89.4 Zombie Radio

I didn't notice the seating arrangements until a few miles down the road. Layla was sitting right next to the new guy, Trevor, who had one of those vibes I didn't like. Not a creepy rapist vibe or anything like that. More like an asshole, steal your girlfriend and then cheat on her three days later, kind of vibe. Maybe I was crazy though, I mean I barely knew the guy, I should reserve judgement for later. Randle was driving like some sort of maniac, which is exactly how I always imagined him driving. In a van overcrowded with people and weapons, it was not exactly a comfortable ride. I kept looking over at Layla and Trevor, he kept talking really quietly to her, and she kept laughing that nervous laughter girls laugh when a guy is hitting on them. Maybe this was a good thing though I kept telling myself. Maybe she wouldn't need to cling to me so much anymore.

I sat next to Riley, my favorite person in the world. Hopefully you note the sarcasm behind that sentence at this point. On the other side of me was Dr.Grant, who was a very nice guy. He and I got to talking a little bit. "So, you're a doctor? What do you think all this is?" I asked, hoping someone could give me a solid answer for once. "Well, I think its a parasite actually. That's what all the signs point to." He answered, quite sure of himself. "Really? Like a bug? That's what's doing all of this?" "I do believe so. Its the most complex one I've ever seen. I took a few blood samples from patients at the hospital I was working at, and found them. Someone must have either found these or engineered them somehow, I don't know which, but whoever unleashed them on the public is pure evil. They knew what they were doing, and they knew what it was going to cause, especially if my theory on how it spread is right."

Now I was extremely curious if my theory was relevant. "So what is your theory exactly doctor?" I asked eagerly awaiting the answer. "Well, I believe it traveled through chicken. I looked at some samples of both, and found it only in chicken. I also believe it may have gotten into eggs too. So even the people who avoided chicken, would be effected as well." Wow, that was a bombshell. I couldn't believe what I just heard. It made sense though, I was living off of potatoes that month after all. I had to know more. "Why didn't you tell anybody this stuff man? You may have been able to help some people," I said, half afraid I would offend him. "Well, by the time I figured all this out it was far too late. Basically ninety percent of the population was infected already. The hospital basically shut down at that point. So I just decided to get out of there and save myself."

It all made sense, and yet I still had questions, some of this stuff wasn't really adding up in my head. "Okay, wait a second, this parasite actually got into eggs through the chicken, then survived the cooking process somehow?" "I'm just as confused as you are by it. It almost doesn't make any sense, but I swear its the truth. You would think extreme heat would kill the parasites, but its like these were engineered to withstand all of that. Like I said, whoever did this, is some sort of evil genius. Also its as if these parasites know how to mutilate a human to suit their needs of survival. They open sores in the mouth so that when someone is bitten they spread to a new host. They feed on the flesh and somehow effect the behavior of the individual to attack others. Its scary isn't it?" Now I was pissed off. I didn't know exactly how to direct my anger, but I wanted to find the guy who did all this and beat the living shit out of him. Not for me, but for the other ten people in the car who's lives he fucked over.

A few more miles down the road and I was starting to get bored. I kept looking over at Layla and Trevor. Still the same story, the giggling, the whispers, it admittedly started to annoy me a little bit. I decided to bust out that game of story telling that passed time, before in the house. "So, if the doctor's theory is correct, which I think it is, what was everybody eating during that month or so this was going on? I'll start, I kind of went on this weird diet of baked potatoes. It was a weird decision for nutrition I know. Okay, who's next?" Roxy went after me, although she had already told what she was eating previously. "Slim Jims and Lay's potato chips," she said with pride. I couldn't help but laugh. "Layla ate salads, which I knew because she had announced it over the radio. Riley and Gabe too, were both on a strictly salads diet. Lucas had a bit more interesting diet, he was living off of frozen pizza's at the time. The ones you can buy for about a dollar and some change at grocery store.

Kwame's by far was the best I had heard. "Well, shit, if that shit's in chicken it makes sense. I'm fuckin allergic to poultry and shit, and if anybodies got any racist ass jokes about a black dude being allergic to chicken, say 'em and I'll knock your honky ass out." I loved Kwame, somehow everything he said was funny, even when he didn't mean it to be. The doctor apparently was a hoarder of frozen meat. He stocked up for weeks ahead of time and never ate out. Randle only ate what he hunted. All wild game and things of that nature. Made sense for him to have survived. Finally there was Trevor, who only ate burgers without the bun, from McDonald's. Thus avoiding eggs, and poultry both. It made sense why we were all still living. There had to be some more people out there. More people with weird ass diets who managed to somehow survive the zombie onslaught. Now it was just a matter of finding them.

We were all a little hungry and so we stopped at a little out of the way gas station on the road. Standard procedure applied as always, clear the place of zombies and raid what you could carry. It was nice that Roxy and I didn't have to do all the work. Randle and Kwame handled the operation quite well. I found it funny because Randle was one of, if not the most racist bastard I had ever met. Funny how the zombie apocalypse brought people together. The van got even more crowded afterwords with cans, bottles and bags of chips, but after a while I stopped noticing. I also noticed upon reloading into it that Layla and Trevor were sitting by each other again. I told myself not to think about it. Why would I care anyways? Its not like I was trying to get with her or anything, but still, I considered her like a sister in this situation, and I didn't trust this guy. I never had been a brother, but I'm guessing this is what it felt like.

A good half an hour passed on the road. I made the suggestion to turn the radio on. The doctor shot me a puzzled look. "Radio?" he asked, "Who's on the radio?" I explained to him about DJ Double Tap and his zombie radio show. 89.4 which was funny to me because it was a radio station that didn't exist in reality. I think it was some kind of joke maybe. A radio station that doesn't exist, in a world that basically no longer exists. Maybe that was his take on it, if I thought about it, I'd ask next time I called. We tuned it in and listened with intent. The song, Layla by Eric Clapton was playing. Honestly a song I didn't feel like hearing at the time. Thus far DJ Double Tap had a knack for either playing shitty music, or music I didn't want to hear. I'd bring that up next call too. The song was just getting to the climax or anti climax. Whatever that part at the end was referred to. You know, the part where it's all piano, guitar and no lyrics. Its sort of a wind down I think. Always made me think of the movie Goodfellas where they play it while they discover all those bodies. I'm probably the only person who remembers that part so vividly.

Suddenly the song cut off, and my faithful DJ friend was on the airwaves. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have another call! From a different group of survivors! Can you tell us your name?" There were more? This was great. Everybody who was making any sort of noise in the van immediately shut up and listened close.

"My name is Jessie, and I'm here with about five other people. We're stuck in this college. We're kind of surrounded at the moment, I think we'll be okay for now, but its going to be tough getting out of here." If my intuition was right, she was stuck at that damn college we had barely escaped from. Hell number one as I named it in my head.

"Well that doesn't sound good at all Jessie! How did it all happen?" he asked over the airwaves.

"Well its a long story really, but we were just calling in to see if maybe we could get someone to help us out," she told him.

DJ Double Tap switched into panic mode. "If anyone out there is listening, can you please call in! This poor girl and her friends need help! We need a hero! DJ Double Tap is begging you!" I turned on my cell and dialed the number. We were going to get them out of that mess. We needed all the help we could get, and I don't think I could live with myself if I left them to die in that place.

"We have a caller! Thank you God!" He shouted when the call went through.

"Its me Bob. Hey, can she hear what I'm saying right now?" I asked.

"Of course I can idiot, I have the radio on," she said shrudely. It was a stupid question after I thought about it, but I was full of those sometimes.

"Okay, sorry, I wasn't sure. Anyway, We're on our way there. It may take about a day. Do you think you can hold out until then?" I asked.

"Just hurry as fast as you can! We're okay for now, but I'm hungry and there's nothing to eat in this dorm we're hiding in," she said, surprisingly not panicked.

"Like I said, we're on our way," I tried to respond as confidently as possible. "Give me your cell number. I'm going to need it for when I get there."

"I'm not giving you my number over the air stupid! Do you seriously think I'm that dumb?" she asked sounding a bit irritated with me.

"How many people do you think are listening to this anyway? No rapist creeps are going to start calling you and I'm pretty sure zombies can't use cell phones. If it makes you feel better, we'll have DJ Double Tap take us off the air. Will that make you feel better?"

Yes it will," she replied finally sounding satisfied. I never even met this girl and I already knew she was difficult. Yet something about her made me laugh, call me crazy. We had DJ Double Tap take us off the air and we exchanged numbers through him. I told the DJ to assure her I was on my way and she had him assure me she already knew that. I laughed and said my goodbyes. I was trying to help, and it still wasn't good enough. That was my kind of luck.

I made Randle turn around and told him where we were going. Some of the people in the van were a little pissed at me for doing this. It was half for my decision, and half against it. I figured I was the deciding vote, and that meant we were going. I think I won them over the more I argued with Randle about it though. What if it was you trapped in that place and nobody was there to help you? That was my thinking anyways. Those people could be us right now. Hell, we'd more than likely be dead if it weren't for the doc and his troops showing up. So why not us play the heroes for once? It was settled. We were going back and we were going to save the day. If we were going to make it out alive during this, we were going to need all the help we could get, and this was the perfect opportunity to recruit some. I just hoped this overcrowded, piece of shit, van could make it there in time.