Monday, July 5, 2010

You can't call them Zombies!

The screech of metal made the hair on the back of his neck stick up as Kyle continued his search for a weapon. After she started the dune buggy, the rumble of the engine rattled hi brain. He snatched a wooden club off the counter, and took two crowbars.

“Fine, we’ll do it your way.” He said as she slid in next to her. Strapping on the harness, he clutched his crowbar ready for the worst.

She pressed a button on the dash, and the garage door began to roll up. Slowly, in the growing light, the bloodied feet shuffled, casting long shadows across the stream of light. The growls intensified, like they knew what was coming, meal on wheels.

As the first created crawled in, Anna hit the gas. The buggy had pep, and the wheels caught with a fury that he didn’t expect. He would have dropped his crowbar except his fear had it in a death grip. The buggy darted toward the first creature. It didn’t move, or try to dodge and when she hit him; it sent him up and over the roll bar. Blood stained the metal, but they were out in the open among the creatures.

They reached for her, but her face remained firm as she gunned it down the alley, through the horde that collected. Once or twice, a creature clung to the bars, but Kyle struck them down with a bloody vengeance. Pieces of their fingers clung to the metal for a moment before flying off in the wind.

Anna didn’t make a sound; her hands were maneuvering the buggy along the deserted streets with skill that Kyle hadn’t seen before. The engine rattled behind them, but remained strong.

“Where did you learn to drive like that? Kyle shouted over the engine once they separated from the creatures.

She didn’t answer at first, swerving around the abandoned cars that lined the streets.

As they buzzed down the street, creatures seemed to take notice and begin to follow. Some ran a few steps before being left behind.

Kyle was about to ask again when she spoke. “Since I was little. I used to drive go karts in races.”

His jaw slackened and he had to remember to close it. His girlfriend of years, and he had no idea she was this talented. “That’s cool.”

Her stern, focused face cracked a smile. The one that he had been hoping to see for a little while now. “Where do you think we should head?”

“Away from the city.” He set his crowbar down on the floor. “How far can we go before we run out of gas?”

Her eyes flickered to the gauges. “About a hundred miles, before we have to refuel.”

She nodded to the small section behind them. A small five gallon gas tank sat back there.

“We could head to the coast, or the country, or—“

“No. No and No.” She said without looking at him.

“Okay.” He slinked down. “Where are we going then?”

She shifted and spun off road. Dirt kicked up and the buggy rattled in as she took it down the rocky hill. She skidded to the left, swerved around a tree and then she dropped the buggy into another gear. It shot forward, through the open space on the other side of town. A deserted place where few people visited since the Army base closure.

Ahead of them, through the rising morning sun, the once shut off lights were on. Military personnel patrolled the catwalks. Creature corpses were littered around the chain link fence. Two soldiers had manned the towers. A pair of creatures wandered toward the fence and in a flurry of bullets their bodies shredded in the center of the road.

Kyle nodded. He could get behind this idea.

As they approached, Anna slowed down until she stopped about two hundred yards away.

“What if they do what the police did?” She had second guessed her choice.

“What if they can help us?” Kyle argued.

Gunfire erupted toward their vehicle; the pavement broke apart in chunks. Anna didn’t flinch. She held onto the wheel, staring at the gates before them.

Over the loud speaker, “This is an active Military Zone. If you have no business being here, then leave.”

Anna gripped the gear shaft, stared down the gate. “We need help.”

What should Kyle do?

1 comment:

  1. Sheesh. It's being cranky and won't let me vote.

    I want to know what their options are! (#2)

    ReplyDelete