Final Hours

Chapter One

    "Come on let's move!" Shouts came from the car behind me, cars were honking while people were getting out of their cars.
     We waited on the officials to let us through and open the border to the safe zone. I leaned the passenger seat back and stared at the car ceiling.

     My heart was racing and I just wanted out of this traffic. The driver door opened in a hurry and I turned my head to face it.
     "It's not happening." Christian said angrily, dropping his phone into the car seat.
    "What do you mean not happening?" I said sitting the seat up and looking at him. He crouched down putting his head in his hands and looking up at me.

    "They said turn back, they aint got any room left." He said standing up. He closed the door and leaned against the side of the car, I grabbed his phone and fumbled with the seat belt opening my door and leaving.
     "So what do we do?" I said crossing the front of the car to stand next to him. I sat on the hood of the car overlooking the city of Atlanta. The lights of the buildings illuminated the night sky, not a star in sight.

     "I'll call mom and dad, I'll see if they've left the house yet maybe I can tell them to head back." He said, taking his phone from my hand.
    "Okay but what do we do Chris? We're stuck in miles of traffic with nowhere to go but backwards and backwards isn't possible right now." I said getting a little agitated.
    "Hey don't get an attitude with me. I'm just as upset as you are." He said holding the phone up to his ear. I rolled my eyes and looked back at the city, helicopters passed over us and flying over the city spotlight showing on buildings and streets.

    "Hey what are they doing." I said pointing at the city.
    "Moms not picking up." Christian said ignoring me and dialing our father.
     "Chris...Chris!" I said looking up as fighter jets flew over us loud and shaking the earth.
     "What the hell!" Chris shouted as he looked over at the city. A loud earth rattling boom came from the city in front of us and we all watched in horror.

     "Oh my god they're Napalming the city!" Chris shouted as people screamed in horror and stared at the city. The red and orange flames eating the city as buildings took bomb after bomb. The ground shook beneath us and I felt the heat of the flames from the road I stood on.

     I heard kids screaming and their mothers crying out in terror.
    "Get in the car." Chris said, grabbing the door handle. "Jennifer, get in the car now!" He said shaking my arm to snap me out of my trance. I ran over to the other side of the jeep and climbed into my seat. Chris rolled his window up as we sat in horror like everybody else.

     Chris turned on the car and detoured up the grassy woods beside us. The car bumped and jerked around, I tried to steady myself as I messed with the radio turning it from static station to static station like it was an endless loop.
     "Virus...outbreak...stay- inside...CDC...Military." The radio was cutting out too much to get full sentences and it slowly turned to static.

    "That doesn't explain why they bombed the city!" Chris said frantically as he maneuvered through the rough trails.
    "Jesus." I said bumping in the seat holding onto my seatbelt.
     "Well we're on a bike trail and this definitely isn't the most off-road jeep." Chris snapped back at me. I could tell he was as stressed and confused as me.

     "My friend John's summer cabin isn't far from this main road we biked here a lot. I'm taking us there." Chris said, calming his tone. His knuckles were white around the steering wheel. I sat back against the car seat, I felt overwhelmed and I could feel tears welling in my eyes.

     "Chris...I'm scared." I said looking over at him. He looked away for one second to look at me, he wiped a tear off my cheek and placed his hand on my thigh.    
     "We're gonna be just fine ok, it's just a disease...we'll meet up with mom and dad tomorrow I'll call them when we get to the cabin." He said with that reassuring smile.

       I smiled back but I couldn't help but feel empty and my stomach felt off. I looked back at the road just barely catching a glimpse of a dark silhouette.

      "Chris stop!" I screamed, he looked at the road and slammed on the brakes hitting the figure and sending it over the roof. I screamed and he stopped the car opening the door and running over to it.
      "Stay there!" He yelled at me, the darkness of the woods barely illuminated by the headlights. "I hit a man! Oh my god I hit a man!" Chris yelled. My heart stopped as I whirled around in my seat staring at him over the lifeless corpse.

      "What the hell!" He jumped back, falling on his back and scooting away from the corpse as it grasped at the air, grabbing at leaves and twigs to come near him. He kicked at it, hitting it in the head real hard. "Die already!" He screamed, grabbing a rock and hitting it in the head. The corpse stopped moving and my brother scrambled to his feet running back to the car and slamming the door.

      His shirt was covered in blood and his shoes left black red stains on the ground of the car. He was shaken as he sat up straight.
     "This is no damn disease we're dealing with." He said looking blankly in front of him. "This is a god damn apocalypse."