The Last Plague

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Passenger

I grabbed the gas can and filled the truck as quickly as I could. I told Raymond to get ready to leave soon. Whatever was in the distance was moving towards us, slowly. I heard the familiar moan of a creature from it. I started hearing more moans in the distance. They were all in front of me though. I couldn't see any in front of me, but there was one behind me. I looked back to see its face come into view.

How did we miss that? It wasn't there a second ago, we would have driven right over it. My thoughts began to grow worrisome. I looked in front of us and still couldn't see anything, but the creature behind us was slowly dragging towards us.

"I can't take this anymore! These stupid things are driving me crazy!" A woman's voice yelled from, what sounded like, inside the car. The back of the car opened up and a woman stepped out. "I'm Trina, you can thank me for saving your life later." She pulled out a large gun and blasted at the creature.

"Who are you?" I stuttered out.

"I'm the woman that just saved your life. Get in the car, I'm going to ride on top and be shooting ahead," she said as she started heaving herself on top of the car.

I walked into the car, not knowing what else to do. Was she hiding in there the entire time? That wouldn't be possible, I would have seen her. I was obviously confused with the sudden passenger we had on board. I closed the door in the passenger seat to find Raymond staring at me.

"Where did the gunshot come from?" he asked, not showing any change of pitch in his voice. He didn't even look concerned, let alone worried.

A thump hit the roof, then it was silent. "We have a passenger." I told him, "I'll explain later." I doubted I'd be able to explain anything further than what I told him then.

"Come one, what are we waiting for?" Trina shouted from the top of the car. "Start driving Raymond, I'll explain later," she shouted as she leaned her head into the window. "Come on, you need to gun it if you want to get through the zombies in front of us," she said, pulling her head back out of the window.

A grin grew on Raymond's face. He started racing down the dark halls, I rolled up my window. His suit still looked crisp and I felt a slight hint of humor. We were driving down a dark hall, someone on top of the car with a gun, and we were driving toward creatures while wearing suits; I found everything about it humorous.

I started to see some faint outlines of creatures. They came into view quickly and gunshots started to go off. I could hear Trina screaming unintelligible words. The gunshots continued as the truck started to get bumpy. Everything around us shook and made me bounce in my seat, but we didn't stop. The gunshots continued at a rapid pace. It was then I realized the gun she had was automatic; it reloaded on its own. The gunshots continued at an uncountable rate as the slime dispersed and splattered around the truck.

We continued driving and I was seeing fewer and fewer creatures. The collection of them was dispersing and we had started to slow down. I was holding my breath in fear when we were driving through the creatures. When we had finally gotten out of their group I was able to breathe easier. I continued hearing an occasional gunshot from above me, but they had died down. I continued wondering who was on top of the truck; who Trina was.

"Alright, we can slow down. I don't see any more zombies. Let's stop a second," Trina shouted from above. Her gunshots had stopped at that point.

She jumped down from the top of the truck and that's when I finally looked at her. She wore jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. She had long, dark brown hair stretched to her chest. She seemed tired and she was drenched in sweat.

"Okay, you're probably wondering where I came from, right?" she asked. Her question was seemingly stupid for the circumstances.

Obviously, we want to know, I thought to myself. Then Raymond completely shocked me with what he said next.

"Not at all," Raymond told her from the driver's seat.

I was slightly annoyed, and I wanted to know. "Yeah, I do want to know," I told her, slightly eyeing Raymond to show I was annoyed.

"I was just hiding under all those gas cans," she stated simply.

"I had gotten gas from back there, I would have surely seen you," I told her, stating the fact.

"You weren't looking for anyone back there, or expecting someone to be back there, right?" Trina asked me, seeming like she wanted to outsmart me.

"Yes," I mumbled, accepting defeat in the argument.

"So, do you mind if I hop in?" she asked, already getting into the car. "Wait a minute," another gunshot went off. "Got it," she said as she hopped into the car.

We drove about an hour in silence; no one seemed to have anything to say.

"So, where are we going?" Trina asked, finally breaking the silence.

"To the PS," Raymond stated, still droning on.

"Wait, why would we go to the PS? They have been our enemies for years. How do you know they'll even let us in?" Trina asked, sounding slightly annoyed, yet awe filled her voice.

"I think they will let any survivors in," Raymond told her, but I doubted it.

Trina mumbled something under her breath, but I couldn't hear it. We continued driving through the dark silence for several hours. I switched driving with Raymond after he said he wanted to take a nap. He moved to the back and Trina moved to the front. He laid down there and slept. I didn't know how he slept with an almost complete stranger driving; I know I wouldn't have. The fact he was sleeping impressed me. I was still worried about creatures coming out and trying to kill us. I was on full alert while I was driving.

Raymond's soft breathing calmed me. My muscles started to loosen up with the sound of him being human. I found it strange that Raymond talked robotic and monotonous, but he breathed like a human.

After a few more hours Raymond woke up. He asked if he could drive and I took my turn in the back seat. We had run out of gas several times and still had a plentiful resource of gas in the back. Everything was quiet except for the tires crunching against the hard floor. A silence lingered through the car ride.

I started to feel tired. My eyelids drooped over my eyes, I fell asleep.

I awoke to several bumps in the road. Raymond had rolled down his window and seemed worried; Trina was looking out her window too, also worried. I caught a rotten stench coming from outside. It fully woke me up immediately.

"What is it?" I asked, my voice shaking from the constant bumps.

"It looks like there was a war down here," Trina said, she seemed terrified.

I sat in there unsure of what to do. I switched spots with Trina who seemed terrified and disgusted. I looked out of the window after rolling it down. I saw the floor and was immediately disgusted. Bodies littered the floor, bleeding, bruised, torn clothing. They all had guns strapped to their sides, some even had knives still clutching to their fists. I looked like a war had gone down here.

"What's that?" Raymond's voice trailed off. He stopped driving.

"What do you see?" I whispered, catching the quietness he used in his droning voice.

"I think it's a fire." He whispered back, pointing in front of him.

Raymond turned off the car and the lights. I squinted forward and saw a small orange and yellow glow; it looked like a campfire. The windows were down and I continued smelling the rot. I started to hear voices though too. They were faint, but they were there.

A man finally yelled from the distance, "Who's out there?"