Class of 2013 - 10

Chapter Ten

The city was like a graveyard. That’s how Lea would describe the mess that they had to drive through as they left the school and headed for the freeway. Out of the parking lot and to the left, taking A-street down to the intersection across Highway 74, then taking another left to go down the main drag toward the overpass. Up one side and then over to the other, they decided to get onto the freeway going south… but taking the northbound lanes. The southbound side was blocked by some sort of obstruction – probably an accident of one kind or another. They couldn’t see it from the overpass. All they could see was that the freeway had become backed up for miles as people tried to head south – be it for the border or for other towns and cities along the way, who knew? By now, their former destinations were kind of pointless.

An even fifty five miles per hour was the speed that they traveled at down the northbound lanes, looking over at all the stopped cars. Lea’s eyes rarely left the road, glancing over only now and then, but James’ peepers were glued to the sight of the other side. Empty cars for miles on end; some with open doors, some with blood spattered and broken windows… and eventually it seemed that along with them were their ghoulish former operators. Zombies for miles that had congregated further and further forward along the lines of cars. There was a simple theory to explain the phenomena: when the freeway got blocked, drivers got out of their cars and started walking forward since they weren’t going to be moving any other way. At some point someone had gotten bit, and the likelihood was that there were few people with weapons in their cars. Screaming people in cars had been pulled out of them and eaten on the spot, and the more people that got bit, the more zombies there were, until finally the horde was large enough to easily overwhelm the people that had made it to the front. This theory was backed up by the fact that the further they went, the thicker the zombies seemed to get.

Just before the crest near the Romoland exit, James’ eyes shot wide and he shouted.

“Lea, stop!” When she simply looked at him, he shouted once more. “Lea, stop the fucking car! There’s kids back there!” That did it alright. In an instant, she had slammed on the brakes, and a couple seconds later, Sweet did the same. Meanwhile, James and Lea had jumped out of her car with their weapons, and Lea was leaning on the trunk from the driver’s side.

“Where were they, James?” She asked as she looked through her scope.

“Blue SUV with the front door windows broken in.” As soon as the words left his mouth, the Remington was moving in Lea’s hands, scanning vehicles with her scope.

“I see them!” She was quiet. “James, they’re surrounded.” Her eyes never left the scope, though her voice was softer. “I’m surprised they’re being quiet. Poor things must be scared out of their wits.”

It was then that Sweet’s voice came over the CB radio that was in Lea’s car. We all had them as we’d taken a few trips together and found them useful. Never had to worry about cops pulling us over for cellphones when we had those to use. “Lea, James, what’re you two doing?!”

James was the one that rushed to the CB. “There’s a couple of kids trapped in an SUV. Looks like their parents were dragged out of it, but they must have huddled in the back and kept quiet as it happened. We gotta help them, Boss.”

Without another word, Sweet drove back to where Lea’s car was and turned around, bringing the nose of his Cutlass right up behind her GTO. Stepping out, he brought out the AR-15 that had been resting in his passenger seat and stepped over to where they were; James stepping around to the driver’s side of the vehicles with the two of them. Sweet lifted the AR-15 to look through its scope and sighed. James was right, they must have been witness to their own parents being taken as lunch – and had to stay silent through the whole thing. As he watched, he saw the two kids, both looking to be the same age – a boy and a girl, probably twins – moving in the SUV. They were careful as they did, reaching to grab things: one grabbed a pad of paper and a marker. The other grabbed a pair of binoculars from the back. The little girl quickly scribbled on the pad of paper and held it to the window for them to see.

Sweet couldn’t make it out, the AR-15’s scope didn’t bring things in as close. Lea could read it fine though. “Will you please help us?” Lea couldn’t stop the chuckle that came out. “Well, at least she has some manners.”

Sweet set the AR-15 on the hood of his Cutlass and then went into his car, grabbing his own pad and marker, writing: “We will, don’t worry. Just hang on.” Then he held it up. The girl’s brother held up the binoculars to read the message, and then leaned to whisper to his sister before she scribbled on the paper again; Lea reading it aloud for them.

“What do we do?”

“Cover your ears and keep your heads down. The boy that’s with us will be there soon. We have to shoot the zombies first.”

“Thank you, mister!” And with that, the twins put their heads down, out of sight.

“Cute kids.” Lea said with a smile. “So what’s the plan, Chief?”

“Simple. You and I will clear out the zombies from around the SUV. When we’ve got the ones close by killed, James rushes in and grabs the kids, and then comes back here.” He looked to James. “Got all that, Speedy?”

James saluted. “Yes sir. Just say when.”

Sweet gave a nod, and then took a stance, aiming over the top of the Cutlass as Lea rested against the trunk of her GTO. “Whenever you’re ready, Miss Littner.”

Without hesitation, a smirk came to Lea’s lips at the reference, and she fired. Unfortunately, the zombies weren’t dense enough that they were lined up straight behind one another in too many cases, but for her first shot she’d managed to get a two for one special. Sweet opened fire then, clearing away the ones from directly in front of the SUV; Lea working on the ones to the sides. Occasionally Sweet would shift from firing toward the zombies around the SUV to checking around them to make sure that none were coming over the divider toward their temporary position. If he spotted one, he would drop it, scan again, and then return to firing on the ones by the SUV. Once it was cleared around the vehicle, Sweet nodded to James and tapped Lea on the shoulder to get her to hold fire as James ran out from behind the cars. Once he was out, he pulled out the Colt 1911 and scanned over the side of the barrier for any crawlers, and seeing none, hopped over the side.

Lea and Sweet returned to scanning near the SUV, and if any began getting close to it, they dropped them quickly. Tucking the Colt away once more, having left it on safety when he had it out, James opened the door of the SUV.

“Alright kids, let’s go. We don’t have a lot of time.” He motioned for them to come along, and they both did so, quickly. Considering they were a couple of ten or eleven year olds, he didn’t use the harsh language that he might have some other time, but he still made sure they knew not to be slow. The only things that they grabbed were the marker, pad, and a flashlight – the brother having had the binoculars hanging around his skinny neck when James arrived. Moving back to the divider, he lifted both of them over, one after the other, and then began to get himself over. One leg, and then… he felt a hand grab his other ankle. He gave his leg a jerk, trying to pull it away as he looked down to see the zombie that was clinging to his ankle. When it didn’t let go, he drove the heel of his shoe into the zombie’s nose and it released him. Quick as a flash he swung his leg over and stood, pulling out the Colt and flicking the safety off.

He took aim, but then noticed something about it. A look to the legs and he could see what had happened to this poor bastard – he must have tripped or something and they got his legs. There were only shredded nubs where the lower half of his legs should have been. The odd thing was that there was no blood trail, nothing at all, coming from the limbs. The flesh was white, and looked like it was drying out; dead… like a hangnail, almost. Lowering the pistol, he tilted his head a little, studying the creature. The rest of it had a sort of greenish tint. The flesh where it was shredded was white for the most part, but at the extreme end it was starting to dry and turn brown – like the corpses at the school had done as they had apparently become natural mummies. Another look at it and he was noticing that the white flesh was actually starting to peel off… just like what skin would do after a sunburn.

Leaning to look closer he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Where that white flesh was peeling away… there was new flesh beneath it. His eyes went wide and he blinked, shaking his head a little, but before he could get a better look, he heard Sweet and Lea shout his name in unison. Without further delay, he raised the Colt once more and fired, putting a bullet through the crawling ghoul’s skull. Flicking the safety back on, he tucked the pistol away and ushered the kids over to Sweet and Lea, around the back of the Cutlass.

Without prompting or request, a small smile came to Lea’s face, and she shouldered the Remington after reloading it a final time. Taking a knee in front of the two kids, she looked at them both and gave her and James’ full names, and Sweet’s title. When she asked for their names, the boy answered up quickly.

“My name is Timothy Grimmson.” He said with a smile, meanwhile his sister scribbled on her pad of paper with her marker, and then held it up.

“And my name is Alice Grimmson. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Abernethy. Thank you for the introductions, and for helping to save us. Thank you all very much, actually.” Lea smiled, though also gave a curious look. She opened her mouth to ask the girl about why she was still writing, but, as if Alice knew what she would ask, she quickly wrote once more. “Unfortunately, despite being gifted with quite literally a genius level intellect, I’m a mute.”

“Ah, so I see. Well, you’re very welcome for the introductions and the rescue.” She smiled kindly, and then glanced up and over the trunk of her GTO to see a few zombies starting to stumble of the side of the divider. “However, we can continue with pleasantries later. For now, we have somewhere that we need to go.” Standing up, she opened the back door of her car for the two kids. “You chariot awaits.” She practically beamed, and then looked to Sweet. “We’ll be right behind you. Let’s get moving.”

Sweet nodded and headed for the Cutlass, hopping in and driving off as Lea shut the rear door to her GTO. Her and James hopped in the front, strapped in, and they were off once more as well – leaving the zombies to stumble over the divider behind them. As they came up and over the crest of the overpass, they soon discovered what had caused the freeway’s blockage. From the scene Sweet deduced what had happened. Apparently there had been a regular accident; a car had apparently sideswiped the rear end of a pickup truck, causing it to spin out, and both vehicles to slam on their brakes.

A semi truck hadn’t been far behind, and slammed on its brakes; jackknifing in the process as it tried to avoid hitting either vehicle. Fortunately enough it had missed them both and the tractor and trailer had both skidded off to the side – though blocked most of the lanes. Another semi truck had been behind that one, and hadn’t been so fortunate as the first. It tried the same maneuver as the first, in the opposite direction, but had been moving too fast and the two trailers had collided. When they did, both trucks had rolled over the truck and car, flattening them like pancakes, and blocking all lanes of southbound traffic. It also turned the southbound lanes up to that point into a buffet for the living dead as one unlucky soul after another had left their vehicle and walked forward to see what the holdup was. It was likely that a few might have gotten away, but it was unlikely that many of them would survive very long.

“So… where are we going?” Timothy broke the silence after the two cars passed the rolled semi trucks. “Somewhere safe?”

“…Uhm… eventually?” James answered hesitantly. There was silence a moment, and the sound of a marker moving against paper.

“Alice says she doesn’t like the sound of you saying ‘eventually’.”

James scowled. “Well maybe she should say it then, hm?”

“James!” Lea snapped, shooting him a glare.

“What? What’d I say?” He asked, looking bewildered – and had Lea’s hands not been on the wheel, she would have facepalmed.

“Think about it, you idiot.” She growled, and he rubbed the back of his head, tilting it back as he went over what he’d said seconds ago.

After a moment, it finally dawned on him. “Oh god, I’m a terrible human being!” He covered his face with his hands, and then ran his hands through his hair as he looked over his seat into the back. “Alice, I’m so sorry!” However, the girl didn’t look at all hurt. Instead, she was giggling. “…I thought you were mute…” He blinked.

In response, she quickly wrote on the pad and showed it to him. “Dearest James, just because I can’t form words, doesn’t mean I can’t laugh at you.”

“Oh…” He paused, furrowing his brows. “Hey! Why I oughta…” Of course, before James could finish stating what he ‘oughta’, Alice primly smacked the top of his head with her pad of paper, and he turned around, sulking a little in his seat. “Meep…” Lea just shook her head and chuckled at both of them, and Timothy laughed along too. “I see how it is.”

“Oh you stop your pouting. If you get smacked by a little girl, that just means that she likes you.” At that, James sat up straighter in his seat, head pressed back against the headrest, and Lea rolled her eyes.

“I’m not quite sure how to feel about that. That’s like reverse pedophilia, you know.” That brought a laugh from the female sniper, but also earned him being pegged with an expended bullet casing on the back of the head. “Ouch. Will you quit that?” He turned to look at Alice, and just got a glare in return. Then she gave a ‘humph’ and crossed her arms, looking away from him. With a scowl still on his face, James faced forward and glared straight ahead.

Lea tried desperately not to grin, but knew all too well that the little girl most certainly had a crush on the boy that was so brave and rescued her. She couldn’t help but think that it was so delightfully cute, but at the same time she knew that the girl would never have those feelings returned. She was just a little kid still, even if she was vastly intelligent for her age, and thus wouldn’t even be on James’ radar for probably another seven years. By then, he might have already found someone, and then she’d never have a chance with her handsome hero. But then, who knew, perhaps before then there would be a boy closer to her age that came along and swept her off her feet. The young sniperess hoped as much would happen for Alice. She was a cute girl.

A few more minutes passed before another question was asked. “So where are we going, if it’s not somewhere safe?” Once again it was Timothy.

“We’re going to Commandant Sweet’s house to get his family.” Lea answered, “His wife and two daughters. They were able to talk on the phone, so we know they’re okay.”

“Good! I’m glad someone’s okay.” Timothy began the sentence happily, though the tail end of it trailed off quietly. It wasn’t hard to forget, for a short time at least, that these two kids had probably seen their parents eaten alive. “How long until we get there, Miss Lea?”

“Oh, not too long. Just a few minutes. It isn’t far.” Lea smiled and flashed a quick V-sign. Most people used it as a peace sign anymore, but the symbol for peace had originated as a sign for victory used by Winston Churchill. She always loved pointing that out to anyone that she thought of as a hippy, whenever they flashed the peace sign. In her words, the idea of making love instead of war was great as just a theory. The problem came when you had to get two heterosexual male world leaders into bed together, and they absolutely hated each other. They were more likely to kill each other than tear their clothes off.

The rest of the trip was quiet for the most part – Timothy and James watching the scenery as Lea drove, and Alice eventually leaned over and fell asleep; arms crossed. Despite being more mature, well mannered, and grades ahead of her brother, she was still very much a little girl. Oh how she would have argued against the notion, but it was so very obvious. Were she as old as her intellect would have normally required, her affection might not have been spurned – but then again, were she that old, she might not have resorted to the age old ‘smack the boy you like’ routine. She knew as much too, which really only made it that much worse to her. She hated having the emotions of an eleven year old.

Finally the ramp came for their exit, and up the onramp they went. It was easy to move on the empty side of the freeway – though the other side had emptied out after the massive roadblock on the other side. All three of the group’s adults had the suspicion that further down the freeway it would be blocked once more on the southbound side of the road, but doubted the northbound side would ever be blocked. After all, anything northward would probably be heading toward the plague rather than away from it. Who in their right mind would head toward the very thing that would likely kill them – or worse, large groups of things that would want to eat them? Not a living soul, that was who. Well, nobody that was trying to escape from this horrid mess, at least. Someone like me? Yeah, I just might; to play hero.

Taking a left, they went down a ways before taking a right. I never could remember the name of the road that Sweet lived down, and in fact none of us could most of the time. We just remembered where it was that we needed to turn, since half the time you could hardly see the sign – it was blocked by a tree that needed a good trimming. Though… that tree had always needed it, and never actually got it. Once or twice I’d been tempted to take a chainsaw to it, but Sweet had said something about it being on private property and breaking the law… can’t remember what. All I remember really was him saying that he’d thump me if I did it. Therefor, I didn’t do it. Instead, we all just memorized the turn and glared death at the tree whenever we drove past the damned thing.

As they began to drive down the street that Sweet’s house was on, they slowed. The area was eerie. Not a soul in sight, though that was likely a good thing considering that the most likely souls to be found would be corrupted with living death. Pulling up in front of the house the place looked pretty normal. It was a single story house with an attic, garage, basement and a small front yard. The special thing about the house was the massive backyard that it had – it probably sat on an acre and a half sized plot of land. To most of the country that was a paltry sum of land, but in California that was quite an amount. Most homes in California would be lucky to have half an acre of land around them – total. His had enough that he actually had a target range in the back, along with rings for sparring and a section that was fenced off in the back for his llamas. Yes, the man had llamas – for he was a boss like that.

Pulling into the driveway, the group quickly exited the vehicles and moved to the front door, doing a quick preliminary check of the area. Nothing around. It was strange, though they assumed that the people in the area might have tried to evacuate and thus weren’t around to be ghouls in the first place. Shouldering the AR-15, Sweet pulled out his keys to unlock the door, but as soon as he did the door was flung open and his daughters jumped on him, clinging to him for dear life. He was a bit shocked at first, but his arms were quickly around them and holding them tight to his chest. They were alright; scared, but alright. A moment later they saw his wife leaning on the doorframe, wearing his other Model 629 on her hip.

“Took you long enough, llama farmer.” She said, grinning slightly and stepping aside so they could come inside.

“Considering the distance and events, I think we made pretty good time.” He smiled to her as the group walked inside the house and shut the door behind them – locking it for good measure. “You’re not gonna be sour, are you Mrs. Sweet?”

At that she laughed and stepped forward, kissing her husband and giving a little grin. “You and those corny lines of yours... If I didn’t know better I’d think I’d married Bruce Campbell; not you.”

“There’d probably be a lot more money in it.”

“I don’t care about the money.” She smiled lovingly, but before the love-struck banter could continue, Timothy tugged on Sweet’s arm and Mrs. Sweet smiled softly, squatting down in front of the boy. “And who are you, dear?”

“My name is Timothy.” He said with a smile, and then tugged his sister out from behind Nathaniel where she had been hiding. “And this is my sister, Alice! She’s really smart, but she can’t talk at all. She’s kinda shy around adults.”

Alice scribbled on her pad. “He’s right about me being a mute, but I’m not all that shy. I’m actually just kind of antisocial, ma’am.”

“My, my… he was also right about you being intelligent. What grade are you in, dear?”

“I just finished seventh, but I was probably going to skip the eighth and go into ninth grade, had I been able to test into it this summer. In truth, I could probably have finished my schooling in the next couple of years. The only thing holding me back is my age. They wouldn’t let me graduate too early, unfortunately.” She sighed as she held up the pad.

“Well, I’m sure if you want to finish your schooling, my husband can see that you can take all the proper tests. Isn’t that right, dear?” She looked to her husband, and our fearless Commandant found himself feeling as if he was in a sniper’s crosshairs.

“Assuming she can pass the tests and such, yes.” He said after a moment of thought. He’d have to find all the proper paperwork, but he probably could ensure she finished her education properly. “After all, P.M.A. is a school first and foremost, dear.”

It was then that the sound of James clearing his throat broke through. “Sorry to interrupt but… shouldn’t we… you know… be grabbing things to stuff into the cars and then get outta here? Just an idea so we don’t get eaten and such, y’know?”

Sweet nodded. “He’s right. We can figure all of this out later at the school. Girls…” He looked to his daughters, “…you two take Alice and Timothy and grab your things, along with whatever else they might need. Sophie…” He was addressing his wife this time, “…you and Lea grab up all the food and water that you can. James, you’ll go with me. We’re grabbing all the weapons, ammunition, and tools that we can find. Everyone, when you have your tasks completed, bring everything right here to the front of the house. Once it’s all here we’ll load it all into the cars together.”

A nod of agreement went through the group and everyone split off to head to their respective areas. It was about an hour later by the time that everyone had everything assembled in the front of the house. James was the one to open the front door, but he immediately slammed it shut and locked the deadbolt; then turned around to face everyone, his back against the door and his arms spread out to his sides.

“Doing this right now might not be the best idea…” He said, grinning nervously.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Sophie asked, and Sweet stepped over to the window, pulling the curtains to the side just a bit.

“Oh my god…” Sweet breathed out…

…as he beheld the horde outside his home.