We cruised along quietly, maneuvering around the empty cars on the road. I had put some antibiotics on Cameron’s wound, which had brought down the swelling and dulled the pain, but left the discoloration. Her thigh was now wrapped in gauze. We didn’t speak much. There wasn’t much to say.
We all silently wondered what awaited us up north. There was no way to know if it truly was a safe zone or if just as many flesh eating creatures were there as where we had already been. We had no idea whether our family had made it there alive, or, if they had, whether we would ever see them again once inside the safe zone.
But the thought haunting me most was what would happen to Cameron. What was happening to Cameron. The area on her leg looked like the skin of the zombies; almost like dead flesh but with a slight glow about it. Was she one of them? if she was I would have to axe her. I didn’t think I could do that. I glanced over at her. I wondered what could possibly be going through her mind.
Evan cleared his throat, picking a topic to start a conversation on. “So,” he mumbled. “Only a few miles until we reach our destination.” He was right, it had been three days since the Battle of Holiday Inn. Three days straight of driving. In about twenty minutes we would meet up with mom’s contact up north. Then maybe we could meet up with what was left of our family and find Cameron a doctor.
“Where in
“From what I’ve heard,” Evan sighed. “This guy we’re meeting is one of mom’s old friends. He’s running some sort of Underground Railroad thing. There are a few villages and he’ll take us to the one mom was sent to.” Jesse nodded.
“That is if they’re still alive,” I grumbled. Evan sent me a worried look over his shoulder, but never the less said he knew they were. Suddenly I felt it crucial to voice my opinion on the subject. “How can you be so sure?” I blurted. “Look at Cameron. For all we know there are no safe zones! We could be the only people left in
The area we were passing through what I suspected was once a heavily populated town, but was now nothing more than a feeding ground for monsters. I watched as one tore into the neck of a dead old woman on the ground outside a grocery store.
Her cart was still next to her, full of cat food and soup. I couldn’t help but imagine what she would have been like had the infection not struck. I pictured her bringing the food back to a tabby cat who was probably about as old as she was. She would put a pot of water on the stove to boil. She would set a bowl of food out for the tabby, then sit and watch as it ate. The cat was probably dead now too.
I tried to be as hopeful as my brother but it was impossible. The only living person I had seen in the past five days who wasn’t in this car was dead; and I never even knew her. I missed humanity. I missed my father. I missed my few friends from school. I even missed the kids who would make fun of me from afar at lunch. They were all gone by now. I would never see them again.
This occupied my brain for almost a half hour, until; at last, it was pushed out by a wall fifty feet high. We all looked up at it in awe. It was real. The safe zone was real.
A sign hung where the wall met the road. It read “HONK THREE TIMES FOR ENTRACE”. We did so. For a moment nothing happened, then we saw a crack in the wall emerge. It widened until it was just large enough for a large car to pass through. We drove inside slowly and the door closed once we had entered.
A single large building stood before us. Where there had once been an engraving of “Town Hall” atop the doorway, was a banner on which someone had painted in large red letters: “Transit Office”. We climbed out of the van and walked inside to see a short line of people leading to a desk where a stout man sat with a map. “Next!” He bellowed as a couple walked out the side door.
A mad and who I suspected was his five-year-old daughter stepped forward. “Names here,” they each wrote their names on the piece of paper he pushed toward them. “Any residential family members?” the man at the desk asked. The father shook his head no. The man at the desk typed something on his computer, then turned back to them. “You’ll be taken to area four. Just follow the signs. The two walked out side and drove away. “Next!”
We stepped up to the desk, Evan at the head of us. “Names,” said the man, and pushed the sign in sheet at us, still looking down at the map in his hands. We each wrote our names in a slot on the paper. “Any residential family members?” He looked up at us and Evan nodded. “Their names?”
“Brenda Cartrite,” Evan said as a woman walked in behind us. The stout man’s eyes widened. He looked down quickly at the sign in sheet.
“Oh my god,” he whispered. “Evan and Emmy Cartrite?” A grin spread across his face. “I’m Charles Monroe. I’m your mother’s friend.” He stood up and hugged us. “Your mother has been so worried about the two of you. She’ll be thrilled to find out you’re okay!” He pulled away from us and looked to Jesse and Cameron. “Are these your friends?” Cameron and I smiled at eachother.
“Yeah,” I said. “Good friends.”
Charles stepped back behind his desk and typed something into his computer. “Your mother is in area two. You can follow the signs to get there. Here’s her address.” He handed Evan a folded up piece of paper and sent us on our way.
No comments:
Post a Comment