𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐄! ᶜ ᵍʳⁱᵐᵉˢ

005. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞

I lean against the wall of the car while everyone assembles makeshift weapons. Abraham, who I learned is ex-military, was able to rip one of the metal bars off the inside of the car and give it to me as a makeshift weapon. Someone with a large hat- who I can only assume is Carl- stands next to me. He says nothing for a while, before speaking up. Were you alone out there?" he asks quietly.

"Why does it matter?" I retaliate, running my finger along the edge of the broken pipe. He says nothing for a while. "Just asking. I figured since we're the only two kids here, it would be nice to get to know each other," he finally answers. I yawn, and before I can jab at Carl's optimism, Rick whisper-shouts, "Yall know what to do. Go for their eyes first. Then their throats."

I push myself off the wall, taking my place behind one of the women from Rick's group. Instead of the door opening, the ceiling opens up. A bright flash of light emits through the car, and I'm immediately blinded.

The blast reverberates through the small space, and I drop the pipe to cover my ears. I can't see or hear Carl, but I know he's still next to me because I feel him bump into me. As soon as the light came, it disappeared. 

I'm disoriented and grab for anything I can touch- the wall, the floor, even Carl. I grab onto his arm tightly to steady myself. I try to hold my breath to avoid breathing in the smoke, but my lungs burn and my head spins. I suck in a large breath. This leaves a chemical taste in my mouth. My ears ring loudly but I can faintly hear him calling for me.

He grabs my arms, shaking me slightly. I shake my head, trying to subdue the effects of the flashbang. "They took Dad! They took Dad!"

His voice slowly becomes clear. "What?" I yell, loud enough to be able to hear myself through the after-effect. "They took Dad! And Daryl, and Glenn and Bob!" The four different versions of Carl morph into two, and then slowly back into one. "I don't know who Glenn and Bob are," I say, releasing Carl from my grasp. He jerks his hands away from me, almost embarrassed. "What do we do?"

"We need to get our asses out there and show them who they're fucking with," Abraham answers. "No," a Southern voice calls from the other side of the car. "We need to let Rick handle this. He knows what he's doing," the woman says as she makes her way through the car, coming closer to us. She has frizzy brown hair and wide eyes. "Your father will be okay. He's the toughest man I know," she says, putting a hand on Carl's shoulder. He nods and looks down at his feet, almost ashamed of his emotional outburst.

"And what if they won't? What if they kill 'em, we're just gonna sit around 'ere like ducks?" Abraham says, his voice cutting through the silence like a knife. The woman looks at him, moving away from us. "They will," she says, venom laced through her voice. "Let's be realistic, honey."

"Stop! They're gonna be fine, and until they come back for us, we need to prepare," another woman says. Her hair pulled back from her face that adorned a concerned, fearful expression. "Yall can sit here and wait-" Abraham is cut off by the distant sound of an explosion that shakes the metal cart.

The sudden boom causes Carl and I to collide again. "You seem to find yourself saving me often," I quip, pulling away from the uncomfortable proximity to the boy I find myself in. He crosses his arms, "It's not my fault you keep falling for me." He immediately realizes his words and begins to stutter something along the lines of, not like that.

I ignore his embarrassment to achily bend over and retrieve the pipe I dropped. "What's happening?" someone asks. The bone-chilling sounds of screams and gunfire leak into the car. We all stand frigid, waiting.

A man's voice cuts through the silence. "Before the outbreak, I helped engineer harmful diseases to fight other harmful diseases. My team devised a system that could kill all humans on the planet — and that same system might be able to kill off the walkers."