus, we are getting ready to have a campfire, and you know they won’t come close to that. Let’s get us some marshmallows and hot dogs roasting. I’m starving.”
The kids followed their parents out the door. Creed started the fire, and the kids gathered around it. Evie had sharpened each of them a stick. The kids took their sticks and started roasting their hot dogs. They slowly became more comfortable and eased into the fun of having a campfire hot dog roast. They all laughed and told stupid jokes. Creed started to tell a scary story, but Evie put a stop to that right away. She whispered, “Creed, these kids have lived through scary stuff, they don’t need any scary stories before bed.” He seemed annoyed at first but then realized that she was probably right.
It was getting unusually cold outside. The fire wasn’t even enough to take the chill off. Evie said, “Come on, we need to get inside, it’s getting awfully cold out here.” She herded the kids off to the RV. “Y’all lay down and get some sleep. We still have a long way to go before we are home.”
She grabbed a couple of blankets, went back outside, and snuggled up next to Creed. She looked into his blue eyes and kissed him on the lips. He passionately kissed her back and stuck his hand up under her shirt and started rubbing her breasts. She let out a small moan of excitement. He knew that moan all too well. It was the one that told him she was ready for him to ravage her. He lifted her top and started gently kissing and licking her breast. He started sucking on her nipple. She arched her back in pleasure. She whispered to him, “I love you.” He kept licking and sucking on her breasts. He raised back up and started licking her neck, then kissing her on the mouth. She pushed his head down, “Lick me, make me cum.”
He came up for air, “Honey, you have to be a little quieter, or you will wake up the kids.” She laughed because she knew it was true. He licked her until she came. Then, she pulled him up towards her, “I want to feel you inside of me. Fuck me, please. Fuck me.” He had to oblige.
After they were finished, he joked, “I wish the zombie apocalypse had started sooner.” She patted him on his beer belly.
They laid outside a while longer under the blankets. Creed had drifted off to sleep for only a few minutes when Evie nudged him awake. She pointed up in the sky. He no sooner looked up then a snowflake landed on his nose. He loved snow, but this is not what he wanted to see. “I was hoping we would make it home before the snow started.”
Evie just sighed, “I know babe, let’s go on inside.”
They both quietly crawled inside the RV, trying not to awaken the sleeping kids. Cinnamon lifted his head to see who was coming in, when he saw who it was he just laid his head back down. They both laid down. Evie was a light sleeper so they knew she would wake up if anything happened.
A few hours later, they heard a light tapping on the door. Evie jumped up, shotgun in hand. She looked out the window and saw a young couple standing at the door. She woke up Creed, he grabbed his 9mm. She went to open the door and Creed was standing alongside the door with his pistol drawn. As she opened the door, the young man asked, “Is that any way to welcome guests?”
Evie bluntly replied, “Given the current situation, I would say it’s the only way to answer a door to complete strangers.”
He snickered, “I guess maybe you are right.” He looked over at the woman with him and said, “You could learn a few things from her.”
Evie finally just blurted out, “So, why are you here and what do you want?”
The man acted annoyed, “Is your old man around?”
She thought to herself, he obviously doesn’t see the pistol a few feet from his ignorant ass head. She spoke, “Well, yes, my old man is around. But there is nothing he can answer for you that, I can’t.”
Creed could tell by his wife’s tone that she was getting ready to go from zero to psychobitch from hell in about two more seconds. She was a good woman, but she wasn’t one to put up with any chauvinistic bullshit. He came in front of the door and acknowledged the man and woman, “Hey there. Is there something we can do for you?”
The man answered, “Yea, I think I have offended your old lady.”
Creed was a little surprised at his response, “Well, if you hadn’t before I’m
pretty sure you just did.”
The man said, “I’m sorry, I truly didn’t mean anything by it. That’s just the way we talk. My name is Trevor, and this is my wife, Tracy. We are parked a few hundred yards from here, and we're just taking a walk. We saw that your license plate was from Kentucky and we are from Ohio. We just thought we would stop and say hello.”
Creed lowered his 9mm and stepped outside. Evie followed him but had no intention of lowering her shotgun. She didn’t like this guy at all and she sure as hell wasn’t going to lower her guard for him, just yet. Trevor looked over at Creed and asked, “Do you think you could tell her to lower her gun?”
Creed laughed, “Buddy, I’m gonna give you some friendly advice. Please don’t ever assume that anyone can tell my wife to do anything. She’s not one to take orders.”
Trevor apologized, “I’m so sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean to offend you. Can you please put your gun down or at least point it in another direction?” Evie didn’t say a word, she just slowly lowered her gun towards the ground. The man breathed a sigh of relief, and so did Creed.
Creed, Trevor, and Tracy all sat down by the campfire that only had a few glowing embers by this point. It wasn’t until then that Creed had noticed the ground had a light covering of snow and flakes were still falling. Evie stood by the RV door with a disapproving look on her face. She didn’t like this guy, and it was going to take more than a half-ass apology to get back in her good graces. The scowl on her face made that fact quite obvious to Trevor.
Creed was the king of bullshit. He never saw a stranger. It was one of the few traits that annoyed the piss out of Evie. They would be in checkout lanes at Wally World or Kroger, and he would start randomly talking to the person next to him. Evie would stand in line with her resting bitch face on, pretty much like she was doing towards Trevor at that moment.
Creed asked, “Where are you from in Ohio? What are you doing in South Dakota?”
Trevor answered, “We are from a small town called Conneaut. It’s in the northeast corner of the state. We were on I-90 headed towards California when all hell broke loose. There was a group of people attacking people on the interstate. We lucked out, and there was an exit close to us. We took it and finally found this place. We just got here about an hour or so ago.”
“What do you mean people were attacking people? Do you mean they were eating people? Or actually attacking them?”, Evie asked.
“No, they weren’t those biters. They were attacking people with guns and weapons.”, Trevor continued, “Stealing all their shit and then leaving them for dead.”
Creed was growing increasingly concerned, “Which way were they headed?”
Trever answered, “They were headed East, down the West lane. The traffic was all stopped for some reason, and they were going car to car taking what they wanted.”
Evie was still not convinced that these were good people, “So, you called the infected, biters. Have you seen any of these biters?”
Tracy finally joined the conversation, “Yea, we left Conneaut because Cleveland and Erie had become overrun with them, biters. I have family in California, so we thought maybe it was better there. If I’m gonna die, I would rather be with my mom and dad. Hopefully, we survive until then.”
Listening to Tracy speak about her family was the first time that Evie started to let her guard down. Evie knew that a young lady that appeared to be in her early twenties would naturally want her mom and dad if something scary like this ever happened. Evie still did not like Trevor and would probably never trust him. He reminded her of someone from her past that hurt her very badly many years ago.
“Have y’all been able to get radio or internet since you been on the road?”, Evie asked Tracy.
Tracy responded, “We were able to for the first day, but the next morning we woke up, and there was no internet and only spotty radio. They said on the radio that this infection was started in New York City, Miami, Cleveland, New Orleans, and Seattle at the same time. They said North Korea took credit for it.”
Trevor chimed in, “Them chink mother fuckers, I always knew those fuckin communists would eventually attack us. You just can’t trust none of them slant eyes.”
Trevor was doing nothing to help Evie’s opinion of him. She just rolled her eyes and tried to ignore his ignorance. Creed smirked and winked at Evie. He knew that at any moment she was going to go postal on him. One of the many things, he loved about his wife, is that she was very open-minded and her one major prejudice was towards close-minded assholes.
Evie continued directing her conversation with Tracy, “Have you all seen many of the infected?”
Tracy replied, “We’ve seen several. There was a cluster of them outside of Des Moines. That’s how we ended up this far north. We’ve seen a few small clusters since then, but the one in Des Moines looked like there was about thousand of them things. People were all abandoning their vehicles and running for their lives. Then there was a huge explosion in downtown Des Moines. The biters all started turning around and walking towards the explosion, but a lot of the people were killed by them, biters. I’m so lucky cuz Trevor has kept me safe this whole time.”
Evie wasn’t about to give Trevor any credit, so she ignored the last part the girl said altogether. She looked up and saw six eyes staring down at them from the RV. She said, “Creed, we have some little nosey butts in there.”
Creed yelled, “Come on kids, you can come out if you want.” They all jumped out and started playing in the snow with Cinnamon. They were curious about the guests that had shown up, but still too shy to come up near the strangers. Ollie and Cassie played tag while Cinnamon and Sylvie played fetch. Occasionally the ball would fall at Creed’s feet, and he would throw it far off near the woods. Cinnamon would let out a happy sounding bark and run and chase it. Creed focused a lot of his attention towards the kids, but Evie kept her attention on Trevor.
It was quite cold outside, Creed decided to start a fire. Trevor mentioned, “That fire could draw the attention of others and bring them this way.” Evie silently wondered if that’s how this couple found their way to them.
Creed responded, “It’s cold out, and my kids want to play a little while before we take off. I’m going to give them every opportunity to do so, it’s a long trip to Kentucky.”
Trevor seemed surprised that they were going to be leaving, “Are you not worried about those people that are attacking others?”
Creed was quick to answer, “We stay off the main roads to avoid people like that and unfortunately, I doubt that they are the last people with bad intentions that we will face. The only thing that I know for sure is that the world has gone to hell and it’s been a long time coming.”
Evie interjected, “I am no more concerned with them than I am with you. The one thing that is clear to me is that all people have the propensity for violence. Take me for instance, all it would take for me to become violent is a threat against my family.” She doubted that Trevor was quick-witted enough to realize that she was directing that comment at him.
Trevor voiced more concern, “That’s too bad, we were thinking of staying here for a day or two before we take off again. I think it would be a good idea for us to all look out for each other.”
Creed apologized, “I am sorry, but we have to get on the road. Things are only going to get worse, and I want to be home when that happens.”
Cinnamon ran off, and Creed ran after him. When he caught up to him, the dog was standing at the side of a small lake, drinking water. Creed picked up a rock and skipped it across the lake. He decided to gather the children and try to catch some fresh fish for breakfast. He had never fished when it was snowing but had many friends that had been successful at it. When he made it back to the campfire, he could sense the tension like a thick fog. Evie seemed only to be speaking with Tracy. Creed yelled, “Hey kids, I found a lake. Do you wanna go fishing? With any luck, we can catch us some breakfast.” The kids were yelling out in excitement.
Trevor said, “If you don’t mind, I will come with you. We can let our old ladies sit and chat.”
Evie couldn’t take it anymore, “If you do not quit referring to me as his old lady, I’m afraid I will have to point my shotgun at you again and ask you to leave. I am no one’s, old lady. If your girlfriend chooses to let you address her that way it’s on her, but you can bet your fuckin’ ass that it will be the last thing that you do at this campsite.”
The younger man stood there in complete shock. It was obvious that he wasn’t quite sure how to respond, so he didn’t. Creed laughed and said, “Come on, dude, before my wife decides to follow through on her threat.”
As they were walking towards the lake, Trevor asked, “Why do you let your wife act like that?”
Creed scoffed, “Dude, seriously I don’t let my wife do anything. She’s a bitch, and that’s what I like about her. I can’t imagine ever being with a woman that did what I told her. If you were ever with a strong woman, you would understand.”
Sylvie and Ollie cast their fishing poles into the lake. Creed called to Cassie, “Come here, girl. I will let you use my fishing pole.”
She ran up to him and whispered, “I don’t know how to fish.”
Creed said, “No worries, I will teach you. All girls need to learn how to hunt and fish. If you let me, I will teach you both if you want.” She nodded to him. Trevor stood on the side of the bank about five feet away from the family. Creed helped Cassie cast her line. She looked up with her big brown eyes and smiled. He couldn’t help thinking she was adorable because she was missing one of her top teeth. He remembered a few years back when his kids were that young.