Almost Dead Big Time

Part 4

Rick caused us both to jump, "Find somewhere out in the open and stop so we can figure things out."

Jamie argued again, "What are we trying to figure out? We might as well just keep driving. Those things are everywhere, and we aren't safe anywhere." And I saw a tear escape his eye.

I gave Rick a look and he gave in and told the others they might as well all settle in.

I must have fallen asleep because I was startled awake with someone touching me. My first instinct was to fight so I started hitting at the hand touching me and I heard, "Hey sweetheart. It's okay. Wake up. You have to see this."

I slowly opened my eyes and before me was a sea of sand met with an ocean of blue. "We made it to the beach?" I questioned.

Andrew smiled, "Yep. Isn't it beautiful? It looks like it hasn't even been touched. Like the world is still running the way it is supposed to." He gazed out over the water as he reached for my hand, "Come on." And he tugged at my hand.

We joined the others who had waded out into the water and were bathing themselves and splashing around.

Once we sat on the beach I inquired, "Where are we?"

Jamie never looked at me but answered, "The last sign I saw said Eureka, California so I'm guessing somewhere near there."

I started to fuss over Jamie, "We stopped for you to get some rest so I think that's what you should be doing."

Everyone looked like there was something they didn't want me to know so I questioned further, "That is why we stopped right?"

Everyone hung their heads slightly, but it was Andrew that spoke up, "The zombie slayer has slayed its last zombie. It stopped running and none of us can figure out why."

I got aggravated, "And you didn't want to tell me this why? You act like I'm fragile all of a sudden." And I looked at everyone else, "We need to head out. We have no idea where our next safe haven will be, and we need to try to find somewhere before dark."

Jamie pointed at the road, "That's the pacific coast highway. It hugs the coast all the way down to Mexico. I think that's our best bet."

We grabbed everything we could carry out of the zombie slayer and took off walking. It was a very quiet walk with almost no dead in sight. With mountains on one side and ocean on the other side there was really no way for them to get to the highway.

I was the first to break the silence, "If we ever come across another vehicle this would be the perfect place to be able to make good time. There are virtually no vehicles on this road."

Rick chimed in, "We should be able to make it to Eureka by nightfall. There we should be able to find somewhere to spend the night and a vehicle but that's going to get harder and harder the further south we go."

Jamie huffed, "There will never be another zombie slayer."

Andrew laughed and ruffled his hair, "I know little man. It hurts when the good die young." And everybody laughed.

I decided it was time to get to know everybody else in the group, "So I know Rick was a cop. Norm what did you do before all of this?"

Norm hung his head slightly, "Honestly I worked in a cubicle in a small office. I thought I liked my job but once the apocalypse happened I realized that I was really miserable. Even though we are spending most of our time running from the dead and trying to stay alive it's the freest I have ever felt."

I shook my head, "I guess I kind of get that. What about you Janelle?"

She started to tear up, "I was a stay-at-home mom. When all of this went down my husband called me from work and he was telling me to take my son and get somewhere safe and I heard him..." she hesitated and I could see the tears starting to fall, "Lets just say he never made it home."