Mark Tufo - The End Has Come and Gone

She stepped in and pulled me close; we kissed. No further words were needed.

“Um, Mike we gotta go,” Gary said as he stepped away from the window.

Tracy quickly told Justin and Travis how much she loved them and that they needed to watch out for each other and especially their dad.

I walked over to a darkened corner. Crying was a solitary endeavor for me; I did not want an audience. Gary grabbed some gear off the table and walked over my way.

“Wanna talk about it?” he asked.

I quickly rubbed away the incriminating evidence from my cheeks. “Do I look like I want to talk about it?” I told him without looking to face him.

“Well I don’t know, that’s why I asked, and you didn’t turn around, so how would I know?” “It’s a good thing you know how to shoot,” I said as I brushed by him.

“What’s that mean?” he asked as he struggled to catch up to my quick pace.

Speeders were bearing down, we had half a minute tops to get out of here. After that it would take a major gun battle and a shitload of ammo I didn’t want to waste on these flunkies. No, this ammo was being especially saved for the queen bee and her minions.

Travis let fly some well-aimed lead. The closest zombie’s forward momentum brought his headless body skidding to a halt. Travis’ next shot ripped an arm from the elbow down clean off its victim. The zombie did not slow a beat as thick half congealed blood dropped in fat globules from the wound.

Tracy hopped into her new Subaru hatchback after she made sure all the kids were in and secure. She gave me one long look and mouthed words to me which were unmistakable. “You promised.” Gary, Justin, Travis and I set up a small firing line to give Tracy some safe clearance from our pursuers. Legs crumpled, heads disintegrated, blood arced, and still they came. Injuries that should have sent our attackers shrieking into the night had absolutely no effect to the throng. They trampled over their fallen without pause or hesitation, their need to feed far surpassing any other feeling they might possess. But something was happening here, wasn’t it? The mere fact that they hunted together implied some sort of cohesion, a hive mentality maybe? Could these ones also be under Eliza’s control? How far did her powers extend?

These were all higher functioning questions that I ran through as I took a breath, aimed, fired, reacquired, took a breath, aimed, fired.

“I can do this all day motherfuckers!!” I screamed. They didn’t care.

Travis and Gary were running to the far side of the truck as Justin tugged on my sleeve.

“Dad, time for a hasty retreat!” Justin yelled over my death dealing cycle.

I dropped two more before I let my self-preservation kick in. Tracy hadn’t been gone more than three minutes and I had almost broken my promise. Yeah, this was starting off just the way I wanted it to.

‘I miss you my love, but not as much as I will,’ I thought.

CHAPTER TEN – Tracy

“Pretty lady. Why are you crying? My mom says crying makes your asscarrots run,” Angel said.

Tracy could only look at the small child in confusion.

“Angie, no swearing!” Ryan berated her from the back seat.

“What?” Angel asked indignantly. “I only told the pretty lady her asscarrots would run! I did not say a bad word!” Tracy understood now. “Did you mean mascara? My mascara would run?” Angel nodded as if this is what she had said all along, then she turned around to stick her tongue out at her brother.

“Thank you sweetie. I needed that,” Tracy said. “I was crying because I miss my family.” “Like I miss my mommy and daddy?” Angel asked.

“Just like that,” Tracy answered her.

“Oh. I don’t like that feeling,” Angel told her matter-of-factly.

“Me neither, sweetie.”

“Will you ever see them again like I will see my mommy and daddy again?”

Tracy wanted to tell Angel that absolutely NOT like that. If Angel’s parents were still alive there was a good chance they had been participants in the mob of zombies that had been attacking the rest stop. Tracy was glad they got out of there when they did. She had been fearful that they might have spotted people that the kids had known.

Tracy was vague but Angel only heard the words she wanted to hear. “Someday sweetie, we will all be reunited with the ones we love.” Angel might have missed the subtleness but it was not lost on Ryan. He knew what Mrs. Talbot was trying to avoid saying but wisely thought better of calling her on it. ‘I guess this is what it means to grow up,’ he thought to himself sourly.

The hours droned on as Tracy drove, deep in her own thoughts. The boys occasionally horsed around in the back seat but it was more of a remembered activity, something they were supposed to do as opposed to wanting to do. They were seeking ways to strive for normalcy in a screw ed up world.

It was Dizz who said something first, although Tracy had seen it a few seconds earlier.

“Is that a car?” Dizz asked, leaning over the front seat.

Tracy’s heartbeat had accelerated. Absolutely no good came from dealing with zombies, and the odds were near to that bad when dealing with humans, post-apocalyptically speaking. And even a lot of times beforehand now that she thought about it.

“Angel, you scoot down under the dashboard. Boys, I want you to sit up and puff yourselves up. You need to look as big as possible.” Angel didn’t argue, she quickly picked up on Tracy’s trepidation. Dizz and Sty were a little slow on the uptake.

“What’s going on?” Sty asked. He was nervous and now he didn’t know why.

“Just do it!” Ryan said, folding his legs under his butt to gain some height.

Tracy wanted to laugh when she looked in the rear view mirror and saw that Ryan was turning varying shades of red as he took in large breaths of air in an attempt to gain bulk. She wanted to tell him to stop before he hurt himself but he was trying and for that she silently thanked him.

The cars were on opposite sides of the highway, hurtling towards each other. Tracy kept her eyes locked forward, not daring to glance over and possibly let them see any signs of weakness.

Dizzy had no such compunction. “Oh my God!” Dizzy said, fear twanging his voice two octaves higher, which immediately had the added effect of de-pubertizing him.

“What?” Tracy asked. She could only picture the worst. Red Neck Number One was alive, jaw-less and seeking revenge. Or it was Eliza herself come to finish them off personally. “Fine!” Tracy steeled herself. “I’ll finish the bitch off myself.” The words flowed out easier than she would have imagined. Now if she could only infuse some belief into her words she’d be all set.

“I just saw…” Dizz started.

“A man with no jaw?” Tracy finished.

“Ooooh gross,” Angel said from under the dashboard. “How does he eat licorice?”

In spite of her fear Tracy still managed a grin at that statement.

“A man with no jaw? No, and I agree with Angie, that is gross,” Dizz said.

“What did you see?” Tracy asked as she saw red brake lights flare to life in her side view mirror.

“I just saw the biggest man I have ever seen in my life!” Dizz said with amazement.

“What color was he?” Tracy asked. Durgan might be under control to not kill Mike, but she didn’t think that extended to the rest of his family or whoever else he might run across.

“What?” Dizz asked. “Oh. He was black.”

“You’re sure, Dizz?” Tracy asked.

“Positive, and the driver was a white girl. So what?” Dizz asked.