Jason Sanchez - When They Come

“Freud would have a field day with you.” Dave replied.

“Dude, shut up. Give me the keys and let’s go.”

They both laughed a little bit. It felt good. Carrying the bats and the baseballs that Dave decided to leave inside of it, they left the house for the last time.

They quietly exited and made their way to Dave’s blue sedan.

“Dude, this is the last time you’ll probably see your house in a long time. We’ll get through this and things will be the same again in no time.”

“I’m ready, Jay.”

Jason started the car. It aroused the attention of the nearby ghouls who limped towards the now speeding off car.

“We need to stock up. We should probably make a few stops.” Jason said.

“Like where?”

“I was thinking…a mall?”

“What?! No!”

“Oh come on man. We could get some cool shit there, stock up on some food…”

Dave’s stomach rumbled a bit

“Oh shit man, I forgot to eat!”

“Me too, so mall it is!”

Jason pushed the gas pedal down and zoomed past the blinking red lights. Dave’s heart sank a little bit each time they passed a crowd of the undead. There were a few corpses picked clean on the road and several blood trails. Severed limbs were not uncommon either.

The car sped off. They had many more miles to go. They rode in a comfortable silence.

Margie

The church became smaller and smaller on the horizon as the truck sped away. It didn’t take a genius to realize how bad the situation had become. The stop lights weren’t working, but the shock of seeing all the carnage kept Margie from showing much surprise whenever Mr. Fontaine dodged a car or walking corpse.

Including her, there were five people in the car. Kara, the young makeup artist, Paul, a young grease monkey, clutching a bloodied wrench, Tommy, Mr. Fontaine’s son, was shivering and covered in blood, and finally, Mr. Fontaine, who was just staring at the road, nothing could break his focus.

“Sorry about your dad, Margie.”

“Thanks, Kara.”, Margie replied.

Being the pastor’s daughter came with a little bit of respect. She knew just about everyone who came into the church and thus, knew just about everyone who was reanimated and killed. Her father had a great reputation around the town, as did Margie.

An awkward silence that seemed like an eternity was interrupted by Mr. Fontaine.

“Any ideas as to where you kids wanna go?”

Silence.

Mr. Fontaine turned on the radio to break the silence.

Static ruled the airwaves. He pressed the “SCAN” button.

Eventually, a news station came up. They made no effort to hide the voices of the scared crew members. The anchorman was just audible enough to understand.

“The president has been taken aboard air force one to an undisclosed location. If you are in an area of much civil unrest, stay at home, do not unlock your doors, barricade your windows, fill your bathtub or any containers with fresh water, keep a radio handy. If you see anyone bleeding or with bite marks, avoid at all cost, they are infected…”

The broadcast continues. It only made the car ride a bit tenser. Margie put her father’s revolver on her lap. It made her feel a little safer.

“Whoa, nice piece, Margie! Didn’t know you had it in ya!”, Paul said.

“Well, it was in my dad’s office. I’ve never shot one of these things before.”

“It can’t be that hard. Just point and shoot. Pow, pow, pow!” Kara said jokingly.

Paul brought up his wrench. “It’s more like, whack, whack, whack, with me, right guys? Right?”

Margie smiled at Paul’s attempt. Kara smacked the back of his head.

“Ew! You’re gross! I’ll let that slide though, Paul”, Kara laughed at him. The ride seemed to be a little less tense afterward.

“Well, I’m glad you kids are feeling better. How are you hanging in there, son?” Mr. Fontaine looked over at Tommy for a second. His silence made everyone a little bit on edge again.

“How do I feel? God has left us. He hates us. He didn’t take us with him because we sinned, dad. We made God angry!” Tommy punched the window in rage. He began to bob his head up and down and muttering words to himself.

Mr. Fontaine shook his head in sadness. He slammed the brakes as hard as he could. Everyone jerked forward and then back. Paul’s wrench hit the floor with a heavy thud.

Margie’s mouth opened and she froze in terror. The scene was terrible.

There, on the highway, were cars stopped in an eternal traffic jam. Some of them were still honking. Many of them were dented and left open.

“Oh my God”, Kara said to herself

“Shit, shit, shit!” Paul was getting nervous. He bent down and grabbed the wrench.

Margie held the gun tight.

Many of the cars were smeared with blood and had broken windows. In some cars, limbs were sticking out of them with some meat still attached to the bone. There were dozens, if not more, walking dead limping around the cars. The stopped traffic provided a near endless feast to the ghouls. The group saw a ghoul smash a car window and force it’s upper body inside. The screams of the couple inside rang in everybody’s ears. They all shook when they heard the scream get louder, almost certain she was being eaten alive.

“Canned food”, Paul said.

Kara slapped him upside the head again.

“We need to move, fast. We’re not gonna become like one of them.” Mr. Fontaine’s voice carried much urgency. Slowly, everyone got out of the car. They were standing on the highway and looking at the near endless line of cars and the horde of undead limping around trying to get at their next meal.

“Where are we going?”, Kara asked.

“Anywhere but here!”, Margie instantly replied.

“Just like your father, aren’t you? You know how to use that thing, Margie?”

“Yes, Mr. Fontaine. Just point and, pow, pow, pow. Right, Kara?”

“Yes! Just like that”, Kara smiled.

Margie felt a little safer in her group. Kara stood behind Margie and Paul. Mr. Fontaine reached under his seat and pulled out a lead pipe.

“Dad?”, Tommy asked.

“What?! You know how many times this thing’s saved my bacon, son? Now let’s go. We need to get to wherever we can that’s away from here.”

“A few exits down is the Happy Oak gated community! We could check that out!”, Paul seemed excited at this.

“Good idea, Paulie. We have a destination, now we need a path. Everyone, stay close and look after each other.” Mr. Fontaine held the pipe out slightly, looking ready as ever, the group walked slowly between the cars. The highway was very high up above the ground, with little space to move around. Between the cars seemed best.

Margie seemed to be the only one who bothered to look off into the horizon, all she could see were destroyed cars, people trying to hide inside of them, people trying to get out of wrecked cars filling with smoke, smoke off in the horizon, corpses on the floor mangled, bones popping out of them, and more importantly, several of the walking dead milling around. They were trying to get at the delicious canned food on stalled wheels.

Margie wondered how a gated community would hold up in a situation like this, but she couldn’t be choosy. Right about now, she was counting her blessings that she wasn’t alone. Having a goal is better than just walking around aimlessly, especially in a time like this, she thought.

“Come on, Margie, we need to move,” Kara said worriedly.

Margie trudged on with the rest of them, moving at a slow and steady pace between the cars. They tried not to disturb the dead that were banging on the windows, trying to get at the people inside.

“They’re plenty distracted. We just have to keep cool and we should be alright”, Paulie said quietly.