Awakening

Chapter 3

The moon shines brightly in the middle of the night. The car's engine stops and I open the door and stretch my legs as they greatly need it.

"Well we are about 4 hours from Montana, let's try and find a place to rest at for the night. After all that driving, I am tired." Dominic stretches as he says it. I take a look around, we stopped at a fortunate spot. It's quiet and there is a lot of flatland. Dominic grabs some food, it's not much but I eat it anyway. I have always eaten slow and I guess that's a pretty good trait to have in a zombie apocalypse; I don't have to have as much to feel full. I try to eat my meal for a good 10 minutes before finishing. I feel pretty well fed, not quite full, but I definitely am not super hungry. Dominic on the other hand ate his meal quite fast, I hope he will have the energy to drive.

I throw my food away in the grass, I am not worried about trash cans or recycling considering the current situation. When I walk back to the car I see that Dominic setup a shelter. The bed of his truck has a tarp over it, he set up 2 sleeping bags and I can't wait to hit the hay.

"Good night, get rest because your driving tomorrow," I tell Dominic.

"So when are you gonna drive this thing," Dominic jokes. I shake my head and roll onto my side.

"Hey Mike!" Dominic whispers sharply.

"Wha-" Dominic claps his hand over my mouth and silences me.

"Quiet, I hear movement outside. What is out there, it could be simply a zombie, or it could be a human that's either friendly or dangerous.

"Poke your head out and see if you see anything." I poke my head out and see the head of someone disappear down the side of a hill.

"He just went down a hill," I tell Dominic. He gets up and I follow him. Dominic races quietly over to the hill, I follow him, a little slower because I can't be as quiet as him. When I get to him and look down the hill, I see him, with 3 other people.

"What do we do?" I ask Dominic.

"What if they are friendly?" I continue saying.

"I am not sure we should take the chances." Dominic says. I know he has a lot of thought in what he said. He's torn between making new allies, or getting both of us killed.

"I know it's not the smartest choice, but I am going to talk to them," I say. I'm a pretty good talker and hopefully I can make us some new friends. I slide down the hill, getting dirt on my clothes. There they are, What do I do, should I just yell out? To close my thoughts I hear a voice say

"Stay right where you are, tell us what the hell you are doing here!"

"Oh, well hi, I was actually coming to introduce myself to you. Me and my buddy heard a radio transmit of a base in South Dakota," I reply. I know they believe me. I won them over with that base, I think we will get along just fine. With a curious look, the man asks

"Do you and your friend need any help?" With a smile I reply

"We do." I tell them to follow me, and they send their leader to follow while the rest stay behind.

"Hey Dominic, they want to help us!" I whisper. Dominic stands up and shakes the man's hand.

"I'm Dominic, who are you."

"Paul, do you guys need any helping hands?"

"We sure as hell do!" Dominic answers excitedly. Paul motions his group to follow as he know's it's safe now. The sun starts to rise as we make our way back to the car, and I feel tired, but satiated.

"We don't exactly have food to spare, do you have any food?" I ask.

"We have some, why don't we all introduce ourselves, I'm not sure my group knows Dominic." We all shake hands and introduce. Paul introduces us to Zoe, Matt and Riley. Riley is a 17 year old girl, she was surviving with Matt until Paul found them. Zoe was surviving on her own and is 19. Fortunately the bed of the truck can hold everyone's supplies. Me and Dominic get up and take the front 2 seats, Dominic driving. The others double buckle in the back. We've been in the car for a while, most of the ride is silent, but I catch Paul and Zoe whispering quite a bit. I crack a smile and stare into the open road. No buildings, cars, or anything. Just nice scenery.

Opening my eyes reveals that we are now in a city. I look back and everyone is asleep, except for Matt. It looks like he just woke up too. I see Dominic looking extremely tired.

"How long have I been out?" I whisper to Dominic.

"Well we left early morning and I would say it's about 7 in the evening." He says with a strained voice.

To my surprise, Matt speaks up

"You really need some rest, either we need to stop or I can take over."

Dominic stops the car and thinks about the options.

"We're running really low on supplies, we should find a place to stay and hang there for awhile to gather more food and weapons." Dominic drives and the three of us are looking for a hotel or some sort of safe haven for now. I spot a small 2 story house on the side of the road, it's very far back and away from the city. Dominic see's it and turns the car into the driveway.

Dominic drives a little faster to get to the house quicker. He takes out the keys, and the engine cutting off wakes up everyone else. Matt tells them what we are doing and they all seem to like the idea. We grab all of our stuff out of the back of the truck.

"We shouldn't just bring everything inside right away, 2 of us should go in and check for zombies. I will go, who else?" Zoe says cautiously. I volunteer, she hands me a small pistol with one magazine. Loudly, the door hits the ground and I cringe hoping it doesn't attract any zombies from inside.

"I will clear downstairs, you take up!" Zoe commands. I nod and run upstairs, trying to be as quiet as possible. There is a hallway with three doors. I open the first door, to my relief there is no one there.

After checking all the doors, I yell clear to Zoe. There is one bathroom and two bedrooms up here. I walk downstairs and hear a gunshot. I rush to the sound and see a zombie on the ground.

"Guess I got the good side," I chuckle. I see Zoe sneak a smile before walking out to the others. I follow, carrying the zombie in my arms. It crashes to the ground and Zoe tells the others there are two bedrooms on the first floor. I tell everyone there are two on the second floor as well. We bring our stuff inside. I take the first bedroom on the second floor. Paul and Zoe follow, taking the second. I walk down, Dominic and Riley take the last two rooms while Matt says he will take first watch, then wake me up next.

"Don't wake up Dominic, he needs more sleep, get Paul when your done with watch." Matt whispers to me. I walk to the bathroom and look in the medicine cabinet. Inside lies a pack of band-aids as well as some aspirin. I leave them there remembering we will be here for a little while. I walk back to my room and decide to take a look around. I'm not all that tired since I slept in the car and I see a pile of books. I look at what they have, I notice they have a book about a zombie apocalypse. Bet they thought that book was all bullshit, until it actually happened. They have a few books about magic, and a couple about romance. I toss the romance aside and pull out the magic. I take off my pants and get comfy in bed, then read my book.