The Burden Of Tomorrow

Chapter 8. Journey To Murphy

"I think we need a badass song to play since we're about to pull off some badass shit." I said to Heather
I pulled out my phone and put on Wild Touch by Reckless Love and turned it up as loud as possible.
"OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SONG!" Heather shouted.
We were driving down the highway, just absolutely jamming out to one of the most badass songs ever made. As we were driving we past a sign reading "Welcome to North Carolina"
"We're getting close." I said into the mic on the radio.
"Babe, I have to pee." Heather said, "Is there anywhere we can stop?"
"There's a welcome center when you enter every state that has food and restrooms, we'll stop there." I responded
I picked up thr mic again, "We're making a quick detour to the North Carolina welcome center, Heather needs the bathroom."
Tyler's voive came through the radio, "Copy that, my legs are getting a bit cramped and I could go for a stretch."
We soon came across a sign, "Welcome center, exit 100"
"We're almost there honey, were passing exit 98 now." I said to Heather.
We drove another 2 miles down the highway until we reached exit 100 and we got off the highway. We pulled into the parking lot of a nice looking builing that had a billboard outside, "Welcome to North Carolina".
I parked the truck and Tyler's truck pulled up next to us shortly after. I reached back behind the seat and grabbed my shotgun and we stepped out of the truck.
"Here." I said as I tossed a rifle to Jason.
We made our way towards the entrance, guns at the ready. I slowly opened the door, mouthing the words, "Me, Heather and Jason will take the left side."
I opened the door the rest of the way and we went in. It was pitch black inside, I flicked on the flashlight that was tied to my jacket and saw the vending machines had been broken into and all the food had been stolen. Tyler and Tiffany branched off and went to the right side of the building while we took the left side. We made our way towards the bathroom, the door was open. "Wait out here." I said
I walked in with my gun ready, finger on the trigger ready to fire any second.
One of the stall doors burst open and a zombie came running towards me. I fired the shotgun as fast as I could and got the zombie in the chest, and it fell backwards. It was starting to get up as I walked over to it and fired another shell into it's skull.
I put my gloves on and grabbed the zombies ankles and dragged it out of the bathroom. "You can go to the bathroom. It's clear." I said to heather
I turned to face Jason. "Give me a hand with this thing." I said to him and handed him a pair of gloves.
He slipped his gloves on and grabbed it's wrists and we carried it outside. I pulled a lighter out of my pocket and lit what was left of the zombies shirt.
"Why are we burning the bodies?" Jason questioned.
"These fuckers seem to evolve everyday, I wouldnt be surprised if they manage to come back again tomorrow so we need to get rid of the bodies completely as a safty precaution." I replied.
Tyler and Tiffany came outside to meet us.
"Place is clean." Tyler said.
"Good. Heather should be coming out soon." I said while grabbing a beer. "You guys want one?"
"Sure, I'll take one." Jason said.
"Yeah." Tyler replied.
"I want one." Tiffany chipped in.
Heather walked out. "Did you get my drinks?"
"Of course I did babe." I said while digging for a white claw. I finally found them and handed her one.
We sat there in the parking lot for about 5 minutes, drinking a beer together, just enjoying the little things.
"We don't have much time to waste, lets hit the road." I broke the silence.
"Lets do it." Tyler added.
We climbed back in our trucks and started them up.
"Lets go. We have places to be and very little time to get things done." I said into the radio.
I slammed the truck into 1st gear and we took off, speeding out of the parking lot back onto the highway.
Heather picked up the map and looked at it. "Were still about 350 miles away from Charlotte, and at this rate we'll be there in about 9 hours, which would put us there at about 4 in the morning."
"Ok. lets contact them and find out what we want to do." I said as I picked up the mic. "What's the plan for tonight? We looked at the map, and we have about 350 miles to go and we'll get there around 4 in the morning."
"You're the only one that knows how to drive stick so we can't just switch and have someone else drive and keep going all night." Tiffany continued on, "I don't think we have much of a choice other then to drive as long as we can and then stop somewhere to rest."
Tyler's voice now coming through the radio, "Yeah, there's not really anything else we can do, it's risky as fuck but there's literally no other choice unless you think you can drive all night long."
I picked the mic up again. "We dont have all night to waste, we're already running real short on time. I have to drive. We'll just stop at a gas station or something and get a fuck ton of redbull."
"Good news, I actually packed 12 cans of redbull" Heather continued on, "I know you like the peach flavor so I picked a 12 pack up on my way home from work the day before we left."
I leaned over and gave her a kiss, "I love you, you're the best."
"I love you too." She replied.
We continued driving down the highway as night began to set in. I flicked the headlights on.
We had been driving for another 3 hours. I picked up the mic, "I need to stretch my legs, we gotta stop somewhere."
Tyler's voice came through the radio, " Yeah we do to. There's a exit ramp coming up, I saw the sign for it, we can stop somewhere, eat real quick, stretch and then get back on the road."
"Copy that." I replied as I turned onto the exit and we arrived at a Intersection.There was a parking lot for Home Depot across the street from us that we pulled into. There were cars flipped over, broken glass everywhere, and a few dead human beings. We parked on the very edge of the parking lot away from all the chaos. Everyone got out of the trucks and stretched their legs.
"Hey guys, I'll be right back. I'm gonna just go behind the building and take a bathroom break." Jason said. He walked to the back of the building
I opened the cover on the bed of the truck and began digging through the tote of food, "We have hot dogs, white rice, tuna. What do you guys want?"
"Probably the hot dogs, we can grill them without water. We need to save our water until we get to our destination and can make a water filter." Heather said.
Everyone nodded in agreement, so I pulled the hot dogs out of the tote and set up the portable camping stove.
I began grilling the hot dogs relying on light from a flashlight. Several minutes passed and the hot dogs were cooked. I passed them around to everyone. "We dont have hot dog buns but at least we have food to eat."
"Hey it's been like 15 minutes and Jason never came back." Tyler said.
"Are you going to be alright here if we run to the back real quick and find Jason?" I asked Heather and Tiffany.
"Yeah, I think we'll be good." Tiffany said.
Heather nodded while taking a bite of her hot dog.
I walked to the driver side door of the truck and reached in through the open window and grabbed my shotgun and handed Tyler a rifle. "Lets go find out what happened to numb nuts." I said through a sigh.
We started walking towards the back of the building guided by Tyler's flashlight. We reached the back of the building and turned around the corner and we both stopped dead in our tracks. We found Jason on the ground with a bite taken out of his neck. I nudged him with the barrel of my gun, and he didn't move.
"Well fuck, there goes our hope of having enough fire power to survive. Fuck... FUCK." Tyler said in anger
Suddenly Jason jumped up and was staring us in the eyes as if he recognized us but couldn't remember our names or where he knew us from. He just stood there staring at us for a minute and then he growled and began limping towards us.
"Jason, I don't want to have to do this." I said, aiming my shotgun directly at his face.
He contined walking towards us
"JASON, DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" I shouted at him
He still continued towards us as Tyler and I both didn't want to shoot someone who was part of our group 15 minutes ago.
"FUCK!" I shouted. I closed my eyes and looked away as I pulled the trigger. A few seconds passed and I finally heard his body fall to the ground.
"YOU JUST COUDN'T TAKE A GOD DAMN GUN WITH YOU, COULD YOU?" I yelled at his lifeless body.
Tyler put his hand on my shoulder, "Hey, dude. We got zombies coming in towards us. We gotta move."
I looked up and saw a crowd of zombies coming towards us. I got my gun back at the ready, filled with rage I was ready to go on a killing spree.
"Swap with me." I said, handing Tyler the shotgun.
He handed me the rifle and took the shotgun and I immediatly started firing. One by one, Shooting zombies in the head taking them down, as Tyler watched and let me get my anger out only shooting when he needed to.
Eventually all the zombies had been taken out and we made our way back to the trucks.
"You feel better?" Heather asked. "We heard you screaming and shooting."
"Yeah, I'm good." I said clearly still a little frustrated. "I do want to go grab something out of the store though. Tyler can you stay here with them in case something happens out here?"
"Yeah, take your time man." He said.
I grabbed my flashlight and made my way into the store. Once I was inside, I lost control and let all the rage flow, I was throwing stuff, smashing things, and punching things. I eventually made my way to the isle with the chainsaws, I picked up 2 chainsaws and carried them out to the trucks and filled both of them with gas.
"This will surely take some of the anger out, killing zombies with a chainsaw." I laughed. "I'm ready to get back on the road whenever you guys are.
"We're ready, we already packed everything up." Heather said
We got back in our trucks and got back on the highway.
"Are you still good or do you want a redbull?" Heather asked.
I looked at the clock on the dashboard, it was already midnight. "Yeah I'll take a drink."
Heather reached back behind the seat and pulled out a can of redbull and handed it to me.
"Thank you baby." I said as I reached over to hold her hand.
"I'm confident we'll be ok. I know you'll keep us safe." Heather said.
"Of course I will honey. I would never let anything happen to any of you. We're all a big family." I told her.
We drove for another hour or so as Heather slowly drifted off to sleep in the passenger seat.
Tiffany's voice came across the radio. "Can we stop for a second? I have to switch with Tyler, he's falling asleep at the wheel."
"Yeah." I said. I put the truck in neutral and slowed the truck down to a stop. I saw Tyler get out of the driver seat and walk around to the passenger side.
Tiffany walked over to my window. "How are you holding up?"
I took a sip of my red bull. "I'll be alright." I said to her.
"Ok. Please don't burn yourself out." She replied as she turned around and walked back to their truck. She hopped in the driver seat and we started driving again.
"I don't plan to, I'll call if I need to rest." I reasurred her. We kept going down an endless stretch of highway, driving for what seemed like eternity. I eventually saw a sign above us "Murphy 10 Miles".
I picked up the mic, "We're finally getting close, we're 10 miles out." I said between sips of redbull.
Tiffany's voice came through the radio, "I knew you'd make it."
We drove the last 10 miles and turned onto Unicoi Turnpike and made our way into the town until we finally arrived outside Tyler's parents house.
I woke Heather up, "Baby we're here." I said as she sat up and wiped her eyes, still half asleep. Tyler and Tiffany got out of the truck and knocked on the door as I walked to the passenger side of our truck. I opened the door and picked Heather up and carried her to the front door as she fell back asleep in my arms.
Tyler's parents opened the door with guns pointed at us until they realized it was us
"You scared us there guys, we thought those zombie fuckers were coming to get us." Tyler's dad said, "Hurry up get inside before any of them come." He waved for us to get in the house.
"You boys look like shit! Have you slept at all?" His mother asked.
"Barely." I responded
"Relax, get some sleep. You can't live like this forever." She said as she pulled the matress out of the pull out couch.
I walked over to the bed and laid Heather down and then laid next to her as Tyler and Tiffany went downstairs to sleep on the couch in the basement.
I drifted off to sleep shortly after laying down and kissing Heather good night.