Dying To Live & Fighting To Live-Book One and Book Two (Zombie Overload Series) (6 page)

I look over at Will
and he's got his hand on the door handle, looking around, and I know
he's about to get out.

“
Oh, HELL NO
YOU'RE NOT!” I reach for and grab his coat. With a good yank
back toward me, I give him an 'I-will-kill-you-myself-if-you-do'
look.

He places his hand
over mine and squeezes. “Honey, I have to get out and see
what's wrong. I promise I'll be careful and not do anything stupid.”

“
Getting out
IS
stupid!”
I inform him.

“
We can't
survive if we stay in the van for the rest of our lives and you know
that. Trust me, ok? Have some faith.”

Faith, huh? Can I
just point out that his track record hasn't been all that great? Like
the time he said, “Have some faith, Honey” just before he
climbed up that old crappy ladder and we ended up spending most of
the evening in the E.R. And the time he said, “Have some faith”
and was back in the E.R for heat stroke.
Well, guess what, Babe?
E.R. is no longer taking patients!

But he's right that
we can’t stay inside the van forever, and I
do
know
that. I don't
like
it! But I do know it.

I release his coat
and with one more look around, he gets out. I'm scared to death! I
turn sideways in my seat facing the driver side window, staring hard
into the near darkness and watching for breaks in the beams of light
scattered around. I listen. I......
OH MY GOD!

I jump so high my
head smashes into the stupid roof of the van. I'm so scared I can't
even turn around to see what just hit my window. I hear the boys
laughing in the backseat so I feel safe in assuming it's not
something that wants to kill me. Now
me
killing whoever
that
is, that's a different story. I turn and see my dad laughing at me.

“
Ha. Ha. See
how hard you're laughing when I find myself a gun and you end up
getting shot in your fool head.” I inform him as I roll the
window down.

He laughs harder.
Men suck!

He puts his hands on
the window and leans in to look at the boys. He asks them how they
are doing and they both answer that they're ok. He turns, looking
into the darkness behind him, before turning back to me.

“
We've got a
problem. Road is completely blocked ahead. Vehicles are piled up
tight at the entrance and halfway down the bridge. We're trying to
decide what to do.” He tells me.

“
Is the other
side open?"

He shakes his head.
“Nope. It's blocked, too.”

“
Let's go back
to the last exit and take the back way in.” I suggest.

“
That's what
Will and I talked about. He's checking on his sister and her kid. So
let me go tell everyone to get a move on.” Dad says.

Just over his
shoulder, I see movement. I scream, “DAD!” and he spins
around. It's too close for Dad to run and this dead dude was BIG! Not
just big but HUMONGUOUS! Think of the tallest and most muscular guy
you can think of. Now, times that by five.
Serious exaggeration
here but, DAMN!
That guy is HUGE!
He's way bigger in every
way than my dad is.

Dad brings his hands
up to try to stop him but I think we all know that's not gonna
happen. Big Boy opens his mouth. His teeth, mouth, chin, and neck are
stained with a dark brownish color, pretty sure it's old blood. His
big beefy arms come up and reach for my dad. He's wearing a
wife-beater that says 'Hot Stuff Gym and Spa'. Well now, don't we all
feel better knowing where he got that killer body, which is now a
killer
body
?

As his arms come up,
I hear my boys screaming in the backseat. There's no way in hell I am
going to let my kids watch their grandpa get killed. That gives me
the strength, speed and power to snatch up one of the swords and,
just as it brings it's head down toward my dad's face, shove it as
hard as I can between my dad and the open window and straight into
it's distorted dead face. I obviously don't hit him in the brain
because he isn’t going down, but he does back up enough so that
my dad is able to grab the handle of the sword and finish the job.
Maybe
I need to check out that gym for myself.

Dad stands for a
moment, breathing hard. I grab him, giving him a hug, then he opens
the side door and hugs both his grandsons, telling them he's ok.
Everything's alright. But even they know that’s not true. But
at least
he's
alright.

Mom comes flying
toward us and practically suffocates Dad, but I understand how she
feels. I look around for Will, nervous as hell that I can’t see
him. All that commotion should have sent him running, but it didn’t.
Where the hell is he?

I get out of the van
to go look for him, but Mom and Dad try to stop me. Dad says he'll go
find Will, but I’m determined, so Dad gives in but tells me
he's going with me. Mom climbs inside my van to stay with the boys.
Standing in front of the van, we look around for undead. I see none.
I'm not really sure why we weren’t swarmed when Dad was
attacked, we damn sure made enough noise.

Moving around Mom
and Dad's vehicle, we see why. Up ahead, near the beginning of the
bridge, my husband and his sister are top of a semi trailer. On the
ground, are at least a dozen walking dead.

Oh. My. GOD!
Heart-stopping panic.
What do we do? What do we do?

I hear Dad gasp.
That makes me feel so much better, Dad!

He turns to me and
with a wild look in his eyes, my terror increases. There is no way we
can take on that many with just knives and swords. I couldn't even
take out
one
!

I see headlights
coming our way and I pray they're not speeding and about to slam into
us.

(I guess I haven’t
said anything about other living people. But, no. We aren’t the
only ones still alive. I've just been a bit selfish and
self-centered, I suppose. We've seen several others. Running,
driving, fighting, dying. So, yes, there
are
others.)

A shiny black Hummer
pulls up behind my van, and the driver's door opens. I see legs
first, then a rifle, an arm, then finally, a head. He's 6'5",
250 lbs, maybe 45 years old. Dark brown military-style shaved head,
big muscles, and looks like he doesn't take shit from anyone, living
or
dead.
Where was
he
10 minutes ago?I bet he could have taken Mr. Buff on!

He walks toward us,
wearing all black. Black military-style fatigue pants, black t-shirt,
short black leather coat, black boots. Apparently, the man likes
black.

He stops directly in
front of me. I look up into his face. He looks down into mine. I'm
speechless. And then I'm not.

"Help us,
please! My husband is stuck on top of a semi with a dozen of those
things waiting at the bottom." I sound like a pathetic little
girl
,
but I guess I kinda am at this point.

He doesn’t say
a word. Not one single word. He just looks past us, and walks toward
the bridge. I turn and follow. He walks right up to the throng of
dead and starts shooting. Will's head jerks toward the sound of the
gun.
Man, I wish I had a gun!

He takes each one
down without wasting a bullet. Finally, the last one falls and Will
and his sister climb down. I fly into Will's arms. We hold each other
tight and I'm not afraid to admit I'm blubbering like a baby. Will
kisses me long and deep, then sighs against my lips. All I can do is
thank God he's alive and safe. Until I remember he
is
alive
and safe.

Punching him in his
stomach, his breath leaves him in a
whoosh
and he bends over.
He looks up at me.

"What the hell
was that for?" He gasps out.

I yell back at him,
"You told me you would be careful. You
promised
me you
would be careful and you wouldn't take any chances!"

He places his hands
on his knees and tries to remember how to breathe again. "I
didn't do anything, damn it! I just went on the semi to see what the
bridge looked like."

I bend down and look
him straight in the face. Holding his gaze for a few moments, then
lowering my voice, I say, "it looks like a damn bridge, Babe."

I straighten up and
with a final glare, turn my back to him. Dad and the new guy are just
standing there watching. Dad with no expression. New guy with a
smirk.
If that smirk was because he's laughing at me, he better
hope I don't find out.
I'll take his ass down.
Well,
ok, maybe not.
But I WILL
find a way to hurt him.

Will recovers and
looks up at the man. Keeping his eyes on me as he passes me, he holds
his hand out to the other man. They shake and Will thanks him.

"Not a problem.
Glad I could help. Name's Jake." Wow his voice is deep! "So,
do you have any weapons?"

Will introduces all
of us and then tells him we have swords and knives. I can see the
other man try not to laugh but he can't hide the twinkle in his eyes.
He takes his rifle and flips it up, leaning it against his shoulder.

"Well, if we
can get to Springfield, we need to get you people loaded up with some
real
weapons. Even
I
don't want to get that close to
the damn things using only a sword and especially a knife."

Will nods and says,
"I hate guns. But I would hate dying and being a zombie more.
And I'll do whatever it takes to keep my family alive."

Will tells him we
are going to have to try to find another way to Springfield, that the
bridge is packed with cars. He also tells him something we can't see
from where we are, but he had a great view of on top the semi, the
other side of the bridge has at least a hundred undead trying to get
through.

Dad, Jake, and Will
discuss the best alternate route while I keep my eye out for any
danger. Finally, they figure it out and separate. Jake goes to his
Hummer, Dad collects Mom from our van and walks her back to their
own, and Will stops first to check Wes, who is still tied down on top
of my parent's van. He's alive, but in pain, obviously.

Will comes back to
our van and turns it around, which isn't easy thanks to all the other
vehicles, and follows Jake to the next exit. We pass people heading
toward the bridge and Will yells out the window, trying to tell them
that it's blocked. I see most of them turn around. The rest keep
going.
Idiots.
I guess that’s not fair. The majority of
them had wild eyes and panic on their faces, like we all have since
this started,
(well, maybe not Jake)
but I hope they calm down
soon or they may not be able to defend themselves or their families.

One of the cars, a
little yellow Volkswagen Beetle, had a younger woman, maybe early
twenties, with a toddler and an infant in the backseat. My heart
breaks and I realize how very lucky I am to have a husband and so
many family members to help each other. A young mother with two
babies has a very slim chance of making it, in my opinion.
I hope
she turns around.

She did.

Jake turns off at
the exit and makes a left at the end of the ramp. Just off the exit,
we pass through a fairly small town. This town has so many undead and
we see no living people here, at all.

Apparently, this
didn’t start in Stephan like we believed. Or else it traveled
with an unsuspecting person before he/she turned.
Did
it start
in Stephan?
How
did it start?
Who
started this? I have
a very hard time believing it wasn't man-made.

My cell rings and I
answer without looking at the caller-id. It's my mom, as I knew it
would be.

"I’ve
been calling all the kids," (my siblings) "and they are all
ok. They said there isn't anything like this going on there. It would
be great if it stays that way. But I'm not counting on it. The ones
who are at work are going home and packing their cars and will meet
us at Rose's. I called Mom" (my grandma) "and she's ok,
too. I told her we're going to stop and pick her up on the way. I
told her to get food and drinks and stay upstairs in her bedroom with
the door locked. Can these things climb?"
Geez, Mom.
Finally taking a breath?
And what am I?
The expert
on zombies now?

"I haven’t
seen any of them climb but we shouldn't assume they can't." I
tell her.