“The hell you think you are doing, looking at my truck?” He was angry and he had a gun. The loud noise was his warning shot and now it was pointed at my chest.
“I’m sorry, dude,” I said as I started to back away.” We didn’t know there was anyone around it. I thought that it was abandoned.” I raised my hands defensively, as I backed up toward Rose.
“You were planning on stealing it, weren’t you, you little bitch? I know your type.” He was walking towards me as quickly as I could back up.
“Dad,” Dumpster boy piped up, “They are just girls. Stop being such a hard ass.” I looked at Rose, who was obviously elated to have been called a girl, and then back at the gun still pointed at my chest.
The boy walked over to his father and put his hand on his arm. The man was still breathing hard and his eyes didn’t leave mine, but he put the gun down.
“Name’s Cage.” He put his hand out for me to take and smiled a dazzling smile; I forgot my name for a minute. “That’s my dad, Trent.”
I found my voice; although, it sounded strained. “I’m Cassie, this is Rose. What are you doing in there?”
“Looking for supplies,” he said and grinned again. “Pops here is a regular MacGyver.”
Rose looked back and forth between the two strangers. “Doesn’t the Kelmart have everything you could possibly need?”
They exchanged a glance like that was the first time they had thought of that, and I had to fight a chuckle that hung in my throat.
“Where are you going to go in your truck?” I asked, purely out of curiosity. I was a little relaxed, thanks to Cage’s rescue, and leaned back on the side of it.
“Somewhere for us to know, and…” Trent started to be rude again; I could tell by the way he was looking at me, but Cage cut him off.
“Would you two like to ride with us? We are going to find a safety camp like they have been talking about on the radio. Hopefully, we will find my mom there.” He smiled again, and I felt instantly relaxed.
Trent looked very angry with his son, but he didn’t say anything. Something was exchanged in the looks they gave each other and Trent went back over to the Dumpster. Having a second thought, he turned back to us.
“I am going to see if there is anything worth taking in the Kelmart; you watch that they don’t steal the truck, Cage.” With one last menacing look in my direction, he took off inside the store.
I had a chance to take in Cage’s appearance at that point. He had sandy brown hair and green eyes that were staring right at me. I let my eyes travel down his T-shirt and noticed that he filled it out nicely; I stopped my eyes from going any lower and looked back up at him. I noticed the edges of a bite mark poking out from the neckline of his T-shirt.
“You’ve been bitten!” I didn’t even think as I rushed forward and pulled his T-shirt sideways. I revealed a long gash that seemed to be spreading from the bite towards his shoulder.
His green eyes flashed angrily, as he jerked away from me and fixed his shirt back.
“What’s your problem? You can’t just grab onto people you don’t know.” He was yelling at me and I backed away from him.
I was embarrassed at how forward I had been and stared at my feet. His dad rushed out of the Kelmart just then, fully loaded with two cans of hornet spray. He was holding them pointed at us, ready to spray.
“What’s wrong, son? I heard you yelling.”
I didn’t know what hornet spray would do to me, but I figured it wouldn’t be pleasant. Cage’s green eyes burned into mine. “Nothing, Dad, I was reenacting the attack for them, complete with sound effects.” He smiled at his dad, who rolled his eyes.
“Alright, everyone in the truck,” I noticed he had acquired a backpack full of goodies while he had been inside. I wondered what all he deemed necessary besides hornet spray. He seemed resigned to taking us with him rather quickly.
“Hang on; we have supplies to take with us.” I ran inside, quickly grabbing our backpacks and the blanket we had used, running back outside and grinning at Trent. He rolled his eyes and climbed into the driver’s side as Cage climbed into the passenger side. I was next, and then Rose. I was practically on top of Cage and we were in very tight quarters. I hoped that he didn’t mind.
“Three hours to safety,” his Dad said, as he peeled out and we were on our way. At least we weren’t walking anymore. I figured I could go along with them to find their family member and then convince them that we all needed to head to Atlanta to the CDC. I was convinced it was our only hope, but what did I know?
Chapter 10
He’s Different
When we pulled up to the safety camp, I noticed there were a ton of cars in front of it. Checking my watch, I saw it was three o’clock in the afternoon. The building was an old factory of sorts and it looked to be pretty decrepit. We all got out of the truck and watched as Trent crouched low to the ground and observed the scene. Seeing nothing dangerous-looking, I figured we were in the wrong place. The quiet was kind of eerie and I wondered if some of the slow walkers were inside the factory, waiting on unsuspecting prey.
Trent ran around, looking at all of the cars, and I shot Cage a questioning look. “He’s looking to see if the church van my Mom was in is here.” Of course, they were still trying to find someone. I had to keep my mind on my ultimate goal, but I hoped Cage could find his Mom. I hoped she was still among the living and uninfected.
I watched Trent survey the situation and couldn’t help but wonder if he had been in the military. It was highly possible he just adapted to the environment to save himself and his son. Cage reached out to touch my arm. His fingers sent shockwaves through my arm and I told myself it was because I wasn’t expecting it.
“Let’s move, gang.” Trent signaled us forward and we started to walk towards the building. After about two stops, a bright red light powered up and started to move over us. It scanned us, from our heads to our feet, and a voice boomed out from the building.
“Go away, zombies. We are prepared to fire.” Zombies. Was he talking to us?
“Release the civilian or we will shoot.” The voice sounded threatening and stopped us all in our tracks.
Cage looked over at me, concerned, and then back at his father.
“We are all civilians; we request permission to enter the safety camp,” Trent yelled back at the voice, but I wasn’t sure that they could hear him.
“The three companions you keep are infected, sir; therefore, you are the only civilian. They have deceived you and we will end them, if you would just move out of the way.”
“That’s my son; he is not a zombie, you son of a bitch.” Trent was beginning to get desperate. I began to wonder how long the people in charge had known about the infection if they could scan us and tell the difference.
“We will tell you again, sir. Step away from the zombies, or be on your way.”
Trent went down onto his knees and looked dejected. He started yelling again and there was pleading in his voice.
“You must have the cure for this infection; please let us in. Please help my son!”
I looked at Cage and realized why his dad had been hell-bent on getting to the safety camp. He thought that they would be able to cure him and that was Trent’s only thought. My heart wept for him and the love that he had for Cage. I knew that he would not go into the camp without him.
“Dad,” Cage came up behind his father to touch his shoulder. “You can go in to safety; the walking dead won’t mess with me, because I am practically one of them.”
“No, we will find another camp with a little bit more compassion!” He put all the emphasis on compassion and flipped the building off as he turned back to the truck. “Let’s go.” He added something quietly, under his breath, “Your mother isn’t here anyway. The van isn’t in the lot.”
I wondered how he could possibly know that she wasn’t there. Anyone could move a van, or it could have traveled back to find more survivors. Cage’s mother could very well be inside,
and if Trent wasn’t so stubborn he could be inside with her.
As we climbed back into the truck, I became aware of a couple of things. The zombie thing was bigger than any of us had thought, and they were using the term “zombie,” which was surreal. How many of our kind were there. What type of lights could detect a zombie virus? I had so many questions, and I was full of anger at the fact people knew about this and did nothing to stop it.
We drove on in silence, for what seemed like hours, when Trent decided it was time to set up camp and pulled off the side of the road. I realized now why he took such precaution with others being around when we stopped. They would want to feed on him because he wasn’t infected yet. I hoped that he could stay that way. I especially hoped he could stay that way around the three of us, because it would be awful if one of us bit him.
My mind flashed back to biting Brett and I groaned out loud. Cage walked around in front of me then, giving me a strange look.
“What’s the groaning for?”
I blushed, and thought of something quickly. “I was just stretching from being in the truck too long.” He must have bought it because he didn’t ask any more questions.
Trent built a small fire and cooked some Spam that he had gotten from the Kelmart. Spam had never tasted as good as it did that night. I was starving, and could have eaten anything. I was relieved that food tasted good, and I didn’t have a craving for flesh. I flexed my injured hand and noticed it was getting stiffer. This probably wasn’t a good sign, but I kept it to myself. We all told the stories of what had happened when we were attacked.
Trent and Cage had been out shopping for hunting clothes when the attacks started. They hadn’t been able to get home to Evelyn, and had it on good authority that she had headed out of town, on a church van, to a safety camp. They weren’t sure which one, but both Trent and Cage were adamant about the fact that she was still alive, and they would find her. They had fled the sporting goods store when a half- eaten man had come running through the sweat pants section. Thankfully, they already had their guns in the truck. Cage described, in great detail, some of the zombie killing they had managed.
“I cut his head off and then stabbed him through the eyes several times. We didn’t know how to kill them, and I wanted him to stay down.”
They had come up from Georgia and happened to end up in Panic, NC, digging through the Dumpster at our local Kelmart. I hoped they wouldn’t mind back tracking to head back down to Georgia.
Rose’s story was similar; her husband had been missing for a day and she was getting worried so she went out to find him. She found him standing in the parking garage where he worked, just staring at the wall. When she got close enough to him that she could see him well, she saw that his skin was gray. Not sure what was going on, she had called his name. He turned on her and lunged at her as she tried to run away. He had sunk his teeth into her leg and she had beaten him with a nearby trashcan until he let go. As she was running away again, he grabbed her arm and ripped it open. That, finally, explained the blood that was on her sleeve. She said his strength was amazing, definitely inhuman. She had fled and went into town and that is where I had found her.
“Trent, where are we?” He looked up and glanced at Cage before he answered me.
We are three hours out of Panic, heading toward the coast. There is a possibility the church van had to take the long way around. When we head back, we are going to take that route and then head back to Panic looking for the van. If it was stopped anywhere between there and home, we will find it.”
We all had to make up some sort of bed to sleep on. Cage let me have his sleeping bag and let Rose have his pillow. He was going to sleep in the truck. I thought that was very sweet of him. My watch read ten o’clock, but I was exhausted. I tried not to think of the pain that the infection was causing me. When I was as comfortable as possible in the truck bed, I drifted off to sleep, looking at the stars.
When I woke up the next morning, it was hard to believe it had been four days since that crazy man had showed up in the window of my classroom. Trent and Cage were talking quietly in front of the truck and Rose was still asleep. I pulled out a granola bar from my pack and munched on it. I, finally, decided Rose should get up so I shook her. As she sat up and stretched, she grimaced like it hurt her, and I assumed it probably was a combination of sleeping in the truck bed, and her muscles were getting stiffer. I wanted to ask Cage if he was experiencing the same thing, but there never seemed to be a good time for it.
Shortly after we woke up, it was time to get on the road again. Cage decided to drive to give his dad a break from it. When we were back on the road, he proposed we play a game. Trent grumbled his displeasure with this suggestion, but we all laughed when Rose suggested a game with license plates. With hardly any cars for miles, that would be a pretty boring game. I thought back to when I was a kid traveling with my parents and suggested we play a game that I had played then.
“You say something that starts with the letter a, like apple. The next person says your word and then something that starts with the letter b. When you mess it up, you are out, and then the remaining two battle it out until the end. I’ll start. Apple, now Trent you go.
Trent looked thoughtful, “apple, baboon.”
“Good, now Rose.” The game went on for a while and came to a momentary standstill when Trent drew a blank on a word that started with q.
“Koala, no wait that’s a k,” I laughed until I looked over at Cage. He looked like he had seen a ghost and the color had drained from his face. I didn’t know what was wrong until I looked up ahead and saw what he did. It was like a junk yard in the middle of the road. There were different cars that had run into each other, doors ripped off, and blood splattered on the insides of windows. The cars had been waiting to get off the exit, and looked like they were either attacked or people started turning. The reason Cage looked so upset was because in the middle of all of the wreckage, turned on its side, was a church van. It said Clark Methodist Church on the side, and below it in smaller letters it said Duluth, GA. It didn’t really make any sense to me why there wasn’t a safety camp closer that they could have gotten to, but I didn’t ask. I just waited for Trent to see the van.
“Pull off here, Cage.” His voice was calm, but monotone. Cage did what he was told and pulled onto the side of the road. Trent jumped out of the truck and ran to the van. He examined the inside of it, while Cage gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. When he had walked all the way around it, and climbed in and out of it twice, he returned to the truck.
“Go into town; she’s there.” Cage didn’t hesitate as he pulled the truck back onto the road and drove around all the wrecked cars to the exit. It took a while for him to actually maneuver onto the road we needed because of the vehicular graveyard. No one said anything. I was thinking, if mama was in this town, she certainly wasn’t still living.
Pulling into the little town, I read the sign, Alexander, NC. At least this town had a normal name. I wasn’t sure if that could be taken as a good sign or not. It was deserted like most towns and eerily still. We still had our stash from Kelmart, so we didn’t need to stop anywhere for supplies. I wasn’t sure how they were going to go about finding Evelyn, if she was there.
Cage drove slowly; he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see her. We were going down a road that appeared to be the place strip malls went to die. There were many littering the sides of the streets, and they all had broken windows, and trashed parking lots. Cage started to slow down as a woman came walking down the street. She was moving slow, but not slowly enough we could be sure of her life status.
As he approached her, his facial expression turned from confusion to shock. “Ms. Whiteside?” He slowed the van down to where it was rolling so that he could see the woman approaching the car. The side of her shirt was ripped so we could see a gash in her side. If I hadn’t started to get used to seeing these terrible injuries, it might have made me sick. She wa
s a thin woman and not much taller than I was. Her brown, short hair was matted to her forehead, but her face remained intact.
"She was in my mom's church group." Trent was also staring, in disbelief, at the woman. She was close enough now to tell she, was indeed, among the walking dead, and probably needed to be run over.
They were still staring in disbelief and I realized this must be the first time this happened to someone they knew. They had only seen the stranger zombies. Just then, a loud bump can from the truck bed. We all looked around to see a hippie looking man punch through the glass and grab onto Trent. The fresh blood around his mouth suggested he had eaten recently which, to me, meant there might have been some survivors here, but not anymore. Trent yelled as the man's nails dug into his shoulder, tearing through the blue t-shirt and drawing blood.
The man had long, blond hair matted with dirt, blood, and who knows what else. He was groaning, loudly. Finally, the realization that we were under attack snapped Cage out of it. There were more slow walkers coming at us now. It all happened so quickly, and they were moving faster than some we had seen previously. The shattering glass showered over me, from the passenger side window, as another re-animated body tried to get to Trent.
As he slammed into the woman previously known as Mrs. Whiteside, she disappeared under the truck and we bumped over her. The people trying to get to us, through the window on the side, were dragging along with us, as he was able to punch the gas. We needed to lose them, and the guy in the back still had his clutches on Trent. Trent was screaming at us to get him off, and Cage was driving, swerving around cars and debris in the road. Nothing was throwing him from his position, as he frantically tried to pull Trent, one-handed, through the back of the truck.
"Take the wheel Cassie," Cage yelled over the groaning and yelling.
Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) Page 91