Gareth woke to the sound of feeble tapping on the glass of his window. He rolled his head towards the sound and glared at the creature that was doing it. Much of its identifying properties had sloughed off. The scalp and hair were gone, clothes gone, if it had been a woman at one time, only ribs showed now. Time and the elements had neutered it.
He pulled the gum pack out and took one of the last remaining pieces. He would have to find more. It lasted longer than the Altoids, though they did have a stronger flavor. Since he hadn’t eaten in days, he really wasn’t sure if he could still taste the meat or if he was just imagining it. He had his theories, but they were disturbing. It was harder to avoid things that were in your head then it was to avoid reality.
Continuing to ignore the creature, he turned the key and started driving again. The creature quickly vanished behind a curve. It might follow, but there was no way that it would find him since he had this far of a head start. The sun was barely more than first risen, but it was going to be a bright day, no clouds to be seen. A headache had started pounding behind his temples and he knew that he would want sunglasses. He didn’t even have sunglasses anymore. Loosing Terminus had even lost him his sunglasses. Gareth wasn’t sure if he should laugh or cry about that.
He had stopped last night only after sideswiping one of the walkers. He had realized then exactly how tired he was, how difficult it was to concentrate. Pulling to the side and locking the doors, he had quickly fallen asleep. Since all he could do was hope that Rick and his cronies’ weren’t headed in the same direction, he hadn’t worried about it; pragmatic as ever.
Now, as he passed the first sign welcoming him to Tennessee, and him seeing no signs of…well, anyone, he relaxed a little and wished for some aspirin.
Two miles into a different state and hopefully a new life, his stomach grumbled. One piece of gum and two Altoids did not a stomach fill. He began looking for signs of people. Camped in cars, boarded over windows. Things that would help people defend themselves against the dead…
Then he realized that had had started hunting again.
He smacked the steering wheel with the palm of his hand, his face contorted in a self loathing snarl. That was exactly the kind of behavior that had gotten him into trouble before. Gareth had never been a man prone to angry outbursts. He was calm and collected, even when doing horrible, yet necessary things. Now though, the anger at himself had unfurled and was now trying to rip its way out.
The steering wheel blared out when his hand hit it again and again. The horn blaring in random time to the hits. They should have made him feel better, instead they made the anger worse. They made it bloom inside.
Gareth took the next turn sharply, the old bugs wheels leaving the road on one side. It flew a few feet and then bounced back down on the road.
“Stupid.” He screamed out, condemning himself for all his prior actions and subsequent failures.
Another turn in the road had the bug half flying again, it had just landed again when Gareth’s eyes snapped opened wide. He yanked the steering wheel sharply to the left. “Shit.’ Was all that was able to come out.
The bison that were crossing the road moved back a few steps as the car spun off the side of the road, sheering a few small trees from the ground before being abruptly stopped by a larger one.
The bison ignored the drama of the bugs stopping. Gareth lay slumped over the steering wheel.
