Hell Bound (Book 1): A Vacation From Hell (6 page)

        Chapter 10

It’s scary how ready our      

      generation is for

The zombie apocalypse

         “Unknown”

                            As we open the trunk and dig through the bags of food, we pull out six granola bars, two for each of us. Not much of a breakfast, but we need to ration our food supplies.

              I pass each of us a water bottle. Stretching my back and my legs as I walk, it feels so good. My body is so stiff from sleeping inside of the car all night.

              Walking up the road to the little gas station, we can see a long line of cars waiting for the gas pumps, honking, yelling from the drivers.

              We are very quiet this morning, keeping our eyes open for anything zombie-ish that may be moving in the bushes.   I check to make sure I have my hunting knife, tucked safely in my belt buckle, Mathews carries a backpack with three water bottles and two pop tarts. Kat carry’s a hunting knife that she keeps tucked into her shoe.  

              These people are sure in a hurry to leave; they have no patience at all. Every other car is honking at the car in front of them. Like honking will make them go faster.

              “Come on hurry up!” a man yells sticking his head outside of his front window.

  “What are we going to do? Just wait for our turn to get gas?” I ask.

“Yup, we have no choice; we have less than a quarter of a tank. Plus we need a map,” Mathew says looking at all the cars.

              “Kat and I will go get the map and you get in line to get the gas,” I say as I kiss him on his lips.

   “Be careful Sam, if you see any sign of trouble get out of there.”

    “I will I promise.” 

              Mathew gives me a kiss again, reluctantly letting me go. Kat and I start to walk towards the direction of the gas station; I turn around to wave at Mathew. He’s staring at us; his expression is hard and nervous. We better hurry up.

              Kat and I start walking faster to the front door of the gas station. Kat opens the door and lets me go in first. It’s just as full inside as it is outside. I see a sign next to the register saying

Cash only! ATM machine out of order

    Luckily I have cash on me. I look around the gas station and notice that all the shelves are empty but a few odds and ends, like tampons and razors.

              I notice the maps sitting on a turning shelf near the front door. I rush to the shelf and grab a map of California and a map of Arizona.  We will want to take side roads through California too. At this rate, it would be the safer thing to do.

              There are two clerks at the register. A tall dark toned gentlemen, with dreadlocks; the second clerk is a short round Latino women. The man stands behind the register holding a shotgun in his hands. His face is so serious, any wrong move we make; he will use the gun on us.

              It makes me very nervous. The women looks scared, she doesn’t say anything as she scans up the next customer in line and bags their items. It’s our turn to pay for the maps; she snaps the maps out of my hand and rings them up. Her hands are shaking as she bags our items.

              I grab our bag and the change and we take off running outside. I see Mathew standing in line looking around. He looks like he is expecting something bad to happen.  He moved up one car length in fifteen minutes. It’s going to take us forever to get to the front of the line.

              Kat and I run to him and I un- zip his backpack and put the maps inside. “The clerk in the gas station has a shotgun, they look pretty scared,” I mention as I check out all the impatient people in their cars.

  “Yeah, I’m scared too; all these people make me nervous,” Mathew says as he scans the line of cars around us.

              Moving ever so slowly, we are finally able to pump gas. This time Mathew runs into the store to pay for the gas. So Kat and I didn’t have to. I’m getting the feeling the man with the shotgun inside the store made Mathew a little uncomfortable.

              I start pumping gas inside of the ten gallon tank, when I hear tons of loud screeching screams coming from the bushes behind the gas station. I grab Kat’s hand and squeeze it tight. She’s looking around for the source of the scream; she pulls out her knife and holds it in her hand by her side.

              Mathew is by our side defensively protecting us. I’m about to finish fueling the ten gallon tank when I see a man running down the street screaming. I hurry and screw the lid on the gas tank as fast as I can “let’s go,” I yell panicking.

              The man screaming runs inside the gas station and slams the door shut behind him. The glass door rattles; six zombies run out of the bushes after him. Mathew grabs the tank out of my hand and screams at us “RUN! To the car.”

              Running as fast as my feet will take me back down the street where our car is, I take a look behind me and the zombies are chasing after all of the people that were at the gas station.

              The vehicles that were behind us at the pumps make a u-turn and drive away from the zombies. I hope they got enough gas to last them until the next gas station.

              I hear screaming coming from the store and see some of the customers running out. We can hear a loud popping noise coming from the inside of the gas station, several customers run out of the store, screaming for help.

              We don’t stop running until we get to the car. Mathew unlocks the car door and flips open the gas tank on the right side of the car. Kat and I stand guard next to Mathew just in case we see zombies. He finishes fueling the car and each of us gets inside of our car. “The zombies are moving fast,” I say out loud, breathless.

              “Way too fast! Try your phone again Sam,” Mathew ask trying to catch his breath.

              I hand him and Kat some water as I grab my phone and notice a text message from Jennifer.

    “I got a text from Jennifer!” I yell. “It says I’m on my way to your parent’s house; I was able to get some food and water and a gun. The hospitals are over feeling with sick people. National Guard is everywhere; try to stay away from all major highways and roads,” I pause to catch my breath.

   “I’m so glad she’s ok and she was smart enough to get some supplies,” I say, relieved.

              “This thing must be bad if the state called the National Guard,” Mathew says.

     “Did you get anything from my sister?” Kat asked, looking worried.

    “No Kat I’m sorry. I’m sure she’s ok,” I say, taking a peek at Mathew, he looks at me with a questionable look. He’s thinking the same thing I am.

              She might not have made it. But neither of us will admit it. She doesn’t need a nervous breakdown right now. We need to keep each other safe healthy and strong.

              We stay in the car not moving from our little hiding spot a little bit longer; trying to look at the map and figure out where we’re at, or the best route to the gas station that Kat mentioned.

Chapter 11

Be ready for the revelation of the truth

-Elia M. Ramollah-

             
We have the map spread out in the front seat between Mathew and I. Kat is sitting in the back in the middle so she can see the map too.

   “We are right here,” Kat says pointing to a street on the map called Joshua.       

              “I saw the street sign at the gas station near the gas pumps. We can take Joshua Street to Angus road, and then if I understand this right we make a left on Dirt Street and the gas station should be on the left side of the road.”

              Kat says but sounds unsure about her decision.

    “Why do I hear a butt coming along,” I question, eyeing her.

  “The down fall is I’m not hundred percent sure. And it’s way out of the way. But the good thing is there is no one out there and we shouldn’t run into any trouble, it was a hole in the wall place, gas is expensive but only one clerk.”

      I look at Mathew for his opinion, but he seems to be lost in thought. I scan outside to make sure there are no zombies or anybody else around.

              “I say we go for it,” Mathew finally speaks up. “If the roads are full of National Guard then all major highways and roads are blocked off from us. And Kat knows these back roads better than we do, so let’s take her word for it.”

              I nod in agreement at Mathew and Kat. And start scanning through all FM stations, hoping to find any one talking about what’s going on. I find nothing but static on the FM station.

              As soon as I turn to the Am station a man’s voice comes on the radio. Mathew stops drinking water and looks at the radio as if it’s live television. Kat is speech less in the back seat staring at the radio.

             
Hello everyone who’s still breathing and not trying to bite a chunk out of there neighbors. I’m currently in my basement in Arizona, staying out of site. For what I’ve heard this all started with a man who went into the ER two days ago with rabies.

              The doctors tried to isolate him but it was too late. He had bit his wife before going into the ER. His wife was the one who called 911 but never told them she was bitten. She eventually turned into a zombie and went after her neighbors.

              I unfortunately saw firsthand how fast this thing, we call rabies spreads. My wife was bitten before we’re able to make it safely into our house. We were 30 minutes from our home, when she turned into a ………zombie ….I guess you can call them that. I had to put her down myself. It will forever haunt my dreams. God I loved her so much.

            
 
He pauses and all we can hear is the voice on the radio crying, poor guy it can’t be easy to lose the love of your life
.

            
 
For what I’ve seen, the military is trigger happy; they are shooting down anything that looks like it’s a zombie. If you’re bit they will kill you on site.   So be aware, if I were you I would stay away from the military. This disease is worse than any horror movie you have seen.

              It spreads a lot faster and the military aren’t testing people for infection before killing them. All groceries stores are being taking over by scared people trying to stock up on food and water. The gas stations have lines of cars that seem to go on for miles.

              Currently the power here is still on, but the phone lines are busy and my cell phone doesn’t get signal any more. I’m not sure for how long I will have running water. I do have a backup generator so you will hear my voice for a while. As I receive news about this hell we are going through, I will relay it back to you. I have to get off now but stay safe.

            
 
He switches off and we start to hear the crackle of the static.

  “Oh that poor guy, this can’t be easy for him, to see his wife turn and to have to kill her himself.” Grabbing Mathews hand and holding it tight in mine.

              I hope we can make it out of this alive. For our kids and each other’s sake. I don’t know what I would do without Mathew with me in this god forsaken world.

              “Well that little bit of information gave us our answer. Stay away from major cities and roads. I think we got out of the train depot just in time, I don’t know what would of happened if we were still there,” Mathew says.

     “Kat, want to try to call your sister again?” I ask, as I hand my phone to her in the back seat.

              Mathew starts the engine and pulls the car back on the road. I start to lean and give Mathew a kiss on his check. “I love you Mathew more then you will ever know I couldn’t do this without you.”

    “I love you too Sam, we will make it home to our children I promise,” he tries to say convincingly, but I can tell he’s just as scared as I am.

              “The line was busy. I hope she got the message in time,” she hands back my phone.

              There is not much for us to say right now. I’m sure Kat is thinking of her sister and hoping she is safely on her way to my parent’s house. And I know Mathew is worried about our children and our safety.             

              I know that’s what I’m thinking about. This whole situation is so unreal. I feel like I’m going to just wake up from a horrible dream.

              I check my phone again hoping to receive a text or any kind of news feed on my News app. But still no such luck. I have no signal; I’m not sure if it’s because we are out in the middle of nowhere or if the towers are down. I guess I will find out when we get closer to civilization. 

              Ten miles is a long way, especially in silence. No one has spoken a word since we heard the man’s voice on the radio. It makes me nervous “Does anybody want water,” I ask holding out a water bottle, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.

              “No, but I can use some food,” Kat says from the back seat.

     “I need to use the bath room,” Mathew mentions.

   Mathew pulls over to the side of the road. I Check our surroundings, but can’t make out anything but dirt and trees.  It’s so quiet; I don’t even hear birds chirping. It makes me a little un- easy.

              Mathew gets out of the car looking around at our surroundings. Jumping out of the car too, just to stretch out and to watch Mathews back, as he does his business. Mathew walks behind the tree, standing near the car looking around.  Kat is scavenging through the trunk, looking for something for us to eat.

              Several minutes pass, when Mathew comes from around the tree and walks slowly up to me. Out of nowhere a zombie comes running around the tree where Mathew was just at. “Mathew Look out!”I scream, pulling my knife out of my pants buckle.

   Mathew doesn’t turn around to look at why I’m screaming; instead he starts running towards me. I run towards the zombie behind him and raise my knife in the air.

              When I get close enough, without any hesitation, I slam it into the zombies head. All I hear when I push the knife deeper into the zombies head is the knife hitting bone.

              The zombie falls to the floor taking my knife with it; I put my foot on top of the zombie’s head, to help keep him in place and pull my knife out. As my knife slowly comes out of the skull, I can hear blood squishy and bone braking. I pull my knife completely out of the zombie and blood squirts everywhere.

              Mathew comes very calmly, and rubes my back.

   “Shit Sam! Remind me to never piss you off!” Kat says, right behind us. “WOW, were you prepared for this whole zombie apocalypse thing or something?”

         Laughing at her comment, I start walking back to the car.

    “The zombie did not scream like the others did,” Mathew says studying the dead zombie on the floor.

       “Your right, I wonder why,” I agree, as I start wiping the blood off of my knife, on the side of my pants.

      “Whatever the reason behind it we shouldn’t just stand here waiting for another one to run at us,” Kat says freaked out.

              Kat hands us a protein bar each, before opening up her door and sitting inside of the car. I scan the roads for any more signs of zombies. Fortunately I don’t see anything, but that doesn’t mean they are not out there, waiting.

              The speakers in the car start to crackle, the voice on the radio comes on again.

             
I’m back; it occurred to me that I didn’t tell you my name. My name is Steve; my wife’s name was Gina. God I miss her,

    I was able to tap into a military frequency. They were saying that this epidemic started in a little town in California, and has spread to Salt Lake city, Utah.

              All this happened within forty two hours. They tried to get it under control, but lost all hope 2 hours ago. The military is pulling out of all major cities and towns. Los Angeles has been overrun by zombies, and San Francisco is about to be over run as well.

      I noticed my street is feeling up with zombies. I can now see my neighbor of ten years running around eating people. It’s not a pretty site.

              The president of the United States, has been safely taken to his underground facility somewhere along the east coast, where the exact location is, I ‘m not sure. 

I’m all alone in this big house for the rest of my life, for however long that is.

              The voice on the radio cuts out and the station goes to static. Oh god, in two days zombies has taken over four states? How much longer until the whole country is crawling with zombies? We’ll never be safe; we’ll always be fighting for our lives. This just keeps getting better and better. At least I’m not alone.

              I feel so sorry for him. Maybe along his journey he will find another survivor to take into his home. I hope so, for his sake.

      We are still driving down Joshua Street when we see a car parked on the side of the road.  A small blue Nissan Altima, an older model for what I can tell.

              I was never able to tell what year a car is. Not like Mathew, he can tell just by the tail lights of a car. Mathew pulls over behind the car.

     “What are you doing?” I say, scanning the road all around us.

    “The car looks empty and looks abandon, we should see if there is anything inside of it we can take. Or stifle gas from the car,” Mathew answers back.