After 30 Days

Forty-Five Day 60

Sunlight streamed into the garage as the large door rolled up with an alarmingly loud rattle. So did the zombies.

There had been more of them at the front of the building than we had anticipated. Shawn kicked the first one to reach him back and turned toward the car. Beside me Rex went wild, barking viciously and trying to get through the closed window. From the backseat Marcus yelled at me to go.

Momentarily stunned, I sat with my foot still on the brake. As I watched a zombie cut off Shawn's path to the car. Another zombie, this one still lightning fast, darted straight for the car and clambored his way clumsily onto the hood. The zombie screamed. Marcus was still shouting in the backseat. Rex's barking was making my ears ring.

Through it all, I kept my eyes glued to the man outside of the car who had killed the second zombie, but was now dealing with two more. To my horror, a small group of the creatures was coming into the building, headed straight for him.

Then everything seemed to happen all at once. The tires squealed as I hit the gas and drove straight into the group of zombies. Rex launched himself into my lap, blocking my view as he snarled at a zombie that had tried to get me through my closed window. Marcus lunged forward from the back seat and fumbled with the front passenger door, but I couldn't turn to see what he was doing. I was trying to see past the big dog still in my lap and make sure I'd hit as many zombies as possible. The thud of their bodies as the car connected was reassuring.

I stomped the brakes and the car gave a short squeal again. The zombie that had been clinging to the hood flew off. The passenger side door rattled and I turned my head to see Shawn pulling on the door, but it didn't move. Another zombie stumbled up to him and he abandoned the door to fight it.

The zombie that had taken the ride on the hood of the car was climbing to it's feet. More zombies had made it to the open door and were coming in. There was too much noise in the car and I couldn't think fast enough to figure out what to do. The only thing that I knew for sure was that I couldn't just sit there in the car while Shawn was overrun by zombies just outside. Shoving Rex off of me, I slammed the car into park and jerked on the door handle.

The door didn't open.

I stared at it, dumbounded for a second, and then I realized what had happened. The car doors were locked.

I jabbed the unlock button hard enough to hurt my finger, and was rewarded by the sound of the locks disengaging. The two men in the back seat were both yelling something that I didn't pay any attention to. Shoving Rex out of the way again, I dove across the seat and flung the passenger door open.

"Get in!" I screeched.

Shawn had killed another zombie and was already turning back to the car. The zombie that had taken the fall was up and had it's sights locked on him as it began to move. Diving awkwardly, he landed on top of the dog just as Rex was moving to jump out of the open door, and jerked the door shut. The snarling zombie bounced off of the side of the car and scrabbled at the window.

"Go," he was breathing hard, trying to get himself upright in the cramped seat and disentangle himself from the dog.

I didn't need to be told twice now that he was safe in the car. Throwing it back into gear I drove right over top of another zombie, and squealed out of the car repair shop. A stumbling, swarming mass of the undead was waiting outside. Most of them were decomposed and slow, but there were so many that I was afraid that they would trap the car with their numbers. The little car wasn't exactly built for what we were going to ask of it.

Swerving around another group of zombies, I stomped on the gas and drove as fast as the car could go, away from the town. I didn't even care if we were going in the right direction. I just wanted to get us as far away as possible.

The whine of the car's engine sounded distant and muffled after the seconds of pure chaos that had nearly deafened me. Beside me, Shawn finally got himself seated, Rex crammed into the narrow space between us. Nothing but silence came from the back. My hands were now shaking so hard that it felt like the steering wheel was vibrating.

Speeding, I dodged the last of the zombies and we took off down the road. No one said anything for a few minutes as we put space between us and the pack of zombies that were probably going to try to follow us. The trees flew by. I kept the gas pedal pressed down hard. When I finally got up the nerve to glance sideways to check on Shawn, I found him checking out a set of deep looking scratches across the back of one of his hands.

The car screeched for a third time. No one was wearing seat belts and I felt Marcus slam forward into the back of my seat as I brought us to a rapid stop. Jamming the car into park, I twisted around and grabbed my bag off of the back seat where Marcus had put it, dragging it up front. "Clean that up, now." I thrust my bag at Shawn. My tone of voice was scary, even to my own ears.

He rummaged around in my full backpack and found the first aid supplies, not even trying to argue with me. I put the car back in gear and drove at a more reasonable pace, keeping one eye on what was happening next to me as I drove. When I felt like he wasn't doing as good of a job at taking care of the scratches as he could, I told him to use more antibiotic ointment. He sighed, but did what I said.

There was a lot of zombie gore and blood all over him and I wasnt taking any chances. If I wasn't currently trapped behind the wheel of the car, I would have been taking care of it myself. I didn't care that he was supposed to be immune. Not at all. A distant part of my brain told me that I was probably still in some sort of shock at just how close he had been to being seriously hurt back there. My thoughts spun faster and got darker as I drove.

I was so lost in my own head that it startled me when Sam finally spoke up from the back. "Stop the car. I need out," his voice sounded strangled.

As soon as the car stopped moving, he jumped out and paced a few steps away, scrubbing his hands over his face hard. The rest of us followed him out of the car, watching his actions with worry. Marcus was the last to get out of the car and he propped himself up against the side. The guy was pale and sweating, and looked like he was going to be sick.

I didn't think that the ride had been that rough, but if the reactions of the two guys from the backseat were any indication, it had been.

Abruptly, Sam turned back around to face us and the look of resolve on his face distracted me from my assessment of Marcus.

"That was not ok. I can't believe what just happened."

I agreed with him. I wasn't ok with what had almost happened either, but we needed to keep it together. Trying to placate him, I agreed, "I know what you are saying. That was too close, but we all made it out. We'll be more careful from now on. We're almost to DC now."

"No," he cut me off. "That's not what I'm saying. Didn't you see what he did?" he pointed at Marcus.

Marcus stood up straight from his position slumped over the car, staring hard at Sam, but Sam apparently didn't care.

"The doors, he's the one that locked them. I thought you saw it." He turned to look at Shawn. "He almost got you killed."

The silence was ominous as everyone stared at each other, waiting for someone else to make the first move. Details that had escaped my comprehension in the heat of the moment now came crashing back.

The car doors had been locked. All of them. And Shawn had been trapped outside of the car. A vague impression of Marcus lunging up to reach for the front door surfaced in my mind, and I thought I could hear the echo of a memory of Sam yelling about unlocking the doors, the sound of his voice drowned out by the dog barking in my ear.

I swung around to face Marcus. What Sam had said was true, I knew it. Marcus had tried to keep Shawn out of the car.