Stage 6 (Book 1)

by Dylan James

  The Infected fell off and I begged, “Please get me out of here! Please!”

  Lucy’s voice came faintly from the window but combined with my hysteria, the wind rushed her voice away and I couldn’t make out what she was saying.

  Then two of the Infected flung themselves off the roof of nearby vehicles, and slammed against the sides of the car. The car swerved and we ran straight into another one who flipped over the window and cracked the glass. It landed next to my head and I squirmed as far away as I could from it. I screamed again and again, pausing for a second to think to myself, what am I doing? But at this point I couldn’t care less. I just didn’t want to die.

  The car spun out of control, and went all over the place as the driver fought to regain command of the vehicle. A loud popping sound rang out and at first I thought it was a gunshot, but when the car began to turn and screech against the road I realized it was a blowout. A tire had popped. The car began to flip over and as the side of the car approached the ground I had to force myself to keep my eyes open: I wanted to see it as I was crushed under the thousands of pounds of weight of the car. I wanted to see the end; I didn’t want to die not knowing what had happened.

  The car crashed down on its side and began to roll over, throwing me against the limit of my bonds, when suddenly another loud crash sounded and a portion of the side of the trunk was sliced away, mere inches from my feet. The trunk had smashed into another car on the road, stopping the momentum enough to keep the car from rolling but spinning the car on its side in the road.

  Almost immediately as this happened, before the car even stopped moving I heard a door open and saw Steve jump out next to me. He unsheathed a combat knife from his side and immediately cut my bonds.

  He grabbed me and lifted me to my feet and said, “Look Jack, can you understand me?”

  I nodded yes, and he said, “I’ll hold them off, you NEED to help everybody out of the car ok?”

  I nodded again, and dazed though I was, managed to pull myself up on top of the side of the car.

  I reached my hand in and said, “Let me help you up.”

  Kevin was the first person to take my hand, and after seeing it was me instead of Steve he instinctively crouched back, but then came around. I helped lift him out while he got footholds and appeared over the door. He drew his pistol and jumped down besides Steve, who was already firing off shots at Infected running towards us. I did not know the sounds of war, but at this moment I imagined myself one step closer. Steve’s assault rifle was obviously set on automatic, and he moved around the sides of the car shooting rapid fire shots at the hundreds of Infected approaching. He was thinning their ranks and slowing them down, but it was clear we didn’t have much time.

  I began to think clearly again, and yelled into the car, “Come on, let’s go!”

  Ian appeared next, and almost leapt out of the car himself. He then turned around and lifted Karen out, and helped her down from the car. He stood on top of the car, and surveyed the surroundings with a grim expression on his face. Sarah came next, and reached for my hand. I grabbed it and hoisted her up. I told her to stay on top of the car, out of the way of gunshots and she obediently moved. She had a cut on her forehead that was bleeding pretty badly, and Ian moved forward to help her bandage it quickly, to keep the blood out of her yes.

  I then reached in and yelled, “Mom! Come on!”

  She answered with a terrifying phrase, “I’m stuck.”

  I immediately jumped in to the car, and saw her lying on the floor between two seats. Her arm was wedged under the passenger seat, and she was awkwardly flopped about.

  She saw me and told me, “Jack I think my arm’s broken. I don’t know if I can get out!”

  I reached down and said, “Sorry Mom, we don’t have much time.”

  She stifled a scream as I pushed back the seat that was trapping her arm, freeing it but unfortunately causing it to move in the process.

  I helped her up, and told her, “Mom you have to get out. Use the side of the seat to push up.”

  She slowly moved into the passenger seat, and clambered up slowly. I turned to see Lucy staring at me with those brown eyes of hers, with a bleeding gash in her arm and her legs twisted off to the side. She was holding Victoria to her chest, crouched over her protecting. I gently uncovered her arms and lifted Victoria to see she had not been harmed at all. Lucy had shielded her from the wreck with her body, and it had taken its toll on her but at least the baby was safe.

  I moved over to the passenger seat and yelled, “Sarah!”

  She appeared over the door, and I said, “I need you to take Victoria ok?”

  She looked horrified at the request to take care of such a precious item, but with the automatic gun fire ringing off in the distance and the look on my face she took Victoria as I lifted her up.

  Then I stepped back to Lucy, to see her eyes still on me. She said, “Jack I can’t move. I tried, but my arm is burning and I can’t feel my legs.” She whispered softly, “Just leave me. Take Victoria, and make sure she’s OK.”

  Shocked at this request, I replied vehemently, “No! Lucy I’m getting you out of here.”

  I smiled at her, and she smiled weakly back. I quickly thought of a way to get her out. There was no way she could go through the passenger door up by where the roof should be, but... The trunk door! I quickly collapsed the middle seat, and gently reached down for Lucy.

  She flinched, scared but I looked into her eyes and said simply, “Trust me.”

  She nodded, and wrapped her one good arm around my neck as I reached down and scooped her up into my arms. I gingerly moved through the collapsed middle seat, and into the back trunk, careful not to knock her against anything. I gently rested her against my side, and reached forward and opened the trunk. It popped open half way, but then got stuck against the concrete. I lifted Lucy up and carried her through the narrow gap, and then looked to see the others now on top of the car, with Infected racing towards them. I could see that Steve had run out of ammo, as he was using the butt of his gun to knock back the Infected off of the car. I could also see that they were doomed. There was no way they would survive much longer.

  I looked back at Lucy and opened my mouth to explain when she cut me off and said, “Jack, I can see just as well as you can. You might have a shot at surviving if you run right now, while they distract the Infected. But you’ll never make it with me.”

  I considered this for a split second, and then realized I shouldn’t have even spent that much time pondering this. I would never leave my family, and that’s what this group was to me now. We were in this together. I used all the muscles in my being and gripped Lucy tight to me, and then sprinted off as fast as I could in the distance where I saw no Infected.

  She asked me, “What are you doing!?”

  I didn’t answer her however, too intent on my goal. I looked into the window of each car I passed, searching. Finally I found what I was looking for, keys. It was a dinky little car, only five seats and barely a trunk but it would have to do for such a dire circumstance. I gently lay Lucy down in the back, and then shut the door and raced around to get in the drivers seat. I held my breath and turned the key to hear the engine roar to life, to my delight. Lucy slowly positioned herself to take as little space as possible, as she quickly understood what I meant to do. I backed up, turned around and raced towards our group, fighting back the Infected off of their car.

  I stopped about one hundred feet away, opened the door and shouted, “If you have any ammo left now’s the time to use it!”

  They looked up to see me, and a glimmer of hope crossed their faces. Some shots rang out and I saw they were clearing a path blocked by a bus and a large truck, so that the only Infected that could easily get there would be coming from around the car’s themselves. I drove around and stopped in that area, as they hurriedly lowered themselves to the ground. Kevin reached the car first, and opened the passenger door and jumped in and shut the door.

 
I looked at him angrily and said, “Who the hell do you think you are? Open that door! Not only are we not leaving until everybody is here, but we have a five seat car and nine people! You better believe we’re doubling up!”

  Almost looking embarrassed at his selfishness, he opened the door and got out to help the others get into the car. He helped Sarah into the passenger seat, and then made to get in when suddenly an Infected came running from around the Bus towards Karen. He hesitated, and then ran to intercept them. Karen dived into the car and squished up against Lucy, and Kevin grabbed the Infected by the throat, stopping it from biting him. He slammed it into the Bus door, and then threw it to the ground.

  Then a blast sounded out and I turned to see Ian with my shot gun and jacket. He had apparently remembered it when everybody was running out of ammo and gone back in the car for it. By the time he was done, everybody had gotten into the car except Kevin and Ian who was in the process of carefully inserting himself between all the people in the back seat. Suddenly a horde of Infected came around the bus, and Kevin took off running towards an open field. The Infected started chasing him and he looked back, terrified. It was a sprint born of desperation. This expression, similar to what I must have looked like earlier set me into motion and I gunned the motor. The car took off chasing the Infected, and what followed must have been an odd sight. Kevin was sprinting like a madman through the field, running amazingly fast. A horde of Infected was running, shambling, and limping after him. And after all of that, eight people were crammed into a tiny little car chasing down the Infected. I gunned the motor more, and we sped up to forty miles per hour as we raced around the Infected. I quickly slowed to a little less than ten miles an hour alongside Kevin.

  Sarah opened the passenger door and said, “Get in!”

  He made a mad dive for the door and miraculously pulled himself in over top of Sarah. I took off, increasing to sixty mph yet again and heading back towards the road, over the numerous bumps that shook the car all around. At times it felt like we were flying and the danger of a concussion was imminent if we kept up the same pace. I came up near the road, where it was still somewhat flat and followed the road just shy of where we were supposed to drive. I slowed down to a comfortable thirty miles per hour after a while, and we stopped seeing signs of the Infected. This time there was none of the accustomed smiles, and laughter after escaping a close fate. We had come close to dying right then and there. In a few minutes we had gone from our comfortable, secure car with all the supplies and gas we had fought hard for, to almost dying and now in a crammed little car with every bare essential stripped from it. No doubt the previous owners had taken everything before leaving it. The gas was almost empty, and we would probably only get a few more miles on it at best. Lucy, my Mom, and Sarah had been injured, Lucy badly. We were lucky there weren’t more injuries, but at this point to talk of us being “lucky” was pointless. We drove in silence for a few miles, until the engine began to sputter and it slowly ran to a halt right outside the city limits.

  We sat in silence in the car for a bit, when I asked, “What’s the look of our weapons? What do we have left?”

  Steve answered, “We only have four guns with ammo: my pistol, which has half a clip left, and then one more full one in my backpack, Ian’s pistol, which is almost entirely out of ammo, Kevin’s pistol which has a few clips left thankfully, and then your shotgun, which has the handful of bullets Ian grabbed from your jacket.”

  I leaned back and let that sink in for a second. It was worse than I thought. I asked, “What about food?”

  My mom spoke up, “All the food we had was in the car. We have none now.”

  I thought hard for a few minutes and then came up with a plan. “Ok so the way I see it we have two options. We can either go try to search for a new car with more gas, or we can sneak into the city, and try to find supplies there. There’s also bound to be some more survivors in such a big area, and possibly they can help us. What do you guys think?”

  Steve said, “With the injured we have, there’s no way we are going to be able to ‘sneak’ into the city. I propose we combine both of those options into one. We send a few of us, those with weapons out to look for a suitable vehicle both with keys and enough gas to get into the city. Then we move into that car, and try to sneak into the city. In our experience the Infected have never gone for a car before right? They only attacked us then because Jack was tied on the roof.”

  There were nods of agreement, and I was glad to see the group morale was coming back.

  I happily agreed with Steve, “Alright then. We have a plan. Who should go look for cars?”

  Steve replied, “I think for this mission, we want to attract as little attention as possible. Get in, find a car, and come back as soon as possible. Honestly I would like to do this myself.”

  I nodded, “Sounds good. And Steve, if they find you- Don’t lead them back here.”

  What was implied, but remained unmentioned, was that if he got caught he was on his own. We weren’t going to jeopardize the group. He replied simply, “I understand.”

  He opened the door and got out, quickly shutting the door behind him. We all turned to watch him stealthily move towards the nearest cars, and peer inside before moving on. He disappeared behind the cars at some point, and we lost track of him. We waited in silence for a few minutes, almost holding our breath in anticipation. Then we saw him, moving slowly back to us. Quiet cheers broke out among us at his apparent safe success.

  He got back and opened the door quietly and whispered, “Alright I found a nice sized car with a good deal of gas left. The keys were in the dashboard, and I almost didn’t bother looking but I’m glad I did.”

  I got out of the driver’s seat and opened the door next to Lucy. Yet again I leaned down to awkwardly pick her up, and felt terrible as her legs brushed the door and I could feel her jump in pain.

  I mumbled, “Sorry,” into her ear.

  She whispered back, “It’s ok.”

  My mom obviously had something wrong with her leg, but it wasn’t bad enough to warrant picking her up. She was limping, and Karen and Sarah helped her walk as quietly as possible. Steve guided us towards his find, and we moved as quietly as possible. After ten minutes of painstakingly slow moving, my arms were burning from carrying Lucy. I didn’t let it show though, and pressed onwards until we finally came to the car Steve was talking about.

  It was a relatively new minivan, and would do more than suit our needs. We opened the doors as quietly as possible and I gently placed Lucy in a window seat, so she would be easier to get out when we stopped next. My Mom, Lucy, and Sarah (the wounded) sat in the middle row. We opened up the trunk and Steve, Ian, Karen, and Victoria piled into the back. Steve insisted that he was going to sit with Victoria, so Kevin took the passenger side with me in the front. We closed all the doors securely, locked them, and then I turned the key in the ignition. The engine came to life, and I slowly moved past the last trickle of the cars before coming to a clear road entering into the city. I had no idea why the cars stopped right outside the city like that, but judging from construction machines off on the side of the road and massive scrap piles, the city had come by and cleared the abandoned cars off the road. We cruised slowly into the city, and immediately noticed the Infected wandering aimlessly around us. Some would chase the occasional squirrel every once in a while, but for the most part they were barely active. There were cars and other obstacles in the street but we would slowly go around them and avoid any confrontation. We decided it wasn’t worth the risk to search the city, and instead we would continue onwards. In this manner, we passed through the entire city, and using a map found in the dashboard we started moving off towards Caddo National Grasslands. It was now getting dark, and we were feeling pretty safe inside the car. As we neared the Grasslands, getting later and later we saw a store up in the distance right outside a small park.

  I stopped near one of them, and asked, “How about we get ourselves some dinner h
uh?”

  There was a chorus of agreement, and our stomachs rumbled as Kevin and I got out of the car.

  Kevin asked, “Hey Jack, so I suppose there’s no reason to worry you’re a zombie now? With that in mind, can I have my gun back now?”

  I chuckled at his comment, and honestly I thought he had proved himself as one of us trying to save Karen earlier, even if he had hesitated at first. I opened up the trunk, and asked Steve for Kevin’s gun.

  Steve looked concerned, but then nodded and asked me, “Hey if you see any worthwhile supplies in there can you just go ahead and grab them? We might as well. Also if you see any baby food, milk or anything, grab that as well ok?”

  I nodded and said, “Of course Steve. And Ian, would you mind getting in the driver’s seat? I don’t want to leave anything to chance. No reason to leave a car with no driver just sitting out here.”

  Ian agreed, and climbed out to switch seats. I grabbed my shotgun out of the trunk, and put my jacket back on. I reached into one of the pockets to feel the reassuring handful of bullets lying in there. I made sure to reload my shotgun with as many bullets as it could take, and flipped the safety off. I handed Kevin his gun and stood back cautiously. He smiled as he took it, and felt its weight in his hand.

  He then looked at me questioningly and asked, “Let’s go?”

  I recognized the jibe, as I had often fallen into the habit of saying ‘let’s go’ lately.

  I grinned and replied, “Let’s go!”

  We had our guns at the ready, not knowing what to expect. We silently moved towards the little convenience store first, and I opened the doors to hear a terrifying “ding” from the automatic door sensor and the lights flicked on. I froze, waiting for any Infected to hear it. Nothing. I cautiously moved into the store, shotgun ready to be pointed at anything that moved. Kevin split off around the corner, and crept around so we could both check out the store from different angles.

  We met at the end of the store without incident, and I asked, “See anything?”