If Tomorrow Never Comes

Chapter 22

"Are you sure we're not there yet?" Baylor asked for about the tenth time during our hour long journey. It was almost as if we couldn't escape the woods, like we are just driving in a big circle. "Try to look out for signs that say town ahead or something . I'd assume we should be coming up on it any time now," I said not fully believing my own words.

   Zombies littered the streets and not one member of the living could be spotted. I began to grow worried as the amount of zombies we saw increased as we go closer to the town we were looking for. Axel had advised us not to stop but we're severely low on gas. "Why don't we pull over, and try to nab one of these cars," Baylor said as if reading my mind about our gas predicament. "There's too many of them we need to find a secluded place so we can transfer everything into the next vehicle," I said knowing that would be the safest solution. "Exora you do realize we're running on empty right?" She said pointing out the obvious. "I realize that Baylor, but if I stop now we have exactly a 5 second window to get everyone and everything over to the next car before being overran by zombies," I said argued nearly shaking in anxiety and fear. "Maybe we shouldn't have taken over for the boys," I sighed as I knew I had taken on the entire responsibility to save all of our lives by getting us to the destination safely. "I have an idea," Baylor said after a few minutes of silence. "Waking the boys?" I suggested to which she shook her head no. "I'll jump out fast, get a car, and follow you to somewhere safe so we can do the transfer," she said confidently. "Uh no, definitely not," I said as I drove between a mass of what must've been about 50 zombies reaching out to touch the car. "Why not?" She asked. "That's a suicide mission Baylor. By the time you break into one of these cars, hot wire it, and get going you'll be dead and buried. And that's assuming the car even has gas." I told her hoping she saw the flaws in her plan. "But if I could just-" I interrupted her. "Baylor no, I'm not letting you risk your life like that," I said in a stern tone. She grumbled under her breath while I tried to think of an alternative plan. "Let's just take a deep breath and-" suddenly I was interrupted by the loud cracking of thunder in the cloudy sky. "Things are about to get much worse," I said quietly as rain began to harshly fall from above.

   With the gas light on and a heap of zombies surrounding the nearby area I pushed on into the deep dark mass of trees lining the winding road up a mountain that I hoped would provide some kind of safety within. I looked in the review mirror at the van that housed the three males of the group. I swallowed hard at the thought of putting their sleeping bodies in danger while they trusted me to get them to safety. "Ex you really need to pull over," Baylor said as the engine began to sputter and halt. "We are literally surrounded Baylor," I said panic stricken by the amount of these freaks nearby. "Okay we really need to wake the boys," I said as I gripped the steering wheel tightly willing it not to stop on me now. "And how do you expect to do that?" Baylor said as she looked behind us at the dark blue van. "I'm sure you can figure it out," I said, trying to weave my way through the dozens of reanimated corpses that lined the roads. "We're literally plunging ourselves further into a mess," Baylor said. "Well thank you captain obvious, but it's just a tad too late to turn back now," I said in annoyance. "We need to wake them up somehow without drawing any more attention to us. They need to be ready to jump out and run," I told Baylor to which she nodded jumping up to kneel on her seat as she rolled down the window. "What are you doing?" I asked in alarm as she stuck her upper body out the widow and began to stand . "Watch and learn baby cakes," she said as she pushed her herself out of the window and held onto the moving truck before swinging herself into the tailgate. "Oh my God Baylor! Get back in the car now!" I yelled as she almost lost her balance. "I'm fine!" She yelled back. I noticed the truck begin to slow down as Baylor began to slam her firsts on the hood of the van. This girl sure has a way of putting her life on the line far to easily. Suddenly I noticed Axel poke his head out of the drivers side window from my review mirror. "Get ready to jump out we're gonna need to run!" Baylor yelled over the harsh rain. "What?!" Landon exclaimed as he poked his head out the passages side window. "Get ready to run!!!!" As if on perfect yet the worst possible time the truck came to an abrupt stop. My eyes darted to my surroundings to see that getting out of here is truly going to be a miracle. The door beside me was suddenly ripped open harshly and two arms harshly snatched me from my seat.

   I screamed in fright only to see it was Axel surprisingly. "Get on my back!" Axel yelled over the rain. I wasted no time in doing what he said. "Where's the baby?" I asked in alarm. "Baylor has him," Axel said as he adjusted me on his back before taking his axe into his hands. Over and over he saves my life yet I can't help but wonder why. Why not just leave us if we're such a nuisance? Must be a marine thing. Baylor ran up to us with Asher cradled to her chest with Landon trailing her with our supply bags in his arms. "Stay on the road the tree line is full of them," Axel said before breaking out into a fast paced jog as I bounced up and down on his strong back. I must be slowing him down significantly. In this moment I feel so useless. Baylor and Landon ran beside us as we aimlessly attempted to escape this mess. All of us were soaking wet as the rain began to fall harsher as time went on and the group began to run out of stamina. Zombies began exiting the tree line by the dozens following in on the pursuit of our group. I began to panic as they grew closer and closer to us outnumbering us by the hundreds. I began to look around for any possible escape but the rain blurred and obscured my vision of the forest. I was about to turn back around to face forward when my eyes began to play tricks on me as a banana yellow mass came into view surging down the round directly at us. "It can't be," I whispered to myself as I tried to make out what exactly it was. Suddenly it finally came into view. A gigantic yellow school bus was rushing down the road heading directly for us.