Ellie Dixon

The Highway

We'd decided to try for Fort Benning. We'd escaped the mall a couple days ago, and because we needed to prioritise, we had to leave two cars behind. My father used his motorbike, and I went on the back with him, having my arms wrapped around his middle tightly. Sophia went in the car with Carol, Jacob, Carl, Lori and Rick. Sophia had to sit on her mother's lap due to limited space.

Unfortunately, we ran into a car jam. I'm pretty sure there were hundreds of cars, making it nearly impossible to drive through. Dad went as far through as we could to see if we could spot a way through.

My dad had found a way, we got the RV and other two cars to follow us pretty far through... Until a loud noise came from the RV. I turned around and saw that it had blown a fuse or something as it slowed to a stop. Everyone gathered around the front of the RV. "I said, didn't I say it a thousand times. Dead in the water." Dale said.

I went over and stood by Sophia since I hadn't seen her in a few hours. "Problem, Dale?" Shane asked.

"Oh, just the small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of..." Dale trailed off. "Okay, that was dumb."

"If you can't find a radiator hose here." Shane shook his head.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff you could find." Dad said, looking through someone's trunk.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-dog agreed.

"Maybe some water." Carol suggested.

"Or food." I added, holding onto my hungry stomach.

"This is a graveyard." Lori spoke up. "I don't know how I feel about this."

"I don't think they'll mind. I mean, we can ask." I suggested.

"Ellie, watch your attitude." Dad scolded.

"Says the one who gave it to me." I challenged. Dad turned around because I saw a growing smile on his face, but he wasn't supposed to agree with me talking back to adults.

"Come on y'all. Gather what you can, just look around." Shane said.

"Kids, you four stay together. Look out for each other." Rick told me, Sophia, Carl and Jacob. 

We nodded before walking forward. As I was walking away, I glanced at my mum. She was pale, her eyes were bloodshot, and she was shaking slightly. I knew what was happening. No, she wasn't bit, she was going through withdrawal. She finished her new pack of pills the night before. Guess I could say goodbye to nice mum.

I peered into a car and saw a dead body behind the wheel, she'd been shot in the head and there were flies all around her. "Excuse me, ma'am. Do you mind if we take your stuff?" I asked, grabbing a full water bottle that was on the empty seat next to her. "Oh, you don't? That's nice of you." I stood up and saw Sophia shaking her head with a small smile. "What?"

"You ever heard of don't disrespect the dead?" Sophia raised an eyebrow.

"And if she wakes up, she can take it up with me." I nodded.

"You better hope she doesn't wake up." Jacob nudged me. "You'll be the first one they eat, you're the youngest. Easier for them to chew you. Me? I'm gonna live until I'm one hundred and one cause I'm the fastest runner here." Jacob smiled; I noticed him holding the red racing car he got from the mall. 

"Then why do you need a racing car?" I asked.

"Cause its cool." Jacob pushed me into the car. "Unlike your teddy bear."

"Jacob, don't push." Carol said from like ten feet behind us. "Say sorry to Ellie."

"No." Jacob refused, storming off.

"I'll go after him." Carl sighed, walking after his friend.

"Sorry, about Jacob. Are you okay?" Sophia asked, holding her doll to her chest while my grip on Teddy's hand grew slightly tighter. 

"Had worse. Come on, let's see what else we can find."

After a few more minutes I noticed Rick looking panicked. "Kids, get under the cars now." He whisper yelled at us.

Me and Sophia exchanged glances before hiding under the car we were next to. I looked ahead, Jacob was under one car and Carl another. Sophia was closest to the road, the car was on the edge, next to us was a railing and then a forest. I looked to my left and saw Lori and Carol under some truck.

I held Teddy to my chest as I looked back. I saw the others under more vehicles, but that's not what caught my attention. It was the amount of walkers coming towards us. The biggest group I've seen was the ones outside my house back in the old neighbourhood. And this was about double that size. A lot scarier too because now I wasn't locked in my house, nice and safe, well safe from the walkers anyways, my mother was a different story.

As they slowly passed the car, my anxiety grew in my chest. Tears were in Sophia's eyes, fear was written all over her face, so I grabbed her hand, giving her the best reassuring smile, I could muster. She shut her eyes tight and looked to the floor. Carl was staying still; I couldn't see his face, but I knew he was scared. I made eye contact with Jacob. His hand on his red racing car, his entire body was shaking. 

When we thought all the walkers were gone, Sophia went to peer out, but I pulled her back. She looked to me, and I shook my head. What if there were stragglers? I looked to Jacob who held his car tightly. One of his hands went under the car he was holding and that's when we all heard it. The fake, electronic sound of a car's engine. His eyes widened as he tried to shut it off, trying desperately. I signalled for him to throw it, but he shook his head. A walker next to mine and Sophia's car had heard it. Lori's hand was over Carol's mouth as she was crying, scared for her son.

The walker walked towards the car Jacob was under and crouched down. "No." Jacob cried, backing out from the car. The walker followed him under the car.

"Jacob!" Sophia yelled as the walker was trying to grab her twin brother.

I heard growling next to us, Sophia's yell had attracted another one. I quickly moved, pulling Sophia with me. We went under the barrier; the same way Jacob had done. We caught the attention of a couple more walkers. Another one went after Jacob so there was two after him and two more came after me and Sophia so there were three after us. Crying, we made our way down the banking, but Sophia still wasn't very fast.

We fell down another slope when we were running in the forest, a different direction than Jacob. "Ellie." Sophia cried as the walkers came down the slope.

"Run." I ordered; we got up and bolted. Sophia was running faster than she had at the CDC, but I knew it wouldn't be fast enough. I saw a tree we could climb, like we had back at the camp. "Come on." I pushed for her to climb up the tree first and she swiftly complied. I was almost up when a walker grabbed my ankle and attempted to pull me down. "Sophia." I cried.

She grabbed me and pulled me up. The three walkers scraped at the tree, but they couldn't figure out how to climb it. Me and Sophia nestled at the top of the tree. "What are we gonna do?" Sophia asked.

"Catch our breath."

"Then?" She panted.

"That's a very good question."