“My dad and mom got out of the area, they were heading north, said they were going to Canada or somewhere and they told me to come stay with you guys.” Mark stated with a bewildered look.
“Okay, here’s you a weapon.” Doug stated handing him a .22 long rifle.
…Back on the freeway in Memphis…
We were now back on the freeway heading east through the outskirts of Memphis, we were almost out of Tennessee and into Mississippi now.
“Damn those fucking things…they almost got to us that time.” Noah stated with a disgusted look as he glanced back out of the rear windshield at the terrain behind us.
“Well, at least those sorry asses didn’t get to us; some good idea the military was I tell you, they all got slaughtered and eaten just like everyone else.” I stated as I thought back on the sights we had seen and passed in Memphis.
We were now out of Memphis all together and on the road east now going through the northern part of Mississippi; I drove for around three straight hours and then Angie said that she was really hungry, so I stopped at a gas station that had wrecked cars smashed into parts of the building. The minute we went inside, there were zombies coming at us, I opened fire killing some before Noah killed the rest, we walked down the isles through the heaps of dead bodies and I got some soda out of the cooler that looked like it hadn’t been running for several days—I then found a small package of several sirloin steaks that was stashed under some slow melting ice and put them into my bag. Angie picked up some powdered milk that by some miracle was still fresh due to being sealed in a box, Noah and Christina were getting snacks like candy bars and other things—something was shooting sparks down behind the counter; I went back there and checked it out, there was a mostly devoured corpse there on the floor and there was a damaged light fixture hanging from the ceiling that was causing the sparks.
“Let’s get out of here.” I said as I shined my flashlight around at the room.
We got back into the corvette and went on east, around dusk that evening I stopped near an open field and everyone got out.
“What are we doing honey?” Angie asked with a concerned look on her face.
“We haven’t eaten in a while and I picked up some sirloin, I thought that we could build a fire and cook it that way before we head out of this damned place.” I answered as I pulled out the steak and showed it to everyone.
There was a harsh wind blowing outside the car and the sky was gray, I took out a lighter and some crumpled up paper and put it all under some dry grass that was nearby—I used the lighter and soon after had a fire going; Noah found some branches nearby and he broke them up and put them on the fire while Angie got out the frying pan that she had picked up and Christina helped with the spices and seasoning. Noah stood watch and ate at the same time—the steaks were somewhat burned, but it helped us to have some food in our stomachs.
“I wonder how everyone is doing back home and in Chattanooga…” Angie stated as she stared off into the distance as the wind blew through her long red hair.
“I hope that they are all alright—I’m sure they are, our families are tough…I just wonder how they are dealing with this shit.” I answered in deep thought.
“I hope that your family is doing well too, Chaz.” Angie said putting her arms around me.
“Yeah, I hope they are too.” I answered kissing her forehead.
“It’s getting darker, we should get going.” Noah stated as he pulled his jacket up around himself in a way that suggested he was cold.
So I stomped the fire out with my boot and we all got back into the car and just as I started it up a brilliant streak of lightning flashed across the sky and it began to rain hard; I drove down the highway and not too long after that; we crossed the Alabama state line.
“I hope that this damn rain doesn’t get too bad, Huntsville is the next big city that we will hit and I wonder how bad things are there.” I stated as I glanced at a road map that Angie was holding in her hands next to me.
“Probably just as bad as everywhere else, it just makes you wonder what happened to all of the other people—I mean, surely somewhere there has to be more people that are fighting against those undead assholes…” Noah said in a dark tone as he stared out his window.
“Yeah…there’s no telling how many—if any—survivors we’ll find; it just seems like the further along we get the worse things are.” I answered in deep thought.
I turned on the windshield wipers to full blast and drove on, the rain was getting worse as we traveled east, Noah and Christina were laying down in the back, Noah was on the seat and Christina was on the floor and they both were soaked from the rear windshield being shattered and the water was still coming in; Angie was asleep next to me and it was completely quiet. When we finally got to Huntsville we seen that it was in fact worse than some of the other cities we had went through, the streets were swarming with zombies and half of the city was an inferno because it was afire.
“We’re gonna have to stop somewhere, we need food and ammo…” Noah stated as he counted the few remaining shotgun shells that he had.
“There’s a Texaco across the street but I seriously doubt that we’ll find any kind of ammo inside—we’ll get food supplies there, but we have to hurry because those zombies aren’t the only things I’m worried about, I’m worried about that raging fire as well so let’s get our asses in gear and get the fuck out of here!” I answered driving as fast as I could over to the front of the Texaco where I parked and we all got our guns ready and went inside.
The floor was littered with dead bodies, some victims of the zombies, other were innocent people that had been shot and killed by others, we were horrified to see even some animals that were apparently dead from taken rounds in the chest and head area and after a little examining it was revealed that they were also undead, or had been.
“I don’t believe this shit…its’ not only people, but it now looks like animals have succumbed to this plague or whatever it is.” Christina stated with a horrified look.
“More reason to get what we need and get the fuck outta dodge—more of these same creatures could be around here just waiting to make a meal out of us.” I answered as I glanced nervously out the front windows of the store.
“I agree, let’s hurry!” Angie answered as she gathered up a bag full of food items that had been inside of a working cooler—these items consisted of milk, eggs, bacon, donuts, and cola.
Christina went about gathering food and found some cheese and beef jerky, she put that in her bag. I was looking around at the corpses of the various people that littered the isles of the store and I noticed that several corpses that looked like both police officers as well as military personal had weapons in their lifeless hands but when I checked there wasn’t any ammunition to be had.
“These coolers being in working order and this food being fresh…there’s no way in hell that this stuff should still be editable after five fuckin’ years—there had to have been someone around here that was keeping the electricity and whatnot working.” Noah stated in deep thought as he glanced over the food items that we had just picked up.
“I agree—there must have been survivors here…what happened to them is anyone’s guess I’m afraid; there’s not any ammo anywhere here; we’ll just have to look somewhere else!”
“Come on, the zombies are coming!” I shouted as I spun around and fired several shots at a male zombie that suddenly smashed through one of the nearby front windows.
Christina and Angie gathered their stuff together and Noah led the way out of the store and opened fire on the zombies with what little ammo he had left and after firing little more than five times his gun clicked and he jumped back into the back of the car and we sped out of there.
“I hope that this food lasts us until we can make it to my house…because I hate making these stops, they are risky and could cost us o
ur lives.” I stated as I swerved through and around the burning wreckage of the vehicles that lined the roadway toward the onramp to the interstate.
“Well Chaz, we have to stop somewhere down the line to get more ammo for our weapons because if we don’t have ammo all we can do is run, and you can’t run forever.” Noah stated in a technical tone.
“I know, maybe Chattanooga will be better…although I seriously doubt it, this whole fucking country is infested.” I answered as I glanced at him in the rear view mirror briefly.
I drove on through the pouring rain and into the night, we finally got to Chattanooga at 5:38 am the next morning and I stopped at a pawn shop that I had seen before back a long time ago when I used to come to this city with my parents—inside were the bodies of customers as well as the owner who was sprawled out on the floor in a pool of blood; Noah went to the wall rack behind the counter and smashed the glass to the gun cabinet and grabbed weapons and started loading them. I was looking an Uzi over and didn’t see the owner of the store rise up and go for Noah; Christina and Angie shouted and alerted me and I swiftly whirled around and smashed the butt of my M16 into the back of the zombie’s head knocking it down, Noah took cover as I opened fire mowing its body to pieces then its head killing it.
“T-Thanks Chaz, I owe you one.” Noah said with a relieved expression as he put out his hand shaking mine.
“It’s okay, come on—let’s hurry up and get what we need so we can move on.” I answered as I turned and finished gathering ammo for my own weapons.
Everyone grabbed extra ammo and a few new weapons and we were out of there, we got back into our car and I drove down the street to a gas station and pulled in and up next to one of the gas pumps.
“What are we doing now?” Noah asked with a startled look.
“We need gas, our tank is about empty.” I answered as I pointed to the fuel gage on the dashboard.
I got out and checked the gas pump, it was still on so I took the nozzle and stuck it into the gas tank and started filling it up; that was when we suddenly heard shouting and gunfire—I jumped startled looking toward the sound as Noah readied his shotgun and proceeded toward it.
“What if it’s a trap?” Angie asked as she stood beside of me.
“It could also be survivors—we can’t afford to turn our backs on them if that is the case.” I answered as I slung my M16 from my back and held it ready.
“I’m coming with you then.” Angie stated as she checked the chamber of her magnum and held it tightly.
“Keep your eyes peeled—if there’s trouble fire off a few shots.” I stated as I glanced at Christina briefly.
She nodded as I handed the gas pump nozzle to her and she finished pumping the gas while we all went down an ally way and we came upon two people, a man and a woman who were struggling to kill off a horde of about 30 zombies that were coming at them; I ran up and opened fire with my M16, Noah joined me as well as Angie with her magnum and after a few minutes the zombies were all dead and we confronted the strangers.
“Thank you, we didn’t believe that there was anyone left alive…those damned dead-heads almost got us.” The man stated as he wiped the sweat away from his eyes.
He was tall, about 6’3 with short light brown hair and a tan, the woman was about 5’6, long blonde hair and blue eyes, she was very pretty in an obvious sort of way—traits that I was surprised hadn’t gotten her killed already.
“Your welcome, we heard your cries for help just in time it seems; my name is Chaz Watkins, this is my wife Angie and these are our friends Noah Patterson and Christina O’Brian who’s back at our car.” I introduced as I motioned to my companions.
“My name is James Farmer and this is my friend Alexandria Thurman.” The man answered as he motioned to the woman.
I noticed that Alexandria was giving off flirtatious body language to not only me but Noah as well and I could tell that Noah either wasn’t paying any attention to it or had noticed it but was blowing her off; I focused my attention on James and inclined on where they had come from and how long they had been in this situation.
“Ever since it started man, those things just started coming after everyone—the ones that were bitten or even just scratched by them got sick and died not long after only to get back up and become just like them; before anyone hardly knew what was really going on the city was swarming with them.” James answered as he made gestures around at the area with his hands as he was speaking.
“It’s obviously a mutagenic virus of some sort—what it is exactly I’m afraid that God only knows; you both are welcome to stick with us for the time being—we’re on our way to check on my folks at my family’s home about 9 miles south of Lafayette, Georgia.” I stated as I folded my arms.
“Yeah…we’ll follow you guys—better in a larger group then alone.” James answered as he and Alexandria followed the three of us back to our car where Christina appeared to be done pumping the gas.
“I better check the oil…no telling how much was in there in the begin with.” I stated as I popped the hood and headed toward the door of the service station.
I went inside and over to the shelf and grabbed a few bottles of oil, that’s when I bumped into Angie who had followed me into the station, she looked to be looking for something.
“What are you looking for baby?” I asked as I opened the door slightly tossing the bottles of motor oil to Noah who proceeded to put one of them into the engine of our car and the rest into the trunk.
“I was looking for something that we could use to cover the back windshield—those things could easily get in at us if they tried hard enough.” Angie answered smiling as we shared a brief kiss.
“I’ll help you look…this place actually has a bathroom over there—let’s see what’s inside.” I answered as I led the way toward the door with my M16 pointed out in front of me.
I opened the door slowly and propped it with a brick that was conveniently lying on the floor nearby when an Asian looking man jumped out and aimed a shotgun at us, after looking at us he lowered his weapon and sighed.
“Fuck!”
“You scared the shit out of us!” I stated as I lowered my M16 and flipped the safety back on.
“Sorry man—I thought you were those zombie things, I’ve been hiding here for three days now; originally I was with four other guys but they were killed, and I’m the only one left.”
“My name’s Subotai, Subotai Kitoshita.” The man said as he stepped out of the bathroom and into the main room of the service station.
“My name is Chaz Watkins, and this is my wife Angie.” I introduced as I looked inside the bathroom for what Angie and I had been looking for.
“Doesn’t look like anything is in there that we can use.” I answered turning to Angie.
“Do you mind if I tag along with you guys?” Subotai asked as he stepped up beside of us.
“Of course not, come on—we have to go before more zombies sniff us out and call a buffet.” I answered as I turned and led the way out the door.
Once we were outside, we introduced Subotai to everyone else and we were almost inside of our car when zombies appeared in just about all directions, there was a barrel of burning trash or something nearby and also a barrel of gasoline nearby it as well; I could see the hazard and ordered everyone to flee. We all ran down the street shooting back at the zombies when we could, one of them knocked over the barrel of gas and it ran down the pavement and under our car—the same zombie hit and knocked over the barrel of burning trash and up it went; the flames followed the fuel trail and went under our car causing the car as well as the entire service station to explode as well making a big fire cloud in the air. We ran and ran until we found a jeep that was pulled up on the sidewalk that had rammed into a stop sign, I got behind the wheel and cranked at the ignition and it started easily, I backed up and got onto the road; everyone somehow fi
t into the back and Angie was up beside of me and I sped out of there as fast as I could. We were about half way down the road when I hit a large puddle of what looked like water until it splattered us—it was blood and rainwater filled with mostly eaten body parts, the ones who were riding in the back were so grossed out that some of them puked.
“That was like, really sickening!” Alex said with a look of disgust on her face as she shrieked and frantically grabbed at whatever she could find trying to clean herself off.
“We’re not too far now from my house, I have to see if my family is okay.” I stated as I continued down the roadway in the direction of southeast.
We sped on down the street and towards Rossville and about an hour or so later we arrived in Lafayette, it took us longer because of all of the roads being backed up with wrecked cars but when we finally arrived we seen that everything was the same, even though it was a small country town seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
“I wonder if we should search around and check to see if there are any survivors?” I stated as I drove slowly through the streets around the wreckage of cars and other vehicles.
That was when two people came running out of a condemned building and passed us; they stopped and looked back shocked looks on their faces and then they came back and looked us over.
“Whoa, I haven’t seen anyone who is alive in about a week…” The teenage boy stated.
“So you two are survivors?” I asked looking them over carefully.
“Yeah dude, we were in school one day and all of a sudden, these zombie things came in and started attacking and eating people, so me and Christy here fled and we’ve been hiding ever since.” The boy explained in a voice that suggested that he and the girl had been running from something.
[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles Page 4