Brain Dead

Chapter Eight

 

I don’t speak to Connor at all until we start driving again, this time with Jasper behind the wheel. Jasper looks out the window with a perplexed look across his face. “Rain?” He says, nodding in approval. I emptied a packet of dry cocoa powder into a hot cup of milk, and stirred repetitively as I watched the dark clouds swallow the sky. The trailer had now turned darker without the suns light, forcing us to turn on a lamp in order to see.

 

It takes 2 hours for the rain to come, finally pouring gallons of water droplets onto the van. I enjoy the the rhythm of the rain, and it calms me. I sit for a while just watching the scenery pass by with diagonal rain streaks passing by. We begin driving uphill, until the trailer lunges forward. “We’re all out of gas.” Jasper says, concerned. I feel the van starting to lean backwards. Connor and Jasper get out, holding a long nylon rope with both hands. “Alex, you might want to, I don’t know, get out. Now.” Jasper comes barreling toward the front of the van and wraps a decent amount of rope on the grill. I try moving to the doors to get out, but the trailer kept falling backwards, slowly tilting sideways. I find myself sliding, along with the other loose things that are laying around, now scattered on the floor. From the side window in which I try to grasp, I see Connor attempting to tie the other side of the rope to a tree. I get pushed to the very back of the trailer now, holding onto a table that slid there too. “Oh shit.” The trailer began falling downhill. I hold on to anything I can, praying I don’t die in the next fifteen minutes.

Dammit, why did there have to be a steep-ass hill.

Everything through the windows is a blur. I turn around, looking out the very back window. At the bottom of the hill, not too far away, zombies stood, eyeing the peculiar looking trailer traveling at 80 miles per hour downhill.

Shit, shit, shit, shit.

I crawl up to the front, reaching for anything that was stable enough to hold onto. I pull myself up using the kitchen counter. I feel it wiggle, and in a matter of seconds it slams into me. I pull away, and move to the left side of the van. I’m again pressed against the back of the trailer, and the zombies have neared closer in the couple seconds that have passed.

This time I use the couch to hoist myself up, and I outstretch my arm to hold onto the front seat. I attempt to push myself all the way up the couch so I can hold onto the seat, but I’m unable to. I inhale, pause for a second, and reach out, one last time. I grab the seat.

Yes, finally.

I pull up, and collapse in the front seat. The van lunges forward. The nylon rope is holding onto the grill, keeping it from falling. I hear a creak. The nylon rope wasn’t strong enough to hold a 2 ton trailer. I burst out of the door. The grill gets ripped off, and the van stumbles down the rest of the hill, taking out a few zombies when it crashed. “Alex!” Connor yells as he runs down to me. He helps me up off my butt, and holds my hand as we walk back up the hill. Jasper’s nowhere in sight, and he probably made it all the way up the hill. “Connor!” Jasper screams. The two of us run up. Zombies. Everywhere. It’s pouring rain, and it’s almost hard to see their exact features. I look back down the hill. There’s nowhere to go. The zombies from before had already traveled halfway up the hill. As I’m looking over, I notice the grill still tied to the rope. I sprint over. “Alex, what’re you doing?!” Jasper yells. I don’t respond, untie to rope and  hold the grill with both hands. A zombie lunges at me from behind. I step back and whack it, looking at Connor and Jasper to let them understand. More zombies. Crap. One bears it’s teeth, moaning loudly. I slam it in the face. I don’t know if the car grill is efficient enough, but I’m keeping them from killing me, that’s for sure. I run back to Connor and Jasper. Connor has a block of wood and Jasper has a rock, mimicking my attacks. I attempt to round-house kick a zombie, and have Connor kill it some more using his 7 by 10 piece of wood. Jasper chucks a rock at a zombie’s chest, knocking it to the ground. We hear a rumble, and soon the sound of rock cracking. I pace over to the rumbling noise, avoiding each attack from a zombie. A crack splits through the road, taking a few zombies in with it. I almost fall in, trying to balance on the uneven road. I can’t see the bottom of the trench, it’s just darkness. I become unaware I’m at the edge of the cliff, and I get shoved in.