The Last Infection: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller (6 page)

7.

The I-70 was a mess. The road was littered with abandoned
vehicles, and by best estimates, it would take three times as long to get to Vegas, as it should. The van’s speedometer never got above twenty miles an hour. Two hours after crossing Denver’s boundary, the tallest downtown buildings could still be seen in the rearview mirror.

They’d survived a disastrous start when the journey began. Chris managed to get the van stuck in the mud when he pulled off the road to avoid a pile up of wrecked vehicles littering the way.
Alicen was left behind the wheel as Chris, Jenn, and Jake rocked the vehicle free. The end result was exhaustion and a hard reminder that food and water would be key in the days ahead. They left Denver without anymore supplies than what they had on them when they met. Chris wasn’t sure how they were going to fix the supply problem, knowing the open road offered few opportunities.

“What are you expecting to
find in Vegas?” he asked Jenn.

The silence had gone on for longer than he could stand
it. If he wanted to keep his eyes open, he would need some brain stimulation.

“My parents,” she said
sharply, then looked out at the passing trees.

Chris peeked into the backseat at the kids
and found them both still sleeping soundly. The overcast evening sky filled the interior with dark shadows. He waited until Jenn turned her attention toward him before clarifying his question.

“
Did you get any sense of how bad the infection was in Vegas?”

Jenn’s shoulders relaxed as
she thought about the answer. There was an unusually long silence before she offered a response. “My father said it spread there much faster than it did in Kansas. He swore it had mutated with a better delivery system.”

“How long ago?”

She stared at him for a second until she understood the question. “Five months,” she said plainly. “I haven’t talked to them in five months.”

Chris heard her but his focus shifted down to
the gas gauge.

“We’re going to need to
check the next batch of cars.”

They’d followed the
same pattern since they left Denver. A group of vehicles meant danger, but it also presented an opportunity for supplies and gas. They’d managed to fill three milk jugs with fuel which they’d stored in the back of the van. Jenn was nodding at his assertion, but her mind was somewhere else. Chris took the bait.

“I didn’t mean to stir anything up.” He thought about it. “I’m sure we’ll find them.” Her laugh surprised him. “What?” he asked.

She smiled again, but there was sadness in her eyes. “No you’re not, you’re not sure at all and neither am I.” She pulled open a pack of crackers they’d found in the rear of the van and offered him a few. “I have to believe my parents are still there in one piece. Besides those kids,” she motioned at the backseat, “…my hope to find my parents is about the only thing keeping me going.”

Chris nodded
, but kept his eyes on the road. “You sure did take a shining to those two.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her glance at him. She wiped a tear off her face the moment it rolled onto her cheek.

“They remind me of mine,” she admitted, “only in reverse.” Chris’ brow
creased and she elaborated. “Sara was the oldest and Sam was my little man.” She was crying now and not trying to hide it.

Chris knew he had to say something
, but he struggled with the words. “Never had any,” he managed. “Not sure if that makes me lucky or unlucky.”

Jenn wiped her eyes.
“A little of both, I think.”

Chris nodded
, and then tried to change the subject. “It’ll be dark soon.” He looked up at the clouds. “We’re going to have to make some hard choices before then.” Jenn nodded, but didn’t say anything. “They’ll slam into the car,” he said. “As soon as the sun goes down, they’ll come out of wherever the hell their hiding and they’ll be all over us.”

“We always hid at night,” Jenn said in a distant voice.

“I’ve tried to plow through them before and it works for a while.” He shook his head. “But a vehicle can only take so much. It will eventually wear down.” Chris thought back to a particularly hairy moment when he’d been forced off the road. Had it not been a few minutes until sun up, the infected would have peeled open his car and had a feast. “I think we should find a place to sit and wait. If we come across a couple of vehicles, we could pull in real close. If we’re lucky, we’ll find some cars with zombies trapped inside.”

Jenn looked back at the darkening tree line along the interstate with renewed interest.
“You think they’re in there?”

“Oh
yeah,” Chris said, “nowhere else for them to hide out here. Hell, I’ve heard stories…” Her head snapped around and he decided against continuing his train of thought. “…they’re in there, trust me.”

“How’s your leg?”

He’d almost forgotten about the injury from his fearless roof jump. The throbbing was tolerable as long as he didn’t move it.

“I can take a look at it if you want,” she said.

“You making a pass at me?” he laughed. “…because that would be awesome.”

She grinned
. “I was an EMT.”

“The story gets more interesting by the minute.” He
smiled back. “I’ll live. I just need to stay off it.”

They kept the conversation light, stopping once to switch drivers. The tension cleared and the weight of Jenn’s tear streaked face subsided. It was
nearly dark when the kids awoke in search of food. There were few choices, but still enough to keep them from starving. Chris was sure supplies, and in particular, food and water would be their first problem.

“How long do we have?”

Chris heard Jake’s question, but didn’t want to lose his count. “Not sure,” he said once he got the candy bars, chip bags, and crackers separated into two backpacks. He looked up with a frustrated scowl. “I’ve never had to ration for more than one.”

“Haven’t you ever traveled with anyone?” Jenn asked from the driver’s seat. Chris was in the back with Jake
, while Alicen was promoted to the front passenger seat.

“A few times.” He zipped up the bags and stashed them behind the second row of seats. “It wasn’t anything like this lovable bunch we have here. It was always an
everyman for himself type thing.”

“Where are they now?” Jake asked.

“Some didn’t make it.” Chris shrugged. “I decided it was best for me to go it alone.”

“Until now,
” Alicen shouted from the front. She spun around in the seat and grinned at him over the headrest.

“Something like that,” he said then flicked his hand at her. “Put
your seatbelt on.” He saw Jenn flash a smile in the rearview mirror.

The darkening sky brought with it increased concern on what they were going to do when the sun went down. The passing trees on both sides of the road had suddenly changed from a beautiful reminder of what u
sed to be to a dim curtain from which sinister things would surely spring. The lifeless vehicle shells that dotted the highway had been sparse for the past hour. Chris was losing hope that they would find a suitable place to hide. They were still driving at dusk and the fear in the van was as thick as the silence.

“We may run out of options.”
Chris said, his voice sounding louder as it broke the silence.

“Do we just stop and turn everything off?” Jenn asked.

Chris had thought about it, but he wasn’t convinced it was the safest idea. In about twenty minutes, they would be out of alternatives. In truth, he didn’t know what to expect when the sun went down. For all he knew, the infected could have long abandoned the interstate for more fertile hunting grounds.

“I think we should…”

He didn’t finish as his eyes locked on a sizable lot of cars and trucks in the road up ahead. He was glad for it, but as they neared, his joy faded. There were several vehicles on the road, some turned on their side, and others flipped over entirely. Jenn brought the van to a stop and quickly realized they wouldn’t be able to get around the pileup even if they wanted to. She put the van in park and Chris popped his door open.

“What are you doing?”
Alicen asked. The fear in the little girl’s voice was profound.

Chris gave her a slight nod and held the calmest face he could muster. “Just stay here. I need to have a look around.”

Alicen’s eyes slid between Jenn and her brother, and then she jumped in the back seat beside the latter. Jenn’s expression wasn’t much better. She was fishing around in her pocket for something. Chris got one foot down on the pavement before she leaned over and grabbed his arm.

“Take this.”
She held out her gun. “It’s got eight rounds left.”

Chris started to refuse
, then thought the better of it and took the pistol. He left his pipe on the seat and shut the door. The sound of the vehicle’s engine was loud against nature’s backdrop. The wind blew through the tall pines on either side of the road. The rustling limbs shook like scared children in the dark. There was a smell in the air that Chris couldn’t place and something about it clung to him.

He crept towards the barricade of cars and trucks, painfully aware of his surroundings. His mind played havoc on his nerves drawing him to movement in every shadow. His boots came to a complete stop several feet from the first truck in the road. Rolled over on its side, the facing bed revealed a
lengthy toolbox, but not much else. The main portion of the road was closed off by a school bus lying upside down beyond the other vehicles.

Chris shook his head as he looked over the site, his mind sure of one thing. “Wasn’t the infected that did this,” he said to himself. He eyed the woods with renewed interest as he started back toward the van. He was
in the passenger seat a moment later, still unsure of what it all meant.

“Well?” Jake asked impatiently.

The last bit of sunlight disappeared as Chris leaned over and switched the engine off. “Doesn’t matter now.” He made sure the doors were locked before turning to face the others. “We stay quiet and the moment sunlight hits the hood of this van, we look for another way around.”

There was question
in everyone’s eyes, but whatever it was they saw on Chris’ face, it was enough to convince them the decision wasn’t open for debate.

#

It was dark. The sun disappeared quickly and the surrounding trees blocked out all of the pale moonlight. There was something very unnatural about complete darkness, something Chris had never gotten used to. He sat quietly in the driver’s seat looking back and forth between Jenn and the kids, all of which were as silent as a grave. He never explained himself or his final comments. He wasn’t sure what scared him so much, but his instincts told him something was wrong. He’d half expected figures to leap out from between the trees the moment the light disappeared.

“What’s the matter?” Jenn asked in a whisper.

It took Chris a moment to realize she was going back to what he said when he got into the van.

“I think that
blockade was put there for a reason.”

Her eyes grew wide. She looked out the front windshield with a
renewed sense of dread.

Jake stuck his head between the two front seats. “By the infected?” He looked concerned
, but not enough to show he fully understood what Chris was implying.

“Why?”

Chris heard Jenn’s question, but he didn’t have a good answer. They sat in silence for over an hour, and then set up a watch rotation after a quick meal. The rotation left Alicen out and she promptly protested and reminded everyone that she’d played an intricate role in her and Jake’s survival. Chris wouldn’t be swayed and the argument ended with the little girl balled up on the back seat refusing to look at anyone.

It was nearing midnight when the first sign of trouble snapped Chris’ eyes open. As best as he could
tell, he’d fallen asleep moments before a tight grip on his arm roused him. He found Jake staring out the passenger side window. Jenn had managed to crawl back between the seats and taken the boy’s place next to Alicen. Both were presently snoring.

“What is it?” Chris asked.

Jake hadn’t elaborated nor had his grip loosened. “I hear something,” he whispered.

Chris waited for a bette
r explanation, which never came.

“
Details please.”

“
It’s…just…” Jake stopped and his grip tightened to the point where it hurt.

Chris went to grab the boy’s wrist when he heard an odd clanging of metal. Jake’s head snapped around and his saucer sized ey
es gawked at him as if to say,
you heard that right?
Chris started to dismiss it, but when the sound returned, it was in the form of three distinct hits in rhythm. He pushed the boy’s hand away, then reached back and shoved Jen. She awoke and looked from Jake to him to which the boy made a formal announcement.