“Hey, stop at the next gas station you see. We need to fill up,” said Kristie.
Two blocks later, Bryce pulled into a small abandoned station and then hopped out to fill the tank. I followed him, clutching the war hammer tightly.
“Be right back!” yelled Kristie, as she jumped out of the truck holding the metal bat.
“Mom, are you nuts?” Paige hollered out the window. “What in the heck are you doing?!”
“Thirsty,” she called back.
“We packed drinks,” muttered Paige, crossing her hands across her chest.
I sighed. “I’ll go follow her.”
“Be careful,” said Bryce. “It looks empty from out here, but you never know.”
When I stepped into the filling station, I found Kristie behind the counter, opening a pack of cigarettes.
“I should have known,” I said.
Kristie smiled and took a drag. She exhaled and a steady stream of white smoke curled out of her mouth. “Oh man, I needed that.”
I smiled. “Paige is going to flip out.”
“That’s okay. Let her,” she answered. “It’s so worth it.”
I stretched out my arms and yawned. “I’m so tired. I’m going to grab some energy drinks. Want anything?”
She nodded. “Grab me a diet soda, please.”
I walked to the back of the station and grabbed a couple of energy drinks out of the cooler. When I turned around, one of the former employees stood two feet away from me, drooling.
“Crap,” I groaned throwing the cans as hard as I could at her gray, mottled face.
The zombie growled and rushed towards me but not before I caught her stomach with a roundhouse kick. She flew backwards into a stack of cereal boxes.
As I raised the hammer to finish her off, something grabbed me by the back of the hair and pulled. I quickly smashed my head backwards with all my might, hitting a second zombie in the nose. It screeched as it released my hair and its horrible smell actually made it past the Vicks coated under my nose. I shuddered and then kicked back with my foot, hitting it hard in the shin.
“Back for more?” I snapped at the first zombie who’d since gotten back up and was now staggering towards me. This time Kristie was behind her, swinging wildly at the zombie with the metal bat. She hit it in the skull with a loud “clunk”, and the zombie dropped, this time for good.
She looked up at me, her face pale. She pointed behind me and gasped, “Zombie!”
The other zombie was coming at me with its mouth wide open. I slammed the hammer into its grotesque face and it dropped to the ground.
“Thanks, Kristie,” I said, dislodging the hammer. I noticed that I was starting to become a little impervious to all of the zombie blood and gore. Whether it was a good thing or bad thing, I wasn’t even sure anymore.
Bryce walked through the door at that moment. “What’s taking so long?” When he noticed the two dead zombies and Kristie lighting up another cigarette, he sighed. “Next time let me do the shopping.”
“Actually, I think we did a pretty fair job staying alive in here,” I said, grabbing two bags of dog food.
He smiled as he grabbed some beef jerky. “I wouldn’t want you on the other team, that’s for sure.”
I grabbed two more energy drinks and Kristie stuffed several packs of smokes inside of her shirt.
~~~
We took off again as I sipped from my can. I stared out the window at the houses and businesses we passed and it was hard to imagine the kinds of nightmares that were hidden inside. Everything seemed so…normal. But I knew without a doubt it was a lie. “Normal” was gone forever and we were now only left with zombies and broken hearts.
When we finally made the turn onto my street, I felt a gnawing fear about what we’d find in my house. My cell phone was completely dead and we hadn’t been in contact with Sara since Bryce left them early this morning.
“You okay, Cassie?” asked Bryce.
“I’m okay,” I said, although my palms were sweating and I had to wipe them onto my jeans.
“I’m sure they’re fine,” Bryce said, knowing my fears. “Sara knows how to use a gun and Hannah seems like a pretty strong woman. They were going to lock themselves in the basement with the kids until I returned.”
“And…what if you hadn’t returned?” I asked.
He sighed heavily. “Have a little more faith, Cassie.”
My faith was pretty brittle at this point. I’d basically lost hope in ever finding my sister, and both of my parents were still missing. Then there was my grandparents, I didn’t even want to consider what kind of hell they were going through.