The Zombie Apocalypse Horde

We’ve stripped the dead raiders of their guns and ammo. Jared’s stowing them into the back of the car, while I nervously keep watch. I don’t think any more raiders will come after us, but of course, there’s always the zombies.

“Hey Jared, why weren’t you in position when I started firing at the raiders?” I ask.

“I was, uh, having issues with the assault rifle,” Jared says.

“What kind of issues?”

“It got jammed. I should have been doing a better job of cleaning it, with all the action we’ve had. I got it taken care of, but it took a few minutes.”

“We’ve both got to do better with that,” I say. I have been cleaning the guns I use, but I’m not going to single him out. More than ever we’ve got to work as a team.

“You’re right. We’ll both do better. I don’t want to make a mistake that costs us our lives or infects one of us.”

He’s finished stowing the weapons. He straightens up and closes the back car door.

“Are you ready to finish them off?” I quietly ask.

“Yeah. We can’t leave those raiders around to attack us,” Jared says.

“I know you were hoping other people were alive, and now we’re going in and killing them.”

“They chose to attack us, instead of trading with us. Guess it’s the craziness of the world, but we do what we have to do.”

Jared gets into the passenger seat, and I get in the driver’s seat. I back the car out of the hiding spot and then drive down the dirt road. We’re about half way down the road when I see movement to my left. I slow the car down to see what the movement is and then speed right back up. Jared grunts as I barrel the car down the road. Behind me, I see zombies come running after the car. I knew they’d come for us.

I get to the end of the dirt road and take a right, toward the aquarium.

“Do we really want fight zombies and raiders?” Jared plaintively asks.

“No, we want them to fight each other. I figure the zombies will probably take the raiders out, but the raiders might at least get a few of the zombies.”

“Makes sense. Then we can clean up whoever’s left.”

“Exactly. You know I’m a big fan of letting other people do the hard work,” I say.

“Yeah, I know from personal experience, since I do most of the chores,” Jared points out.

I just chuckle in response, because its true, but he knew what he was signing on for when we got married.

I check the rear view window. The zombies are still following us. They’re running at a pretty fast clip, but I’m keeping ahead of them.

I finally see the aquarium and I pull into the parking lot and speed toward the opposite entrance. The zombies pour into the parking lot, and some of them flow into the aquarium, but more of them are still chasing us.

“Jared, start gunning the zombies down that are following us,” I say.

He grabs one of the guns we lifted off the dead raiders and starts shooting at the zombies. The gun jams after the second shot, and Jared tosses it out of the window and grabs another. This one doesn’t jam and Jared starts hitting the zombies with spurts of bullets. When one of them goes down, the others just keep running on top of the fallen one. It makes me shake my head, disturbed by how they’ve completely lost their humanity.

Jared runs out of ammo with the gun he’s using and grabs another one. I’ve left the aquarium behind, but the zombies are still following us.

“How many of them do you think there are?” I ask Jared.

“No idea. It seems like a never ending river of them following us,” He replies.

He keeps shooting at the zombies and I look at the rear view window. I don’t know if we’ll make it back to the aquarium, and I don’t know if we should go back. While it would be nice to get to the frozen pond and unfreeze it, so we can get the fish, I’m willing to bet the place will be full of the zombies that take the raiders out. We got lucky that we weren’t attacked by the zombies earlier, in the orchard.

“I’m running out of the guns the raiders gifted us. I’ll have ours, but if we don’t get away from these zombies, I’ll probably run out of ammo sooner than they’ll die,” Jared grimly says.

“Any suggestions on how I should get away from them?”

“Maybe if we can break their line of sight. They don’t seem to really think for themselves, so they might just forget about us, if they can’t see us.”

It’s worth a try. I see a side road and take a right on it. I drive down a bit, and then take a left, on another road. Now we’re in a development of houses. The houses look empty and forlorn, abandoned by their owners, who are perhaps the very zombies chasing us. I wonder if any part of them recognizes the homes they’re running by.

I take a quick look in the rearview mirror. There are less zombies following us. Maybe Jared’s plan worked after all. Then I look to the left and there are the rest of the zombies running toward us.

“Sorry to tell you this dear heart, but breaking the line of sight doesn’t work.”

“It was worth a shot. I can’t think of any other ideas.”

I look at the gas tank. We’re a bit above a quarter of a tank. We’ll have to get more gas soon, but if we don’t find a way to the end or escape these zombies, this car will become our tomb.

“Jared, I need to find a gas station.”

“Are you thinking of trying to blow the zombies up with the gasoline? Could work, if we get lucky.”

“No, we’re almost out of gas.”

Jared snorts and says, “When it rains, it pours.”

He keeps firing his guns and it barely seems to make a dent in the zombies following us. At least I didn’t lead them to our farm, but if we can’t escape them we’ll be dead and it won’t matter.

I take a hard right and Jared grunts in irritation, but keeps firing at the zombies.

I take a left, and then another right, and then I see a parking garage, and I take a right into it.

“What are you doing?!” Jared yells.

“Trying to shake the damn zombies. Stop firing at them, and let’s see if my plan works.”

Jared reluctantly lowers his gun. I drive through the parking garage and all I can hear is the roar of the engine and the shrieks of the zombies. I see the exit sign, take a right, and then go out the exit and take a left. I put my foot to the gas pedal and we go down that street so fast, past still working traffic lights that tell us we should stop. In a pre-zombie apocalypse world, I’d never do anything this crazy, but there’s not much traffic and none of the traffic cares what the lights have to say.

I take a right, and glance at the gas meter. We’re below the quarter tank mark.

“Jared, are they coming after us?”

“I think…I think you shook them. That was a smart play.”

“Don’t congratulate me yet. There’s a gas station up ahead. I’m going to stop there and let’s hope we can refuel. Then we need to get out of here.”

“Agreed. This world is getting crazier and crazier.”

I pull into the gas station and stop the car. I hop out. My legs feel wobbly and achy, but I don’t have time to do anything about that. I pop the gas tank lid and slide the gas nozzle into the whole and then insert a credit card into the machine slot. Even in the zombie apocalypse you still have to pay for gas.

I pump the gas and look back the way we came. I hope with all my heart that I won’t see zombies running down the street. Jared’s got a gun in hand and is nervously looking around. We’re both ready to jump and all I really want to do is get back to the safety of the farm. I know it’s an illusory safety, but at least we know the farm.

The gas pump clicks and makes a gurgling sound. We’re as filled up as we’re going to be.

“Jared, let’s get out of go back home. Let’s forget the aquarium and just go home.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice, Sue.”

I pull the gas nozzle of the tank and hang it back on the gas pump. It seems silly to do. It’s not like anyone else is going to use it, but it’s a bit of normalcy in a crazy world.

I get back in the car and start it up. I take a left out of the gas station, and start driving back to our farm, hoping the zombie horde won’t find or follow us.

To be continued…

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