Chatter

Chapter 7

Two hours pass on the long lonely road. The group had only made it about 50 miles. The roads were cluttered badly with abandoned cars and wreckage. Both chatterers and sniffers lumbered in and around making traveling difficult except at a slow crawl. The vehicle had run over to many on the way to take much more damage.

"We need to sleep somewhere soon," said Trina.

Vick looked in the rearview mirror at the people behind him. Poor Autumn was in a ball tucked close to Keiko. The others were weary, tired, and hungry. 

The vehicle chugged and slowed to a stop. "Oh god," said Keiko, "Why did we stop?"

The men piled out and popped the hood. "I think we're done here, we stole a clunker." Cade rubbed his face and looked into the car. "Everyone out, were gonna be on foot for now." Everyone but Autumn grabbed what they could of the weapons and supplies. She slowly followed as if in a trance.

"No guns out here unless there's no other choice," said Dwayne. "We have to move quietly and find some shelter." The group agreed that sleeping outside was a bad idea all around.

They moved as stealthily as a group of six could. Cade led the group down the shoulder and followed the road from the ditch. The darkness made it difficult to see anything very far ahead. Vick followed in the rear making sure no strays were attracted to his group.

The six of them walked about 2 miles without incident. Cade knew from the interstate that they were a good hour's drive at full speed from his family home. On foot it would be days.

"Look," said Keiko with excitement.

She pointed off to their right. It looked through the darkness like a farm, a barn at least. It looked like one of those old abandoned farms with no house left standing, the family long gone. Everyone was excited. They turned towards the barn and suddenly came face to face with five chatterers.

"How the hell did we not hear them," asked Vick.

"I don't think they do it all the time, the bastards," replied Dwayne.

Knives from the market came out. Cade slipped and fell in mud. A chatterer dove onto him spitting and clicking its teeth. Once again the big fangs came out as its mouth tore open wanting flesh.

Cade pushed the knife up into the jaw of the monster. He twisted and pushed as hard as possible. Finally, it must have punctured the brain and the chatterer fell to the side, splashing some gore chunks onto Cades face. 

The others dealt with the remaining four quickly while Cade pulled himself up and wiped the ooze and blood off of his face and hands. He regrouped with them and they proceeded to the barn.

There was nothing special waiting inside the barn. It was a typical rundown one often found in Indiana. The wood was rooted, the doors barely attached to hinges. Old bales of hay lay strewn about.

"Let's move all the hay to a couple horse bins," said Vick.

"We will at least have some safety to rest that way."

In no time at all they had arranged all the old stale hay into two adjoined stalls. It wouldn't be very comfortable but at least off the roads for the night.  

The night was long and most of the people struggled with sleep. In just one day their whole world had changed. From a normal spoiled American life to something out of a horror movie is tough to deal with. Most assumed and were dealing with the fact that their families and loved ones were dead or transformed into one of the chatterers. Poor Autumn had just lost her father hours ago. Who knows what is going through her mind.

The morning light shown through the cracks in the barn walls, slowly waking everyone. They stretched and stirred about. Today was the start of a new day. Much was lost yesterday and all of them still held a faint glimmer of hope that it was a fluke. Something outside would remind them that life as they knew it still existed. 

"Everyone get moving. Its early and we could make it to my house today if we get lucky," said Cade.

The group shuffled about, waking up on their own. Autumn wandered up to him and pulled him down as if to tell a secret. "I want a gun please." He looked at her astonished. "Kid I barely know how to shoot one, I cant just hand a gun over to a little girl."

Autumn frowned, "Ive been shooting guns for ten years you ass-sack." Cade cracked a smile at that line. "Can you handle a shotgun or you need my pistol?"

She smiled broadly, "The pistol will do until we find a rifle. That's what Im good with."

He handed over his pistol and she cocked it and put it in her waistline. "Alright guys, just so you know, Autumn is now packing."

No one said a word but filed out of the barn into the morning air. In the daylight they could see a gas station by the interstate that wasn't visible in the night. "Lets head over there and get some chow," said Dwayne.

They walked for about ten minutes and came to the station. It was a run of the mill off the interstate gas station like the thousand others in the country. The men and women filed in grabbing what they could. None had even thought to check the building or the perimeter.

As they filled their pockets and bags close to a dozen undead lumbered out of the back stock room amid the noise the group was making. No one seemed to notice except one.

Vick was the first to look up, "Guys, we have a problem."

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