Least Likely To Survive (9 page)

Jack had pulled to a stop around the back, and quickly spotted the ladder we were hoping for.  It was one of those ‘pull down during emergency’ deals, so it didn’t reach the ground, and was currently pulled up to the top of the building.  We got near enough I could see the people on the roof run over to where we had stopped.

“Holy shit!  Thanks for stopping for us!”  One of them shouted down.  I was too far away yet to determine how many there were or ages, but this sounded an awful lot like a teenage boy.

Jack had put the car in park right underneath the ladder, and joined me in the sun roof.  He opened fire on a few zombies attempting to climb up the side to us and yelled up, “How many up there?”

The kid yelled back down, “Me, my little sister, and our dog.”

“Okay, climb down the ladder, and jump on top of the Hummer, into the sunroof,” Jack yelled back at the boy.  He turned to me, “Get back in, and get into the driver seat, I’ll help the kids.”

I nodded my agreement, while getting off one last shot at a particularly portly gentleman who was trying to get up the hood.  I was more concerned for the car than I was of him actually making it, as he had to be about three hundred pounds, so I made sure to land the bullet straight into his face.  This of course caused a horrible splatter over the windshield.  Damn, I hoped we weren’t low on wiper fluid.  I had started to make my way to the driver side when I heard the boy yell back down again.

“She’s scared, and she won’t go without the dog.”

I looked up at Jack, and thought about how difficult this had just become. “Jack, tell them to leave the dog; we can’t possibly get a dog through the roof with the kids before we all get eaten.”

He ignored me and instead shouted “Okay, throw me the dog first.  Then have the girl climb down.”  This was between firing openly at the crowd of hungry Taco Bell patrons.  We had taken out about half at that point, but that still meant there were about eight or nine left, and we really couldn’t afford to use all our bullets now.

I heaved a sigh of resignation; he was going to do this, and I wasn’t left with any other choice but to join this kamikaze mission.  I started to haul myself back up onto the seat and prop myself up through the roof. “Jack, get up onto the roof to catch them.  I’m going to climb out and fend off as many as I can.”

He looked at me like I was nuts as I started to climb back out of the roof.  “Have you lost your fucking mind?!”

I shrugged my shoulders and stared blankly at him. “More than likely, but you can’t catch a dog and kids and fight off the crowd at the same time.”  I climbed up onto the roof of the Hummer, and pulling my sword from its sheath, started hacking away at our audience.

He looked at me one more time, as if assessing my overall mental health, and I thought he was going to interject but instead of arguing, he turned his attention back to the roof, where the boy was holding a giant black and white pit bull like a baby, and preparing to hand it down to him.  Jack stretched out, and standing half on the Hummer, half on the ladder, grabbed hold of the dog and pulled him back to the car.  He leaned down and dropped the dog into the backseat, which as it was squirming, was no easy feat.

After the dog was in, he climbed back onto the ladder where the girl was climbing down to meet him. “Come on honey, just hang onto my neck, I promise I won’t drop you.” He cooed to her as gently and as nonthreatening as possible.  He held out his arms towards her and as she jumped off the ladder, Jack caught her.  She wrapped her skinny arms around his neck and he gently eased her back down into the car.  The boy had jumped off the ladder and followed them down through the roof and everyone got settled in.

Everyone not including myself, as I was currently elbow deep in shit.  About four of the bastards had started to make headway up the passenger side of the car while Jack was playing fireman, and I couldn’t hack away fast enough.  I was grumbling to myself about the stupidity of this situation.  Here I was, with just a big knife, fighting for my life.  I couldn’t help but think this was certainly not in the brochure.

Just as a shifty little asshole was about to take a chunk from my arm, Jack appeared suddenly and put a bullet in the guy’s skull.  Fucking men; always gotta be heroes.  I wasn’t about to say that out loud though, seeing as he had just saved my arm and all.  I would just have to be bitter on the inside.

We ducked back into the car, and quickly closed the sunroof, so as to not give anyone else a chance to crash the party.  Jack threw the gear in drive, and peeled out of the parking lot so fast the tires squealed and I’m pretty sure he left tread marks on the pavement.

I sat in my seat and took stock of my limbs, making sure I still had all my bits intact and processed what had just happened.  We were now up by two more people and a dog, and this was going to somewhat complicate things.  One extra person on my journey was doable, but two kids and a dog was just impossible.  I knew there was no way I could keep all of us safe and I had to figure out a plan for the kids.  I looked over at Jack, and watched him as he rolled his shoulders and neck, as if to ease the tension of what had just gone down.  I then turned my attention to the backseat, and our newest guests.

I noticed the boy couldn’t be more than mid-teens and probably about 5’7”.  He was lean, and looked somewhat athletic, although he was dressed in the standard black tee shirt and skinny jeans of the current generation of youth.  His hair was dark; almost black, and hung in his dark brown eyes, which stood out in contrast to his pale, almost sallow skin.  I thought that was unusual for Texas, but maybe he didn’t get out much.

I turned my attention to his sister, and groaned inwardly as she couldn’t be more than twelve, and had similarly chocolate colored locks that hung well past her shoulders and the same pale skin, but the similarities between them ended there, as her eyes were a vivid pale green that reminded me of sea kelp. 

Unlike her brother’s trendy emo attire; she had on jeans and a little pink tank top plastered with Justin Bieber’s face.  Both kids seemed lost in thought, as if trying to come to terms with the events of late.  I felt my stomach drop at the shock and sadness coloring their features.  I knew how they felt; we were all on our own in this nightmare.

I cleared my throat, threw on the friendliest smile I could muster and began introductions.  “Hey, I’m Angie and this is Jack.”  I said as I nodded my head in his direction.

The boy shook his head, as if clearing out a pensive fog. “I’m Ty, and this is my sister Chloe, and the dog is Roscoe,” He gestured back to the animal that was busy investigating the food in the back of the Hummer.

I nodded at both of them, and continued my line of questioning.  “So how did you come to be stranded atop a Taco Bell?”

Ty swallowed a noticeable lump in his throat, and tried to keep the tremble out of his voice.  “Our dad had taken us for lunch a couple of weeks ago, but when we got there, we were attacked.”  His voice got so quiet, it was just above a whisper, “He didn’t make it.” 

He was silent for a moment, and grabbed Chloe’s hand as she let out a whimper.  “We managed to lock ourselves in a storage room, and climbed up through the ceiling to the roof.  We’ve been up there ever since.”  He looked out the window at this point, trying to recompose himself.  Fuck.  These kids were all alone in the world, had witnessed their father eaten by zombies, and I was an insensitive prick.

I sat back again, and re-evaluated the situation.  I had to find a safe place for these kids.  We couldn’t just leave them anywhere, and where I wanted to go was just too dangerous.  Palm trees swayed across an imaginary breeze in my mind, and I could almost hear the sound of the waves gently lapping azure shores.  I wasn’t about to change the plan; I wanted to be on that island more than anything, but my destination would have to wait until I could ensure the kids would be alright.  Well, as alright as any of us could be. 

I looked again at Jack, as if to ask his thoughts silently.  He was lost in thought while staring at the road before us, and then momentarily looked back at me.  I could see his eyes imploring me to not abandon these kids, and to help figure out what to do next.  I knew he was thinking the same thing I was, the only difference being was he had been thinking it all along.

I was instantly regretful of all previous bad thoughts about him.  He wasn’t the arrogant celebrity I had wanted to make him out to be; quite the contrary; this guy had layers.  I was pretty sure he was probably a better person than I, as saving these kids had been his idea in the first place, and I was the one who had been against it.

I wanted to bang my head against the window beside me for being so selfish and cold.  This was the apocalypse, and instead of trying to be a human, and save the lives I could, I was more focused on my own safety and survival.  I felt my chin jut out as a hard determination set in.  I wasn’t going to be that person anymore.  I wasn’t going to turn a blind eye to the suffering around me, and I sure as hell would never be able to live with myself if I continued to behave in this manner.  I had to remember we were all damned; we were all fighting to stay alive.

The quiet in the car continued for a little while longer, until Jack cleared his throat to speak.  “Okay, I think we should head into San Antonio, and see if we can’t find some sort of quarantine, or Safe Zone.”  He turned his head to look at me as he continued, “There has to be some kind of military outlet setup for any remaining survivors.”  He trailed off questioningly, as if asking for my take.

I snuck another look at the backseat, and said, “I think you’re right.  That’s probably our best bet.” I didn’t really want to take anymore detours, but I definitely didn’t want to be responsible for anyone else longer than I had to.  Taking care of myself was one thing, but there were good reasons I wasn’t a parent.

It was that moment Chloe finally spoke up softly.  “What’s happening?  What are we gonna do?”  I turned around, and caught the fear in her eyes as tears started to well up.

I smiled at her as gently as I could, “How much do you guys know about what’s going on?”

“We’ve been following the news about the virus, and how it’s spreading, but we had no idea it was this bad.”  It was Ty who had spoken, and he paused for a second before continuing.  “I don’t think anyone knew it was this bad.” He pushed the lock of hair out of his eyes and reached into the back, absently petting Roscoe.

I nodded at him before saying “Yeah, right there with you.  I barely made it out of my house alive, and I found this one,” I gestured to Jack, “at a gas station in the middle of nowhere fighting off zombies.  We were headed to Corpus when we found you.”

This caught Ty’s attention, as a look of confusion spread across his features.  “What’s in Corpus?  I haven’t heard of any military down there.”

I thought for a moment about how much to tell them.  If I told them of my destination, would they insist on coming with me?  I didn’t even know for sure if Jack was coming with me all the way at that point.  I did know that I couldn’t ignore the insane urge I had to get to my island, and I would not be deterred from my goal. I decided it couldn’t hurt to let them in on where I was going; it wasn’t like they weren’t going to figure it out anyway.  “Well, I had planned to get to the marina and commandeer a sailboat and head for an empty island in the Bahamas.”  I trailed off at the end, trying to make it as nonchalant as possible.

Chloe tilted her head to the side before asking, “Why would you wanna do that?”  I could hear the curiosity in her voice, and knew I had to tread lightly, so as to not get her too interested; I wasn’t too keen on the idea of taking them with me.

“Um, I just figured it would be a good place to go where there wouldn’t be zombies… So how old are you two?”  I congratulated myself on a successful subject change.

“I’m twelve, and Ty’s fifteen.  Why do you think it would be good place to go?”  She countered back at me, not missing a beat.  Apparently I had underestimated her; nothing got past this kid.  I mentally grumbled to myself before answering.

“An empty island means no people.  No people means no zombies.  And I’m willing to bet they can’t swim.”  I held her gaze for a moment, daring her to dig further.  She stared back at me for a moment, but only said, “Oh.  That makes sense,” and turned her attention back out the window.

I sighed in relief that the questions ended there, as I didn’t really know how much more I wanted to say.  What do you say in this predicament anyway?  I hadn’t been getting to know Jack for much the same reason as I thought it not wise to get attached to the kids; I couldn’t say for certain who would live, and who wouldn’t.  Although I did know that I would do whatever necessary to keep the kids alive, I also knew it was too dangerous to take them with me.

I felt my mouth draw into a line, as I thought about the impracticalities of including them.  I didn’t know dick about kids; having never really been one myself,  and seeing as I had never had younger siblings or children of my own, I certainly wasn’t accustomed to caring for them.  I wasn’t even real sure how to converse with them, but so far I thought I was doing okay.  I shook my head a little to myself.  No, I couldn’t bring them with me.  A military base with responsible adults who knew how to take care of children would be safer.  I felt a little sad at this thought; I kind of liked the idea of having people with me on that island, but had to think of their safety first.  I wondered if this was how being a parent would feel.

Chapter 6:  Our New Family.

We drove a little while longer and the silence in the car was deafening.  I could almost hear everyone’s thoughts; it was so tense.  I knew we were all thinking the same things, and asking ourselves the same questions.  Questions none of us had the answers to, and probably a few we didn’t want answered.  I was plagued by the new dilemma Chloe and Ty presented, and I knew it wouldn’t be easy figuring out where to take them, or if there would be a place to take them at all.

I looked over at Jack, and studied his face for a moment.  He really was beautiful, and I couldn’t help my awe over how decent of a human being he had turned out to be.  Here he was, completely alone, save for being stranded with strangers, and yet the guy was dealing with this shit like it was nothing.