Determined To Live (25 page)

One of my dreams
had been to meet this very man. Now? I believe I'll pass. Gotta admit
though, it's kinda cool knowing someone famous is chasing me down;
wanting me, drooling for me. I can always tell the story but leave
out the part that he's a zombie, right?

I twist my head
around as I continue to watch him as we pass, but snap back to the
front when I hear Jake swear. What I see up ahead has me repeating
his swear word and adding a few more of my own. The entire overpass
we should get on to get out of this place has collapsed!

I look at Jake with
my mouth open wide in horror. "Holy shit. So now what?"

No, I'm not
hysterical this time. Just worried.

Turns out, I
should have been hysterical.

"Looks like
we're screwed," he tells me as he slumps back in the seat, his
wrists crossed on the steering wheel.

I
stare at him, shocked that he appears to just be giving up. Then I
swing my head from one window to the next, getting a major eyeful of
zombies from each view. And of course, they just
can't
ignore us.

Jerking
my head back to Jake, the rising desperation to do
something...
anything
...makes
my stomach clench tight. We're running out of time and―
Screw
him! I am
not
going to just sit here and be eaten by an incredibly large mob of
baseball players and fans!

I screech at him,
wild with anger and fear as I claw at his coat and pull him toward
me. Jake mistakenly thinks that I'm scared and want to be held before
I die or some shit, because he wraps his arms around me and babbles
soothing baby talk. But when I throw his arms away from me, put my
face up against his, look him straight in the eyes, and let out a
horrifying screaming growl - he backs away faster than hell with pure
terror on his face.

I
shove him over me and toward the passenger side as I scramble into
the drivers seat. Then I jerk the Hummer into drive and floor the gas
as I spin the truck around. Jake is screaming and holding on for dear
life, with one hand on the "oh
shit"
handle, and the other above his head on the roof. As I pass the
hordes on both sides of us, I glance out my window when I notice
faster movement than zombies should make out of the corner of my eye.

Let
me rephrase that, faster than
normal
zombies should make. The one I see coming straight for us is a
Runner.

Yep, I have
officially named the two different zombie breeds. The slow ones are
now called Shufflers and the fast ones are called Runners.

I
slow the truck as I take a good look at her. The Runner is a woman
with brown hair pulled up in a ponytail. Amazingly, her glasses have
managed to stay on her pretty little face.
Ok,
so maybe not so pretty now, but before the whole alive-dead-undead
thing happened it was.
Her black t-shirt has the name of a popular local diner on the front,
and the name tag attached is easy to read even at this distance.
"
Amy
."

I
heard they had some incredible food at that place.
Oh
lord, what I wouldn't give for some of that...and pizza!

My stomach gives a
loud growl even though it's still plenty full of cheese and crackers
- but I ignore it, ignore Amy, and focus on getting my ass out of
here. I couldn't give one shit about Jake's ass.

I
get us back to where Jake had turned to come down to the stadium, and
my stomach stops growling long enough to manage some flips of
nervousness.
What
if all the roads out of here on this side of the city are blocked?
What
if we have no choice but to go all the way back to the other side
where we entered the city? With all the chaos, will those roads even
still be open?

Suddenly I remember
a lesser used back road that Will had managed to find on one of his
"Oh shit. I think I'm lost" excursions. Praying I remember,
I spin the truck into the next right turn. Jake screams at me to slow
down. I do...
after
I finish the turn - but I still keep it at a good speed because I'm
so afraid of getting trapped again.

"Where the
hell are you going?" Jake practically screams at me, pissed off
and scared.

"I might know
a way out of here to get us on the highway to Springfield."

"Springfield!
We're not going to Springfield! Get us on the road to Tennessee,"
he orders.

I swing my head
toward him in shock.

Sure didn't see
that one coming.

Son
of a bitch!

Amazingly enough, I
find the road to take us to the highway, but instead of turning left
toward Springfield, I turn right to Tennessee.

Damn
you, Jake!
Damn
you!

Before
we can actually make it past St. Louis, we run into another crowd of
zombies - but this time, there are no other routes we can take. This
part of the highway has no roads leading from it, just a straight
highway with a big bridge. Of course, the horde is on the bridge.
Where
else?
But there isn't as many and they aren't clustered together as tightly
as they were back at the stadium, so we
should
be able to get through without too much trouble.

Apparently, now
that I'd gotten us both out of Jake's plan to surrender and become
zombie food, his manhood has returned. "Stop the truck and get
the hell back over here. Now!"

Hmm, I believe
I've done pissed the man off again. Imagine that.

I scoot over and
Jake gets back in the drivers seat. He puts the truck in gear and
moves us forward into the reeking clusters of undead. Vehicles litter
the highway and all across the bridge, and I have a moment of panic
when I see no opening around them to get through. But as we get
closer, I see that what appeared to be a dead end was really only an
illusion. There's plenty of room to maneuver around them.

As we draw near a
dark red SUV, the door swings open and a man comes running up to the
truck, begging us for help. But he's clearly been bit on his right
arm. The undead who've seen him have stopped mid-shuffle, and are now
on their way over.

"Should
I help
him
,
Canada?" Jake asks me with a little irritation, and a lot of
cockiness.

I desperately want
to say yes, but I know better and shake my head. As much as I want
to, we all know it will only end in the worst possible way.

But he's just so
damn cute! He's about six feet tall, is wearing an "I Love
Bacon" t-shirt, and on his head is a fluffy brown hat with bear
ears on it. He looks like he would have been fun, and definitely
interesting - someone I would have loved hanging out with before all
this zombie shit happened.

Jake speeds away
before the man can reach the truck, and I throw my hands on my ears
to try to block out his terrified screams. I resist the urge to look
back; feeling sick all over again.

And now Jake feels
it's time for a lecture.

"We can't save
everyone, Canada."

You
don't save
anyone
!
How many of these poor people could you have helped - but instead
laughed at and even killed ones who weren't yet bit?

"In
this new world we've been forced into, we have to take care of
ourselves. We shouldn't expect anyone else to save us, and we
shouldn't be wasting our time, energy, ammo, and risking our lives
for people who don't matter. And
no
one
else matters but me and you."

The freakin'
words that come out of his mouth piss me off. I can't imagine just
letting people die like this. Who does that? And what about the
people we love? As a matter of fact...

"So
you'd just let Greg, your own
brother
,
die?" I hiss at him, forgetting everything but the rage from
knowing that he definitely includes my family - my
boys
- in his ignorant summary of out to survive in this
new
world.

My
head flies to the side and -
once
again
- blood gushes from my nose and my lip splits open from his too-large
- too
strong
-
hand. I gasp and cover my face with both hands. Almost immediately,
Jake slams on the brakes - and then his hands cover my own as he
tries to pull them away, begging for my forgiveness.

His
apologies and desperate pleadings of "
stop
making me hurt you
"
are met with silence and resistance. I jerk my hands and face to the
side away from him. Eventually, he gives up and settles back in his
own seat, frustrated and irritated.

Apparently, his
promises can only be pushed so far. And mentioning his attitude in
regards to his brother is too far.

Jake coughs to
clear his throat - and when he speaks, his voice is low and shaky.
"Greg's already dead."

I turn my head so
fast toward Jake, I have to take a few seconds to close my eyes and
let them catch up, as dizziness causes them to spin in their sockets.

"What! When?"
I hadn't heard anything
about Greg since the last time I saw him back at Rose's, but he
seemed to be getting better!

Jake
sighs. "He doesn't know it yet, but he's already dead. His
cancer
is
gone, but that doesn't even matter."

What the hell is
Jake talking about? If his cancer is truly gone - And how the hell
does he know that anyway? - then why would he still be dead? Or is it
that he thinks he's the only one who can protect him?

"Jake, I know
my family won't let anything happen to him. They―"

He shoves his angry
face right up against my own before I have time to react. I clearly
see the emotions in his eyes - not pain over his brother, just plain
pissed off.

"Your
"
amazing
"
family can't do a damn thing to save Greg. In fact, because of
Greg
,
your family may be―" he cuts himself off, deliberately not
finishing so that I can fill in the blanks. The evil grin on his face
tells me he meant exactly what I'm terrified he implied.

I
know what he sees when he looks at my face. Fear, confusion...
fear
!
What
the hell is he talking about!

"Jake,
please tell me what's going on,
please
!"
I beg him, not giving one shit how weak and pathetic it makes me look
and sound.

He
sighs and ducks his head, but I still see a bit of a smile on his
face. When he doesn't answer right away, I have to force myself to
keep my tightly clenched hands in my lap so that I don't slam them
into his stupid face.

I
have no doubt that punching him will probably get my own ass killed -
or worse - alive, but in more pain than I can handle. And any chance
of trying to do something - anything - to save or warn my family will
be gone, if I ever get a chance anyway.

Finally, he raises
his head but looks out the front windshield, avoiding me. "You'll
see when we get to my place."

His place? His
place is in Springfield, Illinois. We're in St. Louis, Missouri and
heading to Tennessee!

I look over at
Jake, even more confused than ever, and wonder if I have the nerve to
question him again. I don't, but he sees the look I give him and
actually answers me, giving me a break from his fist smashing into my
face.