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by J N Wood

  Standing at the edge of town, I was nearly ready to start my search. My baseball bat was out of my backpack and in my hand. I hadn’t used the Brooklyn Smasher yet but this search was going to be different. I was planning on screaming Jack’s name as I walked, so any zombies left in town were definitely gonna come running. I realised how desperate I’d become but I didn’t care, I was desperate.

  I held the Smasher in a two handed grip and started walking, shouting Jack’s name as loudly as I could.

  For the first thirty seconds I thought the latest swarm must have totally cleared the town out, but then I heard hissing, and a loud thud to my right. Turning towards the noise I shouted again.

  This time the window in the house opposite me exploded outwards, and a human shape hit the front lawn in a crumpled heap. I instinctively took a few steps backwards and readied myself. It wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing.

  Whilst the thing got to its feet I had a quick glance around me, all clear. I briefly thought about running towards it like I did in the gun shop basement, but the zombie made my mind up for me. Its mouth opened and the hissing started as it sprinted towards me. I stood my ground and waited.

  It was a truly shocking sight. Launching itself through the window must have torn away a lot of the skin, what was left was flapping behind as it ran. The zombie had been a woman when it was alive, I could tell because her face had been left relatively intact.

  She’s just a zombie now Chris, just a zombie that wants to eat you, that’s all she is.

  At the last second I stepped to my left and swung the Smasher sideways, connecting with some part of her face. Her head snapped back and she flipped completely over before landing on her front, skidding to a stop on the tarmac about five feet away. I quickly ran over and brought the bat down on her head.

  Then I was hurtling through the air.

  I didn’t have time to figure out what had happened before I very painfully hit the ground. I was dazed and confused but I knew I had to move.

  My baseball bat was still in my hand, so I used it to help me get up onto one knee. The air had been completely knocked out of me, and I was desperately trying to get some oxygen into my lungs. Through my blurred vision I saw another zombie not far from the one I’d just dispatched, but this one was clambering to its feet.

  The front of its throat and the lower jaw was missing, letting me see all the way through to its spine. I wasn’t sure how it was managing to keep its head upright. The missing throat must have been why it wasn’t making the hissing noise.

  Fucking hell, I was really struggling to breathe.

  Stop worrying about your breathing, you’re just winded, it will come back soon.

  I got to my feet just as it started to move towards me. I tried to blink away my blurry vision. Deciding to go with a different tactic, I raised the Smasher high above my head and aimed for the top of its skull, bringing the bat down with all the strength I had left.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck, I was way too fucking early. I swung through the air and the end of my bat connected with the tarmac, the impact rocketing through my entire body. The Smasher sprung back up and the zombie ran first into the rebounding bat, the end of it lodging into where its lower jaw should have been. A split second later it barrelled into me. I was flying through the air again, this time with a zombie on top of me.

  We hit the floor and what little air I’d managed to get back into me was very cruelly taken away. Using my jammed bat I managed to manoeuvre the zombie onto its back. The thing’s bony hands were clawing at my neck, like it was trying to do to me what someone else had done to it.

  I first pulled my knees up so I was straddling what was left of its repulsive frame, and then moved my left hand half way up my bat. I tried to force the smasher further up into the thing’s brain.

  The noises were nauseating, sounding just like I was pushing a baseball bat through the inside of a human’s head, surprisingly enough. What little skin the thing had left on its neck was tearing, and I thought I was going to rip the whole head off.

  It felt like an eternity, but I eventually couldn’t push the bat any further. The zombie finally ceased its incessant attempts to rip my neck out when I hit the top of its skull.

  I rolled over onto my back and laid next to the motionless zombie, desperately trying to suck some air in to me.

  That was a fucking terrible idea. Desperate times should not always call for desperate measures.

  I rolled away from the jawless zombie and struggled to get onto my feet. A squelching noise accompanied the removal of my bloodied bat.

  There was a car parked on a driveway not far away, so I staggered over to it, put my hands on my knees and rested against the car.

  Let’s just wait here for a bit until I feel relatively normal.

  About ten minutes passed before I was managing to breathe in enough oxygen again. I closed my eyes.

  What the fuck was I just doing? I’m going to kill myself if I carry on like this.

  I placed my hands on the car and tried to stand up straight.

  The car.

  Chris, you are a fucking moron, if you get eaten alive by these fuckers you fucking deserve it.

  I marched past the car to the front door of the house behind, quickly knocking the tip of the blood covered Smasher against the small window at the top of the door. The door handle wouldn’t move, locked. I walked over to the window next to the door and shone my torch inside, it seemed to be empty. Before I smashed the glass out and alerted more zombies to my location, I tried lifting the sash window.

  Thank fuck for that, maybe my luck had returned.

  The window was stiff but I managed to raise it so I had enough room to climb through. I put one leg in and placed it on the floor inside the house. I ducked my head into the house, just about to climb all the way in, but then I looked down and saw a set of car keys. Attached to it was a keyring with the Toyota logo. Plucking them up off the coffee table, I climbed back out and strode over to my new car.

  The white Rav4 was nice. I was more than happy with it, not too big but hopefully big enough to comfortably knock a few zombies out of the way. There wasn’t much fuel in it so I drove to where we had rolled down the hill in our old truck. The full jerry cans were spread out on the ground leading down to the bottom of the valley. I was standing where we had stopped momentarily before rolling. It must have been this high curb at my feet that helped us flip over.

  There was a trail of destruction leading all the way down to Blue at the bottom. I gratefully collected the cans and used three of them to fill up my new car.

  I drove around the town beeping the horn. If a zombie got in my way I ran it down. Most of them actually got back up and joined the rest of their friends behind my new car, desperately trying to catch me.

  I must have driven through every street three or four times before it seemed like the last of the zombies had come out. I’d created my own little swarm, there must have been fifty or so behind me. I drove out of town on the same road we used a few days ago, making sure to keep the Rav at a speed the zombies could easily maintain.

  I was about ten miles out when I found a bit of land where I could comfortably turn the car around, and drive around the mini swarm. I’d have probably been okay in the Raptor but I didn’t want to risk them getting caught up under the Rav.

  I drove around the mini swarm in circles very slowly, letting them get as close as was comfortably possible. None of them were Jack, I checked and double checked, and then checked again.

  I thought there was maybe an hour before the sun came up, so I raced back to town, and then drove around with the window down shouting Jack’s name. There didn’t seem to be any more zombies but neither did I see my friend.

  I had definitely reached a new low as I drove back to my rooftop home.

  He wasn’t here, or if he was, he’s not alive.

  I needed to try to get some sleep as I’d have to leave for Mountain View at nightfall.

  DAY TENr />
  I woke up and checked for any new swarms. Austin was well and truly fucking empty, so I climbed down off the roof and went to the bathroom in the shop. I still had a few hours until it was properly dark, so I had a quick look around the shop. I bagged up all the food that was still edible and took a lot of the bottled drinks. The car was parked right outside the front door so I checked to make sure a swarm hadn’t crept up on me, before throwing my bags in the boot.

  That’s when I noticed the cans of spray paint. It was the kind used to touch up a car. I picked out all the brightest colours and had another look outside.

  Surely I’d cleared the last of the zombies out last night. I decided I was going to risk it. Fuck it.

  I shook up a can of the red paint and started spraying on the front of the Shop & Go, trying to make the letters as big as possible. It had to be impossible to miss. I stepped back and admired my graffiti.

  I was going to risk it, there weren't any more zombies left in this place. Might as well do the rest while there was a bit of daylight left.

  I spray painted the same message on a big white building opposite the post office, close to where I had first entered the town. I drove up to the other end and spelled it out on the Lincoln Motel. After finishing there I went to the very edge of Austin, the point that I would shortly be leaving from. I sprayed it on the road, this time it was huge. I’d gone through twenty cans altogether. Backing away I looked at the message on the road.

  JACK

  MEET

  AT MV

  CHRIS

  I was now sat at the steering wheel, ready to go. All I had to do was put a bit of pressure on the accelerator, and I could be on my way. Just put my foot down and I could leave.

  I put the car back into park, stepped out onto the road and looked back at Austin. Just one last look to see if Jack had already seen the signs, and was now running up the road to catch me.

  He wasn’t there.

  Okay, just give it another half hour, just to be sure…no I can’t, I’ve got to go. I can’t hang around here for ever.

  I climbed back in to the car and went to close the door.

  No, hang on, just a little bit longer, ten minutes, only ten minutes and then I’ll definitely go.

  I stared at the digital clock on the dashboard, watching the minutes count down. Ten minutes passed by, far too quickly. I stepped out and had one final look. It was too dark by then to really see anything anyway. I climbed back in and drove away. The feeling of guilt coursed through me and threatened to overwhelm me.

  I had to carry on. I couldn’t wait in Austin for ever.

  I drove for three hours on the mostly empty US-50, only twice did I have to get out and push some abandoned cars out of the way.

  I stopped again when I needed to make my first major decision. Stay on this road and avoid Reno and Sacramento, both of which I thought were big cities. Or, take the Interstate-80 and go through those two big cities. I figured Jack would try to avoid them so I decided on the 50.

  I stopped briefly to get a better look at the map. A place called Silver Springs was just up ahead. I was being extra careful when driving through towns, so I slowed down to about fifteen miles per hour. I didn’t want to turn a corner and crash into some kind of road block. Now that I was on my own my paranoia was getting worse.

  As it turned out the road only skirted past the town. I stopped in the road by a petrol station, trying to find the best place to sleep when nighttime ended. There was still plenty of driving left, but there was no harm in planning ahead.

  Something sliced across my headlights, causing the full beam to flicker, drawing my attention away from the map. Peering into the darkness I couldn’t see anything moving.

  Maybe an animal?

  But then it happened again, the headlights flickering in the distance.

  ‘What the fuck is that?’ I whispered.

  Then a single human shape shuffled into view, walking through my lights and across the road.

  ‘What the actual fuck?’ I said.

  A wall of zombies suddenly appeared from the darkness, cutting across the road.

  ‘No. Fucking no. You’re supposed to be asleep,’ I said.

  They were cutting across my path, not paying me any attention. But then I noticed the wall was curving, and getting closer to me.

  I put the Rav into reverse and started backing away.

  Did I just wake them up? What the fuck is going on? Have we got insomniac zombies now?

  I briefly considered trying a handbrake turn, but having never done one before, I just did a three point turn. Probably the quickest one I’d ever done.

  I drove back the way I’d come. The road had been relatively clear of abandoned cars for the past few miles, so I put my foot down.

  Looking to my left I could just see them, appearing from the blackness. It must be a huge swarm. It seemed to be a never ending wall of death. Thousands of decaying bodies shuffled towards me.

  There was only so much road left before they started blocking my path.

  ‘Fuck off!’ I shouted. ‘You’re supposed to be asleep you horrible fuckers!’

  They were far enough away at this point to avoid me shitting myself, but I could just see the black shape of the swarm through the darkness, and it was curving so they were closer to the road up ahead.

  A large lake was to my right, zombies to my left, and probably more behind. I didn’t fancy getting wet or eaten so I only had one option.

  The accelerator pedal was on the floor, but I knew I wasn’t going to make it through unscathed. It was only the very edge of the swarm, but my headlights were illuminating a smattering of zombies crossing the road in front of me. Their pale grey faces were reflecting my lights back at me.

  I had to go for it. I wasn’t gonna let them literally push me around again. If I did I’d probably end up drowning in that lake.

  I slowed down my speed by half and tried to avoid them. They must have been able to hear me and see my lights at this distance, so it was harder to go around them when they were actually running towards me. Bodies bounced off the front of the Rav, some just disintegrating and splattering over the windscreen, the wipers were struggling to do their job.

  Just when I thought it would go on for ever, the onslaught abruptly ended. I was through to the other side of the swarm.

  Just to be sure, I carried on driving for another couple of miles, before slowing down to turn the car around. A clear sky and an almost full moon allowed me to see a massive shadow enveloping the valley. The numbers were astronomical, hundreds of thousands maybe. They just kept coming out of the dark. It was like trying to guess the number of marbles in a jar at the fairground.

  From my vantage point above the valley I watched them for hours. There could have been millions of them. It was very frustrating just sitting here, especially as it was the middle of the fucking night, the only time I could travel.

  Ali can’t have been making the dormant state thing up, she definitely wasn’t. I’d seen it first-hand. Jack had seen it as well.

  For fucking fuck’s sake.

  Six hours of panicking and worrying about my ever decreasing future passed by incredibly slowly. The swarm was finally gone but I only had a couple of hours before the sun came up.

  Did that even matter any more?

  I set off and headed back to Silver Springs, hoping to find a roof to turn into my bedroom. I was in a routine anyway, and it would be just as difficult to get back into sleeping at night.

  What little hope I had of surviving this and actually escaping our shite holiday was now very quickly evaporating.

  Maybe they couldn’t stop to do their freaky dormant state thing because there were so many in the swarm. They try to stop but are in constant motion due to sheer numbers.

  Fuck knows. I was discovering new levels of depression.

  I made it back to the junction where I first noticed the latest tsunami swarm. Everything had basically been picked up and deposited furthe
r along the path taken by the swarm. Some of the cars I thought I’d seen on the road looked to have moved a long way. A few had been flipped over and were now upside down.

  I took the left turn at the crossroads and went in search of a safe place to sleep, stopping outside some kind of beauty salon. It looked to have walls around a flat roof. It would be good to have a bit of protection, and the walls would also stop me rolling off while I was asleep. Then I noticed what looked like a mechanics garage on the opposite side of the road. The shutter doors were half open, so I left the car and crept over the road to have a closer look.

  Apart from an engine hooked up to a mobile winch, the place seemed empty. I checked for any other open doors that could be used to gain access. There was only a door to the toilet and another that was locked from the inside, so I left it as it was.

  I’d be able to close the shutters, but it would be loud. I decided to risk the noise. At least I’d be able to sleep in a secure location, and not have to worry about trying to find my car smashed up further down the road.

  The winched up engine was heavy, but I managed to drag it out of the way. That way I had room to drive my car inside, so I reversed the Rav in through the entrance.

  I walked over to the chains that would hopefully close the shutter doors, placing my baseball bat at my feet so I just had to crouch down to pick it up.

  Do I do it slowly and try to be as quiet as possible? That way would still be relatively noisy, and might still risk unwelcome attention. Or do I get it over and done with quickly? The fast way will probably create a lot of noise, and draw a lot of attention.

  Two chains hung down, pulling one would raise the doors, and the other would lower them. I gently pulled one of them, nope, wrong one. I gripped the other chain with both hands and steadied myself, glancing down to make sure the Smasher hadn’t rolled out of reach.

  Slow it is then. I started to pull down, one hand over the other.