A World Apart (Part 1): 8,000 Miles Page 7

  Angie and Derek nodded their agreement. With the plan decided, they loaded their supplies up into the truck, and several minutes later were driving away from the gas station and north on I-10.

  CHAPTER 11

  John slept longer than he had intended. His ordeal had taken more out of him than he realized. It was mid-morning when he finally stepped out of the room that the group had deposited him into. There was a briefing room in the headquarters, that the group had taken to using as a common room. John found it easily enough by following the sound of quiet conversation. He stepped lightly to avoid alerting the others; he suspected they might be talking about him. John crept up to the edge of the open door and waited, and listened.

  “He seems okay,” he recognized Shelly’s voice, “poor guy had no idea what those things out there really are. It was a lot to take in I imagine.”

  “How could he not know?” Someone asked in a gruff voice. It sounded like an older man. “Where the hell has he been, under a rock?”

  “He was apparently unconscious for a couple of weeks, while everything went to shit.” Shelly answered. “His patrol was attacked and he was knocked out. He woke up a prisoner to some terrorist shit bags. Ironically, it was a zombie that helped him escape, in a manner of speaking.” She giggled.

  “I don’t care where he has been or what he knows.” Another woman then said. “This is just what we need right now, another person eating our food and drinking our water.”

  “There is safety in numbers Susan.” Another male voice responded to that.

  “Sure, until we are starving.” The other woman that John now knew to be Susan replied.

  “Oh, fuck you Susan, maybe we’ll give him your food.” Shelly said. “If you hadn’t freaked out when the helicopters were leaving and opened that door, we would have plenty of food right now. Thanks for that by the way, bitch!”

  “That’s enough of that.” The older sounding gentlemen said, putting a stop to the bickering. “We have enough food to get us through several more days, even with another addition to our group. We’ll just have to ration a little better, one MRE should last two days for each of us.”

  John had heard enough; he was ready to introduce himself. He stepped into the conference room. “Ahem.” John cleared his throat to get their attention.

  “Well hello young man, it is good to see you on your feet.” The older man said. “My name is Ed.”

  “John.” He replied.

  “Let me introduce you to this band of miscreants.” Ed said then. “I’m just kidding. Most of these guys and gals are pretty good people and we have done well together so far. You already met Shelly. This here is Susan.” He said as he pointed to her.

  “Nice to meet you.” She said while looking at the floor and absent any emotion.

  John nodded.

  “The tough looking fella there is George.” Ed said. “He is our resident badass, and the gentlemen you can thank for changing that bandage on your leg there.”

  “Hello John, and welcome.” George said with a smile.

  “Thank you.” John said with another nod.

  “Last, but not least, that skinny young man there is Damien.” Ed introduced the last member.

  “Hi Damien.” John said.

  “Nice to meet you John.” Damien replied.

  “I’m glad to have you join us John.” Ed started. “It sounds like Shelly got you all up to speed last night on our little horror show here. I understand you have been through a hell of a lot yourself. I’m sorry you had to wake up to this nightmare all alone and in the hands of the enemy, no less. I’m just happy you are here now, under the circumstances.”

  “Thank you, Ed.” John said. “It was nice to find people alive here. All I saw when I returned to the base were those things. I thought I was alone.”

  “Well we aren’t much, but we are amongst the living.” Ed said. “It’s not all rainbows and sunshine though. We are in quite the pickle here. We are trapped in a building, surrounded by zombies, and very little food and water left to boot. So, we better not break out the champagne, just yet.” Ed said with a grim look on his face. “Sorry to be so direct, but I just want you to understand the severity of the situation we are in here. We were just discussing the food situation. Tighten your belt my friend, the food will be scarce until we figure out our next move.

  “I understand Ed.” John said. “Thank you for giving it to me straight. I want to help. I have a family in the States that I would like to see again, if at all possible, as I am sure all of you do. I will do whatever it takes to make that happen. Thank you all for welcoming me to your group, I would hate to try and survive this mess on my own.” John still needed to clear a few things up to fully understand the situation outside. “The last reports I saw on the news said that there were reports of infected pretty much all over the world. They said that several nations were working together to develop a cure. What did I miss? Did they even get close to a cure? How bad did it get?” John asked the group.

  “Well we were hiding out in the chow hall before we had to move to this building, about a week ago,” Ed started to explain, “we had TVs and still had power when we were over there, but the channels stopped broadcasting a few days after everything went to shit. The last reports said that the infected had turned hostile. There were emergency broadcasts that told people to remain inside their homes, if possible, until it was under control. It said to avoid the infected. It explained that the virus was not airborne and, to their knowledge, was only being transmitted through bites from the infected. The last live reports claimed that a cure was still being developed.” Ed paused for a second, rubbed his hand over his forehead, then continued. “The live reports stopped coming in a couple of days before the channels stopped completely. Many major cities in the States had declared martial law; New York, Los Angeles, Boston, D.C., Austin…to name a few. They showed live video of these bastards attacking people in the street. After the live reports stopped, it was just the emergency broadcast, looping over and over. We don’t know how bad it got beyond that.” Ed finished.

  John just stared blankly.

  Susan joined in. “We were getting tons of reports through military intelligence channels as well.” She explained. “Afghanistan, for one, didn’t have the infrastructure to deal with this. The infection was spreading exponentially throughout this country, even before we lost the ability to collect more information. We know that the U.K., Germany, and Australia, to name a few of our allies, were losing control as well. The top leaders from the joint militaries declared any infected as hostile and authorized deadly force. The leaders of this base closed all the gates and increased security tenfold. It wasn’t long before we lost all contact with anyone outside of the base.”

  “We had infected right here on the base.” George added. “They were being treated in the clinic here until they died…and came back. It didn’t take long for it to spread after that. It got worse and worse until all the guards abandoned their posts and hid out where ever they could. A small group of soldiers took a Humvee and high tailed it out of the base. They left the front gate wide open when they left. More and more of the zombies wandered inside with no resistance to stop them. Not long after we were trapped inside that dining hall, the remaining leaders organized an evacuation. We watched them fly away.”

  “Oh, my god.” John responded. “It is worse than I imagined. Do you think there is any hope that they have gotten it under control in the States or in Europe?” He asked no one in particular.

  “There is always hope son.” Ed replied. “There are a bunch of really smart people out there, but we just have no way of knowing, as long as we are stuck on this base isolated from the rest of the world.”

  John shook his head in disbelief for a few moments, then he asked, “could I get something to eat? I am famished.”

  “Sure thing.” Shelly said. She reached into a card board box behind her and tossed John a MRE.

  John sat down at the conference tab
le and ripped the brown plastic package open. He took out a vacuum sealed package, labeled crackers, and tore it open. He sat back and began to nibble on the dry, but in this moment, delicious crackers. John smirked as he chewed.

  “What is it?” Shelly asked.

  “Nothing,” John explained, “it’s just funny how good these tastes right now, I always hated these things.”

  “Well enjoy it son,” Ed said, “but make sure you don’t eat that whole MRE right now. You need to make it last a couple of days.”

  “No problem.” John said, nodding. “I just needed a little bite. Any ground rules here?” He asked.

  “No one is in charge here.” Ed responded. “Our military ranks don’t matter much anymore, not since the zombies started making decisions for us. We discuss our options as a group and make decisions together. That’s pretty much it as it stands now.” Ed said, before he added, “oh, and one more thing, don’t get bit. That’s how it spreads. If you get bit by one of those things, you get dead…or undead I guess.”

  “Got it.” John said determinedly. “I would like to work my way over to my barracks if no one objects. I will go by myself. I don’t want to put anyone in danger.”

  “Well I don’t necessarily object,” Ed started, “but what’s so damned important that you would risk your life to get it?” He asked.

  “I would like to get some clean clothes that aren’t ripped up and covered in blood, for one.” John answered. “I also would like to get my wedding ring, I left it in my room before I went on that patrol.”

  “Good enough reason for me.” Ed agreed.

  “I’ll help you.” Shelly said.

  “Me too.” George added.

  No one else offered to assist, but no one objected either.

  “Thank you both.” John said appreciatively.

  “When do you want to attempt this?” Ed asked.

  “After I eat?” John asked.

  “Ok kid.” Ed said. “If you’re going to do this, you better do it right. Don’t just go running out the door without thinking this through first. Let’s come up with a plan.”

  “Sure thing. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” John agreed.

  CHAPTER 12

  They had been travelling up I-10 for about forty-five minutes from the time they pulled out of the gas station. They were moving at a decent pace, but not too fast, due to the number of cars that were randomly abandoned on the interstate. They had to weave around them often, sometimes having to drive off the shoulder or through the median to get around heavily congested areas. Derek was standing up in the bed of the truck, with his rifle at the ready. He had taken some straps that were in the back and secured them to the headache rack, to create a support that would allow him to keep his balance while they were moving. Angie was busy surveying the sides of the road, looking for any signs of civilization or danger. Sam was in the middle playing with a stuffed animal. They had passed a small town a few miles back that they considered checking out, but they could see plenty of undead walking the streets when they drew near without ever leaving the interstate, so they decided to keep going.

  “How are we doing on gas?” Angie asked Jerry.

  “We should be good for a while.” Jerry answered her. “We should probably stop next time we find a group of these abandoned cars and see if we can fill this tank up the rest of the way, and fill those two gas cans in the back up as well.”

  “Probably a good idea.” Angie agreed.

  “Good idea, Grandpa.” Sam chimed in, including himself in the conversation as small children often do.

  A few minutes later, they came upon several more cars parked here and there in the middle of the road. Jerry slowed the truck until he came near the first car and then stopped and shut off the truck. “I don’t need you for this Angie girl, stay here with Sam.” Jerry said. “Keep your mamma safe kiddo.” He told Sam.

  Sam giggled and said, “okay Grandpa.”

  Jerry got out and went to the bed of the truck. He looked up at Derek and said, “I’m going to try to get us a bit more gas from these cars. Can you watch my back from here?” He asked.

  “I got you.” Derek replied.

  Jerry grabbed the gas cans and the hose. He left his rifle in the truck, but had the revolver he had recovered from the gas station attendant tucked into his belt. He had John’s baseball bat propped up on his shoulder as well. Jerry went to the first car and started the process of trying to siphon gas out of its tank. He repeated this several times and actually managed to fill both cans. He walked back to the truck and emptied both cans into his tank. He went back to the cars to try and get more. He bent down at the next car to start the process all over again. He didn’t even notice the zombie that had come from behind a couple of the vehicles further down the road. The creature was heading towards Jerry, but it was completely out of his line of sight. Jerry was making enough noise to attract the thing, but too much to hear its shuffling approach. The monster came lunging around the back of the car Jerry was working on. He noticed it just as it started its attack, and fell to the side just before the thing’s head exploded. The zombie’s body collapsed right next to Jerry’s feet. He looked back towards the truck and saw a glint of sunlight off of Derek’s scope. He waved in appreciation and went back to work.

  A half hour later, they were moving up the interstate again. Jerry had managed to fill the tank of the truck and had a half full gas can remaining when the task was done. He felt very satisfied with their luck so far. He was smiling as they continued to drive until Angie shouted out a warning. “Look!” She said. There was another car speeding down the interstate in the southbound lanes. It was going extremely fast. Derek tried to wave them down, give them warning that El Paso wasn’t safe, but it just flew right past them without slowing down in the slightest.

  “They were in an awful damned hurry.” Jerry said.

  “Yeah.” Angie replied with a look of concern on her face.

  Several minutes later they came to an overpass. It was elevated with no median. The interstate was blocked off to the north by lines of cars that created a funnel, forcing northbound traffic to take the exit to the right. There was a big wooden sign, leaned up against some of the cars, with the word ‘BYPASS’ spray painted on it and an arrow pointing to the right.

  “I guess we have to take the exit to get around this.” Jerry said.

  “I wonder why someone would block off the northbound lanes.” Angie said worriedly. “Someone put a lot of work into this.”

  “Yeah,” Jerry agreed, “I’ll take it slow until we see if this will actually allow us to get around. If anything looks off, I’ll spin us around and we’ll find another way.”

  They turned onto the exit and moved slowly. The exit was lined on both sides with cars as well, giving them very little room to divert their course. There was a sign off the right that identified the area ahead as a ready-mix cement company. They could see mounds of white dust and heavy equipment ahead. There was another spray-painted sign ahead, where the exit lane veered to the left, that said ‘BYPASS’, just like the one back at the interstate, this time with an arrow pointing to the left. They hadn’t seen any sign of zombies or people so far, but they were starting to get more concerned. All of this seemed very strange.

  As soon as they turned around the bend, Jerry heard a gunshot, followed by a thud on top of the cab roof. Blood began to trickle down the middle of the windshield from the top. Jerry reacted fast, he threw the transmission into reverse and started to back up swiftly, but had to slam on the breaks as a big bulldozer pulled into the lane behind them, from in between two cars on the side, and blocked his path. He put it back in drive and pulled forward again, but was blocked by another bulldozer. They were boxed in. “Get down in the floor, shield the boy, keep your gun ready.” He told Angie and then he grabbed his weapons and got out. Just as he was stepping out, several armed men filed onto the lane. Jerry took cover behind his door and aimed his rifle between the door and the truck ca
b. The men were covered in white powder from head to toe. One of the men moved to the front of the group.

  “Lower your weapon, old man.” He instructed Jerry. “Tell your woman to get out too.”

  Jerry didn’t move.

  “Look, no one has to get hurt here, but we aren’t playing around. Put down your gun and get your ass out here!” The man instructed again, more aggressively.

  “Just let us go.” Jerry tried to plead with the man. “We don’t want any trouble, we’re just passing through. We have a little one with us.”

  “You aren’t going anywhere.” The man said. “There won’t be any trouble, if you just cooperate.”

  Just then, Derek lifted his rifle up, apparently only wounded and not killed. Then there was a loud gunshot that echoed off the surrounding vehicles. The man that had addressed them had raised his gun in the air and fired, giving Derek a warning shot. “Lower your weapon and get down from there,” the man said to Derek, “the next one will be in your head.”

  Derek dropped the rifle onto the roof of the cab, as instructed, and slowly began to move down from the back of the truck, holding his right shoulder with his left hand. There was blood oozing from in between his fingers.

  They were outnumbered, and all avenues of escape were blocked off. Jerry didn’t see much choice but to do what the man instructed. He only hoped they were survivors being extra wary of travelers. He doubted it. “We’re coming out.” Jerry said, as he lowered his rifle to the ground. “Please don’t hurt my daughter and her little boy, I beg you.” He pleaded.

  Angie came out of the passenger side of the truck, holding Sam in her arms. He was crying into her shoulder. Jerry came around his door to the front of the truck and Derek came up from behind the truck, on Angie’s side. Jerry was holding up both hands. Angie and Derek did the same with their free hands. The men on the road moved forward. One of the men pulled Sam roughly from Angie’s grasp and wrapped him in a bear hug. Sam cried out and Angie screamed, “don’t hurt him.” Three others came up behind the three adults and bound their wrists behind their backs with zip ties. They wrapped duct tape around their heads and over their mouths then put bags over their heads. Angie heard Sam screaming, as they were loaded into the back of Jerry’s truck. She was crying and trying desperately to plead with them through the duct tape gag. She heard the truck doors slam shut. The truck started up and then they were moving, to the unknown hell that awaited them.