Deep Freeze

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"Fuck," Leslie whispered, as the other truck's cab window, aligned with hers.
She didn't look in their direction, her heart hammered.

"What's going on?" Johnny whimpered. He shrunk down in his seat.

"Stay calm," Kate whispered. Her voice quivered.
She looked at the others.. Johnny was crying quietly, Sam appeared to be unconscious, Leslie was nearly hyperventilating, Joelle was too calm, and Wayne was sweating as he gripped the wheel as tightly as humanly possible.

"No, Daniel, I don't want to have sex with you!" Sam shouted abruptly. His eyes were still closed, he appeared to be in a state of delirium.
"I ain't interested in men! I already told ya!"

"What the hell?" Kate muttered.

"Mom, unicorns ain't real...... how was I supposed to know who was texting you?!" Sam continued to spout random sentences that made little sense.
"What you mean there isn't any fucking beer?!... bitch I paid the rent!..... Why are you being so mean to me?" He began sobbing, and Johnny raised an eyebrow.

Suddenly the truck jerked sideways, several gunshots rang out.

"The tires!" Wayne yelped. The truck halted to a stop, with a horrible scraping sound. A motorcycle had been behind them, and poured bullets into the back tires.

"Shit." Leslie whispered. Her door was ripped open. The cold muzzle of a rifle, kissed her neck, sending shivers up her spine.

"Get out." A man wearing a black mask, stood outside. His voice was gravelly and hoarse. There were about ten other men, dressed identical to him. In dark, oversized jackets and pants, with their faces covered by masks.

All of them were armed.

Leslie had no choice but to obey. She slowly slid out, onto the ground with her hands raised.
Wayne, Johnny, Joelle, and Kate were ushered out of the truck in the same way.
Two of the men drug Sam onto the pavement, leaving him lying on the ground.

"Everyone keep your hands up," One of the masked men lined the survivors up in the center of the street.
"If you don't, we'll shoot you."

"Go to hell!" Leslie hissed.

Crack!

A searing pain shot through Leslie's skull. One of the men hit her with the stock of his rifle. Her legs went to jelly, and she slumped down onto the hard asphalt.

"Get up!" The man roared.

Leslie glared at him, A look of defiance gleaming in her eyes.
She stayed unmoving.

The man chuckled. He grabbed Johnny, and held a gun against the boy's head. Johnny started crying loudly, but the masked assailant clapped his hand over his mouth.
Tears streamed down Johnny's face, he struggled to break free, but failed.

"Get up, or I'll put a bullet in his head."

Leslie carefully stood up, not wanting to put Johnny's life in danger.
The man cackled in an evil fashion, before shoving Johnny forward. He fell to the ground, sobbing heavily.

"Alright, check him," one of the men; presumably the leader, pointed to Sam's limp body.
"As for the rest of you..."

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After about an hour, the bandits left. They had spared the lives of the survivors, but left them standing in the middle of the highway. They had taken all supplies they deemed useful.

The truck was un-salvageable... they had no food... no water... no weapons.

Kate broke down crying, while Wayne tried to brighten the mood.
"At least they didn't kill us." He said.

Leslie turned away. She stared at the decimated city in the distance. It had been three days since the bombs were dropped.

Not nuclear weapons. A new kind of biological weapon, developed by the Russia-Germany alliance.
Almost all other countries were attacked... but there was a flaw in their plan.

"True," Joelle mumbled.

"We're just gonna die out here, we have no supplies." Leslie sighed. The wind blew in her face, it brought the smell of decaying flesh with it.
She gagged, as she thought about how many people were killed.

"I have a plan," Wayne said. "I can smell it.. there's more rotters coming, we gotta use him for bait, and the rest of us will get out of here." He pointed to Sam, who lay unconscious on the ground.
"Hopefully he doesn't wake up when they're ripping him apart..."

"Absolutely not." Leslie growled.
"We're not leaving him to die like that."

"Look-"

"I said no! Case closed, we're taking him with us!"

"How are you gonna get him anywhere? He's unconscious."

"We'll carry him if we have to, now let's find somewhere to stay the night." Leslie looked to the sky.
The sun was sinking below the horizon.

"Shit, look." Joelle pointed to a group of undead creatures shuffling their way...