The Zombie Chronicles - Book 4 - Poisonous Serum (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series)
Page 17
“I get it,” I said. “The roads are just too bad. Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go get our new vehicles,” I said.
“My thoughts exactly.”
Nick handed me the keys. “Once we make our way over there, you wanna drive?”
I smiled, gripping the keys tightly in my hands. For the first time in my life, my brother was giving me the respect I deserved. We packed up and grabbed supplies, then found the vehicles Asia and Kate parked on the edge of town for a quick getaway.
The sun shined as rain sprinkled lightly. As I walked through the abandoned town, down the crumbling sidewalk, something caught my eye. A tiny flower had sprouted up from the crack. How could something so beautiful grow in this post-apocalyptic world? When everything was dead and ugly? And then Mike’s words flashed across my mind: Never give up hope.
“Will you look at that?” Val said. “Is that amazing or what?”
I glanced up at the blue sky and smiled at the rainbow to the left of us. I somehow knew we were going to make it. We just had to. Gripping my keys tightly, I jumped into the SUV and buckled up. My heart raced as I started the truck. We would be leaving this town soon! I pulled into the parking lot of the court house. That was our designated spot to leave from if anybody wanted to join us. Within an hour, a trail of cars lined up behind us. I was thankful it wasn’t as big as before. Once the scientist arrived in a white sedan, we took off.
I didn’t even look back as I took an alternate route and sped out of the city.
Rainbow or not, we still had to face an ugly reality. Nick had secretly packed rope and chains in the trunk. Nobody wanted to admit it, but we had no idea if Val, Claire, or Jackie would morph into something nightmarish, and we needed to be prepared. Some of the group went their own way, scared that if they changed, one of us would shoot them. Others decided to stay in the nursing home because they thought it was safe against the average zombie. Others scoured the neighborhood looking for transportation because they were more than willing to follow us. The human-to-hybrid conversion seemed to take place at different speeds, so I hoped we could get to the lab before it happened to our girls. Time wasn’t on our side, that was for sure, but I prayed to God that nobody would have to endure that.
All I knew was that we’d rescued Claire, everyone in our group was safe, I had my sister, we’d killed the hybrids, and—perhaps best of all—I had Jackie, my girlfriend.
I punched the gas, and nothing had ever felt better than driving away with a carful of precious cargo—the people I loved most in the world.
End of Installment 4 – See cover below for book 5.