“We gotta get back to my school,” Dad finally said, trying to lean back and rest against the seat.
“What about my school,” she said, focused on her driving.
“They're all dead,” Dad said, not looking at her but looking up the winding street as she drove.
She stopped the car. It's engine and metals ticked from heat and searing body parts. She sat sullen, gripping the wheel. It was hard for him to see her, through his helm and by the way she drooped. He was sure she was sobbing just a bit.
"It's been sooo long," she finally wailed.
"I'm sorry," he said. His voice pinged through his helm.
It was quiet as they sat parked, hidden in the narrow winding hillside street.
"My husband, my daughters are dead?"
"Yes."
"From these things?"
"Yes."
"How long? Since it happened?"
"Two months or so, we've been fighting, my family and others," Dad said.
She nodded, her face veiled in her messy hair. He wasn't sure if she was going to go crazy or walk off into the bushes or what.
"We have food and water. You're weak, starving. Your body is so emaciated. We can feed you," Dad said.
She looked down a bit longer. She was naked except for a torn robe. "I'm not starving. Emaciated? This is how I look."
Dad wasn't sure what to say. He blinked in his helm.
"What's wrong with you?"
"No, I thought, you're starving, skinny, gaunt, you know, like everyone else."
"Everyone else is fat! I'm not. I'm normal," she said. "I'm beautiful."
Dad wasn't sure what to say. He looked forward and around to see where they were. He had no idea. "Do you know where we are?"
"Yes."
"Can you get us back eastward, to, you remember the Guitar Center? On Sunset?"
"Yes, I know where that is."
"Can you get us there?"
"Yes," she said, focusing on driving and putting the Rover in drive. "But I'm not... emaciated!"
They finally came to the end of the street, up at the top of a hillside, surrounded by mansions. She took to a long driveway up and to the side of one of these fancy mansions. There was a poolside construction site there. It probably wasn't a new pool construction, but a renovation on an old pool site. It afforded more space to drive up as they came to the end of the road.
She stopped and pondered, looking about. One side had a brick wall. The other side, around the unfinished pool, had construction fencing, a grove of thick bushes past that, then a barren slope along the hillside. It was steep.
“Oh no,” Dad moaned.
She drove steadily toward the fencing. She kept the Rover in its all-terrain drive mode. She hit the fence, causing the whole thing to shimmer and shake. It finally gave, warping the pole and collapsing the middle. The Rover bounded into shrubs and bushes, like a momentary jungle crawl: it was like coming out of a roller coaster climb, through shrouded shrubbery, then suddenly jolting into a steep drop.
“Whoooaahh!” Dad yelped as they plunged down along the rocky slope.
Melany growled as she whipped the steering wheel left and right. She was able to turn it, before it fell over, and faced it uphill, where the Rover gripped the crumbling dirt and crawled upwards and at an angle.
"Range Rover baby!"
Dad wasn't sure if there were zombies chasing them or not. He couldn't turn his helm. He was jammed in there pretty good, using whatever he could to brace himself. The side mirror on her side was shattered, playing the same blurry image in a score of smaller facets
She drove the fancy all terrain vehicle up and up to the next mansion, plowing onto a grassy slope. It was dead grass, long dried out, but the terrain was more a lawn then crumbled earth. The mansion was extensive with half of it on supports as it spread over the sloping hillside. She turned left and drove to an opening to the yard. The Rover grabbed the earth and pushed forward. She drove through drying shrubs and some sort of garden walkway, smashing clay pots and ripping down string lights.
Then they burst past it, onto a new street. She smashed into a park car, reversed and turned to fit onto the road. She drove slowly.
Dad remembered her drive mode. “Change the drive thing?”
Without a reaction, she twisted the nob and the Rover switched into a different drive mode, more quiet and smooth.
Dad could see above the slope, at the next massive mansion spread, men with guns. They stood on the roof. For a community of gun control freaks, they had pretty spectacular weaponry. He then saw the road blocked off with large SUVs. Beyond, he could see metal gates. It was a gated community, a hilltop fortress. They were lucky up here. There weren't masses of zombies everywhere. It was difficult for the zombies to climb up, especially through the clustered homes, fences, and shrubbery.
They fired at them. Their window burst. They were aiming for Melany's head.
"Aaaahhhh!!!" she screamed a high pitched banshee wail.
“Go! Go!” Dad roared. He knew why they were shooting.
“Oh my God!” she screamed, racing forward, quickly getting out of their view. “Why are they shooting at me!?”
“They think we led the zombies here! I don't blame them,” Dad grunted. Thankfully, they were either bad aims or their hearts just weren't into shooting them. It was just a few shots.
They came to a dead end of driveways into more mansions. “This is a dead end damn it!” She hissed. “We have to go back.”
27. New Ride
"I thought you said you knew this place!"
"I do... this is it..."
"That doesn't make any sense!"
"Whatever!" she spat.
“What?” Dad gulped.
She turned the Rover around easily in the cul-de-sac. They saw a man at the other end by the SUV blockade. He raised up his AR-15 or M-4 rifle. He fired at them. It was the not the M-4 military illegal ones, just an AR-15. He was popping shots off. These rich Hollywood types had all the toys. Melany ducked steering in a panic. Dad was an open target. He couldn't duck in his armor. The asshole fired at the driver side again.
Dad wanted to leap out and run down the hills, through the shrubs, and get back home. Then several ghouls leaped from the foliage and barked as they charged the man. He turned and fired point blank. He couldn't hit their heads. They grabbed him. He screamed as he tried batting them away. He had some swat like armor, some modicum of protection.
“Go! Melany! Go!” Dad roared.
She looked up through the bullet ridden window and saw the melee. She drove forward, hitting the gas. “I'm gonna run him over?!”
“Do it! God damn him! Do it!” Dad bellowed.
She raced as the man tried in vain against more and more of them. He turned to run but they grappled him, pulling him to their gnashing ripping teeth.
She slammed into the mess of them, crushing several, throwing the man. Dad saw the man roll and slam against a parked SUV.
"Oh my God! I can't believe I did that!" she wailed.
"They were trying to shoot us!"
"Help him!" she screamed. Pointing crazily as she saw the man rolling around on the ground.
Dad snarled. He knew time was of the essence. But he also knew he didn’t want to leave behind another group to be overrun by zombies that he had lead their way. He leapt out and stomped to the scattering of ghouls. He sliced and diced the ravenous and got to the man. He lifted him up as the man tried to aim his rifle at him but Dad smacked it away.
"I'm helping you damnit!"
"Fuck you!" the man grumbled.
"Just chill!" Dad said, slicing another zombie and dragging the man free.
Dad looked to the hidden gate of others with guns. They had their aim on him. He knew he had to help them or be shot. He sliced up more ghouls that came. He could hear more coming, but they were having a hard time getting up the steep slopes or finding the right path through fences and gateways. Dad took the time to drag the man back to
the others.
"You tried to run me over," he blathered.
"Just shut up!"
They came out quickly, guns aimed. "Let him go! We should kill you right now son of a bitch!"
"Or let me and her lead them away!" Dad motioned to Melany and the Rover.
No one said anything. They just kept their guns aimed at him.
"Sorry, we were escaping them. We didn't mean to lead them to you! We''ll lead'em away."
The others looked to and fro, frantic, well-armed and decently healthy. No one moved.
"We got a community down at Hollywood elementary. We'll see you around!" Dad said, as he marched back to the Rover hoping not to be shot in the back. Zombies were beginning to come around Melany as she idled and waited.
Dad took out the closest ones between him and the passenger side.
"Cool suit man!" someone yelled out.
Dad turned back, "When we get situated, we'll try to come back up here, re-connect in safer conditions."
"Sounds good man!" another responded.
"Just don't shoot at us!"
"Don't lead'em up here!"
"Deal! Now be quiet, move slowly, hide," Dad said and then turned back to the Rover. He easily plopped back into it.
"You dicks make peace?"
"Just drive."
Melany drove through zombies and past, down the road.
"Honk the horn. Let's lure these bastards away from here!" Dad said, bashing a zombie clinging to his side.
She drove down the road this time, swerving and careening against cars and up bumpy narrow slopes, honking away. Dad bumped and flailed but was snug nonetheless.
They came to another cul-de-sac dead end. But they could see another road below, down a steep slope between the mansions and their driveways. She took to a garden plot and drove over it, breaking through some fencing and bushes. She swerved the car along a slope, jolting and sliding down.
“All terrain mode!” Dad barked.
She quickly flipped the turn switch and the Rover seemed to slow and grab the sliding earth. Dad looked and saw more survivors, rich folk in their mansions hiding out. He saw plenty of guns and barricades. There were survivors and forts up here.
“Why do they think we led the zombies here?” she blurted as she hit the bottom road and turned down.
“Cuz we did, damn it! And I'd do the same, shoot at us. We may have killed all these people!” Dad said, holding on. "Just honk the horn to lead the bastards away from them!"
She shook her head. She seemed quite alive and cognizant. She honked over and over. Dad wasn't sure how she could go from a deathly gaunt pallor to this alert aggressive little driver, but she did.
“I'm naked!” she suddenly cringed.
“I know. We already talked about this!” Dad yelped, attempting to turn and look but was stuck, only able to see her in a blurred side glance as she whipped the steering wheel to and fro. "And too skinny!"
"I'm not too skinny!"
They hit another cul-de-sac of driveways. She screamed in frustration.
When she finally lowered her voice, Dad calmly said, “Turn around. Go back.”
She cried, cowering in the seat, suddenly exhausted. “I don't know these streets,” she finally said through her spittle.
“Neither do I. Go back up, the other way,” Dad said.
She took a breath, reversed, turned, switched to drive, then drove back the way they came. The Rover's engine roared louder.
“Drive mode,” Dad said.
She turned the dial with flare now, annoyed by his passenger side driving. The Rover drove smooth and silent. Dad tried to move in the seat. He was stiff and stuck.
She drove the other way, grinding between cars and hillsides, knocking over trash bins and debris. There were a lot of cars parked and stopped along the road. She took the slopes or pushed the cars with her own. She didn't care. She just wanted to keep driving along.
"It's hard to see through all these bullet holes!" she grunted.
“Do you know where the Hollywood elementary school is?” Dad asked.
“Is it a public school?”
“Yes.”
“Then no.”
“Do you know where the famous guitar shop is on Sunset?”
“Yes, I think so, way over there by the Mexican restaurant and all the music shops?”
“Yes, there,” Dad answered. “That's where we are, a bunch of us, in a fort like setup at the school.”
“Surviving there?” she asked, nonchalantly careening around cars and narrow hillsides.
“Yep,” Dad flinched a little as trees and shrubs smacked past his passenger side opening.
They came to a T and realized upward was where they were before as the roads noodled around the hillside. They could see the road blocked off by some fancy white SUV. The rich mansion probably had half dozen of those vehicles. They could sense the swarming of zombies.
The people were firing at them. It only drew the ones they scattered up to them.
Dad lifted himself up and stood on the side of the Rover. "Stop firing!" he yelled out loud. He lifted his visor. "Stop firing! We'll draw them away!! Hide! Just hide and we'll draw them away!"
He saw them realize and duck down as zombies tried to clamber over.
"Honk!" Dad said.
Melany complied, honking loud and long. The zombies took the bait and turned.
“Go that way,” Dad said. "And keep honking!"
Melany rolled her eyes and turned down the road. They were in the back side now, going away from Hollywood. Dad was a little worried but they had to go that way. Where else could they go? It was like a forced maze and neither of them were familiar with these winding roads.
The zombies came tumbling down but were scattered and stuck amidst the tight spaces. Only the decently able ones were even able to come, and Dad easily bashed their heads in when they got near.
A car was completely in their way, between a steep drop off and a cinder block wall. It was side to side with no way she could drive through it.
“I'll get it. Stay here.” Dad said. He squeezed out of the passenger side, tearing the leather seat. He killed a zombie and waited for more but none came. He heard them but it sounded like they were stuck somewhere beyond the shrubs and fences.
He turned back around to the Rover and reached under to push the seat back to give him more room. No wonder he was so stuck. He got a look at her, Melany, naked, sitting there in her emaciated form. It was an awkward pause.
She stared at him. "I'm not starving!"
He shook out of it and went to the car. He looked. Nobody was there. He opened and tried starting it. It was dead. He put it in neutral and pushed it to and fro, enough to get it moved to the side. He went back and plopped more ably into the seat. He felt odd. His pains were gone and his movements in the passenger seat felt easy.
She drove on. They came to a more open intersection. “Do we go down or up?” she asked.
Dad pondered.
“This is Doheny. We don't have a choice,” she said. “It stops up in the hills. I'm pretty sure.”
“Shit, and Sunset is blocked,” Dad said.
“We have to go down,” she sighed.
“We can't make it back, not in this. Sunset is jammed with cars,” Dad said. “We need a motorcycle.”
“Then let's look for one, and some clothes,” she sighed.
Dad shrugged. They drove around. Dad looked along driveways. Many were veiled and curved around the homes, sunk between ravines and hill slopes. Many were closed up. A few signs of barricades covered some areas. They did not see any zombies in the area and the Rover seemed quiet as she drove along.
They were still very hidden in the winding narrow roads. The loudest sound was her scraping against jammed cars.
“Stop!” Dad said. He saw a motorcycle parked outside a house. They were now down in the clustered homes and driveways, not the mansions atop the hill. “Let's check this out, get you some clothes.”
Dad stepped out. It was a shaded area in the afternoon sun. He stretched a bit. The motorcycle was just parked there with no keys. He motioned for her to come with him into the closest home. She hopped out and felt really naked. She covered her privates and hopped along next to him. She still had part of her robe but it was a shredded piece. He had his sword out, ready for lone zombies. She felt safe with him.
Dad wished his wife were hear right now. He felt heroic.
He got to the door. It was locked. He didn't want to bang on it and be too noisy. He checked the garage door to see if he could lift it. It was stuck. There were windows. He went over with her tip-toeing behind him. They walked behind some fenced-in garden area. The backyard was veiled in trees and a steep hillside. It felt covered so he kicked in the back door. He stomped in, looking about.
“Hello? Anyone here?” he said it to alert zombies, to get them to react and reveal themselves. He didn't want any surprises for her. She tip-toed in and grabbed up a light jacket on a hook. She then found some slippers.
“I want better stuff. Let me check the bedroom,” she said.
"Be careful! Zombies might be crawling around, rotted."
She waved okay.
Dad followed, for she hurried ahead of him. She found a bedroom and found clothes. She hurriedly looked through and put on some woman's clothes. They were loose but worked. "See, this woman was fat!"
She got some workout shoes. They were a bit large for her so she pulled the strings as tight as she could. "Ugh, big feet!"
Dad found water and food, and set them out for her. He drank and ate crackers. It was the healthy grainy stuff. She came back out and looked good.
She drank and ate, then looked at him in his armor. “Where'd you get that?”
“This, I did medieval armored fighting before all this,” he answered.
"That's a sport? People do that?"
"Yeah, I did that. Turns out it's pretty useful now."
"Looks a little big on you?"
"Uh, well I've lost a lot of weight since it began."
"So you were fat before?"
Dad looked at her odd.
Knight of the Dead (Book 4): Realm Page 17