“You talk to me about ethics, only after you’ve seen your colleagues get torn apart by them. You talk to me about ethics after you watched your co-workers and friends suffer and die and then turn into one of these things. You talk to me about ethics after you watch everything you have literally eaten in front of you!”
The doctor recalled his daughter’s screams.
He looked down at the floor.
“No more questions.”
The reporters yelled for more information.
“You destroy…the brain? Like smash it? There’s hope, Dave! We can kill these things!”
“Doctor’s orders.”, Dave replied, gaining his composure back. “But, you first.”
The sun was rising. The streets were lighting up. The blanket of darkness hid a few more of the undead.
“Dave, we really need to get out of here.”
“I have an idea!” Dave lit up and ran off upstairs.
Jason waited and tried to think. He opened his wallet and looked through his items. It was a habit he formed to offset nervousness.
“$60, a bank card, a sandwich club card, driver’s license, and a picture of Jesus. We’re really going to need your help on this one”, Jason said softly while looking at the picture.
Dave came back with a duffle bag he’d quickly put together.
“Dude, check it out! Remember when I worked at that summer camp a few years back? Check this out!”
Dave opened the bag and emptied the contents out on the couch. A few wooden baseball bats fell out, a hockey stick, some baseballs, and a catcher’s mitt fell out.
“We could totally use this, Jay!”
“Alright, we need to gather some supplies though. Some food and water, you know things like that. The evacuation site is a ways away. Who’s driving?”
Dave picked up a bat and swung it around a little.
“Well, Jay, I don’t have a license, I lost it at this bar one time and..”
“Seriously? Fine, give me the keys.”
Jason picked up a bat. It had a solid and heavy feel. It was red on the upper half and left naturally colored on the bottom half. It read “big stick” near the tip.
“Hey man, look!”, Jason pointed to the wording. “How fitting right?” He laughed.
“Freud would have a field day with you.” Dave replied.
“Dude, shut up. Give me the keys and let’s go.”
They both laughed a little bit. It felt good. Carrying the bats and the baseballs that Dave decided to leave inside of it, they left the house for the last time.
They quietly exited and made their way to Dave’s blue sedan.
“Dude, this is the last time you’ll probably see your house in a long time. We’ll get through this and things will be the same again in no time.”
“I’m ready, Jay.”
Jason started the car. It aroused the attention of the nearby ghouls who limped towards the now speeding off car.
“We need to stock up. We should probably make a few stops.” Jason said.
“Like where?”
“I was thinking…a mall?”
“What?! No!”
“Oh come on man. We could get some cool shit there, stock up on some food…”
Dave’s stomach rumbled a bit
“Oh shit man, I forgot to eat!”
“Me too, so mall it is!”
Jason pushed the gas pedal down and zoomed past the blinking red lights. Dave’s heart sank a little bit each time they passed a crowd of the undead. There were a few corpses picked clean on the road and several blood trails. Severed limbs were not uncommon either.
The car sped off. They had many more miles to go. They rode in a comfortable silence.
Margie
The church became smaller and smaller on the horizon as the truck sped away. It didn’t take a genius to realize how bad the situation had become. The stop lights weren’t working, but the shock of seeing all the carnage kept Margie from showing much surprise whenever Mr. Fontaine dodged a car or walking corpse.
Including her, there were five people in the car. Kara, the young makeup artist, Paul, a young grease monkey, clutching a bloodied wrench, Tommy, Mr. Fontaine’s son, was shivering and covered in blood, and finally, Mr. Fontaine, who was just staring at the road, nothing could break his focus.
“Sorry about your dad, Margie.”
“Thanks, Kara.”, Margie replied.
Being the pastor’s daughter came with a little bit of respect. She knew just about everyone who came into the church and thus, knew just about everyone who was reanimated and killed. Her father had a great reputation around the town, as did Margie.
An awkward silence that seemed like an eternity was interrupted by Mr. Fontaine.
“Any ideas as to where you kids wanna go?”
Silence.
Mr. Fontaine turned on the radio to break the silence.
Static ruled the airwaves. He pressed the “SCAN” button.
Eventually, a news station came up. They made no effort to hide the voices of the scared crew members. The anchorman was just audible enough to understand.
“The president has been taken aboard air force one to an undisclosed location. If you are in an area of much civil unrest, stay at home, do not unlock your doors, barricade your windows, fill your bathtub or any containers with fresh water, keep a radio handy. If you see anyone bleeding or with bite marks, avoid at all cost, they are infected…”
The broadcast continues. It only made the car ride a bit tenser. Margie put her father’s revolver on her lap. It made her feel a little safer.
“Whoa, nice piece, Margie! Didn’t know you had it in ya!”, Paul said.
“Well, it was in my dad’s office. I’ve never shot one of these things before.”
“It can’t be that hard. Just point and shoot. Pow, pow, pow!” Kara said jokingly.
Paul brought up his wrench. “It’s more like, whack, whack, whack, with me, right guys? Right?”
Margie smiled at Paul’s attempt. Kara smacked the back of his head.
“Ew! You’re gross! I’ll let that slide though, Paul”, Kara laughed at him. The ride seemed to be a little less tense afterward.
“Well, I’m glad you kids are feeling better. How are you hanging in there, son?” Mr. Fontaine looked over at Tommy for a second. His silence made everyone a little bit on edge again.
“How do I feel? God has left us. He hates us. He didn’t take us with him because we sinned, dad. We made God angry!” Tommy punched the window in rage. He began to bob his head up and down and muttering words to himself.
Mr. Fontaine shook his head in sadness. He slammed the brakes as hard as he could. Everyone jerked forward and then back. Paul’s wrench hit the floor with a heavy thud.
Margie’s mouth opened and she froze in terror. The scene was terrible.
There, on the highway, were cars stopped in an eternal traffic jam. Some of them were still honking. Many of them were dented and left open.
“Oh my God”, Kara said to herself
“Shit, shit, shit!” Paul was getting nervous. He bent down and grabbed the wrench.
Margie held the gun tight.
Many of the cars were smeared with blood and had broken windows. In some cars, limbs were sticking out of them with some meat still attached to the bone. There were dozens, if not more, walking dead limping around the cars. The stopped traffic provided a near endless feast to the ghouls. The group saw a ghoul smash a car window and force it’s upper body inside. The screams of the couple inside rang in everybody’s ears. They all shook when they heard the scream get louder, almost certain she was being eaten alive.