Mel leaned back, against the now worn bench that had become her bed, rereading her worn copy of Sophie's Choice while her mother droned out directions from the printed MapQuest pages which her father abided by, all the while chugging energy drink after energy drink to stay awake. The bright sun had progressively started to sink behind the tall buildings, resulting in Mel snapping the book shut and sighing at the inconvenience.
Her father turned the vehicle as his wife had recited and quickly slammed on the break, jostling all three of them. Mel pushed her arms in front of her before her head made contact with the small table that sat a foot away. She looked up to see both her parents looking at something in shock and mild fascination. Mel stood up and walked to the two seats, trying to see what had they're attention beyond the windshield. Her eyes widened in horror and dread filled her stomach as she looked on. There sat, about fifty feet away, were people tearing into a collapsed body with desperate hands and teeth.
The headlights shined on the slightly abandoned road, and the sound of the engine must've caught one of the people's attention, because they turned, looking for what the distraction was and started stumbling for the vehicle. The closer they got, the more visible the fresh blood shined and Mel could faintly make out the milky sheen that settled over their irises.
"What the actual hell is that?," Her father muttered. Her mother said nothing, not blinking.
"Dad, put this thing in reverse and get the hell away from that thing," Mel croaked. She had seen many a monster movie in her teenage years, but she never thought she'd see something like it in real life. These were creatures that spun from folklore. Zombies were fictional.
"Should we see if he needs help, Al?," her mother muttered, finding her voice. Mel looked towards her mother, almost scared of how airy her mother's tone was. The man was creeping up fast, almost grasping the headlight.
"Dad, listen to me. Back this thing the hell up and get away from here," Mel hissed, gripping her father's shoulder. He seemed to snap out of his daze and threw the RV into reverse, backing the vehicle up quickly, before putting it back into drive a and speeding off. More of those things were crawling out of dark alleyways as they sped off. Mel held onto the backs of the seats as they went, leaning forward as she grew accustomed to it to grip the volume on the radio and spin it to the right.
A screeching beeping sound emitted out of it, changing to a bored male next.
"This is not a test of the Emergency Broadcast System. Head towards the following emergency centers if you are in the following Counties," The voice started spewing out different names that Mel wasn't familiar with and went back to screeching and repeating the bored statement. Her dad turned it down and sped towards the highway.
"What's going on, that man could've needed our help," Her mother looked between the two. Mel let go of the seats and walked carefully back to bench and sighed annoyed.
"You've seen those horror movies with me, mom. What we just saw is exactly the same thing that happens in those stupid movies," Mel muttered, rubbing her eyes, trying to get the image of the intestines on asphalt out of her head.
"But those movies are fake. The creatures in them are fake," Her mom stated, denial filling her voice, and she turned towards her child. Mel looked up at her and grinned cynically.
"You're speaking my mind now, Cynthia," Mel said, "None of what just happens makes much sense," She finished, looking out the front windshield as her father took the highway exit, which was of course jammed.
"Because everyone and their fucking mother's had the same idea apparently." Mel hissed in her head, silently urging her father to push his way in, to get away from that potential mess. Her father did end up pushing his way in into the virtually standstill traffic, resulting in long, sullen honks. The RV ended up between a Jeep and some model of Wagon and another RV to the side of them. After a few minutes with the traffic actually being standstill, people started parking and turning off engines to conserve gasoline. Mel's father was no exception and rubbed his eyes after taking the keys out of the ignition.
YOU ARE READING
Breathe
Fanfiction"There comes a point where the only thing you have left is to breathe." Mel Jackson loved her life. She had come home from finishing university and was looking forward to some R&R. Her parents had made a joint decision while their only child was awa...
