Dead End

6: Amara

After a little more resistance, we finally decided to take Paxton's car into town. I packed a bag with a few supplies and walked down to the basement. Wen, Amelia and Leon were running around chasing each other. I walked up to my sister on the couch.

"I'm leaving, we'll be back soon. Take care of the boys." I opened my arms for a hug.

"Please be careful, we need all of you to come back." She stood and hugged me back.

I nodded before saying my goodbyes to the boys and Holden. By the time I walked out to the car, everyone else had said their goodbyes too. Paxton had the hatch open so I threw my supplies in the back before climbing in. Juno took the front seat and Damien took the backseat next to me.

Paxton sighed before finally getting into the car. He took off down the driveway.

We drove down the road a little before I decided to bring up mine and Damien's conversation last night.

"Hey, Paxton?" I looked at the rearview mirror.

"What?" He looked back before focusing on the road.

"Why haven't we seen any cop cars or ambulances?"

He paused as he put his thoughts into words.

"After the incident at the gas station, the emergency rooms flooded with people in all stages. Most of the deputies were stuck there when one sick patient bit a nurse, who later turned and bit a doctor. It only took a few hours for the hospital to become crowded with the dead. Anyone still on duty took off to be with their families. Every hospital within a hundred miles was going through the same. No one saw any way of controlling the spread." He explained.

"Damn. We were at the hospital that night." Damien looked at me completely shocked.

"You're lucky you left when you did. When I was there, we were locking patients in rooms. The doctors started refusing to see people and locked themselves in their offices. We even found a few nurses in a storage room who took their own lives because they didn't want to be bitten. I thought Covid was bad." Paxton sighed and shook his head.

"Is that how it spreads though? By being bit?" I leaned closer to the front.

"So far that's what it seems like. I don't know exactly how it started though. I heard a few people talking about the doctors thinking it's some blood borne disease. So basically if you're bleeding and zombie blood touches it you'll become infected."

"I didn't notice any bite marks on Paul but I also didn't really want to take a closer look." Juno spoke with fear all over her face.

"I didn't notice any bite marks on my mom but she picked up Leon from Tony's parents' house and his dad was sick so he could've scratched her or something who knows."

"Paul was at work so it could've happened there." Paxton shrugged as he sped down the road. "After they're infected, they get a fever followed by nausea that causes them to puke blood then they die before coming back."

"If anyone gets bit, we'll separate them until we know." I tried to reassure my best friend.

"Until we know what?" She just looked even more terrified.

"If they're going to die or not." Damien answered for me.

Everyone went silent. The rest of the car ride was spent thinking about that conversation. The answer was pretty obvious if you're bit, you're fucked. 

We pulled into the parking lot of the gas station. There were puddles of blood all over the concrete. Blood on the windows of the few cars left abandoned. There was a small red car with all of the doors wide open at one of the pumps. I had to look away when I saw a car seat covered in blood. Paxton backed the car in front of the doors, which were still closed surprisingly. We all slowly got out of the car, grabbing our weapons from the hatch. With the baseball bat in hand, I slowly walked towards the doors. Hopefully the store was empty, please be empty. We need a miracle.