Broken Dreams(180)

“Keep close, Thomas, so we can see each other,” Henry commanded.

“Alright.” Thomas was right up on him when he stopped so he ran right into his back.

“Christ, Thomas! Not that close!” Surprisingly, the little waif almost knocked Henry over.

“I was doin’ wha’ you said.”

“Shit.”

“Wha’?”

“The road. It looks like the traffic goes on forever. Fuck!” Henry kicked the car next to him.

An intense growling came from the car. Henry swiped the snow off the window, and he and Thomas both jumped back.

“Bloody hell!” There was an entire family of undeads inside the car, pawing at the windows.

“How the…?”

“One must have been bitten, and they were trying to take them somewhere, maybe to the hospital. There’s one off the exit up a ways.”

“Do we shoot them?” Thomas nervously asked. Henry raised his gun. Four shots later, all were true dead.

Sophie heard the gunshots off in the distance. She stopped what she was doing. “Henry!” She called out. No answer. “Henry!” She yelled louder. Still no answer.

Sophie decided to follow Henry’s and Thomas’ tracks. She walked faster and faster until she ran into Thomas, his Sig aimed right at her head.

“What the fuck, Thomas?!”

“Sorry, I thought you were…”

“Yeah, I got it. Henry, what’s going on?”

“Took out a couple.” He sighed. “The traffic is backed up a ways. If we plan on continuing on this path, we’re either going to have to push through, or we’ll have to turn around.”

Sophie looked around. “Well, there really isn’t much of a choice, is there? Let’s head back to the trucks, and we can rotate pushing.” Henry nodded.



***



Henry opened the door and hopped into the truck. He threw his gloves and aviators on the dash, pulling his ball cap off before running his hands through his hair.

“How’s it look?” I asked with concern.

“Not great. A lot of traffic. We’ll have to push through.” I didn’t like the sound of that. “A couple of us will push if we can’t do it with the truck.”

“This isn’t a good idea. Someone will get hurt.”

“We will be fine. We just have to proceed cautiously.”

“Right,” I said, skeptical.

“It will be fine, Elaina. Trust me.” I laughed and he glared at me.

He put the truck in drive, and crept through the middle of the road. We barely fit, metal scraping on metal. Henry was cursing like a truck driver, and I decided that I would sit there with my hands covering my eyes. It was just easier for me that way. I felt us come to a stop.

“Thomas, I need you to hop out.” Then Henry got on the walkie talkie. “SJ, we need a push up here.”

“Copy,” she replied.

I moved my hands from my eyes. Henry jumped out and cleared the cars of undeads. When Thomas and Nick began pushing the cars off the edge of the highway, he got back into the truck.

The snow seemed to have lightened up, but it was still coming down at a steady pace. Visibility was quite bleak. Henry was impatiently drumming the steering wheel to a Calvin Harris song, while watching and waiting for Thomas and Nick to clear enough space for us to continue.

After several minutes of continuous finger drumming, I smacked Henry’s hand.

“What?” he snapped.

“You are driving me batty!”

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

Finally, Thomas and Nick rushed back to the trucks. Thomas was rubbing his hands together, trying to warm them back up.

“We thought we heard some undeads, but we ain’t sure. It’s still hard to see out there.” Thomas’ teeth were chattering while he was talking.

“Thank you, Thomas,” Henry said, all business. It sounded like “Program Henry” was back for a visit. Oh, the joy. He put the truck back in drive, and slowly moved forward again.

We couldn’t have moved fifty feet before we saw them. There was an enormous herd roaming back and forth on the highway. I couldn’t see how many exactly, but there were more than I had ever seen…more than I ever wanted to see.

“SJ, we have company,” Henry said again, like it wasn’t a big deal. It was creepy when he used his “business” voice.

“How many?” Sophie barked back.

“Hmmm…maybe fifty? Not sure. The vehicles and snow are making it difficult to see.” When he said fifty, I felt bile roll up in my esophagus. I could see them, but just hearing the amount made me want to flee.

“I’m stopped directly behind you. I’ll hop up on top and pick them off. Wait for my cue.” I was trembling. There were so many, a few of them kept bumping into the front of the truck. They looked partially frozen.