by Brent Abell
The general looked at the carnage spreading out before him, and satisfaction filled him. He vaguely remembered others doing the same thing on his orders when he was alive. He watched the car skid to a stop and attempt to get traction in the gore and body parts under the wheels. Harris pointed to the car when the engine died out. He mentally barked the order to kill them in the language of the undead.
***
The engine roared to life when Jason tried it a third time, and Victoria breathed a sigh of relief. He turned on the wipers in an attempt to clean the blood from the windshield so they could see what their situation was. When a small area was clean enough, they watched Harris point to the car and screech something to the remaining horde. The undead who survived the car formed a circle around the car and moved in.
“I’m sorry about everything,” Victoria whispered.
“Look, it’s okay; the world was due to end anyway,” Jason made light of the situation.
Victoria tried to smile; to make the guilt fade, but all she could manage was a sigh.
“Watch this,” Jason said, putting the car in drive.
The car hesitated for a moment as the tires spun in the bloody mud. The summer had been dry, so the ground greedily lapped up the warm liquid. A mix of dirt and blood spun from under the wheels until it finally caught purchase and jerked forward. The car lurched forward and ran through the first three zombies rushing them.
“The exit’s clear!” Victoria pointed at the front gate.
Jason put the gas pedal to the floor, and it shot off for the makeshift gate. Bodies fell to either side as the Jetta cut a path through the undead. Victoria watched the zombies gaze blankly at them. Some milled around the concession stand, and others picked at the corpses on the ground to feed their insatiable hunger. She thought of Middletown and if this is how her cousin, Rex Ross, ended his life. She hoped he died in the bombing of the town because thinking of the alternative sickened her.
Jason looked over at her and smiled as Harris grew smaller and smaller in the rearview. She returned his smile and turned back to the window. The world around them turned from the packed festival of the damned to the burning highways. Cars littered the roadway, and people ran on the shoulder away from the festival grounds.
“They wanted the end of capitalism and all the hang-ups that go with it,” Victoria mused.
“Hippies,” Jason chuckled.
“Ironically, they got what they wanted,” she replied.
“Is there a cure?” Jason asked pointedly.
Victoria turned her arm, overexposing a bright red set of teeth marks. Blood trickled from the wound, but it didn’t appear red or inflamed.
“Holy fuck, when did that happen?” Jason said, slamming on the brakes.
“It was long enough ago that I should be a zombie by now.”
“How?”
A few zombies shambling on the highway noticed the car and moved toward them.
“Maybe something from my time at Xen,” she shrugged.
“We need to get you to somebody, like the CDC or some shit.”
“We just need to go,” Victoria said and rolled the window down.
“Where?” Jason asked, heading back on the highway.
“I know a place,” Victoria said.
“Tell me.”
“Promise me one thing.”
“Anything.”
“I want you to show me your skills on the mike,” she replied.
Jason nodded and continued driving down the road, following her every instruction for how to get to the safe haven.
Click…
This is Jason Keller broadcasting from the Survivor’s Underground Network. If you can hear me, we are the last station on the air, but we bring you hope. The infection has been going on for three months, and we have good news to share; we may have a cure. If you can hear this broadcast, head to the Catskills, and find our camp. It is safe and secure. We have weapons and food. We can end the war against the undead, but you have to find us.
Good luck…
Click…
Afterward
Victoria and Jason aren’t finished yet. As you can tell from the radio message, they found the survivors and are working to build a place where people can thrive again. General Harris may have other ideas, however. The original plan was to continue the story in the Middletown Apocalypse anthology series, but I believe it is going to change into something else. The story will continue. I’m not sure if it will be with a series of novelettes or with a second omnibus. The Phoenix Virus isn’t finished with the world quite yet, and we have more places to go and people to meet.
Until next time we meet,
Brent
Hidden somewhere in a bunker during the plague, May 2020