Dead Days

Chapter 12

     I open my eyes to sunlight, I roll over but Alyx has already gotten up and gotten dressed.

     I slide out of bed, releasing a monumental stretch, my body fully rested and nourished from the brief but well used stay here.

     I walk to the bathroom and look in the mirror. Facial hair is starting to grow, not by much, but I've always hated having facial hair.

The graze on my cheek is going to leave a nice scar, it's clotted over the dried blood nearly blackened. I turn on the tap to see if there is still water.

     The water runs brown to start but then clears out, the rust in the pipes coming through. The smell of sulfur begins to fill the bathroom. This place is running on well water. I think to myself as the stench of eggs fills my nostrils.

I walk to the shower and turn on the hot water, within seconds the bathroom gets cloudy with condensation, the mirror fogging over.

     I step into the shower and instantly feel relieved. The water draining is brown with the dirt that had gotten stuck to my body over the past week. I quickly wash my hair, being careful not to rip the gash in my head open.

I wash the rest of my body and grab a towel and wrap it around my waist. I stroll back into the bedroom and raid the closet for something to wear.

Cassie bursts into the room while I'm sliding on a pair of distressed blue jeans.

"Bright and early." She says, mocking what I said last night.

"What time is it?" I ask, pulling another tight shirt from the closet.

"Eleven o'clock."

     I sigh and pull the shirt over my body and slip my socks and shoes on. "Lets go." Every one loads into the truck, Cassie takes the passenger seat. Alyx climbs in the back, a look of annoyance on her face. I look back at her and shrug my shoulders with an apologetic smile.

     "Alright, everyone, to Charleston it is." I say, cranking the engine and putting the truck into first gear. I look down at the gas gauge, there's still half a tank. Should be enough to get us into Philadelphia. I think to myself.

     The ride is mostly silent, a nervousness falling over the crowd.

The drive is peaceful, not a zombie in sight, which is a little nerve wracking. Where could they all be?

We pass a mile marker sign that says Philadelphia is coming up in twenty miles. I look at the gas gauge, quarter of a tank left.

"When we get into Philadelphia," I look over to Cassie, "keep your eyes peeled for a gun store. We really need something to defend..." all of the sudden an ear splitting headache erupts out of nowhere.

     It feels as if my brain is imploding. Images of a building float over my eyes, the words 'ealim jadid' are being repeated again. The image of the wheel chair crosses again, although a man is accompanying it. Cassie's father.

     He injects himself with a yellowish liquid from a syringe and he does the unthinkable, he stands from his wheel chair and begins chanting the words 'ealim jadid'.

     "Jack! Look out!" Snaps me back, the headache gone and the images with it. My eyes snap to the road, I swerve right hard to avoid an overturned car with a half-crushed undead underneath it.

     "What the fuck was that, man?" Terry asks.

     "Sorry, guys, got lost in thought." I lie, thinking about what had just happened. Cassie's father, a paraplegic, stood after injecting himself with that liquid. What the fuck is going on?