Dakota's Suite

Road Trip

Hannah had started making some pretty decent distance down the road, far enough that I couldn't see the house anymore. So far, these people weren't able to get close enough for me to start shooting. In the meantime of the ride, I had shoved my hair in a messy ponytail due to the wind blowing it all across my face. As we passed down our neighborhood, I saw several cars along old suburban houses that had open doors and strewn clothes on the ground. Papers were everywhere, mostly newspapers. Some  were decked with dark stains, presumably coagulated blood.

It was still dark out, so I could only see so much of what really happened out here.

There were still those things roaming about in the street. We had several who didn't give up on following the truck while others had joined in on the chase. They would stagger forward, sway their stiff arms, drag their feet across the street as if this was their first time walking for years. 

It all begs the question, what happened in this neighborhood? I thought the military was running a tight ship given the quarantine and the curfew that was set shortly after. Some people in our area had managed to evacuate long before the rules were heavily set in place...so why were there this many?

Suddenly, the truck comes to an abrupt halt. The back of my head met with the window in the process as well. My eyes widened as I noticed the people who had been following us down the block had started to catch up with the truck bed. I immediately tightened my grip on the gun. I heard Hannah's muffled shriek from within the car, and I feel myself being surged forward. The weirdos had slumped over the ridge of the trunk as collateral damage. I wasted no time and started using the heel of my shoe to kick them in the head and off of the truck. None of us grabbed the extra ammunition that was tucked away in Daphne's bedroom before we had left, so whatever I had in this magazine needed to be used wisely.

Hannah swerved us to the nearest driveway in order to change direction, and I finally saw why she had done so. The fence that was set up by the military to section our neighborhoods had been barreled to the ground, with more of these things sauntering atop of it. The truck jolted upwards several times, and moments later, I saw several bodies on the street with their skulls matted against the cement, their flesh strewn into pieces, tracked along with the fresh red tire marks. Hannah must've had to run more of them over to get away. She picks up speed, and I no longer have to worry about keeping them off of the back due to their inability to catch up. I heard loud thuds from the front. Fortunately, it didn't slow Hannah down.

The suburbs have now become a blur. I had no clue where Hannah was taking us, or if the other gates along this area had been overrun, I decided that we'll cross that bridge once we get to it.

Our threats were finally at an arms-length distance to do anything significant to the truck, though Hannah still had to hit and run over the ones that pursued the front of the truck. The wind still sifted through my hair as I rested my head against the back part of the window.

What happens now?

-

Three hours had passed. Within those three hours, we had managed to pass through the neighborhoods and out of the gated community. Of course, it wasn't at all easy, as Hannah still had to run over several more of them just to get through the gate, which had already been broken. The sunrise had slowly approached us as we continued to ride down a wide open path. We passed by several vacant cars along the side of the road, clothes, papers, wallets had been seen scattered along the grass and the ditch. Fortunately, there weren't many of those flesh-eating people lingering about the road, so it made driving for Hannah pretty easy...for now.

I looked over to my left, and there were dozens of oak and magnolia trees that had been highlighted by the orange and purple hue from the sunrise. It was strange how things are still going about as normal, despite people tearing one another apart and eating them.

All that aside, we eventually would need to stop, gas isn't unlimited, and eventually, we'll need to settle down and get some rest in order to stay alert. I myself have yet to know about any close evacuation camps we could reach without obtaining gas, and if the military was still monitoring the refuge camps, we'd definitely be under the question.

During the pandemic, a few evacuation camps were set out in our area, the ones that were set up by the military and the ones set up by civilians (without the knowledge of the government). I remember this as Hannah had told me that we were only allowed access to the evacuation camps  the moment the military had checked everyone within the household for signs of fever. Apparently, some families, for some reason, couldn't handle waiting that long, so they fled to the evacuation camps set up by other civilians. This was against the protocols that the military set, so there was a curfew added to the set of rules, along with the military setting gates and making daily visits along the neighborhood.

I'm sure that there's more people that have been in the same position as us, but we knew too little about the camps to just go wandering aimlessly, hoping that there's a campfire set somewhere.

Suddenly, the truck jolted upward once more. I could feel the vehicle vibrate and shift to one side as loud scraping sounds had filled my ears. I immediately clenched my teeth and avoided the urge to swear every word in the book.

Of all the things that can happen, we get a flat fucking tire.