The Immune

chapter 3 - Ash

The cabin was seemingly growing smaller and smaller. We had been driving for several hours now, and there was no sign that we were any closer to our destination. The six or so people were packed tightly onto the two benches, sitting shoulder to shoulder. The road had started a steep incline and the path was growing increasingly twisty. The gravel under the tires shifted every now and then, making the truck lurch and lilt from side to side. My stomach was heaving.

My hands clenched onto the seat below me, gripping on for dear life. I imagined we would lurch off the side of a cliff, the windy road too much for the driver. The driver wouldn't do that. He didn't intend to kill. Just cause extreme nausea and possible vomiting.

A sharp turn sent my hand launching to cover my mouth. Any second now I was going to upchuck all over these people. There would be orange chunks on these soldiers suits if that driver didn't slow the heck down.

As if in response the driver skidded around another sharp turn, making my head slam back into the wall behind me.

Even the soldiers were feeling it, their low grunts and grumbles showed their displeasure.

This really could not get any worse. As soon as I thought it I knew I had jinxed myself. I was always jinxing myself. Come on, fate? Destiny? Do you really want me to die from being slammed into a cliff face. Please.

A sudden thud against the side of the van made me nearly cry out. The sound stopped though, making my fears about a certain cliff face disappear. A distant moan was heard.

Zombies.

I'm done. Great one destiny. You'll kill me by slamming me into a cliff then have zombies come along and rip apart my barely cool flesh.

One of the soldiers stood up abruptly, his body rigid yet shaking as he tried to find purchase in the twisting van.

He ripped his mask off with one hand revealing a dirty brown mop of hair, his old face showed the anxiety and stress his mask had hidden. He slid the windows open revealing the front cab of the truck. I was too far away from them to see out, but I was close enough to hear. The sound of zombie moans had been muted in the cabin, but now the openness of the driver compartment revealed the mass of zombies just outside these steel walls.

"How many?" his gruff yet strong voice asked

"At least a hundred"

"How did they get here so fast. Dammit. Can you get through them?"

"I'm trying"

I knew I had jinxed it.

The soldier opposite her removed his mask. The boy she thought he was revealed him to be actually almost the same age as her if not older. If in any other situation she would have found him attractive. Why do all the boys I meet now a days got to be evil soldiers or raging cannibals.

A few of the other soldiers removed their masks, as though resigned to their situation as out of their control. I had wanted to look like mean, ugly people. But instead they looked like regular human people.

Another series of thuds hit the van. It was only going to get worse till it got better. we must be going through a herd. That initial figure of a hundred might be way off, herds are spread out l, meandering groups of zombies. Together these groups can take down established human settlements just by sheer force.

Our only chance was if this was a small group.

One by one the thuds increased. The drivers driving was growing more erratic. He was swerving and accelerating, trying desperately. The car started to tilt, and this time, it didn't correct itself. The entire car seemed to take a shuddering breath, before it slammed sharply in to ground.