Zombie Attack! Rise of the Horde (31 page)

Felicity rode in the back with Benji who looked very ill. He
was sweating out the toxins of whatever they had given him. Even though it was
warm in the car, he violently shivered every few seconds from head to toe.

“It's okay now,” Felicity cooed. “You are safe. Everything
is going to be okay.”

I pulled off the dirt road and back onto the highway out of
town. I slammed my foot down to the floor and the car rapidly accelerated.
Felicity didn't say a thing. If anyone decided to jump out in front of our car
now, they were getting run over. One way or another I was getting the hell out
of this town for good.

The drive back to the 101 Freeway seemed far bumpier than
the ride in. I could see a cloud of black smoke rising up off in the distance
in the direction we were heading and I hoped it wouldn't be something that was
gonna slow us down. I wanted to get to the base as soon as I could and have
Benji looked at by medics. He seemed to be coming around some as we drove on,
but I couldn't be sure how much they'd given him or how it was affecting his
circulation. Felicity cradled his head in her lap and silently cried. I wasn't
about to try to comfort her after what had just happened. What could I say? I
just felt lucky to have escaped with my friends and my life. That unexpected
confession and kiss we shared up on the ridge was still floating around the
edge of my consciousness, but it was slightly tainted now by everything else
that had happened.

Benji let out a moan and writhed around. Felicity looked up
at me with concern.

“Hang in there, buddy,” I said. “We’ll be there soon.”

We connected onto the 101 and headed south without incident.
As we drove through the remains of Ventura I couldn't help but think how much
it looked like a Hollywood movie set for the end of the world, like the kind
you might see on a back lot tour of Universal Studios—only there were
real dead bodies everywhere. Smashed cars littered the road. There were so
many, I had to slow down to maneuver through them. At one point I had to
literally push a car out of the way with my front bumper. Benji sat up.

“What's happening?” He looked groggy, but otherwise okay.

“We're passing through what's left of Ventura,” I said.
“Just pushing some scrap metal out of the road to get through. How you
feeling?”

“My head hurts,” he moaned. “And I am really thirsty.”

“That sounds about right,” I said. “We've got plenty of
water. Go ahead and crack open a bottle.”

Felicity was already on it. She reached back behind the seat
and brought out a couple of water bottles, unscrewing the lid of one and
handing it to him. Benji gulped it down as fast as he could and moved on to a
second bottle.

“What's the last thing you remember?” Felicity asked.

“I'm not sure,” he mumbled. “It was all like a dream.”

“Try to think,” I urged him on. “Did they give you
something?”

“That's just it,” he said. “I don't remember taking
anything. One minute I was watching you drive off and the next thing I knew
everyone was gathering around Bryan and me and crying and praying. I started to
feel kinda funny, like my head wasn't really attached to my body. My heart felt
full of love, like it could burst out of my chest, you know? For a moment I
thought maybe I had caught the holy spirit they are always talking about.”

“They must have slipped it to you before we left,” I butted
in.

“Go on,” Felicity cooed. “What happened then?”

“I can only remember parts,” he said. “I was in a big white
room. They kept giving me some kind of sour grape juice to drink while I was
changing into these.” He gestured to his homemade sacrificial outfit.

“How much did you drink, buddy?” I needed to know he wasn't
going to fall over and die on us. Even though he was talking, he still looked
pretty sick.

“Not much,” he said. “It tasted funny. They kept telling me
to drink but I'd only take small sips.”

“What else did they tell you?”

“They said I was going to a place where there was no more
pain or suffering. I remember that because they said my family would be waiting
for me there. One of the girls was singing some hymn and crying, but it didn't
seem weird. Her tears were glistening on her face like she was an angel. That's
the last thing I remember, other than waking up here. What happened?”

“They were going to kill you,” Felicity said. “They wanted
to sacrifice you to the zombies for some religious ceremony. They were trying
to get us out of the way so we wouldn't interfere.”

That seemed to sober him up a bit. He sat up and stared at
her.

“What happened? How did I escape?”

“She saved your life,” I said. “Felicity offered to take
your place. She was ready to die for you, but in the end they settled for one
of their own instead.”

Benji turned with shock in his face and gaped at Felicity.

“Why?”

“Because,” she said. “We're family now. I couldn't let them
hurt my little brother.”

“I am really glad we met you,” he said.

“Me too, kiddo,” she replied.

She kissed him on the forehead again. Benji looked past me
out the front windshield. He pointed off in the distance.

“What is that?”

“I don't know,” I said. “Looks like some kind of fire.”

We came around the corner and the Pacific Ocean burst into
view. The Ventura pier was completely on fire. I didn't even know how that was
possible. It was eerily beautiful in a post-apocalyptic way. We marveled at it
in silent wonder. Just past the pier we ran into a full flock of zombies
ambling across the freeway in search of food. They looked like a herd of cows
that had wandered from a field to block traffic, but in this case they most
likely wandered onto the interstate to find and eat drivers in stalled cars.

“Lock the doors,” I yelled.

“They are locked,” Felicity hollered back.

“Good,” I calmed down. “Then buckle up and hold on. We may
have to hit a few to get past.”

“Be careful,” she cautioned.

I didn't want to slow down but I knew from firsthand
experience that speeding up could be disastrous. The zombies would not get out
of the way. We were going to have to hit them to get through. The last thing we
needed was to be stalled out in a zombie horde with no way to escape.

“What's the plan here?” Felicity asked.

“Drive straight through,” I said nudging the car forward.
Instantly they were on us. The zombies surrounded all sides of the car and
began beating their fists against the windows. Either this batch of the dead
were smarter than the rest or they were starting to learn to work together. The
car rocked back and forth and Benji began to freak out.

“I don't want to die!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.

“We're not going to die out here,” I said, giving the car
some gas and running down a couple of flesh hungry monsters in the process.
“Just relax.”

The words were barely out of my mouth when a big man in a
tattered blue Mammoth Mountain hoodie punched through the window and grabbed
Benji by the arm. We all screamed at the same time. There was shattered glass
all over the backseat. I tried to turn around and hit the man but my seat belt
kept me locked in place.

Now that would be an ironic way to die
, I thought.
Trapped
in a car by a seat belt. I thought these things were supposed to save lives.

Felicity began beating the man in the head as he tried to
pull his weight up and into the car to get a bite of either of them. I hit the
seat belt release and swung around, punching the man square on the top of the
head and driving him out of the car.

“Get us the hell out of here!” Felicity screamed.

I slid back down in the driver's seat and hit the gas. We
accelerated hard and ran over several zombies in a row. They made loud thumping
sounds as their upper torsos slammed into the hood, in one case denting it. I
could feel the tires going over the ones we'd hit, like large and gruesome
speed bumps. Up ahead to the left there was a break in the horde. I turned the
wheel and floored it that way. A woman's arm hit the side of the windshield,
causing it to crack into a brilliant spider web of broken glass. We were free
again. The road ahead was not obstructed. I looked in the rear view mirror,
expecting to see a line of carnage we'd cut across the horde. Instead they had
just reformed and began slowly lumbering after us.

“Is everyone okay?” I asked. “Anyone bit or injured?”

“We're fine,” Felicity said with a shaky voice. “That was
close.”

“What about you Benji?”

“I'm fine,” he said. “He grabbed me but he didn't get a
chance to bite me. Man, he smelled horrible. I can still smell it.”

“Good,” I said. “I'm glad we're all in one piece.”

“That was rough,” Felicity admitted.

“You look like you sobered up a bit,” I said to Benji.

“Yeah,” he replied. “I'm just hungry now.”

“Don't worry,” I encouraged him. “It looks like we’re almost
in Oxnard now. We'll stop up here in a bit and make some of that space-age grub
that we brought with us from Jackson's place. I'm personally looking forward to
trying some exotic cuisine.”

“So close to the base?” Felicity seemed shocked by my offer.

“They'll take everything once we get there,” Benji
explained. “At Vandenberg the only thing they left me were my comics.”

“That's right,” I said in my best old timers panhandler
impression I could muster. “And I've been dreaming about them there fancy
pancakes since yesterday.”

Felicity and Benji's laughter was cut short by the sound of
several hard thuds hitting the side of the car.

“What the hell was that?” Felicity managed to get the
question out just as the answer came. Several men dressed like rogue warriors
from a Mad Max movie came running out onto the highway pointing weapons at us
and firing. They hit the side of the car again. The air was filled with the
sound of metal pinging on metal and then the passenger side window shattered
and sprayed me with glass. I shook my head to free the loose shards from my
hair.

“Get down!” I hollered.

A man with a bright pink Mohawk in dusty outdated military
gear ran out in front of the car. In his hands he carried a bow and arrow. He
raised them up and took aim directly at me. There was no time to swerve and I
worried I might flip the car. I slid down in my seat and punched the gas pedal
hard. I could hear the man's legs crack as the front of the Lexus slammed into
him. He screamed in agony and flew over the top of the car. I didn't stop.
Steam poured up from the radiator of the car. The temperature gauge began to
rise. The check engine light went on. Worst of all, the fuel gauge began to
fall. I didn't know if we were really leaking gas or if we'd just damaged the
sensor in some way. Either way, it looked like we were going to have to abandon
the car sooner than I thought.

“Damn,” I yelled. “We're not gonna make it. We were so
close!” I punched the steering wheel in anger.

“Who are those people?” Felicity asked.

“I don't know,” I said feeling the panic rise up in me. “But
I am guessing they’re not friendly.”

“What are we gonna do?” Benji asked.

“I've got to get us off the freeway. We're leaking fuel and
we need to find cover in case they track us.”

“Won't the zombie horde take them out?” Felicity asked.

“We can't count on that,” I said, “but I sure hope so.”

I saw a place in the road where it came level with the city
streets and jumped the barrier, popping the back left tire in the process.

“Hold on,” I screamed as the car shot like a bullet over the
succulent covered divider and onto the asphalt. Sparks flew out from the back
of the Lexus like Fourth of July fireworks as the rim hit the ground.

“I thought you said we were leaking gas,” Felicity shouted
over the sound of rushing wind coming through the smashed windows.

“I'm pretty sure we are,” I said, doing my best to keep the
car under control as I rammed up and over another curb and into a mall parking
lot.

“Oh my God,” Felicity wailed.

“What?”

“The car is on fire!” I looked in the rear view mirror but
couldn't see it. My first thought was that we were going to explode, like when
a car is hit in the movies. I slammed on the brakes and the car skid to a stop,
wrapping around the concrete base of a light fixture near the entrance to
Macy's. I turned around to find Felicity and Benji huddled together in the
back, waiting for the explosion.

“Don't just sit there,” I shouted. “Get out of the car now!”

They yanked open the door on the side that wasn't smashed
into a pole and scurried out. I threw my door open, grabbed my katana, and
bolted. My head hurt. I was feeling slightly disoriented and dizzy. I felt
something warm and sticky running down my face. I reached up and discovered it
stung when I touched the top of my head. I stared at my hand and saw that it
was covered with blood.

You must have smashed your head into the windshield in
the accident
, I thought.
It's not going to kill you but whoever those
people are might. Plus there could be zombies out here. You've got to stay calm
and find cover. Whatever you do, you have to stay awake and not panic.

My little motivational pep talk was working. I motioned for
Felicity and Benji to join me.

Felicity held her hands over her mouth when she saw me.

“Are you okay?”

“I'm fine,” I lied. “It's just a scratch. We've got to keep
moving.”

“What about the car?” Benji asked. “All our supplies are in
there.”

“The car is done,” I said. “It's just a matter of minutes
before it goes up in flames, leading those people to us and probably another
horde of zombies as well.”

“What are we supposed to do?” Felicity asked. “We can't just
go on foot.”