Race to Refuge

Chapter 13: Mallory

Joshua had only been in the gas station for a few minutes, but it felt like hours had gone by. That's because my mouth was so dry and my heart pounded so hard that I felt stress pouring out of me, dragging the time out. Finally, he reemerged from the store, clutching a gas can. His eyes were huge and worried and he waved at me to drive off.

"What?" I asked frantically. I put my window down a little. "Come on, Joshua! Let's just get out of here. We'll find another gas station. This place is creeping me out."

He shook his head and pointed far away, motioning for me to drive off. That's when a guy with hollow eyes wearing a baseball cap and a shirt with his name on it stumbled out of the gas station after Joshua. After Joshua, that is, until he spotted me in my car. Then he lurched in my direction.

I knew Joshua had to be a lot faster than this guy, but he was still frantically motioning at me to go.

"Joshua! Come on! You can make it!" I yelled. I turned the car engine on and slowly coasted away from the slow-moving zombie.

He shook his head sadly at me as I directed the car close to him. "Mallory, I can't."

Undeterred, I stopped the car, unlocked the passenger door and shoved it open. "Hop in! Hurry!"

He reached over, threw in some gas station snacks and the empty gas can and said, "Sorry I ran out of time to fill the gas can. Mallory, I've been infected already." He raised the arm he'd kept close by his side and I could see it was bloodied. He firmly pushed the lock button. "I can't get into the car with you or else I'll put you in danger. You'll be okay. Leave now!" His voice this time brooked no argument. He slammed the door shut and was dragged away from my car by the zombie in the baseball cap as another lumbered toward him from inside the station.

I finally listened to him. My foot slammed on the accelerator. I was barely able to see where I was going with my tear-soaked eyes. And I was unable to handle looking in the rear-view mirror at the scene behind me.

Later, I realized I'd gotten back on the rural route highway on autopilot. I couldn't remember the miles that I'd driven in that fog I was in. All I could think about was the loss of my odd, kind, friend and how truly alone I was now. As I drove away, I took a few minutes to honor Joshua. Whatever mistakes he'd made in his life, I knew one thing: he was a good, kind man and I was lucky to have had him with me the short time I had.

I drove on for several more minutes before I discovered that I was completely exhausted. There was no way I was going to be able to complete the drive up to the safe house when I felt like this. Despite the fact that I'd had a decent night's sleep. Despite the fact that it wasn't really late in the day. The events at the gas station, which I wouldn't allow myself to revisit in my head, sapped the life from me. I felt numbness coursing through my body. I didn't know if it was a coping mechanism or not, but all I knew was that I didn't really care about much right then except sleep.

But I didn't feel safe. Not like I had last night when I'd drifted off so easily in the woods with Joshua to keep watch over me. The safety aspect wasn't my top priority, though. I just wanted sleep. And that need was pushing me forward.

I wanted something completely familiar. I didn't want to camp out in the woods right now. I wanted a comfortable bed, a nightstand, a clock. I wanted curtains to block out the light, since it was still the middle of the day. I headed once more back on the interstate and drove a couple of miles to an exit that advertised a chain hotel I'd stayed at before. I took the exit. I had no illusions that there would actually be staff at the place, but maybe I could figure out how to get a key to a room. Or maybe the rooms weren't all locked and I could find one and sleep for a while, behind a locked door. I could even try to call Annie and Jim from the hotel phone. Hotels also usually had food, which was something I knew I was eventually going to be interested in, even if I wasn't right now. Maybe I could raid the area where they had their free breakfasts. Or maybe this one even had a full restaurant on the premises.