Zombie Fallout 4: The End Has Come and Gone (15 page)

Tracy
could tell from the faces of the children in the car staring back at her that she wasn't going to make it. She first saw her reflection in the glass and then that of the tortured soul that chased her. Ryan, Dizz, Angel and Sty were all pressed up against the far side of the interior, wide eyed expressions of fear on their faces.
Tracy could feel the pull of fingers that grasped out to latch on to the hood of her sweatshirt. Angel squealed and buried her head into her brother's shoulder.
Tracy knew she would never be able to open the driver's side door and close it before the damn track star got in with her, and then she'd be exposing the kids to danger. Either way the kids were doomed as she felt the press of the keys in her right pant leg; Dizz had given them to her when he had gotten out of the car.

Tracy
almost ruptured her ankle as she got within two feet of the car and thrust off to the right with all her force. Her ankle screamed in pain. ‘I will not be a cheap B movie heroine that sprains an ankle and gets pounced upon by (insert movie monster here). I lived with Mike too long, ’
was her next thought.

The zombie slammed headlong into the car. The door creased significantly to the point where it might never be able to open again. The zombie did not stop or even address the injury to its leg. Its knee cap had shattered in three places and what remained had shifted a full two inches to the left.
Tracy was saved by this very damage. The zombie's left leg had locked completely up. His decathlon days were gone, but that wouldn't stop any of his peers from cutting in line.

Dizz hopped into the back seat just as
Tracy
opened the driver's side door. The car rocked from multiple zombie impacts. Angel shrieked with each one, Sty only every other.
Tracy slid over as far as she could and still remain in the driver's seat. Zombies were pressed up against the glass. She could not keep her eyes from them as she tried in desperation to start the keyless car.

"
Hells bells
!” she said as she raised her butt off the seat to fish the almost forgotten keys from her pocket. 'This is where the B Movie Queen drops the keys, ’
she thought sourly. "Mike, stop it!!!" she yelled.

Diz was scared shitless. It looked like their driver lost her mind and now he was going to have to drive. They might as well open the doors; it would be quicker and less painful.

Tracy
's inner ramblings did not come to fruition. The implosion of the window masked the sound of the engine. Eager fingers reached in just as Tracy jerked back and placed the car in drive, not knowing whether it was running or not. Blood-crusted broken nails clawed through the air seeking to gain purchase, but were denied as the car leapt forward. She almost crashed headlong into the junipers and that would have been the end. The small Subaru would have hung on the large plants like a shiny bulb on a Christmas tree. Fortunately she jinked at the last moment and floored it. A small contingent of zombies chased them as Tracy headed back towards Route 3.

Eliza and Tommy - Interlude

"Do you feel it brother?" Eliza asked as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"I feel pain, Lizzie," Tommy answered back.

"Yes," Eliza answered, reflecting back in reflection to a time long past. "Isn’t it wonderful?"

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
- Talbot Journal Entry 8

Gary
had been driving for the last fifty miles or so and was reveling in it. He had lost his license about two years prior to the zombpocalypse, something about trying to run over a judge's flower bed. I never got the full story and to be honest, I really didn’t want to know. I’ve had enough close brushes with the law that I didn’t want to know any information that could possibly get me in trouble as an accessory to the fact or some other bullshit. Suffice it to say, Gary was enjoying the end of the world in ways many of us couldn’t understand. His whistling had at some point become less of an annoyance and more of a regular rhythm of the road. My startling awakening had nothing to do with him breaking into song in full on a cappella mode.

I sat bolt upright as a fairly strong shock was sent through my body. I almost jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Dad," Justin started.

I turned back. He looked like I felt. "You felt it too?" It was phrased as a question but it just as easily could have been a statement.

"It wasn't Eliza," Justin said, bowing his head.

"No, it was Tomas." I don’t know why I went back to his old name, but whatever had reached out and made contact was not the Tommy I had known. It felt like a malevolent presence and it was searching for us. I don't think I can explain it any better, but it was as if Tomas had cast a wide net but the holes within it were big enough for us to wriggle through. It would only be a matter of time before he sealed the holes up and we would be trapped like dolphins in a tuna net.

"It didn't feel right, Dad," Justin said, still clutching the sides of his head.

"I agree."

"He was looking for somebody, but I don’t think it was us," Justin finished as he rubbed his temples.

"You got all that?" I asked him. All I had felt were the greasy fingers of evil as they had brushed over my scalp.

"I think it was his aunt, I'm thinking he was maybe even calling to her."

"Like a summoning?" My heart started to freeze. Alex and his family were in extreme danger. Eliza and Tomas, like twin vipers, had turned their deadly gazes towards them and we were powerless to help before they struck. We had a general idea of where to go, but my actual hope had been that Eliza would track us down, not the other way around. I already know that was a horrible plan, you don’t need to remind me. I can't imagine a buck waiting for, or even wanting , the hunter to find him. That is not how the deadly game is played.

I could only hope that Paul and Erin were finally home. Would thanking God for small favors for only having half of your loved and cherished friends destroyed be a bad thing? I couldn't even begin to think about how many transgressions I had with the Big Man, what's one more? And then the stupid straw that broke the camel's back analogy decided to rear its ugly damn self.

Gary
had still been doing his best 98 Degrees or Back Street Boys impression. I can honestly and thankfully say that I did not know which one it was. Although I figured I lost a few man points just by knowing the names of those bands.

"Right now you feel like you could never love again, now all I ask is for a chance
to prove that I love you …"
Gary 's voice had risen as he sang. Cats in heat would have been preferable.

"
Gary
!" I shouted. I had awoken Travis, although the fact that he slept through that caterwauling was impressive.

“… from the..."
Gary
trailed off as I shook his shoulder. "Hey Mike," he said with a large grin.

"Having some fun there brother?" I asked him.

"Who doesn’t love a good love song?" he asked in response.

"Depends on who is singing it," I barbed back.

"I guess that's true," he answered, thinking about it. I could tell though that not once did he question the validity of his rendition, "What's up?"

I started flipping through the atlas and alternating between road signs trying to find out exactly where we were. After a few moments of quietude, I could tell Gary was getting antsy to start up his song. I had to stop him before he got going, at all costs.

"All right, in about another fifty miles we'll be coming up on Route 77. I want you to take that heading south. It looks like eventually in South Carolina it will hook up with 95 and then we can take that into Florida ."

"Mike,"
Gary
said in all seriousness. "We could have saved a lot of time if we had just taken 95 all the way out from Maine ."

He was right and I regretted my poor decision, because in all likelihood people I loved would suffer because of it.

Travis stretched and groaned. "Wouldn't have found the kids then," he said, rubbing his eyes.

Out of the mouths of babes, although who was I kidding? At 17 years old, he was bigger and faster than me. "Good point," I told him. If all else completely went to hell , which was a more likely scenario, we had at least saved those kids and I could go to my beratement from God knowing Tracy was safe.

Gary
nodded his head once and went straight back into his song like he had never missed a beat.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
– Alex and Paul

The furniture store proved to be worth its weight in gold after Paul and
Erin had tried to go home , Asheville , North Carolina was a vast wasteland. It looked like the entire region’s National Guard had decided to make their final stand here. The only thing that stood taller than ten feet was the church in the center of town. Like a stalk of corn in the eye of a tornado it stood, righteous and untouched. At least it looked that way. The small caravan pulled up to the stairs that led to the massive oak doors to search for signs of life.

"Are you sure about this, Paul?"
Erin
asked her spouse as he started to ascend the stairs.

"I was until you asked," he responded back.

Mad Jack was following behind, struggling to hold up a box that was roughly the same shape and size of a 25
inch old school television and looked twice as heavy.

"What is that thing and do you want some help with it?" Paul turned to ask.

"I'm good," MJ puffed out. "Is she watching?" he asked in between heavy breathes.

"April?"
Erin
asked. "You know giving yourself a hernia to show off in front of a woman is not appealing," she told him.

He shrugged with a grimace.

"Are you sure you don’t want any help with that thing?" Paul asked, smiling.

"This
thing
you refer to..." MJ took a breath, "is a prototype."

"A prototype? It's not going to blow up is it?" Paul asked, grabbing
Erin 's arm and pulling her a few steps away.

"Blow up? Why, do you know something I don't?" MJ asked in alarm. He looked like he was about to place his burden down and make a run for it.

"Is it a bomb?" Eddy asked, following the trio.

"He wanted to come with you guys!" Joann yelled from the cab.

"Shhh, Auntie Jo!" Eddy yelled back. "They don’t know I'm here!" he yelled.

"It is most certainly not a bomb," MJ said, addressing Eddy. "And all indications are that it most likely will not blow up," he finished, looking at Paul and Erin.

"Comforting," Paul said sarcastically as he headed back up the stairs.

The huge door swung open effortlessly as Paul pulled on it, the all too prevalent waft of death his only reward. "Does it suck that I've smelled worse?" he asked a rapidly greening Erin . She did not respond as she moved off to the side in pursuit of more breathable air.

"That wouldn't happen to have a fan?" Paul asked as he stepped away and tried to help MJ carry the box up the last few stairs.

"Is she watching?" MJ asked.

Paul wanted to tell him that he was pretty much a shoe-in with April considering that he was the only available male in their party, but it seemed important to the kid so he played along. "Yeah, she sure is," Paul said with a wicked smile.