89.4 Zombie Radio

The Impala was making a great getaway car. It was just the perfect size for 5 people and a dog, comfortable, and heavy enough to run down any zombies trying to give us problems. Brock hung out the window with a shotgun, and shot most of the zombies who got close to us. We had to keep taking detours, but finally we made it to the outskirts of the city.

"I'm going to stop for gas and food, since Jessie had nothing but chicken flavored soy beans," Jack said. I was still a little down from the whole Maria incident, and I ignored the comment. We pulled into a little gas station and parked at the only pump that didn't still have a car in it. I found it weird that it looked like someone had moved up just so we could use it. We all got ready to go inside and get what we were going to need. My main priority was bottled water for Nimel and maybe a few energy drinks for myself. I needed to keep on my toes somehow.

"We don't know what's inside, so lets take it slow. Everybody get out whatever weapon you plan on using, no guns. Also, does anybody even know how to unlock the register? I have no idea how to do that, and we'll need it to pump gas," Jack informed us.

"Umm, Jack, I don't think we'll need that. Look, the pump is still going, looks like somebody's already been here," said Brock. "I'll just fill up the tank and maybe a few gas cans, if there still are any in the store."

"Well thanks to whoever that was, for doing that," I said.

"Mr. Jack, sir, I don't have a weapon. What can I do to help?" asked Carter.

I remembered I still had the butcher knife on me. I really didn't like it. It was good at the time, but I just thought it was an awkward thing for me to be carrying, being a vegan and all.

"Here you go," I said, handing the knife to Carter. "You can have this, its really not my style."

"Thanks love," he said smiling. "I'll put it to good use I'm sure."

We walked into the station and it was clear somebody had already been there. There was blood all over the walls, and the can with slim Jims was completely emptied out. I wondered who the heck could like Slim Jims that much. I'd had one as a kid, and it was disgusting. It looked like a lot of the good stuff had already been taken. Jack checked the coolers for any kind of trouble, but there weren't any zombies anywhere. We were getting pretty lucky on day two.

I loaded my back pack with energy drinks and water. I also took some potato chips and whatever else sounded good at the time. Everyone did the same, and we filled the trunk up with as much junk food and drinks as it could carry. We took the last two gas cans that were left, and filled them up too. By the time we were all finished, I'm guessing we had taken over 200 dollars worth of stuff or rather we "borrowed" it as Jack put it. I looked down the street and noticed some zombie corpses on the ground. At least I hoped they were zombies. It looked like they had been burned to a crisp. I wonder what happened there.

We took off down the road and made our way out of the city. Now the question became, where do we go now? For once I wasn't the one asking the questions.

"Well chaps, we made it out alive," Carter said. "Now where are we going?"

"That's a good question actually, where the fuck are we going Jack?" asked Dean.

"Well, I have no idea honestly. Maybe we'll just drive a little ways until we can find a place to stay at," Jack answered. "From there, I guess we can devise a plan on what exactly we should do and where exactly we should go."

"Nowhere cold," I said.

"Okay, so Alaska is definitely out," Brock said laughing. "Maybe we should get on a boat and find an island or something. That might be nice."

"That would be nice, let's do that," I said in response.

"Let's just find someplace to stay the night at, and then we'll worry about that," said Jack. "I picked up an atlas at that gas station. We'll study it tonight and figure out a place to go."

We all agreed on the plan and then drove for about an hour in complete silence after that. I think the boys were a bit tired from having to deal with Carter snoring the whole night. We checked the radio, hoping for maybe an emergency broadcast or something like that, but there was nothing. Probably because the car was too old to even have an FM radio. Nobody listened to AM radio except old people and sports fans. If there was an emergency broadcast, it was more than likely on FM.

"You know, I think my cousin lives around here. I think we'll just stay at his place," said Jack.

"Wait, your cousin's?" I asked.

"Yea, him, his wife and their two kids live out here," he answered.

"That sounds like a bad idea, what if they're zombies? Then you'll have to kill them all to stay there," I pointed out.

"Ha! My cousin's a dick. I hope I get to kill that rich asshole, and his spoiled ass kids. If they're still alive, I'm leaving," he said laughing. "That's half the reason I want to go there."

"What's the other half?" asked Brock.

"They're rich, their house is beautiful," Jack replied.

We took a few turns at some roads I had never seen before. Everything out in the country looked untouched. I thought maybe the disease, or whatever this was, didn't make it out this far. If it was only in the city, then we'd be fine. I knew we'd find out soon enough when we got to Jack's cousin's house. After about another half hour's worth of driving we pulled into a driveway. The driveway was so long that I couldn't even see the house yet. It must have been back off the road by about a quarter mile, surrounded by woods. Then finally I saw it through the trees. It was a big log cabin house, one of the more modern style ones.

"Well, here we are. Nice huh?" Jack said, gauging our opinions.

"Its okay I guess, I wouldn't want to live here though," I said.

"Why the hell not?" he asked me.

"I'm a city girl. Just isn't my style," I answered.

We made our way to the door and Jack pulled out his gun. I almost went to stop him until I thought about it. We were out in the country now, noise wasn't really an issue here. We wouldn't get swarmed by a random zombie horde this far out. At least I hoped we didn't. Jack rang the doorbell.

"Why are you ringing the doorbell Mr. Jack?" Carter asked.

"To see if anybody's home. Oh and its just Jack by the way. My last name is Miller, but Mr. Miller is my dad. So please, just Jack," he told Carter.

It didn't take long before we heard the screams from inside headed in our direction. The doorbell must have lured them there. Not sure how they knew to run there, must have just been instinct from when they weren't zombies. Jack opened the door and shot. I didn't see what he had hit from where I was. Being short has almost no advantages. He shot again, and then made his way through the doorway. One of them was laying on the ground twitching. Jack walked over the body and shot it in the head. It was a middle aged woman, who I assumed was his cousin's wife.

The next one came from out of the doorway soon after. Jack took aim and got it right in the mouth, shooting its jaw off. The shot wasn't enough to stop it however, and it kept coming at us. Brock fired with the shotgun he was carrying. It knocked the zombie down, and Jack ran over and put another bullet into it's head.

"Brock! Don't shoot from the hip like you just did! This isn't the wild west!" Jack yelled.

"Hey! It fuckin' worked! So what's the big deal?" Brock responded. I didn't see the big deal either, but Jack didn't get a chance to finish his explanation. Another zombie, this one looked like a twelve year old girl, came running down the stairs. Brock took another shot from his waist. It missed, and the zombie kept coming. Jack took two shots, one landed in the chest, the other in the head. Then he walked over and shot it in the head again.

"That's why! Because its not very fucking accurate! Aim from the shoulder next time! Jack yelled.

"Sorry, I didn't know. Never really, shot a gun before today. Why do you keep walking over to them and shooting them again?" Brock questioned.

"Just making sure they're dead. I don't like surprises," Jack replied.

"Isn't there one more? The son?" Dean asked.

We all remained quiet and waited, but nothing came. We decided to split up and look around. We went in teams of two, Jack and Brock went upstairs, Dean and Carter checked the first floor and the basement, and Nimel and I were in charge of the outside. I walked outside and started looking around. It didn't look like anything suspicious was out here. I remembered I had that crowbar still in my purse, and I pulled it out just in case. I didn't think I would need it, Nimel would probably take care of anything that tried to get to me. He was my knight in shining armor after all.

I noticed the garage off to the side and decided to go check it out. It was all there was left to really be worried about. I opened the side door and looked inside. Jack's cousin owned a new Jaguar and an old 1970 Ford Mustang. I started to make my way over to the Mustang to check it out. I couldn't help myself around cars, I just find them beautiful machines. Before I could get there though, I seen something move behind it. In the back of my mind, I knew what it was, but I hoped it was just a raccoon or something. Then I heard the growl, and knew it didn't belong to any animal.

Nimel barked and the zombie popped up from behind the car. It looked me right in the face and immediately started to run at me. Nimel and I ran outside and I shut the door, and held the knob so that he couldn't open it. The boy looked about fourteen and I knew I could keep him in there for a little while, at least until I could get someone to help me. I started yelling "help" but I quickly realized nobody was going to hear me. Maybe this wasn't the best of plans. I was going to have to handle this myself.

The boy started punching the window, trying to break the glass and get to me. I didn't want to let him out. If he came at me too fast, it would be hard to fight him off without him getting close enough to bite me. So I dug through my purse and pulled out that gun I hoped I'd never have to use. I aimed at his head through the window and closed my eyes, still keeping my hand on the doorknob. I squeezed the trigger and nothing happened. The trigger wouldn't even budge. This was not how it was supposed to work. Now I had to think of a way to fix this stupid gun. I examined it and found a button. Maybe that was the problem, I thought to myself. I pressed the button and took aim again.

I closed my eyes tighter this time, and pulled the trigger. This time it was followed by a loud bang that made me jump out of my pants. I screamed and the gun flew out of my hands and landed on the ground in front of me. I guess it was just because I didn't expect it to work. It was now official, I hate guns. I opened my eyes and looked at the glass. The zombie boy was gone it seemed and the bullet hole was covered in blood. I kicked the gun out of my way gently, and opened the door. The boy's body was laying on the ground, still twitching. "Remember what Jack said," I told myself. "Make sure he's dead." I picked up the gun and aimed it one more time at his head. I closed my eyes and held the gun tight. Then I pulled the trigger, and screamed again. I did not like guns at all.

Now that I had taken care of the zombie problem at the house, it was time to check out the car. I walked up and noticed the bullet hole through the passenger window. Again, I really hate guns, they ruined a beautiful car. I looked down and noticed a skateboard on the ground. It was a black Element skateboard, with a Bam Margera heartagram on it. It was even better than the one I had before. This was coming with me from now on. I didn't need a gun, this worked the first time, it would do fine all the rest of them too. It wasn't too long before the boys all came out looking for me. The gunshot must have alerted them that I was in some kind of trouble.

"Oh yea, now you guys show up," I said joking.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Dean asked.

"No I'm horribly mangled," I replied. "No idiot, I'm fine. I found his son, he was out in the garage. He's on the floor over there. Look I found my new weapon!" I started to get excited then. I couldn't help it, I loved this skateboard. I showed it to the guys who didn't seem to share my enthusiasm.

"A skateboard? You're going to fight off zombies with a skateboard?" Brock questioned.

"Not just a skateboard, a Bam Margera skateboard, and yes I am," I replied.

"That doesn't seem very logical Jessie, but you do what you want I guess," said Jack.

"Hey! I killed my first zombie with one of these, and it did just fine. Oh, and I will do what I want. When haven't I done what I wanted?" I asked.

"Good point," Jack answered. "Where's the gun you shot? That was you shooting right?"

"Yea, it was me. I hate that gun, it scared me. Oh, and it didn't shoot when I wanted it to, I had to press a button on it for it to even work. Its stupid, one of you guys take it," I told them. Jack laughed at me.

"That button is called a safety Jessie. You have to turn it off before the gun fires. That's so it doesn't go off in your purse while you're carrying it," he said. "And you hang on to it, just in case. I don't care if you like it or not."

I huffed and stormed off. Nimel followed me back into the house. I plopped down in the front room where all the dead zombies were. I was getting used to seeing blood ooze out of bodies now, it didn't really bother me at this point. The boys came in not too long after. Jack had the gun in his hand and went to give it to me.

"I don't want it," I told him. "I don't like that thing."

"Jessie, there are only two kinds of people who actually like guns. Those are rednecks and psychopaths, and I don't think anyone here is either one of those," Jack said. "But just take it with you, if something happens you'll have it. Just stuff it in your purse or backpack somewhere. It will make me feel better. Please?Hey, you didn't have a problem killing my wife with one earlier."

I rolled my eyes and took the gun back. "Fine, I'll put it underneath my tampons," I told him. He laughed and then thanked me. He was right, I might need it sometime, but it was always going to be my last resort.

"Well, I'm going to go find a shirt," Dean said out of nowhere. "Not that I mind walking around shirtless or anything, I'm just saying."

"We'd all be a bit more comfortable if you put a shirt on Dean," Brock joked.

After that, we all searched the house for things we could use later. The trunk was already full of stuff, and now our junk was starting to pile into the back seat. It was going to be a cramped ride wherever we went to next, but I'd worry about it in the morning. We sat around and talked about what we thought we should do next. Nobody really had any solid ideas yet. I refused to go anywhere cold, and we couldn't find any islands on the atlas jack "borrowed." We needed to think of some place to go, and soon. I didn't want to roam around the zombie infested nation looking for a magic boat to come up that would lead us to a magic island. That would just be stupid.

We talked until about midnight, then we went upstairs and picked our rooms out. I called the biggest one, and the others fought over the remaining ones. I didn't stick around to listen, I just went inside mine with Nimel and shut the door. This door didn't have a lock though. I was kind of surprised a house this modern didn't have one. I guess I would just have to pray before I went to sleep that none of the boys were serial rapists. Today was a good day though, because I fell in love... with a skateboard.