Welcome to the End

Chapter 09: Snake Eye

Seven years ago.

Peter sat in the backseat of the rundown car his family had found abandoned in an old parking garage. Combined with the three other vehicles they'd managed to keep during the chaos of civilization's collapse and the nightmare following in its wake, they had put together a fairly decent convoy, but at nineteen years of age, the only thing Peter could think of was the world he'd known before the zombies, the world that no longer existed.

He stared out the car widow at the passing highway signs, directing drivers to cities either long abandoned or destroyed. Wrecked or broken cars littered the roadway, creating a maze for the convoy to drive around.

Scattered throughout the rubble of society were the remains of the dead. Corpses covered in ragged clothes and tattered strips of decayed and bloody flesh were draped across the highway median and over the metal skeletons of vehicles. Birds and other wildlife had already been picking over the remains, removing what flesh remained and leaving behind bones to bleach white in the glare of the sun.

It was such a depressing place, remnants and reminders of what had been lost as well as clues to what awaited those unfortunate enough to still be living in such an abysmal place.

Peter was pulled out of his melancholy state when the car suddenly stopped, its brakes whining slightly.

"Stay in the car," Peter's dad warned his wife and son as he unbuckled his seat belt and exited the vehicle.

Peter watched his dad, Keith, jog forward to converse with the other drivers. What had been a depressing and mind numbing car ride had suddenly become tense. The urgent expression on Keith's face, and the way he and the other drivers were looking ahead of them, twisted a knot in Peter's stomach. Something was very wrong.

Hurrying back to the car, Keith climbed in and locked his door. Peter and his mom mimicked his actions.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Peter asked.

"Zombies, lots of them," Keith replied. "They're blocking the road. We're going to have to go through them. I want everyone belted in with your windows up. Whatever happens, stay calm."

Despite the words of his father, or perhaps because of them, Peter was getting more uncomfortable by the second. He felt like he'd been told not to panic before being dumped into a shark tank at meal time without any protective gear. It wasn't the kind of news one could take in stride.

The vehicles accelerated to maximum velocity, and Keith floored the gas pedal to keep up. The engine roared, and the three occupants were pushed back into their seats.

When the procession of cars struck the outer edge of the zombie horde blocking the road, they met with only minor resistance. The speed and mass of the vehicles was more than a match for the flesh and bone of the zombies in their path, either running them over or catapulting them out of the way.

Progress was so swift and unhindered, it appeared for a moment as if they might make it through the zombies without slowing down, but Peter noticed how his dad was forced to let off the accelerator. The number of zombies packed closely together increased as the convoy neared the center of the horde. Every impact slowed the cars slightly, as as the density increased, the cars were slowed even further.

The vehicles behind the first tried to use their bumpers to push the lead car forward, but too many zombies were in front to make any effective gains. The entire convoy was halted, and it was in that moment when the chaos began.

Zombies closed in from all sides, slamming their bloody faces and skeletal hands against windshields and windows in an attempt to reach the humans within. All of the cars tried to accelerate and escape the horrid things pounding on their cars but to no avail. They were stuck, and it was only a matter of time before the zombies got in.