Hell Bound (Book 1): A Vacation From Hell (3 page)

Chapter 4

Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

(Mathew 25:13)

              I don’t know what to say to him, I am still trying to process what is going on right now. My heart is pounding against my chest so hard I’m afraid it will break through.

              About an hour goes by and I realize there has not been a sound on the train. Everyone just keeps to themselves and looks around trying to figure out what’s going on.              

              We sit in silence for a little while longer, when we hear over the intercom “HHHEEEELLLPPP!” The voice on the intercom sounds panicked, frightened and hurt.

       My eyes get big like a deer caught in headlights, scared I look to Mathew for an answer. “What’s going on?”

       Mathew’s hands tighten around mine, he whispers, “I don’t know baby, maybe it’s the robbery,” He must not have believed his own word because his voice seems shaky.

        Some of the other passengers stand up and start asking for information. The family that is sitting next to us looks as if they are about to cry and run out of the nearest exit.

          A couple of the passengers pull out their phones and attempt to call for help. Which is a good Idea, I pull out my phone and have no signal, not one freaking bar!! That’s fantastic!! What’s the point of having a cell phone when you barely get a signal or none at all?

              Several of the workers on the train run by us in a rush, their faces, horrified. 

      “Man that’s some great acting if this is the robbery,” Mathew whispers to me “Pretty realistic.”

      The screaming over the intercom cuts out and I turn my head towards our window, I see passengers and workers running out of the train.

       “Mathew look!”I scream and point outside for Mathew to look.

Worried Mathew jumps up and grabs my hand

           “Shit get up, something is wrong.”

              Everyone around us must have seen what was going on outside, because they jump up as well and go towards the exits. The passengers behind me start to scream and they start to run down the train as well.

              Mathew grabs my hand and jumps in line with the crowd of passengers pushing and shoving each other like cattle, trying to get to the nearest exit. “Sam don’t let go of my hand!” Mathew screams over his shoulder to me.

              I tighten my grip on his hand as we run toward the exit. I turn my head to look behind me and I can see from the corner of my eye a couple passengers have tripped and fell on the floor.

              They are now getting trampled on from the other passengers behind them. I’m trying so hard to hold on to Mathew’s hand, but I keep getting pushed around so much I almost lose his hand a couple of times.

              We are almost at the exit when a scream comes from the front of the train; everyone stops dead in their tracks. We look towards the sound wondering what can cause such a horrible sound, when an arm is thrown over my head and falls to the floor next to me.

              My eyes are locked on the arm lying on the floor, hoping to God it’s fake. A passenger next to me screams and starts to run towards the exit.  Mathew tugs on my arm hard and starts to fight our way through the frantic mob. The screaming gets louder and louder, it’s most definitely not a human scream.

              We reach the door, someone pushes the emergency button to open it. A woman next to us is about to jump out of the train when a man behind her yells “Hurry…… hurry the fuck up!” He must have got impatient because he pushes her out of the train, then jumps out of the train after her.

              We didn’t waste any time as we jump out of the train and run to the nearest tree to our left. We both crouch down and hide our bodies. We turn around to see what has caused all of the commotion and alarm on the train.

              There is blood splattered all over the windows of the first few cars of the train. Bloody handprints everywhere from the poor people still stuck inside those cars, trying to escape screaming at the top of their lungs for someone to come and save them.              

       The screaming seems as though it is coming from the middle cars now. Whatever is happening it’s making its way down the length of the train, one car at a time. All we can do is watch in horror as we see more and more blood splatter on the windows and hear less people screaming.

              I look around to see passengers and workers running for dear life in every direction possible. No one bothers to help the people still on the train. We start to hear the un-human screaming work its way down the length of the train. I don’t know what the hell is making that ear-piercing noise, but I don’t care to find out.

              My legs feel like Jell-O because my body is shaking so bad. I look back at the windows of the train and suddenly a body is thrown against the window and blood squirts all over. Mathew and I look at each other,

    “RUN!” He says to me.

     He doesn’t need to tell me twice! We turn around and run away from the train and away from all the awful screams. God help them. Help us!! I notice several other passengers are running in the same direction we are.

              I don’t know how far we ran but by the time we stop running there is no one around us. I stop and put my head in between my legs, hoping it will open my airways, trying to catch my breath.

              I feel like throwing up, not sure if it’s because we were running so fast or because I’m frightened. “What the hell do you think happened, did you see all that blood?” I try to say in between breaths.

              “I don’t know, but I see another passenger right over there.” I look up to see where he is pointing and sure enough there is someone standing at a tree about fifteen feet away. 

   “Let’s go see if she knows what happened and let’s try my phone as well,” I say out loud.

              As we start to walk closer to her, I notice she is sitting on the ground. I hope she’s ok.

    “Hello, are you ok? Do you know what happened?” Mathew says as we get closer.

      I recognize the woman; she is the clerk that was working the café cart. 

     “Oh my goodness, I have not seen anyone else for at least thirty minutes,” she says as she gets up from the ground and comes closer to us. “Everyone I saw was too afraid to talk to me, they just kept running.”

  “What happened? What was that sound on the train?” Mathew asks, his voice shaking.

    “I don’t know. All I heard on the emergency intercom was that the Conductor had to come to an emergency stop because someone was in the middle of the tracks and they would not move.”

   “Did we hit them?” I ask.

    “No, but the Conductor and the Engineer had to open the door to check out the person on the tracks, after an hour I heard the Conductor scream and all hell broke loose,” she says as she’s taking deep breaths too.          

“My name is Katrina, but everyone calls me Kat.”

    “I am Samantha and this is my husband Mathew.” introducing us, as we shake her hand.

      “What do we do now?” Kat questions, a worried expression is written all over her face.

      “First we try to call for help,” I mention pulling my cell phone out of my bag. “I still don’t have service.” I hold up my phone and hold it above my head like that will somehow give me a bar or two.

     Then I show Kat and Mathew my phone. Disappointed, I put my phone back in my purse. Mathew and Kat check their phones, hoping for a different result. No, dice.

              “OK then we will follow the tracks back to the hotel, maybe we will see someone else or maybe help is already on its way,” Mathew says to us.

        “Kat, do you know which way we need to go?” I question.

   “Yes, well kind of, I ran pretty far, but I am sure I can find the tracks from here.” We start walking towards the direction of where we just came from.

              “Were you guys on vacation or something?”

       “Yeah, we thought the train ride to the Grand Canyon would be fun.”

       “It usually is. Never had anything like this happen before, do you guys have any kids?”

        “We have two boys; they are with my parents in California,” I answer. Thinking about our boys, hoping they are safe at home.

              “I can see the tracks,” Kat motions, pointing.

  “Are we before or after where the train stopped?” Mathew asked

    “I think before, but I won’t know for sure until we get closer and we can get around these tall trees.”

     “Do we have to get close to the tracks? I really don’t want to go anywhere near the train.” I say, worried.

     “No, I just say we get a closer look,” Kat says as she slowly creeps around the trees.

              All three of us look around the trees and see the train about one hundred yards up the tracks. My heart is pounding so hard that I grab Mathew’s hand hoping he could calm me down.

       “Ok, so let’s stay close enough to the tracks but far enough in the trees so we can stay hidden from whatever that was on the train,” I whisper and look around nervously. Just being this close to the death train scares me.

           Mathew and Kat agree and we start walking along the tree line. Each of us keeps looking behind us to see if we can see anyone or anything.                                   

     We see no one; it’s so quiet, not even a bird chirping in the trees.

    “There were eighty people on the train, where did they all go?” Kat’s whispers nervously.

              Mathew and I don’t answer, I’m not sure if I want to know the answer to that question. We don’t see anything but trees; Joshua trees, shrubs and weeds as we continue walking, hopefully toward the hotel. I’m so exhausted, thirsty and scared.

              We should have seen someone by now, but we haven’t heard or seen anyone since we ran into Kat. 

   “How long have you been working on the train?” I ask Kat.

        “About a year, it pays well, plus I like meeting new people.” 

          “How far do you think it is to the train depot?” Mathew cuts in while he is scanning our surroundings. Something has him spooked.

              “I’m not sure; we were one hour away from the depot when we stopped, but we should be able to get there before nightfall.”

             “Let’s take a break,” Mathew says firmly to us.

              We sit on the floor in silence for what seems like forever when Mathew speaks up.

             “I’m thinking we should start jogging a little, I don’t think it would be wise to be stuck out here after dark, especially since we don’t know what killed those people on the train and it’s getting dark quick.” 

              “We have some time to take it slow… don’t we? I’m in a hurry to get away from here too, but we have no water or food, we need to pace ourselves.” I say whining a little bit.

         “Fine, but we still need to pick up speed.”

              “Okay.” Kat and I agree. We start at a slow jog for about three minutes when my ring tone goes off, making me jump.

Chapter 5

This is the way the world ends not with a Bang but a whimper

-T.S. Elliot-

              “Hello! Hello!” I yell in my cell phone

  “Sam! Thank God you’re okay!” Jennifer says relieved.

    “Jennifer! God, I’m happy to hear your voice!”

    “Sam, are you and Mathew ok?”

    “Yes! But we have an emergency!”

Jennifer cuts me off before I was able to finish.

    “Sam, you must listen to me! You need to get back here a.s.a.p! The gunshot patient at the hospital yesterday, well he had rabies and now it’s spreading all over the place! Stay away from anyone who has the symptoms and stay away from anyone who has already been bitten!” Jennifer screams, sounding rushed and panicked.

         “Are my boys ok? Can you please call my parents and warn them! We are still in Arizona.”

              My phone cuts out, I look down at the screen, and it says no signal. I look up at Mathew and feel the tears spill over onto my cheeks.

      “What happens if my parents don’t know what’s going on? What happens if the boys are hurt?” I question, as Mathew pulls me into an embrace.

              “Your parents are smart people, your father has a shotgun in the safe and they would die before they let anything happen to our boys,” Mathew assures me as he holds me tighter.

              I slowly start calming my breathing; I repeat what Jennifer said to me.

   “Rabies? How the hell did that patient get rabies and how fast is it spreading?”  Mathew says while pacing back and forth kicking dirt around.

              “I don’t know my phone cut out before she had a chance to say, she said to stay away from anyone showing signs of rabies and anyone who has been bitten. I guess it can spread that way.”

         “Samantha, what are the symptoms?” Kat questions, her voice trembling.

          “From what I saw at the hospital it was sweating; discharging of puss from the corners of the eyes, foaming at the mouth and the patient’s skin looked like it was rotting away. They also have a very potent decaying smell, like a dead dog that has been rotting away for days. I think, but I’m not one hundred percent sure, that those who are infected are extremely strong. Why?” I say giving her a questionable look, as we start walking again.

     “The engineer of the train, Johnny, looked so sick this morning. He said he was super cold, but he was sweating badly.”                           

    “Do you think he had rabies?”

    “I don’t know,” Sam said, becoming quiet.

     She looks like she is lost in thought.

    “The patient at the hospital smelt bad too, like a dead animal,” I say, as a matter a fact.

      “Try your phone again Sam,” Mathew says quickly. I pull my phone out of my bag hoping there is a signal, but, of course, there isn’t.

      Shaking my head in frustration.

      “No signal, my phone is running out of batteries, should I shut it off to save whatever charge I have left?”

       “Yea, that would probably be a good idea. It’s not doing us any good right now anyways.” Mathew answers back.

              Mathew grabs a hold of my hand, squeezing it tight. We continue walking through the thick brush. I feet are starting to hurt; I can feel a blister forming on my big toe. My feet hurt so bad it feels like each step I take a thousand needles are poking every inch of my feet.

     “We are almost there, another forty five minutes at the most,” Kat says in between breaths.

      “Let’s take a fifteen- minute break,” Mathew says as he sits down on the dirt.

     Looking at my watch, it reads five p.m. I feel we are making good timing; I sit down between Kat and Mathew and try to catch my breath.

              I’m beyond exhausted and frightened of what happened on the train. I just want to hurry up and get back home to our boys. I need to know if they are ok and I long to feel there slobbery little kisses and tiny little sticky hands giving me a hug. 

     I know my parents will protect them, but what happens if they don’t have enough food, or what happens if this all started when they were out at the grocery store and couldn’t make it home safely.

    “Okay, our break is over, let’s go,” Mathew says dusting off all the dirt from his pants.

    Our fifteen -minute break is over too soon and my feet are pleading with me for a longer break. I get up and put out my hand to help Kat off of the ground, she too looks tired.

       Her face looks drained of color; she’s starting to slouch as she walks. She looks really dehydrated and maybe faint. I sure hope she doesn’t, that is the last thing we need right now.

     “Once we get back to the depot we need to get to our hotel room, empty out our luggage and use it to pack as much food and water as we can find. We’ll check out the grocery store, and then get the hell out of dodge.” Mathew says as he looks lost in thought.

       “Kat do you have a car? Are you close to home?” I question.

      “No, my sister usually picks me up at eight p.m. by the little market. She works at the local grocery store thirty minutes from the depot…. Do you think she’s ok?” Kat asks concern.

              I try not to look her in the eyes, afraid she can see the uncertainty in my face. “I’m sure she is. Are you going to wait for her?”

           “Yes, I have too if I leave and she comes looking for me, she could get hurt.”

I nod my head, agreeing with her.

              About thirty five minutes later we are starting to get a closer view of the depot. “What happens if everyone at the depot is sick too?” I question.

          “I don’t know. I haven’t thought that far ahead. Kat where are you going to go while you wait for your sister? You need to stay safe and out of sight.” Mathew says worriedly.

      “What room are you guys staying in?”

       “We’re in room eighteen,” Mathew and I say simultaneously.

              “You should be able to see the mini market from your room; I’ll just stay there until I see her.”

              “What happens if she doesn’t come? You will be stuck there by yourself with nothing to protect yourself with?” I know she has already thought of this question, but I have to ask. I really don’t want to leave her behind knowing she might die alone.

              “I really don’t know, but I can’t just leave not knowing if she’s ok.”

              I nod my head and keep walking. I can only imagine how scared she must feel right now. If I was in her shoes I would wait too.

      The closer we get to the depot, my stomach is in knots, my throat is dry, and my toes are aching. I don’t know what to expect, but I’m terrified and just want to get this over with.                  

       “shhh” Mathew hushes us and kneels to the ground. Kat and I look at each other and kneel down to the ground next to Mathew.

              Then I hear it, screams, lots and lots of screams. We are about half a mile from the depot and the smell, that god awful smell of rotting flesh, it’s hovering in the air; it makes it so hard to breath. The smell is making my stomach twist and I feel like I want to heave up what is left of my coffee and cinnamon roll.

              “We need to move fast and quiet. When I tell you guys to run, run like hell. Do you understand?” Mathew says to us with a look in his eyes that scares me more than the screaming does.

              I guess all this military training Mathew has had will come in handy. He’s so alert and ready for anything I wish I could share his preparedness.

              We walk slowly and as quiet as a mouse towards the depot. My eyes are gigantic and my jaw drops open as I scan the scenery in front of us. What’s in front of us makes what happen back at the train look like a walk in the park.

      I see people scattered around the parking lot, running around panicked and terrified, trying to find a safe place to hide, screams feel the air around us.              

              I see other people jumping into their cars and speed away. A white car that was park near ours starts to pull out of a parking space and almost hits a man that was being chased by a woman, whose clothes are stained with blood.

              The white car pulls out of the parking space and picks up speed. A blonde Women jumps in front of the car and starts to swing her hands around rapidly.

She starts to yell for the driver to stop

        “Why won’t she move? Doesn’t she see the car coming at her? Why won’t she move? Oh my god!”I scream, scared and confused, I can’t take my eyes off of the scene in front of us.

              The car doesn’t slow down and runs straight into the woman. The windshield gets a big spider crack throughout the middle of it. “STOP! STOP! STOP!” She screams at the driver, she holds on to the car the best that she can. The car ignores her pleads and picks up speed. She slides off of the hood of the car, falling face first to the ground and rolls several times.

              The white car speed off not caring they just hit the poor helpless women and left her for dead. Blood is covering the hood of the car the windshield is cracked, where the car ran into the women. Mathew turns away from the scene and screams for us to run.

              Running as fast as I can, to the safety of our hotel room. I run across the train tracks that our train crossed over, just hours earlier and we go straight to our hotel room. I didn’t look anywhere else but at the back of Mathew’s head. Afraid if I look elsewhere I would lose him. I’m not so sure if I really want to see any more of the kayos around us.

              Running past the parking lot I see the women that got hit on the floor, she starts screaming “HELP ME! HELP ME! PLEASE!” as we pass her. She stops screaming for a split second to cough up blood and then she starts screaming for help. Her hand reaches for my leg as I ignore her.

              I block out all of the hell around me and concentrate on getting to our hotel room safely. We reach the stairs and I have to run up them, two at a time to catch up with Mathew.   

              Bumping into Mathew, I look up to see why he stopped, a man who is banging on the hotel room door next to ours slowly turns around to look at us.

              He’s shirtless; his right arm is missing, blood stains his pants. He sniffs the air in front of him and then a sound comes out of his mouth. A loud screeching, earsplitting sound, just like the sound I heard at the hospital and just like the screaming coming from the train.

              He charges at us, Mathew shoves Kat and me to the side, and then he punches the man in the head.

              “Mathew!” I scream, panicking! The crazy man’s head snaps to the side and then he slowly turns back to Mathew, the zombie charges at us once more.

              Before the zombie is able to put his hands on him, Mathew grabs the man and pushes him off of the two story hotel. Kat and I walk to the ledge of the hotel floor and look over the balcony where the man had fallen.

              He lands on his stomach, but rapidly rolls over and jumps up quickly and runs to the sound of the screaming women on the floor, completely forgetting about us. I know I should get my legs to move, but my eyes are glued to the scene in front of me.

              The crazy man grabs her by the leg and attempts to bite her. Trying to free herself from his grip, she kicks and screams. The crazy man doesn’t let go of her leg but grabs her other leg with his free hand. He bites down like it’s another meal to him; a chunk of her leg is missing from where he bit her.

              Blood starts to squirt out of the open wound. The women’s screams even louder and catches the interest of others in the parking lot. I was thinking they would help her, but when they run towards her; they start to eat other parts of her.

              I can hear the sound of all the crazy people crunching on her bones. The smell of blood and death feels the air around me. Her screams abruptly stop; which can only mean one thing. She’s dead. Everything that I ate this morning comes up and spills all over the floor next to me.

              I didn’t hear Mathew open the hotel door; he grabs my arm and yanks me into the room.  Slamming the door shut behind us, flipping the table that was by the window, on its side, and pushes it towards to window to cover it up.

              I fall to the floor by the queen -size bed and pull my knees up to my chin. I try to slow down my breathing, but it doesn’t seem to work, my breathing is so rapid, I think I’m having a panic attack.

              I don’t know what to think, as I’m replaying the last ten minutes over and over again in my head. Kat’s sitting next to me rocking herself and mumbling over and over again “oh my god, oh my god.”

              I feel Mathew sit next to me and start to rub my shoulders. He starts to talk softly to me, but I can’t seem to pay attention to the words that are coming out of his mouth.