30 Days of Undead Summer [Zombie Challenge]

June 24th: #SciFiSaturday

"Where the hell are we?" she asked, fingers clutched around the steering wheel.

The boy next to her, Ramon, shrugged his shoulders sucking in a deep breath of the cigarette he managed to find.

"I'm not the one with the map," he said, smirking at her when she glanced at him in disgust at the cancer stick in his hand. As if he needed another thing to kill him.

Reaching behind her, the girl opened the window for the trunk of the truck. "Where are we?" she asked again, her tone directed toward the boy and girl huddled together against the wind.

Leaving the window open, the sound of crinkled paper hit their ears.

"Just slow down a bit," Ramon said, tossing the stick into the wind. "He probably needs to be able to see the map."

Rolling her eyes, she let her foot off the gas pedal just a bit. However, one glance at the dash and heart fell. The needle on the gas dial was close to empty. They were in the middle of the damn desert with no other cars for miles. Yes, they had water and food, but not enough to survive days in the desert.

Suddenly she heard scuffing as a voice peered through the open back window. "We're somewhere in Nevada, best I can guess. Probably want to avoid Las Vegas at all cost, Nina."

She wanted to curse. It was the best they can do in location wise but it wasn't good enough. The last place they wanted to be was Las Vegas anyway. If big cities such as Austin and Houston were bad, she didn't want to think what Vegas would be like. Despite never having been there in her life, and all the times she wanted to before, now just the thought send dread through her chest.

Just then, her worst fear came to life. The truck immediately began to sputter as he rolled along the asphalt. Only a few minutes later she pressed against the brake pedal and the truck died on the side of the road.

"Damn it!" she groaned, dropping her head to the wheel.

"Out of gas?" Ramon asked, voice low. It was the last thing any of them needed right now. Not like most of the dead were around the desert but one could never be truly safe.

"Should have filled the extra jug," Nina groaned pushing away from the wheel. Lying across the wheel groaning in despair would not change their predicament.

Hopping out of the truck, she grabbed her bag from underneath the wheel. "Everyone out!" she yelled to them all, unscrewing the cap of her bottle.

She'd never be more grateful for the run of the last town. It had gotten them the light amount of gas, food, and water which would have lasted a few days. In this heat, it would be good enough to last until tomorrow.

When she heard the familiar sound of her sister moaning in the back, she winced. If there was one thing about her younger sister,Kylie, that hadn't changed, she still hated doing anything. Even though her best friend, Rodge, could read a map with his eyes closed, didn't mean Kylie could contribute much. If Kylie wasn't Nina's sister, they probably would have ditched her months ago.

"How far is the nearest town?" Nina asked Rodge as he helped Kylie out of the truck.

"Too far. We'd never make it by nightfall," Rodge said as Kylie hung from his back.

Roman kicked stones around the truck as he joined them. "We need to try. We can't stick around here. Maybe we can find a truck closer."

Immediately, Nina made Kylie hop off Rodge's back. They huddled around the map on the hood of the truck. After about an hour, they were still nowhere close to figuring out exactly where they were. There had been no street signs or anything along the road.

"I stay we just go," Rodge said, with a sigh. "Roman's right. We can't stay around here. The desert and nightfall don't mix. We've wasted enough time. Let's just go on foot. If we're lucky we'll find a car on the road with gas."

The only person opposed to walking was, as always, Kylie. She moaned the entire time. Nina wished for an iPod or MP3 player, just something to tune out her sister's annoying voice. One glance over at Roman and she knew they shared the same thought. After only knowing him about a month, after he saved all three of them from a group of walking corpses, Nina felt comfortable around him. If it had been any other scenario, she might have accepted that she crushed on him.

Yet in the truth of the matter, the only person in the group she truly cared about was Kylie. Even though the girl nerved her out, she'd immediately ditch both Rodge and Roman if it meant saving her sister.

"What's that?" Kylie suddenly stopped moaning long enough to ask.

Everyone covered their eyes against the light to peer into the desert. There was a blurry image of a gray fenced in building ahead.

"No clue," Nina whispered, something akin to dread in her stomach. Something just didn't feel right about the area suddenly.

"Let me see that map," Roman asked as they all stopped. At least Nina wasn't the only one getting that vibe.

Roman stared at the map after Rodge handed it over, his eyes squinting in the light.

"Hey, what if it's area 51?" Rodge laughed, his chuckles echoing out. "Aren't we in the right spot for it?"

Nina ticked her jaw, grinding her teeth. Of course Rodge would make a crazy joke right now.

"It's not on the map," Roman huffed, rolling it back up to give to Rodge.

"I say we check it out. Could have some supplies. Maybe even a car," Rodge reasoned.

Even though Rodge's reasons were sound, Nina still felt out of place about it.

"As much as I hate to admit this, he has a point. All in favor of checking out the building, raise your hand," Roman said.

Nina really hated this. She was always outnumbered now. With only Rodge and Kylie a few months ago, her word was always final. Since Roman joined them, they seemed to think his word meant more. Nina couldn't blame them, he had saved them after all. But, Nina had a bad feeling about the building up ahead.

Once again she was outvoted. She knew Kylie would vote for any chance of food and somewhere to kick her feet up.

They trudge forward. As they got closer, Rodge laughed. It wasn't a fake kind of laugh it was true belly laugh. Because out of all the jokes he had made, this one just had to be right.

Area 51 stood haphazard against the desert around them. The fence was crooked now, the chains rusted. They looked through the holes toward the building. There were old helicopters all over the place as if this had been one of the last stop for government officials.

"What if there are aliens in there?" Rodge whispered, his voice amazed by what he was seeing.

They were all quiet. Maybe a year ago Nina would have said it was impossible. If she hadn't watched her father die of a disease and then her mother die at the teeth of her father. Nina had to grow up way too soon at the age of fifteen, she was barely just past sixteen now. If they hadn't all watched the dead come back to life, maybe it would have been harder to believe.

Instead, Roman reached out, broke the chain and ushered them inside. If aliens happened to be real, it would be just another thing to get used to. Another thing to adapt to.