DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING BUT MYSELF!
The roar of the truck's engine brought no comfort in the silent, foggy night. Gas cans rattled in the back of the truck, and the small, three horse trailer creaked behind her as she crawled down the road at an agonizingly slow pace. She silently thanked God that she knew the roads as well as she did. The fog was so thick in places she couldn't have been able to see more than a foot in front of her, and her imagination ran wild. Pressing the buttons on the radio, she attempted to find a station that wasn't playing the infinite loop of that irritating warning.
"…there is no known cure for this virus at the time. Should you come across an infected individual, do not engage. If you or a loved one becomes infected, seek help immediately at the nearest hospital. Stay in your homes with the doors and windows barricaded, and wait to receive official instructions. Again, the green flu is not a joke."
The message played over and over ad nauseum. Yes, it was a mistake to do what she had done, but it was better than sitting around waiting for "official instructions."
"Kill all sons of bitches." She said with a grin, quoting her favorite game. "that's my official orders." Pulling up alongside her destination, she grabbed one of several swords she had stuffed in the back seat of her truck. She raced through the thick fog to her best friend's garage door, and punching in the code. She was surprised when she wasn't immediately swarmed by those that were infected by the virus. She lowered the door behind her and entered the house, quickly shutting off the alarm. It was times like these that made her glad they shared everything. She ran straight to her friend's room, and shook her awake.
"What are you doing over here?" the sleepy girl asked, bewildered.
"Get Colt, we're leaving."
"What's going on? Why are we leaving? And why the hell do you have a sword with you?"
"I'll explain later. For now I need to know what kind of trailer you have, and is it enough for my horses, Demagio, and Dakota?"
"Kelly, honey, what are you babbling about? I'm so lost." The first girl, Kelly, sighed realizing that she'd just get confused if she told her.
"Look, just pack some clothes in a bag, do the same for Colten, and get into the gun safe. We'll need dad's guns. All of them. and the ammo. It's bad." A look of panic overtook the second girl. Sure, her best friend/sister was known to carry around a sword if she was spooked, but she'd never seen her like this. Demanding the guns and everything was something that was new.
"Alright. But you better tell me what's going on." Jumping out of bed she began stuffing her clothes into a bag, soon moving to her brother's, being careful not to wake him up. After packing for the two of them, she quickly located the key to her father's gun safe and opened it. Inside was a treasure trove of guns. Everything from a Desert Eagle to an elephant gun lay inside, as well as ammo for all of them. Kelly opened the garage door once again for the move, instructing her friend to move as fast as possible, and put the guns in the back seat.
Ten minutes later they were all packed, and loaded in the car with Colten asleep in the middle of the front seat. Kelly sighed as she realized she couldn't put off telling her friend any longer.
"Lacy…you're going to think I'm nuts, but this is the apocalypse." The truck roared to life as they began to make their way to the small piece of land that Lacy kept her horses and trailer on. "They're saying it has to do with a virus, and that we need to wait, but they're setting up evac stations everywhere. We've got to get to one before it's too late. I know there's one in Tyler, but it's in the hospital district. There are three in Dallas and one is at Cowboys' Stadium, if we can get there we'll be alright. And if we don't make it, I don't know how far we can go before we have to start riding." Lacy sat there, dumbfounded.
"What have you been smoking?" she said at last. This was about what she had expected.
"Nevermind." As the truck pulled into the drive of the house at the pasture, Kelly looked over Lacy's trailer. It would fit six horses, and it had a large living quarters. It was exactly what she had been hoping for. Stopping the truck, the girls franticly bailed out to unload the horses in the trailer, and prepare for the switch. Lacy's feet hardly touched the ground as she ran to the bed of the pickup and climbed into it. Her hands shook as she unhooked the drag chains, clipping them to the small bar in the lip of the gooseneck. She tried to calm her breathing when she heard Kelly unloading her three horses. She stashed the electrical hookup under the gooseneck as well. As she bailed out of the bed she saw Kelly frantically trying to catch Dakota. She didn't think as the truck groaned and creaked with every turn of the large handle that lifted the trailer. Once it was lifted enough to clear the tail gate, Lacy jumped into the truck and slowly drove to her trailer, backing the truck perfectly. In the pasture, Kelly caught Demagio, and was bringing him up to tie with the others. It didn't take near as long to hook up the trailer as it did to unhook, and in no time they were loading the horses in the order they had all but memorized. Dakota, Outlaw, Gator, Foxy, Demagio. They had hauled too many places not to remember who had to be by who, who had to be first, and who just didn't care.
" I think that was a record!" Kelly said, jumping back into the truck and pulling into the driveway.
" I think you're right." Lacy laughed. It was funny, when they thought about it. Normally it would have taken them hours to do anything, but it had only taken them a good twenty minutes this time. Kelly easily drove the roads she knew so well, intending only to make one more stop before she headed for Dallas. " where are you going?" she asked as her friend turned out onto Highway 69.
" Aubrey's. you know how many guns they have." Kelly informed her. So far they had been lucky, and the eerie howls and screams of the horde had been behind them. The girls shared a grin as they pulled into the exclusive neighborhood. The neighborhood the third girl lived in was an expensive, might-as-well-be-gated community and seeing the giant trailer drive though it would have caused most of the residents to call the homeowner's association. They left the truck running as they jumped out, immediately going to the back gate of the property. As they expected, the resident dog sounded the alarm, telling the girl upstairs that someone was there.
Aubrey was not amused. The dog in the back yard wouldn't shut up, and that irritating pebble on the window noise was louder than usual. That, combined with the infinite loop of a warning message blaring downstairs made going back to sleep impossible. Grumbling, she rolled over to look at the clock, and nearly swore when she saw the bright red display. Two in the morning. That was just wonderful. Whoever had decided to creep into her back yard and stir up her dog was going to get a face full of lead. End of story. Hopping down from her bed she fished around under it until she found what she was looking for. Pulling the small, black case out, she opened it and clutched her rifle, an almost evil grin spreading across her face. Darting to her closet, she pulled the backpack she kept in there, easily finding ammunition for the gun. When she was armed and ready, she crept downstairs, turning her security system off, and entered her back yard.
"Don't. Move." She growled, pointing her gun at the intruders.
"Hi. We need you to get all the guns and ammo you can and come with us. " Recognizing her friends, she let her gun point to the ground. At that point, there was only one thought going through her mind.
"Who is the poor soul that has managed to incur your wrath?" she asked, staring at them. Kelly with a gun was bad. Lacy with one was worse, but both of them? someone was going to die. No questions asked.
"…zombies." Kelly answered.
"What the hell are you on?" Aubrey asked, her friend smacking her face with the palm of her hand.
"Nothing! I'm on nothing, I'm smoking nothing, it's the zombie frickin' apocalypse!"
"you're so lucky it's two o' clock in the morning. Otherwise I don't think I'd believe you." Not exactly sure why she was all of a sudden inclined to believe her half-delusional friend, she motioned for the two to follow her into the house. She told them where they could find things like the handguns and the Uzi, then proceeded to open the gun cabinet, taking out what was in there while the other two made short work of raiding guns and ammo. "Let's go. It's not all of the guns, but I need to leave something for my family to use if this really is the zombie apocalypse." Aubrey walked over and re-armed the security system before opening the back door, all three of them running to the truck as fast as possible. As soon as they had put the guns in the trailer's living quarters, they piled in the truck. "One thing…We need to go by Deramus. I'm not leaving Doc. I know you have room for one more."
"Just tell me the way. We'll go to Duramus then Dallas. I'm not going to attempt evacuating at the hospital district and there's an evac at Love Field, so maybe we could get the horses out too.
"Can we get Clint, too?" Lacy asked.
"Yes, we'll get your fiancé too, don't worry. For now, let's just get the horse and get out." Kelly replied.
"one more question. Are these Dawn of the Dead zombies? Or are we talking Resident Evil or Left For Dead?" that was a good question. One no one knew the answer to. She had only seen bodies of infected lying around in Jacksonville, so there was no way to tell.
"Guess we'll find out." She replied as she pulled out of the neighborhood.