by Evans, Mike
Philip screamed, “Who else is up for getting a new truck? There’s only a few thousand who no longer have got a use for them right? Lets just cut our loses and get out of here. We can just leave man.”
Tim walked around the side of the truck the Turned was having issues using it’s arm. Tim could see that its elbow had been shot and was no longer making it functional the bone was sticking out the side of its arm. Tim aimed true seeing the elbow and screamed to the rest of the men. “You’ve got to shoot them where it counts or you’re just wasting your fuckin ammo!”
Cedric yelled, “Yeah we get it Tim we need to shoot them in the head or they won’t stop.”
Tim shook his head no. “We won’t always be able to hit these things in the head. Especially with these damn shotguns.”
Cedric screamed, “So what the hell are you trying to say, get to the point before this damn thing tries to kill us…..again”
Tim pulled the trigger the first blast sending a half inch slug through its knee. It buckled and fell to the ground. For a moment the men looked at it as less than invincible and more like a man. When it growled and pushed up with it’s one good arm remaining trying to balance itself Tim fired again blowing through its spine crippling it. It tried to squirm on the ground. When it did Tim walked up pulling the pistol from his pants as he approached it and put one final shot through its skull.
The other three men walked around slowly to join Tim and get their first good look at one of the Turned up close and personal. They stared at it in awe for a moment looking at it’s arms. It’s muscles appeared to bulge from it’s skin. When it’s leg twitched the three men jumped back a foot each using one more bullet firing it into the things skull.
Tim watched smiling trying to hold back a laugh. “Hey guys I think that they, are or he or it whatever the fuck you call it is dead.”
Philip nudged at it with the barrel of his gun. “Hey you think that they are going to be able to cure these things?”
Cedric said, “No I kind of think that this one is a lost cause.”
Philip looked at the brass and shotgun casings on the ground. “We are gonna need to really start saving our ammo.”
He did some visible math on his fingers as he did he fired up a smoke losing count and having to start over again. The men waited thinking something useful would come from it. He said, “Man we are going to need like a lot bigger truck.”
Tim shook his head looking at his pickup. “Nope, we don’t need a bigger truck we need a damn bus.”
Tim was the only one not laughing when he said this. Eric said, “And where do you want to get a bus from?”
Cedric cut in, “There’s a high school five blocks from here, we are going to go there its a no brainer.”
Tim shook his head no, “Yeah I kinda think the schools a death trap to try and go to. I do appreciate how close it is to us but.”
Cedric walked past jumping in the ddriver’s seat. “But nothin get in every minute we waste here is one more we might have needed for something else. Those surivial centers might open up soon. If we aren’t there in time maybe they ain’t gonna let us in.”
Tim climbed into the passengers seat reluctantly. I think there’s a reason that all those people were wearing the shirts for school.” He waited a three count giving the men the benefit of the doubt that they were all on the same page. He gave up and pointed out to them, “Christ I might be better off alone. The shirts the goddamn clothes these freaks running into the streets for us were coming from the school’s welcome home rally. So I fear that they might still be wandering around there.”
Cedric pumped up his chest gripping the wheel tighter and turning the truck over. “Hey my wife was one of them. Don't be calling them a-”
“Cedric what would you call someone trying to rip your throat out and eat it?” Tim yelled back in frustration.
Cedric thought about this and as he thought of more to say he realized the fact that the growling was not the trucks engine He held up a finger to keep quiet there ears were ringing from the gun shots but even over the ringing echoing in their ears he knew that deas was on its way. Philip screamed, “Hey it sounds like those things are near, like really near!”
Eric and Philip climbed into the back and Cedric slammed it into drive screaming, “Hold on it’s gonna get a little bumpy.”
When Cedric pulled from the backyard back over to the driveway he punched the gas hard. The engine responded and propelled them down the short driveway. Tim screamed slamming his hand on the dash. “Take it easy on the gas that bar don’t make me rich!”
“Well what the hell does that mean damn it!?”
“It means this trucks a piece of shit and if you over work this damn thing we’re going to be on foot and were going to be screwed.”
Cedric let off of the gas and pulled into the street turning a sharp right ready to head to the school in the quickest route possible. Eric and Philip who were holding on with everything they could with their one free hand, saw the approaching horde of Turned running their way. The gunfire had been as good as a dinner bell to the Turned. Eric and Philip screamed “LEFT LEFT TURN LEFT CEDRIC!”
Cedric who was already turning right saw what the men were screaming about and the bloody mob approaching. He yanked the steering wheel to the left bringing the truck up to full speed. Its left side went into the air and when the tires hit asphalt again he gunned the engine. They raced up the hill every knowing every second could mean life and death. They put as much distance as they could and made their way to the side of town where the school was located at.
Tim yelled through the back window, “Philip you see anything back there?”
Philip shook his head no and realized no one could see him doing that from the trucks cab. “No Tim I don’t see anything now. I think we are in the clear.”
Eric yelled, “Are you stupid man? You don’t ever yell dumbshit like that out when things are going well.”
The rest of the way to the school they had driven slowly without any further issues. The men were thankful that they hadn’t any further run ins with the Turned. As they drove through the residential sections of homes they began taking in the carnage that had been taking place the last few days while they had been holding up at Cedrics and collecting supplies from the homes around it. They saw the cars had been either parked and left open with blood trails heading into homes or in some cases people had never made it inside and there had not been enough of the people attempting to escape to be Turned. In some yards bodyparts simply littered the yards. When they thought the ride would be uneventful was when windows behind them started to explode. The men raced out of the residential neighborhoods the Turned bloody and hungry raced madly after them. Philip screamed, “What the fuck is going on, where are these things coming from?”
Eric yelled, “Dude they’re in the houses! I think it is the noise that attracts them.”
Philip said, “That’s stupid” He raised the rifle waiting for a patch of road that did not make him bounce wildly in the back of the pickup truck. He sighted in on the closest of the Turned and fired a string of shots taking out many of the Turned, their fallen bodies fell to the ground and tripped the the other pursuers behind them. With every shot it seemed that more of them came from nowhere.
Eric tapped him on the shoulder, “Dude if the sounds aren’t bringing them then why do more come out every time you fire that gun.”
Philip realized as little as he wanted to that he was right and quit his slew of firing. He knew that the one he was taking out was not worth the five that he was getting in chase in return for his actions. Eric said, “If we’re gonna do this regularly we are gonna have to figure out a way to do this quietly. I don’t know how were going to handle this.”
Philip said, “Well we sure as hell aren’t going to have a lot of time to figure shit out are we?”
Eric leaned back shaking a couple smokes free and passed one to Philip. “The biggest problem I think besides you know the entir
e world going to shit. There isn’t a way we can just kill these things easily.”
“I know but at the same time what if they can cure them?”
“Philip if they are trying to eat me, well then I think that i’m ok with some of them not being cured if it’s going to be a do or die situation.”
The two nodded both in silent agreement that they would definitely be survivors regardless of what they needed to do to make that happen. They kept the firearms down and because of it they saw no more Turned after they had put enough distance between the following horde.
As they approached their final turns they could se the school from a distance. Cedric parked the truck taking his field glasses and scanning the schools grounds. He saw the buses that they were praying for to be in running and ready condition and his hopes faded. Cedric counted the three buses that the school had seeing they were either crashed on their sides, burned, or a combination of the two. All appeared to have been painted in blood recently, the brushes were bodies and they’d been left on the ground beside it torn to pieces. The blood painted the ground as well.
Tim tapped Cedric on the shoulder, “So hey man, how does it look?”
“Like hell.”
“That’s not very useful Cedric. I was kind of wondering if we could go down there without….you know having our heads ripped off.”
“Sorry but there are bodies everywhere that are missing heads and limbs. I’ve never seen so much blood in my life. We can go down there i’d say whatever was there has moved on. But those school buses are shot, I don’t think we could even repair the damn things.”
Tim snapped for the binoculars wanting to see for himself to verify they were in a state of disarray and truly wouldn't be useable. After he got his look he had wished he’d have just taken Cedric’s word for it. He had seen seen horrible, horrible things during times of war but those memories that at times were his worst nightmares would have to fight these scenes for his attention during his sleep. “Yeah those buses are screwed, you got any other ideas?”
Philip poked his head in through the window. “Hey you realize how much food is probably in there right? What I mean is are you sure that you really want to pass up on all of that? We could at least attempt to go and get it right.”
Eric said, “Dude we don’t have anywhere to put it. Did you forget about us needing the bus? That was like the whole point in us coming here.”
Philip sat back thinking of all the food they were temporarily passing on. He had forgotten about needing the bus but would be damned if he was going to mention the fact to any of his friends. “I’m just saying when we get a bus it might be a good idea. Isn’t there a veterans home around here?”
Tim yelled, “Well we sure as hell aren’t taking the veterans bus if they have one there. There’s an orphanage on the edge of town. Hopefully they are far enough away from town that they are ok.”
Philip laughed coughing out smoke, “So sorry, you’re saying no to taking a vets bus, but yes to stealing from a bunch of kids?”
“Yes and we’ll just leave them there and put them out of their misery, seems like the right thing to do afterall.”
The three men stared in awe at Tim who finally cracked a grin, the first one he had, had in a few days. Eric said, “Dude kinda a dark guy we can’t just go shoot a bunch of helpless kids man.”
“I’m kidding, we should probably check on them anyways. I’d forgotten all about the place honestly. I’m sure if anyone else had still been alive that they would have forgotten about the kids as well.”
Philip said, “Yeah but if they are alive what are we supposed to do with them? They aren’t our responsibility to take care of.”
Tim twisted in his seat giving all the men a look to remember. “Lucky for ya’ll that i’ve got this truck and took you with me. you know even though you weren’t really my problem to deal with when those….well whatever the hell they are came after us.”
Cedric nodded, “Alright, alright, so you dud usa huge freaking solid favor and we appreciate it, but who knows how many kids are out there. We don’t know how to take care of that many kids, do you?”
“Cedric i’m going out there with or without you it’s my truck and I hate to be like this but just because the worlds going to shit don’t mean i need to become a shithead as well.”
“Hey wait did you just call us pieces of shit?” Eric said.
“I don’t know Eric it kind of depends on what your answers are going to be. We can do something great and help or we can worry about oruselves and.”
Cedric cut him off, “For god sakes would you shut up. We all know that we aren’t going to go leave those kids to die. Of course if you’d have had a horrible memory maybe we wouldn’t be needing to drive out there and you could have thought of a bus located somewhere with way less baggage to pick up because of it.”
He put it into drive and the four headed out of town and straight for the orphans the Turned they’d seen had been in farmer’s fields. The only part of the Turned they could see visible were torsos hanging out of the cows carcasses. The sight was enough to make the men’s stomachs turn. When they pulled up to the gates it was not a sight that they’d been hoping to see.
Cedric pulled to a stop away from the building, all of the men stared in awe at the scene in front of them. There were children age five, up to adults that must have been counselors. The van that had the school’s name on it was flipped on its side and covered with blood and gore. The windows were painted with welcome home messages across the windows. No one had to say it, they’d all realized that some of the kids had probably been offered ice cream and a trip to town to go and welcome home the girls at school. There was probably a contest with pictures being drawn, or names being picked for who got to go, smiling gleaming happy faces sitting dressed in school colors for the short ride.
Tim saw the school bus parked half in the garage and smiled before trying to think of if he could or not do anything to the Turned. He was pretty sure that he’d be fine with shooting the adults but the fact that there were kids brought in a entirely new aspect to things. Philip said, “So this is like now the new worst thing that i’ve ever seen. What are we going to do about the kids? They could be treated, or cured per the news.”
Cedric said, “The news is just telling people what we want to hear, to keep people calm, if there’s a cure, it ain’t coming anytime soon.”
Eric said, “So you’re trying to tell me that you are ok with putting the rounds of that rifle through those kids’ heads?”
“Those kids are more interested in eating us then a cure. I’m not saying that we go out of our way to shoot them, but yep if they come after me. Trust me the last thing that the world wants is for me to be one of those things man.”
Tim said, “Don’t worry, if you get bit i’ll make sure and keep you from turning. I promise that I won’t let it happen.”
“Is that suppose to make me feel better?”
“Just start driving up there, and let’s see what we can do. Hell for all we know all them are infected.”
The men made their way up the driveway slowly trying to keep from gaining the Turned’s attention. Something they all knew that they weren’t interested in having any part of, but knew it wouldn’t last for long. They were hopeful that the Turned were fighting to get in the orphanage only because there was a strong chance that it meant someone was still alive. As they circled around Eric jumped out of the back followed by Philip where they went into the garage looking for the keys to the bus.
When he found them Eric brought the giant vehicle to life and backed it up across the yard to the side of the orphanage. Cedric hit his horn one time and gained the attention of everyone of the Turned. He drew them away from the building while Eric and Philip pulled up next to the main entrance to the building. Philip kept a watch while Eric ran up to the doors. “Open the doors, come on, do it, anyone alive in there damn it?!”
It took a moment just as Eric was beginning to think th
ere wasn’t anyone alive when from the opposite side of the door he could hear items being moved that had probably been in place to keep the door secure. It took a few minutes but a pile of teenagers came out of the small building each of them carrying everything they owned in a backpack. Eric said, “Any of you bit?”
To which one of the teens replied, “Hey old guy did we rip your head off when we saw you?”
Eric nodded and thought how he could remember being such the smartass himself. Philip was sitting at the wheel and as the last of the teens ran on to the bus Cedric had begun to circle around. The speed he lost when changing his direction was all it took to give the chasing mob of Turned the upper hand. They engulfed the truck piling on top of it twenty or more of them each of them drunk with the idea of the meal that was on the inside of the vehicle. Tim fired through the roof and front window but it was to little to late and each of the two men knew that there was no hope for them. The windshield instantly had hands punching through it. The safety glass spider webbing and making it hard for them to reach in all the way. Their mouths bloody and angry were chomping unsure how to get around the glass. They started smashing their faces on the windshield out of frustration as others started reaching in from the car door windows.
Tim and Cedric fired everything they had into the mob but it was of little gain to them. The hands that were coming through the windshield pulled it from it’s place and dived into the cab. The two men screamed in horror cursing their certain fate as mouths gripped tightly onto whatever piece of flesh that they could. They brought large and horrific chunks of skin and bone away. Blood squirted out from the cab covering the bodies who were fighting to get a bite of the warm meal. Philip and Eric sat stunned seeing the men that they had known for so long now gone. Eric said, “What do we do now?”