Apocalyptic ✔

Nine

Head For Highway

Going towards the city is a death sentence. And you don't plan to die today. You make the turn and drive away from the biggest danger. You don't really have a choice. And Mom wouldn't want you to put yourself in danger.

Another car swerves onto the road ahead of you and speeds away. At least you now have proof that you aren't the only one still alive. And if they are running in the same direction you are going, you've probably made the right choice.

You swerve around a wrecked suv and a cluster of the undead. Surprisingly, you are seeing more and more zombies as you go. You thought that there would be less of them going away from the city, not more. Before long, you are forced to slow down to avoid running over all of them.

There are also more and more partially eaten bodies along the road. When you see one corpse, reanimated, and dragging what's left of its legs along the ground, you almost vomit that sandwich from earlier all over the steering wheel.

Finally, the on ramp onto the highway comes into view. But there's a problem. Traffic is backed up. You can see that the highway is congested and progress has come to a standstill. The car that you saw earlier is stuck, halfway up the on ramp. A few more vehicles have pulled in behind it, all trying in vain to get to the highway.

Apparently, a lot of people have all had the same idea, to get away from the city. As you watch, a pick-up towards the back of the line gets impatient, and pulls onto the grass. The driver speeds up the grass and onto the grassy shoulder of the highway. More drivers seem to like his idea, and before long, a steady stream of cars and trucks is escaping through the grass.

The congestion looks like it's clearing up a bit, so you press the gas and drive up the on ramp. Through your gore smeared side window, you look back and see hundreds of cars still trapped along the highway. You wait for a break in the traffic and pull onto the grass. The shoulder is bumpy and you feel the bottom of the car scrape in the dirt. You start to worry that you're going to get stuck.

You travel for a half a mile before traffic gets congested again. Now what? You can't stay here. The cars in front of you edge closer together trying to find a way through. It only makes the situation worse and before long, traffic is hopelessly snarled.

Panicked drivers start to blow their horns and you think you see a minor fender-bender ahead. All of this noise is bound to attract zombies. You need to get away from this situation. But there's nowhere to go. Your car is hopelessly trapped. Panicking, you look behind you for a way out. More cars have followed you and you're stuck.

Now you don't know what to do. You don't want to leave the car but staying in this chaos is a bad idea. You decide to try to get farther off the road and park the car. Hopefully, in time, the road will clear enough to make progress. You don't know what else to do. You need the car to get as far away as you plan to go.

It takes some doing but you eventually work the car farther off of the road. The traffic jam continues to get worse as you watch. Before long, people start to abandon their cars along the highway. They are carrying bags and backpacks as they hurry away along the road. You realize your mistake because with this many abandoned cars the traffic jam is only going to get worse. Now you have a real problem.

Deciding that you can't stay here any longer, you grab your backpack and get out of the car. The sound inside the car was loud but outside of the car it's deafening. People are shouting, car horns honking, and you can hear sirens coming from the nearby city. You join the exodus of people running along the road. It's not as hot as it was earlier, and that's concerning, because it means the sun is going down. You do not want to be trapped out in the open in the dark.

You hurry with a random group of people that climbed out of two cars near yours. They don't seem to mind or really even notice that you have joined them. All of you are too busy concentrating on escape.

When you hear the growls you start to look around trying to find where they are coming from. Someone shrieks in the distance and you notice that the people in front of you are scattering in every direction. That can't be good.

You slow down and try to see exactly what is ahead. The people in front of you scatter and with horror you see why. A large herd of zombies is coming your way. Screams and growls fill the air as people try to escape. You turn and try to run back the way you came. But the road is choked with both cars and fleeing people, most of whom haven't seen what is heading their way, yet.

Panicking people crush you from behind and you almost go down on the road. Reaching out, you grab onto a nearby car, just catching yourself in time.

Your stumble has cost you, and by now, most of the people around you are running by, disappearing in the maze of parked cars.

A snarl, too close for comfort, let's you know that you are in big trouble. You try to lunge away, but the strap on your backpack has somehow become tangled around the side mirror of the car you just fell against.

Jerking hard, you try to break free of the car, but it's too late. The strap holds firm, and you feel the first set of teeth sink into your arm.