Dead Stop (39 page)

“Marisa…” Harley
said in a calm voice. “The others are coming. They will be crowding in here
with us in roughly eight seconds. There are a lot of them, and they are
stronger than ever. We may not be able to push our way out of them from a dead
stop.”

“I
know
,”
she choked out as her hand closed on the transmission. She had threatened to
kill this horror back in the diner. Now faced with the reality of doing just
that, it was the last thing she wanted to do. But it was what everybody
needed
her to do…and it was what she was going to do. Right now.

She dropped the
transmission into reverse.

This was going
to hurt.

“I’m sorry,
Vicki,” the girl whispered. “Please forgive me.”

Marisa stomped
her foot on the gas and the large Plymouth shot backwards out of the garage.

It smashed into
the wasted figure, causing it to fold over the trunk before whipping backward
and disappearing under the car. The large sedan bounced and she could literally
feel bone crunch and snap under her tires. It felt like pieces of her soul
shattered along with them. The sound of it tumbling under the floorboards
reverberated through the cab. Then it must have caught under the axle for a
second before another jounce and crunch signaled its arrival at the front
tires.

Jerking the
wheel to the side, Marisa slid the large vehicle into a turn. She tried not to
look at the broken heap of rags that emerged from under the front of the
car.  In the dim light of the parking lot, it looked so small, so
trivial…just a piece of refuse discarded on the asphalt.

It lay there
like a crumpled reminder that everything she loved was truly dead and gone.

Then the sight
of it was mercifully blotted out as the monsters arrived.

Twisting the
wheel again, Marisa slammed the transmission into gear and hit the gas. Her
tires spun on the wet asphalt and the car threatened to fishtail. She didn’t
let up. Breathing in harsh gulps, she fought to keep the car on course as
multiple thumps sounded off the front grill. Several skulls grinned in her
headlights before gaping then disappearing under her hood. Withered claws
slapped and scratched past the window beside her head. Once the car almost
slowed to a stop as the rear tires caught and then spun out on a couple of
corpses, but it regained traction and leapt forward through the grisly ranks.

Then they were
through.

The Plymouth
shot across the parking lot towards the diesel pumps, leaving the ranks of the
dead behind. Marisa became aware of a pain in her jaw and realized she had been
clenching it to the point of fracture. At the same time she caught herself
looking in the rear view mirror. She refused to think what she had been looking
for and forced herself to focus forward.

She had to let
go.

She had to. Her
friends needed her.

Marisa
maintained speed then slowed the vehicle at the last moment. She did a rapid
deceleration that allowed her to just barely bring the car to stop without
skidding, but placed Harley’s door almost perfectly across from the one on
Grandpa Tom’s truck.. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see figures jumping
on the roof of the truck stop and knew the celebration had begun.

Maybe someday
she could join them.

“We’re here,”
Harley confirmed and grabbed the handle of his door.  “Your part is done.
Now go ahead and get out of here. We’ll meet you at the rest area.”

He started to
exit the car...

…and that's when
Marisa surprised both him and herself by reaching out and catching his arm.

Halfway out the
door, Harley stopped and looked back in at her with confusion.

“Marisa?”

The girl
struggled to speak, to try and put the pain she was in into words. This wasn’t
the time, but she couldn’t help it.

“Are you okay?”
His eyes searched her face.

Was she? She
struggled with that for a second and then decided to go with the truth.

“No,” her voice
quavered, and she discovered she didn’t give one little damn about how pitiful
it might have sounded. She was past all that now. “No I’m not. I need you to
hurry up,
comprende
?”

“Marisa?”

“Partner,” she
smiled feebly but could feel the tears start to well, “I don’t want you to take
this wrong, but I’m going to need that shoulder to cry on pretty quick, okay?
I’m sorry, but I think I’m going to need it in a big way. So please hurry up.”

Harley didn’t
say a word.

The man took a
quick glance out the rear window, then slid back in and pulled her into his
arms. He crushed her to him with a fierce intensity that almost took her breath
away…and even as sore as she was, it felt every bit as good as she thought it
would.

“Fifteen
minutes,” he whispered hoarsely in her ear and held her tight. “Just get to
that rest area and I promise I’ll be there in fifteen minutes. And when I get
there, I’m not going to let go again until you make me.”

She clenched him
back, her face buried against his shoulder. All she wanted at that moment was
for time to give her a break and stop for a little bit. Just for an eternity or
two…that would be fine.

But that
couldn’t be, because the horde was racing up behind them and Harley had to get
to the truck.

“Fifteen
minutes,” he repeated. “I promise. Wait for me.”

And then he was
gone.

Marisa took a
deep shuddering breath and recovered her composure as the man leapt out the
door.

Harley covered
the short distance to the truck in two quick strides. The eighteen wheeler’s
lights flashed as he used the automatic lock on the keychain as he moved. He
leapt up onto the truck rail and yanked on the door. It didn’t budge, and she
realized the truck must have been unlocked earlier during Harley’s struggles
and now he had locked it again by mistake. She watched him fumble with the keys
again just as a flicker of motion caught her eye in the rear window.

The dead were
almost upon them…their grinning jaws becoming visible as they entered the
diesel islands lights.

Marisa’s hand
hovered over the gear shift and she held her breath, ready to drop the big car
into reverse. She had had enough violence and killing for one night, for the
rest of her life even, but if these things came much closer before Harley got
in the truck she wasn’t going to hesitate to do some more.

Thankfully, the
slam of the truck door informed her that Harley was in the cab and out of
harm’s way. She had now done all she could do.

It was time to
go.

Fighting down
the lump in her throat, Marisa shifted the car into drive and pressed the gas.
The car eased forward, past the restaurant and towards the front of the parking
lot. In the mirror, the lights of the Textro fell behind her for the last time.
She pulled the Plymouth up on the road, but hesitated before hitting the gas.

The highway
stretched empty and dark into the rain. Marisa had no idea what kind of world
lay at the end of it. She only knew it would be different, and wouldn’t include
most of the family and loved ones that had been part of her life. Even now,
this still wasn’t over. There still remained a lot of pain, heartache, and loss
to deal with in the future.

But at least she
wouldn’t have to face it alone.

A glance back
showed Harley had the eighteen wheeler’s lights on and was just beginning to
pull out and start his rescue. Marisa wiped her eye and watched as he swung out
in front of the gas pumps in order to start a wide circle of the building. He
was doing what he needed to do, and being there for the people who needed him
now.

Her turn would
come.

He had promised.

“Fifteen
minutes, partner,” she whispered as she pulled away into the darkness. “Don’t
keep me waiting.”

Epilogue

Epilogue –
Benny

“Benny? Can you
hear me? Time to wake up!”

He didn’t want
to. He just wanted to sleep.

“Beeennnnniiieeeee.
Wakey, wakey!”

Benny lay there,
floating in the blackness, desperately wishing Stacey would go away. As fond as
he was of the little waitress, she was annoying the hell out of him. Her voice
threatened to pull him from the pain free oblivion he so wanted to sink back
into.

“C’mon Benny.
Wake up! The doc says you have to now.”

The doctor?

His sluggish
mind focused on the word and tried to build on the concept. The doctor? What
doctor? Something wasn’t right here.

Where was he? A
hospital? Why was he in a hospital? And why would Stacey be there?

Benny struggled
to understand. He fought to remember how he could have possibly ended up here.
At first he drew a blank, then bits and pieces began to come back. A memory of
arriving at work while listening to the radio about the approaching storm…a
vision of a sky full of wheeling crows…Stacey dancing into the kitchen and
swinging a towel…Marisa being angry…and…and…

He fought to
bring it back out of the darkness.

…and looking out
the back door to see a screaming Stacey being chased by demons! What the hell?

“Stacey?” he
groaned and forced his eyes open. They felt like they weighed a ton. “
Que
pasa?
What happened…wait…where are we?”

He wasn’t lying
in a hospital bed. He wasn’t even in a hospital. Somebody had stretched him out
on a couch in what looked like a feed store, or something very like it. He
tried to move to sit up to get a better view but a restraining hand pressed him
back down…something easily done since he felt weak as a kitten.

“Please don’t
move, Mr. Trujillo,” the voice of another woman spoke from down around the
vicinity of his legs. “I’m still stitching you up and we don’t want me to have
any accidents, now do we.”

Stitches? He was
hurt? Benny struggled to remember…

“It’s okay,
Benny,” Stacey beamed at him. She sat in a folding chair beside the couch.
“You’re in good hands. Doc is a super genius at figuring things out. She got to
spend a few hours online before the power went down and even figured out how to
get people’s blood types with the stuff they have here. Guess what? You and I
are a match! Now you’re getting a little of the good stuff…guaranteed to make
you feel younger and look twice as cute in no time.”

She grinned and
held up a little plastic bag attached to a catheter that he realized was
running to his arm. He also noticed a blood stained bandage wrapping the upper
part of her arm as well.

“You’re hurt…”
he groaned. “What happened? Where are we? What were those demons chasing you?”

He watched
Stacey look down towards the other woman, obviously for guidance, then face him
again with a solemn expression.

Bennie guessed
she had been given permission to tell him the truth.

“Those were dead
people, Benny,” she half whispered. “Zombies, Just like in the movies, only
scarier.”

“What? Zombies?
But…how? Where?”

 “They came
from the county cemetery down the road,” the girl closed her eyes and
shuddered, “and they started killing everybody. Arnold, Tomas, Leon,
Gladys…everybody. Only six of us got away. You, me, Marisa, Deke, Harley, and
the Doc. Well, there were seven, but Grandpa Tom died this morning. We’re
hiding out here at a vet clinic near Lake Cowell until we figure out what to do
next.”

Benny just lay
there, trying to take it in.

“By the way,”
Stacey seemed to rally, and gave him a weak smile, “Doc has to give you a shot
once this blood bag is empty. I gotta warn you, she’s not as good at giving
shots as she is at other things.”

“I heard that,”
came the woman’s voice down at his legs. “Just so you know, once I’m done with
Mr. Trujillo, I’m coming after you’re arm next. Be glad for the wonders of
lidocaine.”

Benny ignored
the banter and tried to focus.

“Hiding out?” He
fought to think. “Why are we hiding out? Shouldn’t we go get help?”

“There’s nowhere
to go, Benny.” The fear in her voice convinced him she was telling the truth.
“According to the CB radio in the truck, these monsters are coming up all over
the place…Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas mostly…and we’re right in
the middle of it. There were some people saying it could also be happening in
Mexico. And the people they’re killing are turning into monsters too! The
government has called out the army, and there’s been rumors of a quarantine.
Somebody even said they bombed Killeen and Amarillo last night.”

“Idiots!” the
woman down at his legs hissed. “It’s a soil based organism and they’re blowing
tons of dirt up in the air!
That’s
helpful!”

“Yeah,” Stacey
winced, then continued. “Anyway, Harley said we should hide here until things
settle down and we have a better idea what’s going on. I think he’s as scared
of running into the army as he is of the dead things.”

“But…but what
about Masonfield?”

“We don’t know…we
know some people got away, but…we don’t know. I’m sorry, Benny.

Benny could hear
the lie in her voice. It landed on his heart like a wet sack of cement. He lay
his head back and closed his eyes.

Masonfield dead?
Probably his wife, Corina, as well? The dead rising from the grave? Entire
states being quarantined? His mind reeled at having to wake up to all of this
at once. He wouldn’t have believed it, but he could remember the things chasing
Stacey himself. This was real. It was catastrophic. It was….biblical.

“It’s the end of
the world, isn’t it…” he breathed. “Judgement Day is finally here…”

“No!” Stacey
whispered fiercely and gripped his arm. “It ain’t like that! Doc says this is
like a plague or a disease. It’s bad, but we can fight this thing. Right, Doc?”