Dying Days: Origins 2 Read online

  “And fill our bellies, too. If we’re forced to abandon the Raptor, we’ll be leaving behind a ton of food and supplies. We’ll carry what we can but it won’t make a dent in what we have in the truck. And, if we carry too much, it will only slow us down.” David knew he was babbling, going into instructional mode. Cheryl had heard it all before but she nodded along at the right parts. David was sure she was finding comfort in his words and trying to pretend this was still a drill.

  “If we’re forced to go by foot, we’ll never make it,” Scotty said. “Do you know how far North Carolina’s coast is from here?”

  “Now is not the time to panic,” Cheryl said firmly. “Right now you need to fill a couple of backpacks with food and gear. And fill up an extra couple if you have time. There are several backpacks. It will give you something to do besides watch the TV and freak out.”

  Scotty nodded and went to work. Cheryl watched him until she was sure the guy wasn’t going to lose his shit and go nuts on them. You never knew during something as traumatic as this. She knew she was on the edge of losing it, and they’d been training most of their adult life for something just as bad to happen.

  “You alright?” David asked quietly when Cheryl turned back to look at the highway in front of them.

  “I’m fine,” she lied and smiled. She was far from alright.

  David accelerated the Raptor, deftly moving in and out of traffic as he drove.

  Cheryl glanced over to see how fast he was going. Fast. “What’s your hurry? Where’s the fire?” she asked, teasing her husband. “I’m going to be pissed if you get pulled over and we get a ticket.”

  “I’ll refuse to pay it. Besides, the only cops I’ve seen in the last hour have been going the other way. Check the police band to see if you can hear anything important.”

  As soon as Cheryl turned the volume back up, they could hear so many voices trying to speak at once, it was nothing but a cacophony of noise.

  “…need everyone called in… right now… I had to shoot him… the bridge is blocked by the semi… I quit. I’m going home to protect my kids… Holy Shit, she just fucking bit me…”

  “I hope the Everson family is safe,” Cheryl said as she turned down the scanner volume again. “I pray they made it out of Iowa. I’m sure there’s nothing left of Iowa at this point.”

  “I think you’re right.” David glanced in his rearview mirror. “Any news, Scotty?”

  “Yes. Everyone is going to die. Soon.”

  “I was hoping for something a little more specific,” David said, clearly annoyed.

  Cheryl put a hand on his shoulder. “He’s busy packing. Let him be for now. Not everyone can handle a situation like you can.”

  David glanced at her and shook his head. “Honey, I’m scared shitless right now. I don’t even want to think about what’s around the next bend.”

  Cheryl saw the brake lights at the same time David jammed on the brakes. “Shit,” she muttered.

  The four-lane road they were on had come to a complete stop, cars bumper to bumper. With their vantage point in the higher cab, they could see far, and it didn’t look good. Nothing but cars and people walking down the road.

  “Can you go around?” Scotty asked from the backseat.

  “I’m going to try. But hurry with the backpacks just in case,” David said. He looked at Cheryl. “Make sure you pack as much ammo as you can for the Kimbers.”

  Cheryl nodded.

  They were in the middle of nowhere, stretches of thick trees to either side. Cars were straddling the median, cars heading east and west not going anywhere right now, except a few feet at a time.

  David looked at the GPS. “If we can find an alternate route…”

  It didn’t look promising. Cheryl took over trying to update the directions so David could start and stop and crawl forward. “There’s nothing for miles. Everything south and east of our location is forest. No side roads or housing developments. Just trees. It looks like four miles of this until the next exit.”

  “Which will be packed,” David said.

  Cheryl was startled when a man walked by her window, smiling at her before moving on. More and more people were pulling over to the side of the road, abandoning their vehicles and walking. They blocked in the cars still on the road so they couldn’t drive on the shoulder or grass.

  “We’ll stay in the Raptor for now. I think I see military ahead. Maybe we can get some information,” David said.

  Cheryl put her hands under her thighs because they were shaking.

  Chapter Seventeen

  David pulled up to the first National Guardsman he saw directing the crawl of traffic and rolled down the window.

  “Keep moving,” the soldier said without looking at David and continued to wave his arm despite no one moving forward.

  “Excuse me,” David said. When the soldier didn’t look at him, David put the Raptor in park. “Hey, I have a question.”

  “So does everyone else. I don’t know anything. I’ve been assigned to keep everyone moving east, sir. That’s all I’ve been told.”

  “How far east is this road going? Can I get around it and go in another direction? Are we in danger going so slowly?” David peppered him with questions he knew the young soldier wouldn’t be able to answer, but he didn’t care. He was getting frustrated he’d been inadvertently added to the flow of refugees and couldn’t get out of the stream.

  The soldier turned and looked at him and now David could see what the problem was: the man was scared. Terrified. He was trying to do his job and keep it together, but his hands were shaking and he was gripping his weapon so hard his fingers were taut.

  “I don’t have any answers for you. All I know is I’m supposed to hold this position until I see them coming,” the soldier said quietly. “And they are coming.”

  “How close are they?’ Cheryl asked, leaning over David.

  The soldier looked away. “Keep moving.” He started waving his hand again. “Within five miles,” he said quietly.

  David pulled the Raptor eight more feet in the line before they stopped again. “They could be here in a couple of hours, maybe less. In two hours we might not make it over the next hill. Our only hope would be to drive out of this mess and find an open road or park and walk it.”

  “Either way, we’re fucked,” Scotty said. His face turned red and he looked at Cheryl. “Sorry, ma’am.”

  “Not a fucking problem.” Cheryl sighed before slapping the dashboard with both hands. “He is right.”

  The vehicle moved another three feet before everyone in front of them began getting out of their cars, a mass exodus of the living deciding at once to walk and abandon their cars.

  “Seriously… I guess we really don’t have a choice now.” David pulled off the side of the road and got as close to the tree line as he could, trying not to hit other cars already parked. “I’m not leaving the Raptor where someone can plow into it or destroy it.”

  “Hiding it fifteen feet from the road in the open is a great move,” Scotty said.

  All three laughed. David didn’t know if it would be the last joke he’d be able to hear or smile about, and he wished it would never end.

  Scotty hefted two backpacks over his shoulders when he got out of the Raptor.

  “Follow me,” David said. They went to the rear of the truck and David unlocked a weapon’s locker. “Take a couple and more ammo.”

  “Seriously? Wow. I can’t believe you have so many rifles and pistols,” Scotty said.

  “I need more ammo,” Cheryl said. “Just in case.”

  David found another three boxes he and his wife could use. He stuffed his pockets with supplies. “I say we put together an extra pack just in case. Maybe two.”

  “We could trudge into the woods and hide some supplies, too. Just in case any of us come back this way. Once this is all clear, we’ll have something to come back to,” Cheryl said.

  David stared at the Raptor. “I’m thinking we won’t
see this baby anymore. What a shame. If I’d known all this was going to happen I would’ve ridden her more.”

  “I’ll help you bury the bags but then I’m heading due east,” Scotty said.

  “I guess we can’t convince you to go south with us,” Cheryl said. She smiled. “But it was a pleasure meeting you and I hope everything works out. For all of us.”

  “So do I.” Scotty nodded at the Monsours. “If you can’t get south, I’ll be home near Cape Hatteras. A little coastal town called Kill Devil Hills.”

  “Sounds delightful,” Cheryl said. “I hope the name doesn’t mean anything in today’s world.”

  “By the same token: if things aren’t any better in North Carolina, head south to St. Augustine. We’ll be there.”

  “What if you aren’t?” Scotty asked.

  “Then we’re probably dead. I’m going to put the car keys in the bag we bury. Feel free to drive the Raptor when the world goes back to normal. Just make sure you change the oil every three thousand miles.” David began filling another backpack, this time with as many small arms and ammo he could fit.

  Cheryl slapped the side of the truck. “I say we eat everything perishable as soon as possible. No sense in leaving candy bars to melt and chips to go stale.”

  “Agreed. Let’s hurry and finish packing,” David said. He put the filled backpack off to the side and took a moment to watch the now-steady stream of refugees heading down the road.

  To where? David hoped there was a safe haven somewhere down the line, and they wouldn’t need to walk too far in order to find it. He also knew the best course of action was to get as far away from the danger as possible.

  One of the newscasts they’d listened to spoke of sports stadiums being used to house people. A racetrack in Indianapolis. But David knew all it would take was one infected person and the system would collapse and create more zombies, which was one of the causes for the fast spread.

  “Pretzel?” Scotty asked David, holding up the bag.

  “I might as well. I guess my diet is shot anyway. And this might be the last pretzel I ever eat. Which is why I want to eat as many Oreo cookies until I get sick or we run out,” David said.

  “You and your cookies,” Cheryl said and handed him two sealed boxes. “There are three more in the truck. Do you want them?”

  “What do you think?” David asked with a smile, taking a pretzel from Scotty. “Let’s get moving, too. In the last five minutes since we parked the amount of walkers has grown.”

  “I feel weird carrying a rifle out in the open,” Scotty said.

  “You shouldn’t. You’re still wearing fatigues and this isn’t about what the neighbors think anymore. Shit, the neighbors want to bite you. Watch your back and don’t worry about anything but yourself once we break apart. People are people,” David said.

  “Which means people that are assholes are still assholes,” Scotty said.

  “They might be even worse now, actually. There’s nothing to hold them back. No laws and they probably don’t bank on a higher authority to keep them in check anymore. Just be careful, especially on your own. This is going to get a lot worse before it gets better.” David took two more boxes of cookies from his wife with a smile and tucked them under his arm.

  “Let’s go bury some guns,” Cheryl said.

  “I wanted to say that,” David added.

  Chapter Eighteen

  By the time the three managed to get back to the road, the gunfire had grown to a steady pace and coming from nearby and half a mile away.

  A blast roared, shaking the ground.

  “Was that a tank?” Scotty asked as they stopped to assess the situation they were stumbling into. He gripped the rifle in his hand and now wondered if he should’ve taken another pistol or two and more ammo. The backpacks felt heavy on his shoulders.

  People were running now, some of them tripping or getting trapped between stalled cars and trying desperately to climb over or even under.

  The shooting was mainly coming from across the highway, a perimeter of National Guard soldiers shooting into the woods on the other side.

  Scotty was about to join the fight when he thought better of it. Those guys were actually trained to fight. He’d spent two weeks in boot camp and hadn’t learned anything new. He could fire a rifle thanks to a family who hunted, but this was insane.

  They were shooting at other people, even though Scotty knew why.

  A man on a motorcycle shot past them, inches from hitting Cheryl. He kept going.

  “We need to get off the road or get swept away,” David shouted just as another large explosion rocked where they stood.

  “What is it?” Scotty asked, not seeing a big weapon on this stretch of highway.

  “Look up,” Cheryl yelled as three fighter planes streaked through the sky, banked low and fired as they passed.

  The bombs exploded just out of sight but so close it knocked them to the ground.

  Scotty stood in time to see some of the National Guardsmen being overwhelmed by sheer numbers of zombie. Their line broke and a stream of hungry undead stumbled through the breach, falling upon refugees as they tried to escape.

  “We need to go,” David said. He looked back to the woods. “South is this way. We can follow through the woods for several miles and shouldn’t encounter too many zombies.”

  Scotty looked at the couple, who he’d grown to really like in the few hours he’d known them. “I need to get home to my parents. I’m going east.”

  “Everyone is running east. The zombies are coming from the north and people are running right into them,” Cheryl said. “Come with us.”

  “I just need to run faster,” Scotty said and made sure the backpacks were comfortable on his shoulders. This was going to be a long walk, and he was already tired. “Thanks for the food and water and especially the guns.”

  “Be safe,” David said. “And good luck, Scotty.”

  They hugged and Scotty watched David and Cheryl Monsour run into the woods and out of sight. They were good people and he prayed to God they would be safe.

  Scotty turned and began jogging down the side of the road, weaving in and out of abandoned cars and stragglers and trying to ignore the screams as the zombies caught those trapped or slow.

  Chapter Nineteen

  David stopped when he saw the Bridge of Lions. Cheryl leaned against him and sighed. “I think we made it.”

  “But what’s left here?” Cheryl asked.

  Since getting into Florida, the pair had been dismayed to see the zombie horde had preceded them. From Jacksonville down to St. Augustine was nothing but burning buildings and packs of roaming undead.

  They’d run out of ammo and each had a rifle left they were using as a club. The food and water was also gone. David had found a stale loaf of bread in a convenience store last night and they ate it while hiding behind the freezers as zombies shambled on the street outside.

  The bridge road was wide open and a couple of zombies wandered toward the city.

  It didn’t look good. David tried to remain positive but it was hard. Obviously St. Augustine had been hit, and hit hard. While it didn’t look like the city itself was burning, where they stood on Route 1 was a wreck. Bodies littered the street and most buildings were ransacked and destroyed.

  David didn’t know what they would do if this was yet another abandoned city on their journey, filled with nothing but zombies and death.

  “Let’s go find somewhere to hole up for awhile and rethink,” David said. “This isn’t the end of the line for us.”

  Cheryl stopped walking. “David…”

  A burnt out car crashed on the bridge suddenly came alive with movement, three men wearing bandanas on their faces and carrying assault rifles popped up from inside and behind and shot the zombies on the bridge.

  “Don’t move,” David said. He put his hands up and Cheryl followed suit. “I think we’re in trouble.”

  As two of the men covered him, the third appro
ached slowly, aiming the rifle at the couple. “Where do you think you’re going?” he yelled.

  “We’re looking for shelter and food,’ David said.

  The man kept coming, pulling down the bandana to show his dirty face. “There’s nothing here for you. St. Augustine is closed.”

  “It doesn’t look closed,” David said. He put his hands down. If he was going to die, it might as well be right here and now, steps from St. Augustine and their final destination. He was too tired to give a shit. “Zombies can wander in and out at will. Why don’t you close off the bridge?”

  “I told you,” one of the men from behind yelled.

  The man before David smiled. “What else would you do, soldier?”

  David realized he was still wearing his camouflage outfit and the man was almost showing him respect, feeling him out. David stood tall. “I’d pull as many of the abandoned cars onto the bridge as possible and create a maze. Funnel the dead into one gap and still allow the living access in and out. Close off any other roads. Does St. Augustine have a chain-link fence company or a Home Depot?”

  The man nodded and lowered his weapon. “We have plenty of supplies but everyone is too busy barricading their own homes and businesses.”

  “It would be easy to organize everyone to do their part, don’t you think? How many people are still alive?”

  The man shrugged. “Maybe a few hundred. It could be thousands. We don’t know. We’ve been trying to find somewhere safe to hide but everywhere we look someone has already squatted.”

  “St. Augustine needs to get its head out of its ass and work together. Who’s in charge?” David asked.

  The man smiled, put his rifle at his side and saluted David. “You are, sir.”

  Dying Days: Family Matters

  He'd been out of ammo for the last fifty miles, since the roadblock. He'd shot his way past the marauders and managed to outrun them in the pickup truck, Allie and Edy hunched in the bed of the F150 crying and screaming until he'd pulled over and hugged them.