“Dad! Are you okay?” Steve asked, staring at his arm.
“I’m fine, but he bit me on the wrist.”
Steve stepped back in disbelief.
“I need you to listen, Steve. Get in the RV with your cousins and go.”
Steve reeled, his mind working faster than his mouth.
“Don’t say anything, let me finish. Just start driving. I don’t know where you should go, but stay moving.”
“You’re coming with us, right, Dad?” Steve asked, swallowing a dry throat. Tears formed in the pits of his eyes.
“You know I can’t. Whatever this thing is, if you’re bit, you change.”
“But Dad…”
“I know it’s hard, son, but you have to go. I’m going to stay behind and see if I can save anyone else.”
“No, Dad, maybe it doesn’t happen to everyone. Come with us. Maybe we can reverse it or something.”
By now, Steve had rivers running down his cheeks. Even Tom fought back tears.
“You have to go son, and now. Before more come!”
“But, Dad,” Steve whimpered, stomach dropping with every second.
“Go now, damnit!” Tom ordered, firing at an approaching infected.
Steve threw his arms around his dad and squeezed tight. Words couldn’t do justice. Both felt the love and squeezed back tighter. All their fights over Steve’s future had been washed clean. All of their hurtful words, gone. Right now the only thing that mattered was love. Their last goodbye.
“I love you so much, Dad!”
“I love you, Stephen. I am so proud of you. I always will be. You are going to make a fantastic writer someday. Now go.”
Steve was speechless as Mike jumped from the RV and pulled him back.
“Mike, get your brother out of here.”
Mike nodded, exchanged his own “I love you,” and asked no questions. As Steve was dragged back, he didn’t blink. He saw his dad run over to the counter and grab a loaded Springfield rifle and blast at everything.
Collin shouted a lonely goodbye to his uncle and hopped in the driver’s seat. The RV peeled out of the driveway and onto the road. Steve’s eyes stayed glued to the window, until the house was out of sight.
They weren’t sure of what was happening or what to do or where to go. But onward they went, not stopping for anything.
They left a gruesome battle scene behind them.
They left their family.
They left home.
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Survival Instinct: A Zombie Novel Paperback Page 78