On Our Own

by Silver, L. D.

  Then there’s the rich part. She has a tan chest of drawers with a TV on top – a TV, for goodness sake! – and what looks like a satellite receiver. Next to that is a tan desk with a laptop and two large flat-screen monitors, with school books piled next to the computer. I notice that the books all seem to be science-oriented – again, she’s smart.

  “I’m almost done,” she says, and shuts down her laptop.

  “Do you want to bring that?”

  “No, too heavy. I’ll pick up a new one wherever we settle down. I’ve got everything important anyway.” She holds up a silver thumb drive.

  “Okay,” I agree as she leads the way out of the room. At the last moment, I take a picture off her chest of drawers. Cassie’s sitting on a chair with a big bright smile, and a man and woman stand behind her with smiles to match, one hand from each on her shoulders. I remove the picture from the frame and slip it into her backpack when she’s not looking.

  I know from experience that it’s easier when you can remember what they looked like.

  Chapter 25

  I love driving a car. I love the freedom and the power. I love how you push down the pedal and the car responds to you.

  I really don’t know why Cassie is screaming.

  Okay, she’s not yelling but she’s definitely buckled up and scrunched in her seat. She looks tense.

  “I’m just having a little fun, okay?”

  “Watch the road.” She points in front of us as I swerve. I smile the whole time.

  It was my decision to take the car. We’d been riding along on our bikes and there it was, in the middle of the road, door open and inviting. Someone had left the keys in it. Cassie said it probably wouldn’t start, and I’d agreed with her – I mean, I would have left it running while I went to go do whatever – but they’d nicely shut it off before they ran away, and they never returned. We fit the bikes in the trunk (okay, tied the trunk down) and took off.

  The nice thing about the pretty country road is there are only a few abandoned cars. Occasionally we hit little pockets of car clumps, sometimes with the vehicles spread willy-nilly across the road and sometimes with all of them parked nicely to one side.

  Every now and then I drive past a car that’s all on its own; usually with blood-streaked windows. That makes me a bit sad, wondering things like how close had they come to getting out? Where were they now?

  The ones with zombies trapped inside are an easy story to figure out.

  I slow down a little and stop voluntarily weaving all over the place to give Cassie a break. She sighs and slowly relaxes as she starts to trust me.

  “Hey, Cassie, could you get my purse?”

  “Sure.” She reaches in the back and pulls it into her lap.

  “In the front pocket is a thumb drive. Go ahead and plug it into the stereo, please.” I motion to the USB port on the front. She plugs it in. I turn on the stereo and fill the sedan with the sounds of Lady Gaga.

  Cassie whoops and we both start car dancing. What the heck; no one can see us. She rolls down the window and puts her hand out, letting it hang in the breeze for a while, and then doing that up-down wave swoop thing.

  I smile and whoop, too, doing my little car dancing thing while still maintaining control of the car. The sun is shining, the bright blue sky is dotted by white fluffy clouds, I’m warm and driving a car, and there isn’t a zombie in sight.

  Life is good.

  #

  I went on a trip like this with my mom once. That was the first time I got to drive. Things had been so bad at home, and it felt so good to get away from all of that, to get out into the bright sunshine and just drive. It was great to drive away from the troubles, and to be in a special place where we got to do fun and special things because we were on vacation. Oh, and how good it felt to have Mom all to myself, talking about books and movies and food, and fun times in her life, and fun memories we had.

  I remember just hanging out with her, just like Cassie and I were now, and enjoying the moment.

  I didn’t enjoy the trip back as much because I’d learned that my life was changing forever. My mom and dad were getting divorced, and Dad and Mike were moving out to California.

  Everything gone, everything changed, but at least we had that bright moment in the car under the sun.

  The next morning I wake up slowly, comfortably warm under a light blanket on the backseat. I don’t move, really; I just kind of open my eyes and take in the world. I feel safe and good, surrounded by the soft gray of the fabric covering the seats. The windows are cracked open a bit to let in fresh air, and just past them I see a bright blue sky without any clouds at all.

  I also see a zombie shuffling slowly past the car.

  Chapter 26

  I open my mouth in shock but manage not to gasp. It hasn’t heard me, and since I didn’t move it hasn’t seen me either. God, please don’t let Cassie wake up.

  My eyes flick to the front to see her in the passenger seat facing me with her eyes wide open. I know from her expression that they are walking past my side of the car, too.

  Dear God, we’re in the middle of a slow-moving zombie parade.

  In horror, I watch as more and more pass. A man goes by with a huge flap of skin hanging from his face, exposing the muscle beneath. After him is a woman in a flowered sundress, looking steadily forward, with a baby carrier strapped to her back. It takes everything I have not to move, not to scream, as the baby in that backpack turns its head my way and grins, its cracked green eyes glowing and no other sign of the virus visible. I can’t see how it died. It turns its head in the other direction and they pass on while my heart jumps in my chest like a panicked rabbit.

  God, it would be so much easier if I could just close my eyes, but they might see it. Under the blanket, I clench my fists and I feel a bit better.

  A male zombie in a formerly white tank top walks into the side of the car, rocking it a bit, and I bite my tongue to keep from screaming. His slack face turns to the car, his disinterested face that would grin as it tore my body apart. I can feel his teeth on me; I can hear my screams fall on his deaf ears as he tears me apart.

  Oh, God. Oh, God, please get me out of this. Please get us out of this.

  I blur my vision and try to just ignore everything. I try not to think about the unfeeling death moving around us like a pride of lions, so close to their prey without even realizing it.

  Would the car be able to protect us? Can their fingers fit through the small breach left by the open windows and use that leverage to break the glass?

  Are we like Twinkies just waiting to be opened?

  Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.

  Oh, God, what if they bunch up? What if a mass of them try to pass us by?

  See, I can’t even breathe deep and slow this panic down. If I could just shut my eyes… Okay, I’ll try to just think of something calming, or happy.

  But oh, God, if I do that I won’t be ready to leap into action if they do attack. Crap. Okay, if this goes down, then I’ll scramble as fast as I can into the driver’s seat and get the car going. It’s small but surely it could mow some of them down, enough to get free, right?

  Under the blanket, I wriggle my hand into my jeans pocket. It’s a tight fit and I can’t move around. Slowly, slowly, I manage to get my fingers into my pocket and pull out the keys.

  Thank God. Okay, I’m ready and I have a plan. May my soul find my family and loved ones if this doesn’t work out.

  Chapter 27

  Thankfully, I never have to put my plan in place. I don’t know how long it lasts, but eventually the parade thins and then stops. I wait for a long time after I see the last one, trying to make it like maybe twenty minutes or so, but odds are it’s really only five minutes.

  Eventually, I sigh and look at Cassie. Her eyes are closed and one hand is on her forehead.

  “Cassie?” I whisper. “Cassie, are you good?”

  She opens her eyes and takes a deep breath just like I did. “Yeah, I think s
o.”

  “I’m gonna come over the seat and get us out of here, okay?”

  “That sounds good. Just don’t go wherever they went.”

  “Yeah.” I grin. I climb over the console between the seats and settle into the driver’s seat. I put the key in the lock, place my hands on the steering wheel, and I feel in control again. No adult ever mentioned to me the feeling of power and dominion you can get from driving a car.

  Once we’re going, I raise all of the windows from the buttons by my left arm and crank the AC. I accelerate to thirty miles an hour; I want some speed but I don’t want to roar up on the parade without any warning. Fortunately, I see an off-ramp that leads to a side road and I take it, thinking I can effectively pass the zombies without alerting them that we’re there.

  I hit the bottom of the exit and zoom through a defunct, darkened light. I accelerate until I hit fifty. Within minutes I can see the horde of zombies on the freeway to my left, but fortunately I’m right and we’re far enough away that they don’t even turn their heads.

  “God, that’s just not right. Where do you think they’re going?” Cassie’s turned to the side so she can stare past me and watch the slow-moving empty-heads.

  I shrug. “Who knows? Maybe they got the scent of a huge group of humans, or maybe they’re establishing a territory? I don’t know a lot about the behavior of large packs of predators, but from what I’ve seen they’re operating on some sort of instincts.”

  I could feel Cassie’s eyes on me. “Delilah, that’s one of the smartest things you’ve said.”

  I feel a bit of a smile creeping over me. “I’m an artsy type, and I hang out with a lot of artsy types. They didn’t necessarily like it when I seemed interested in regular school stuff. But you seem like you might be okay with it.” I sneak a sideways glance at her, just to check, and I’m glad to see her nodding.

  “There might be a scientist in you.” She grins.

  “Nah, let’s not get too wild. I’m still into the acting thing, and I’m probably not bright enough anyways.”

  Cassie shrugs and turns on the music again. “Hey, do you think they dance?”

  “The zombies? Sad as it is, probably not.” I glance over at the bodies we’re speeding by, and I hope that whatever’s in there, the instincts and whatnot, that none of it includes a trapped soul. Please, let them just be driven by pure animal instinct, even if it means they can’t appreciate music and they can’t dance.

  Now that I’m safe in a car, I wish them as painless an existence as possible.

  #

  By the middle of the afternoon, we’ve left the freeway for a two-lane highway. It will take longer to get to Colorado this way, but we’ll have more choices if anything comes up – like a group of zombies – unlike the freeway where our main choices for detours are concrete barriers and overpasses.

  So I’m zooming along at a good eighty miles an hour, listening to Crystal Method and letting it speed my blood like an electric super train. Then I come over a hill and realize way too late that there’s a giant hole in the middle of the road.

  And unlike the movies, we don’t happily go sailing over the gap and come out okay on the other side.

  Chapter 28

  One moment, there’s pavement under my tires and the next, Cassie and I are screaming. There’s this wonderful feeling of weightlessness then I’m waking up with the feeling that a bit of time has passed, and I find myself still strapped in the front seat and the car firmly on the ground.

  I push the airbag away from me, noting that the back of my neck, my right knee, and my forearm all hurt but other than that, I seem fine. Of course, I haven’t tried getting up yet. Slowly I turn my head to the side, and then pull the other airbag away from Cassie. There’s a cut on her forehead but I can’t see anything other than that.

  “Cassie,” I say but she doesn’t move. I reach down and unbuckle myself then shake her a bit. “Cassie.”

  She screams.

  “Are you hurt?”

  She looks at me confused for a bit, then blinks her eyes and shakes her head. I grab a pillow from the backseat. “Here, hold this to your head. You’re bleeding.”

  She looks at me weird but she does it, and I adjust her placement until it’s just right. Then I try to get an idea of where we are.

  About a block ahead of me is a dirt and rock face, and above that are bits of the blacktop from the highway. The crevice we’re in is shaped like a fish and consists of rocks, dirt and bits of concrete. I shift around to look out the back and that’s when the adrenaline starts pumping through my system, burning like acid.

  “Oh, crap,” I mutter quietly. “Cassie, we need to get out of here right now.”

  Slowly, she turns in her seat to see what I’m looking at. On the far side of the crevice is an entire group of zombies huddled together. I have no idea why they’re in a little clump, and I really don’t want to find out.

  “Are you unbuckled?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Crawl out my side.”

  “Where are we going?” Cassie’s voice is high.

  I look around. “There.” I point to where the slope is milder. It looks like hills I’ve gone up before; challenging, but doable. I think the zombies haven’t gotten out because they simply can’t plan well enough to map a route up that face.

  “Just follow me up. You’ll do fine,” I tell her when I see how big Cassie’s eyes are, but she just nods. “Okay, let’s do this,” I state and open the door.

  I take off running like a crack addict. I’m halfway to the rock face when I realize Cassie isn’t by my side. She’s still struggling to get out of the car. I stop and wave my hands at her, but she’s focused on something on her foot so she doesn’t notice. Should I run to her? I glance quickly at the zombies, and fortunately they still haven’t noticed we’re there.

  Suddenly, she shoots free and falls on the ground with a loud thump. We both look toward the zombies, and yup, one of them is turning this way.

  I run in a quick, high burst to Cassie’s side, yank her up off the ground, and hold her wrist as I race us back to the rock face.

  “Delilah,” she hisses. She yanks her wrist free and drops a step behind me, just as I hear the moan.

  Chapter 29

  I can’t help it. I turn my head and look even though I know I shouldn’t.

  He’s a big, fat meaty zombie, his belly large and rounded over his pants, and he’s pointing one huge, hairy arm at us. Bloodstains are around his face and at various points on his green striped shirt. I don’t know what he’s been eating exactly, but he’s still chewing as he moans at us, and it is one of the grossest things I’ve seen.

  “Oh, God,” I whisper then realizing noise levels don’t matter anymore, I shout, “Run!”

  I turn my attention back to my feet, and then I’m up the first part of the slope and on to the harder, slower part. I dig my hands and get a good hold, and find that Cassie’s just below me. The zombies are uncurling from their circle and Big and Meaty is already headed over here in his slow, frightening fashion.

  This is the first time I’ve climbed under any kind of pressure.

  I turn back to the face. The slope is at a tighter angle than I’d like, and there are lots of little rocks that keep sliding downhill at the slightest touch. There isn’t a way to go straight up; instead, I will need to go a bit to the left, and then a bit northeast, and then turn, and keep doing that until we zigzag our way up to the top. It’s doable.

  I dig in and feel that peace that comes from concentrating; the same sense of calm I get from running or climbing. I reach out and a bit of the surface slides beneath my fingers. I think I have a hold but I slide a tiny bit instead, my fingertips sweating in response and my heart jumping. I grab a better spot, dig my feet into the side and shift myself safely into the position I’d like. Then I do it again.

  I’m maybe a fourth of the way from the top when Cassie screams.

  I anchor myself on my side, and then watch
in horror as she slides down the face. Big and Meaty is trying to scramble up to her, his huge palms reaching for her.

  If he gets her, he will tear her apart before I touch the ground.

  “Dig your feet in! Grab anything!” I shout at her. She’s panicking; I can see it in her eyes. “There - there’s a big rock coming up – grab it!”

  “I can’t,” she cries.

  “Yes, you can!” I shout in my baddest, toughest voice.

  She reaches out, slides past the rock, and grabs the edge at the last moment. Big and Meaty jumps and swipes at her sneakers then falls back down the slope just as Cassie screams.

  “Scrunch your feet up!”

  She digs them into the slope beneath her.

  “Good! Now take a deep breath, in and now out. Forget the zombies. Just think about the rocks. Think about where you’re going to go. If you slide, it’s okay; just look for another rock.”

  I see her calm down. Cassie looks up at me, and her face is dirty with rock dust and tear tracks.

  “It’s okay, honey. It’s going to be okay. Just concentrate on finding your path.”

  She’s still crying, but I see her focus on the rocks. She listens to me and fights her fear, and slowly but surely she makes her way up the slope. By the time she slides over the top her whole body is shaking, but she still makes it over.

  We lie on the blacktop and Cassie throws an arm over her face, crying and laughing at the same time.

  I pat her elbow. “You did a fantastic job.”

  She moves her arm off her face, and I can see she’s stopped crying. “Thanks. Do you think we’re safe?” She motions her head toward the pit.