Surviving

Chapter 6

The road was practically empty, and the long drive was filled with awkward silence and the occasional sound of Billy playing with his action figures.

"Dad, how much longer until we get there?" I groaned. No music was on the radios and my dad didn't believe in CDs.

"It should only be fifteen more minutes. The cabin I rented looks nice, and it has an upstairs." The sun was setting, causing the road to be some darker and darker.

About five minutes later, a figure limped across the road and turned towards us. It was a man with disheveled hair and grayish skin. There was something caked around his mouth.

"Dad!" I shook his arm. "Dad, you're gonna hit that man!" Despite my efforts, he stepped in the gas harder, and I saw the man's crazed eyes a nanosecond before we hit him. There was a sickening THUNK! as we hit him, and the car bumped over the body.

"Well, Adira, I guess I've got some explaining to do. I'll tell you everything when we're at the house." He looked at me with loving eyes, and I couldn't believe those were the eyes of someone who had just killed a man.

Within ten minutes we had pulled into the driveway of a large cabin, and we grabbed our bags and left everything else.

It was decided that we would unload the food in the morning. The cabin has a large downstairs with a master bed and bath, and an upstairs with two bedroom and a full bathroom. I took the room upstairs with a double twin bed while Billy took the one with a set of bunk beds. I unpacked all of my clothes into the wooden dresser and went downstairs to the living room, where dad was waiting.

"I guess I owe you an explanation," he said, covering his blond hair with his favorite camo cap. We all had blond hair, though my brother's was a bit darker than mine and dad's. "While I was working my shift at the hospital, some men from the lab came in saying somebody had gotten sick and bitten the others. Describing it, they sounded like they were talking about rabies. They said after somebody was bitten, they'd try to bite other people. They had their own doctors and told us to evacuate the emergency room. Just sent us home. It looked kinda weird, and when they started telling everyone they need to go home I knew I needed to get y'all and leave right away. So I brought y'all here. I think they're some type of zombies."

"That's ridiculous!" I exclaimed. "There's no such thing! They're just made for tv and books!"

"Then how would you explain what you saw today? How that man didn't even try to get out of the way of the truck." I looked at him funny, unsure of how to answer that question.

"I'm gonna go tuck Billy in," I finally said, getting up. "We don't want him to stay up too far past his bedtime."