Sudden Lunacy

Holiday from Hell

 They were traveling for around an hour when Marcus noticed the small needle on his fuel indicator dancing near empty.

"It says it is spreading fast Marcus. It says there is a lot of trouble overseas.."Conroy had been updating Marcus for most of the ride.

It turned out the man at the zoo wasn't as bad as they can get. Sources said they had this guy locked up somewhere who was one of the first infected. Now, nearly a month after his suspected infection, he was acting like a wild savage, tearing anything living limb for limb. The military claimed they were getting things under control but were having trouble figuring out what the disease was made of. Marcus let out another swear as he started to look for a gas station.

Conroy looked up from the phone. "They said most of Texas is already dead in just the week it had been there. Marcus.... Why didn't they tell anyone this was going on? Why wasn't it on the news?" He had been trying to focus on something else other than the random bullet fire, screams of pain, and occasional dead body they passed of the side of the road. The back roads they were traveling on were lined with the infected that were migrating from Texas and some newly formed ones. No military was in place anywhere as they passed.

"I don't know Conroy. It's a big pile of sh-"

"Marcus? Ya do know it's bad ta say bad words?"

"Shut up Conroy." He grumbled pulling out his phone to google nearby gas stations he could access from back roads.

"That's a bad word too. Ya can't say those or ya get a disease on your tongue that can only be cured with nasty soap." He frowned as he looked over at his father. "I guess you are immune or somethin'"

"Guess I am." He mumbled looking for the nearest stop which was only about five minutes away. Traffic wasn't that bad now, most people having chose the main high way instead of the back roads. He looked over at the boy's red bandages. "How you feeling Conroy?"

"A little dizzy and car sick but....You wonder how I feel?" He asked raising a brow. "Maybe the bad words are making you sick after all?"

"No, just trying a hand at this 'parent' thing so I don't get you killed before we get to the church. How am I doing?"

Conroy let out a small giggle before running a red bandaged hand over his porcelain white face. "Not that good. That's okay though, 'cause I can teach ya."

Marcus nodded before focusing on the road again. It kind of actually felt good to try to be a parent again, even though he was a little rusty. Now that he wa clear headed and not focused on his awful morning anymore, he could focus more energy on actually being nice, The first year of Conroy's life, when everything slowed down, was actually a time period Marcus felt he could refer to as the happiest in his life. He hadn't actually thought of that year of happiness because automatically after that came prison and all the terrible things that happen to a twenty three year old who has a rep for breaking his girl's jaw. Something had clicked when he saw Conroy injured, be in a return of paternal instincts, or a good rude awakening. He almost felt as if he could finally start to deal with all the terrible things that he had locked away his whole adult life.

Almost.

He was able to clear away all his old thoughts as soon as they pulled up to the gas station and its blood splattered windows. The whole place looked deserted, but Marcus wasn't about to be caught off guard as he went in to buy gas. He reached over Conroy and pulled out the semiautomatic pistol he kept stored for emergencies such as these, making sure it was in fact loaded. He slipped it into his jeans at his hip, hoping the placement would allow for a quick draw if needed. He didn't want to leave Conroy undefended though, so he reached into his toolbox and pulled out a crowbar, putting it next to the boy as he ignored his protests.