by Pero, Sara
Chapter 4:
It had been a month since the rotter’s had taken over the world, Britney watched the overgrown wheat field’s blow in the wind as they drove through Colorado. It had been a few days since the rotter’s had torn through the motel. There had been no word from the survivors from California and Britney figured Kevin and Veronica had been killed during the attack. Greg put his hand on her shoulder and tried to comfort her. “I’m sure your brother made it out of there, he’s a tough kid from what I’ve seen.” Britney looked up and cracked a smile, “thanks Greg but I’m sure he’s gone, I know if I see him again it’ll be when I put a bullet in his head.” Britney looked back out the window trying to hide her tears, but she knew what had to be done when it came time. Suddenly there was a loud bang and the motor home swerved, George tried to correct it before they crashed. Once he got control of the motor home they stopped to see what had happened. The other two trucks stopped to see if they could help, Bruce looked at the torn tire. He noticed something underneath by the drive line. He about threw up when he pulled it out. Somehow a rotting arm had gotten stuck up in the drive shaft, the shattered bone wore through the side of the tire causing it to blow. George had everyone get out of the motor home so he could jack it up to change the tire. Once they got the large vehicle on the jack and removed the tire Bruce checked out the undercarriage. The driveline was bent and the break lines were severed, it was going to take at least two days to fix, if they could find the right parts. Kevin’s truck had all the parts in the back, but they had left it at the motel which was now over run by rotters, there was no going back for it now. They either had to scrounge for parts from abandoned vehicles or leave the motor home behind or find a new mode of transportation. George hated to leave his motor home behind but they were in the middle of nowhere, and they needed to get away from there as soon as they could. Everyone began helping remove what supplies they could carry out to the other vehicles. Suddenly out of nowhere a rotter jumped out and latched on to one of the guys that was helping them unload, it dug it’s fingers into his arm and started to sink it’s teeth deep into the man’s neck. Blood squirted out of the gaping wound, he was screaming in pain. Greg fired a shot and hit the rotter in the head. The man that had been bit turned and lunged at Britney, she threw the box she was carrying at the rotter knocking him back. When she reached for her pistol more came out of nowhere. Britney shot the one that she hit with the box. Jennifer ran toward a rotter that was coming straight at Britney, she swung her sword chopping its head off with one swing. Screams came from inside the motor home as a rotter ran inside and started ripping the flesh off of the women that were in loading boxes. Ahmed pushed out a window and jumped out before the rotter reached him. There was nothing anyone could do for the people trapped inside, blood dripped through the floor boards soaking into the asphalt. Soon the screams turned into growls and moans, everyone inside had turned. Britney, George and the others gathered together to join forces as the rotters started to surround them, it looked pretty grim for the seven survivors left from the motel. The group huddled around Ahmed to protect him as best they could, their weapons at the ready. The rotters were closing in slowly, dozens of them. Blood poured from their open wounds, the pungent smell of rotting flesh burned into the noses of the seven. Out of nowhere a vehicle smashed its way through a row of rotters and their bodies rolled over the hood of the car smashing out the windshield. The occupants got out of the truck, his face covered with a rag he pulled out his weapon and started killing the rotters. Jennifer, Britney and the others started fighting their way through toward the truck. One of the rotters that had gotten hit by the truck crawled toward Britney’s leg, it latched on and went to bite, Yuri plunged his machete into its skull, blood squirted upward into the air and landed on Britney’s shirt and face. Bruce hopped into the back end of the truck and began helping everyone in while their saviors started the vehicle. Soon as everyone got into the truck they took off leaving the other cars behind. Greg checked Britney’s leg, the rotter hadn’t penetrated through her boot underneath her pant leg. The truck drove on heading east, once they had reached a point where the driver thought they were safe the truck stopped and he got out. The passenger stayed inside the truck as he walked back to the bed of the truck and asked “were any of you injured?” George looked around at the others, “no we are alright, if it hadn’t been for you we would have been rotter food.” Suddenly Britney heard the cry of a small baby in the front seat, she peered through the back window and saw Sunshine crying. “Veronica?” She hopped out of the back and walked over to the passenger side. “Veronica is that you?” The passenger looked over, it was Veronica and the baby was Sunshine. “If you’re here where is Kevin?” She glanced over to the driver and asked “what did you do with my brother Kevin? Did he make it out alright?” The driver walked over to Britney and slowly removed his mask, “I’m sorry I don’t know what you’re talking about, a day ago I saw this woman and her infant hiding in a truck after a horde of rotters ran through, I didn’t see anyone else when I helped her out.” Britney looked at Veronica and asked “What happened to Kevin? Did he become one of those things?” Veronica hopped out of the truck and replied “After you had left Kevin saved us, he fought his way through the horde and hid us in the truck. There were so many of them, he fought around them but soon I lost track of where he was. I had passed out from exhaustion but when I woke up the horde was gone and Kevin was nowhere to be found.” Britney broke down in tears, she knew it was too much to hope for that Kevin would still be alive. Greg took her back to the bed of the truck, “thank you for saving us.” The driver hopped back into the truck and continued to drive on, Veronica felt bad for Britney, “If only there was some way they could figure out what happened to Kevin” she prayed he was somehow still alive. They drove on, the sides of the roads were covered in broken down, flaming, and blood covered vehicles. Charred bodies still buckled in the seats, the truck pulled over to check the cars out for anything useful. The smell of burning flesh and rubber was still thick in the air, Greg and Bruce were prying open a trunk when out of nowhere they heard a faint cry coming from inside, Bruce called for some help from the others. Yuri and George rushed over to help, the trunk lid began to make popping sounds, and soon it gave way and opened. Britney and Jennifer had their weapons at the ready just in case who or whatever was inside the trunk tried to attack. Greg slowly opened the heavy lid. Inside were two teenage kids, one looked older then the other. The male of the two jumped out at Greg, “you rotters can kill me if you like, but you`ll never hurt my sister.” Greg grabbed onto the boys arms, “I`m not a rotter and we aren`t here to hurt either of you.” The boy stopped struggling, “if you aren`t here to harm us then why do your friends have their weapons drawn?” Greg let the boy go, Yuri walked over, “because we thought the same way you did, that you might have been rotters that had been trapped inside this trunk. Why were you inside there anyway?” The girl crawled out, “when our car crashed my father tried to fight off some of those things, he told my brother and I to hide in the trunk until it was over, when we didn`t hear anymore yelling or growling we tried to get out but the trunk was stuck.” Veronica walked over to help the girl out, “how long have you been stuck in there?” The boy shrugged, “probably a week, we survived off of the small bag of groceries we had and kept warm with the clothing in there.” While they were talking nobody noticed the movement behind them, a burning rotter was slowly sitting up. It stood and growled as it walked toward the group, Jennifer pulled out her sword and walked up to it. She swung down, the sword pierced through its skull slicing through to its brain. More movement started happening around them, rotter`s came from the sides of the roads. Greg and Yuri shot a few as Britney helped the teens into the back end of the truck. They were too weak to fight and there wasn`t enough weapons to go around. The rotter`s closed in on the group, they fought off as many as they could but there seemed to be no end to them. The group had no choice but to get into the truck and continue
on. A rotter lunged, grabbing onto the guy that had saved them, its boney fingers dug deep into his arm and shoulder hitting an artery, blood squirted from the wound spraying the side of the truck. Greg shot the rotter that had a grip on the driver, its fingers snapped off inside the guys shoulder when it fell. Instantly the driver turned and headed for Greg. Greg pulled the trigger but the gun misfired, Greg cocked the gun again and shot, it was empty. The rotter jumped on Greg, he wrestled with it trying not to get bit or scratched in the process. Suddenly a blade pierced through its head, barely missing Greg`s face. He pushed the rotter off and quickly stood up, when he looked the teen girl was standing beside him. She nodded at him and hopped back into the bed of the truck, the others got in behind her. Greg jumped into the drivers seat and they sped away as rotters reached at the people in the back. The gas gauge was almost to empty, they were going to have to make a quick stop for fuel soon. Greg opened the back window and yelled for Yuri, “we need to get supplies at our next stop, lets make it quick before those things catch up, there`s a station about four miles from here, don`t let anyone out of your sight.” Greg was still shaken up from the attack, as he drove on he had Veronica check him for injuries. They reached the station and split into two groups, one group gathered fuel tanks and checked for running vehicles while the other group went inside to check for supplies. The teenage boy hotwired a large truck and drove it over to the pumps. Greg looked at the boy funny, “where did you learn to do that at kid?” “Before the rotter infestation I was in and out of juvenile hall for stealing cars, and my name is Trent not kid.” Greg grinned, “Alright Trent glad you know how to do that, is there anything else you know how to do that can be useful to us?” Trent smiled, “besides picking locks hacking into government computers and hotwiring cars no, but my sister Tina can make a mean stew out of anything and can pretty much do everything you ask. We may have been raised in the city by our foster parents but before the government took us from our real parents a few years ago my father taught us everything we needed to know to survive in a world like this.” Greg nodded, “you and George would get along just perfectly, he`s into the whole government conspiracy thing too.” Inside the station the other group was grabbing supplies. Britney and Jennifer were holding bags open while Tina loaded them, “we can use everything in here for something, even trading. A pack of tobacco can get you a weeks worth of food from the right person.” Tina shoveled cigarettes and lighters into her pack, “I can make fire starters out of these packs if we need to.” Britney looked at Tina and asked “How do you know so much? You can`t be more then seventeen.” Tina looked up and cracked a small grin, “I`m sixteen actually and before I moved to the city my parents taught me how to survive. Lets get this stuff packed into the truck, we have a long way to go, Trent and I know this area, there`s a farm a few miles from here we should be safe at. It was my parents before this whole rotter incident happened.” The group loaded up the supplies and hopped into the fully fueled trucks, Trent told Greg to follow him to the farm and the small convoy was off. When they reached the farm it was quiet, no animals running around, no signs of life anywhere. The horse corral was open, blood splattered on the hay bales. They stopped the trucks near the house and hopped out. Trent and Tina ran and opened the door, they called for their parents but heard no reply. George and Greg walked inside, the house looked like no one had lived there for ages, but the house looked like a safe place for the time being. The rest of the group unloaded the trucks and followed Greg inside. That night while they were getting some rest they heard something on the porch, George grabbed his gun and walked over to the door. He peered out the window but didn`t see anything. When he went to walk away something slammed into the door nearly causing it to fall off the hinges. George backed away and checked his pistol, four bullets left. Whatever was outside was large and he needed a bigger gun. Trent rushed to the back and brought back a double barrel shotgun he had found in his father’s room, he handed it to George and backed away slowly. The thing outside slammed into the door again, it wanted inside badly. Everyone grabbed something to use as a weapon in case it broke through, suddenly the thing was gone, George and the others started to breathe a sigh of relief when it came back, faster this time. It broke through the door grunting and bucking wildly. George shot, hitting the creature in the shoulder. It tripped but quickly regained its footing. George shot again hitting its head, the creature fell to the ground with a huge thud. George walked up, his pistol at the ready incase it wasn’t dead yet. He looked at the creature and realized it was once a horse. The wounds on its side suggested it had been bitten multiple times by something much larger, a bear perhaps. But how did it become a rotter? Unless the bear had eaten some rotten flesh? This was a big problem, not only did they have to worry about the rotters but now there were rotter animals as well.