Chapter 2: Drive, Baby, Drive

Katherine only had a learner's permit to drive, but she knew the back roads in Callings that CEDA hadn't touched yet. There weren't many agents, as the infection had only spread to a few people at this point. But more agents were on their way, as the Infected increased. She sped down the dark roads, doing more than seventy, while Audrey sat in the passenger seat, humming some rock tune. Killy didn't pay attention. She was thinking about the man she'd seen in the shadows on the way down to the parking lot. He had a hood over his head, as if the dim late-afternoon light hurt his eyes. He had said nothing to the girls, but Killy did not trust him. She'd pushed Audrey along until the protesting girl started to swear, then threw her duffel bags in the back seat and slammed the doors shut. "Figure out where the hell we're going, Aud," she'd muttered. "I have no clue where Griffin is."

Audrey withdrew the maps from the glove compartment just as Killy threw the pickmeup into reverse and raced out of the Shady Motel parking lot. She paused only long enough to shift forward, when she noticed the man in the hoodie. He was crouched, honest-to-God crouched, on the railing overlooking the parking lot, like some sort of cat! Unnerved, she drove off, ignoring the honking as she cut off some dumbass in a Prius. But the thought still ranked with her, two hours later, sixty miles away from Callings. Christ I need a smoke, she thought, scowling to herself, and then remembered that all that good shit was gone. Even the booze was gone.

Shit.

For a moment, a sudden vision to came to her. Sitting in a little room, all on her own, drinking herself silly. Ah now that sounded nice. If only little rooms were safe. If only booze was safe. But she didn't even have one damn beer left. Not one. This was going to be a sober trip to Georgia unless she could find a friend willing to help her out. And usually she could find a few rule-breakers in every town.

"Hey, Aud?"

The humming stopped. "Yeah?"

"Check the goddamn box in the back."

"It's empty, Killy, I checked yesterday."

"Check the thing again dammit."

"Killy-"

"Check it again, Aud!" Her temper was definitely fraying. The glowing red needle on the speedometer rose to eighty. Audrey clicked her tongue and looked in the black metal box. It was empty, just like she knew it would be.

"It's empty, Killy. Like I said." "Fuck!" She pounded the wheel with a fist, but the speedometer sank down to sixty-five. Audrey relaxed, slightly, relieved they hadn't crashed. Killy grinned, and twitched strands of hair away from her face. "We're gonna go find a friend, Audrey. A good friend."

Audrey understood.

Killy checked in to a cheap motel and paid in cash, for two nights as before. This one was called the Cleric, a rather funky name for a hotel. They were in Pennsylvania still, but hell, they were getting closer. Audrey stayed in the room, listening to the television, while Killy Denton went off to find dinner and dessert. They had agreed it was easier this way, to prevent any bitches from stealing their shit. It was safe here, at least. There weren't any CEDA agents here. For now, there was the little window overlooking the parking lot and space number 87, which was their room number. Audrey glanced at the clock. It was 7:40 PM. Killy left at 7:00 exactly to go find food and other things. She groaned quietly. God DAMN I'm hungry. She slipped off the bed and turned off the TV. There was utter silence in the motel room. The thrum of passing traffic out on the highway pressed against her eardrums, making her wince. I'll just . . . I'll just write in my journal. That's what I'll do. I'll write until Killy comes back. Then we'll eat pizza and have ice cream or whatever and sleep till early tomorrow. Then we're going to Griffin and we're going to have fun at a Midnight Riders concert. Maybe even get laid on the way. Yeah, that would be nice. Laid like . . . Well fuck who am I kidding just like Killy.

So absorbed Audrey was in thinking of such things that she never noticed the dark-blue pickup screech into the lot, a blue cloud bubbling out of its exhaust. She never saw the dark figure stagger up the stairs at a run, nor heard the pounding of footsteps on the floorboards. She did, however, hear the huge SMASH as a large object collided with the solid door, making the whole room shake. Audrey let loose a thin scream. "Who's there?" she yelled.

"OPEN THE MOTHERFUCKING DOOR AUDREY!" roared the voice. She recognized that voice, and ran to open the door. She wrenched it open, caught it in the chain, and swore vigorously. "Hurry!" cried the voice. "HURRY!"

"I'm sorry, Killy!" she screamed back. She tore the chain out and yanked open the door to reveal a blood-soaked blonde woman, bearing a bottle of Jack Daniels in her sweatshirt pocket, gleaming in the light. Vaguely it came to Audrey that the other shit- the good shit- was in the black box in the back of the truck. "What's wrong?" "Take the booze," she ordered, handing Aud the bottle. "There's more in the truck I just forgot to take it out of my pocket." She yanked the handles of the duffle. "Get your laptop now."

"Why?" shouted Audrey. "What's going on?"

"Hurry up you dumb bitch," said Killy flatly, yanking her gun out of the bag and flicking off the safety. "I got the food. Just hurry the fuck up."

Bewildered and hurt, Audrey pulled her laptop and cord out of the drawer. She didn't bother shutting it, just turned and fled. Meanwhile, screams were echoing through the dark night, and gunfire. "What's going ON!" she yelled.

"It doesn't matter!" roared Killy, yanking the back of the girl's black shirt. A huge hole opened in the back of the cloth, but Killy didn't seem to care. Audrey, half choking on her fear, raced down the hallways, hearing the roar of approaching doom, wondering when it all had turned into a clusterfuck.

~(!)~

Several hours before:

Katherine cruised the streets at twenty miles per hour, taking her time, blue eyes searching for a friend. She saw two men lounging outside the liquor store, smoking cigarettes. One wore a blue fedora cocked at a rakish angle; his thin, stringy blond hair hanging around his face. Killy grinned. Perfect.

Carefully she parked and locked the truck, then stepped out into the chilly night. As soon as one combat-booted foot touched the concrete, the mens' heads popped up. The man in the blue fedora grimaced as he took a deep drag of his cigarette. "Denton."

"You almost looked surprised, Thad," she responded, hands in her pockets.

"I thought you were in jail with Colin and Ciara," he said easily, ignoring his friend's quick bark of laughter.

Killy's eyebrow lifted. "They're in jail?"

"Yeah. Cops raided Colin's apartment two weeks ago. Ten people arrested, and some poor bastard who'd just been there to ask Colin to borrow a wrench. They refused to believe the guy wasn't there to buy."

Killy groaned. "You wouldn't happen to know if Jayjay still has stock would ya?"

Thad shrugged and flicked out his cigarette. "Yeah he does. Hurry though, he's running out fast."

Killy shook her head. "Good old JayJay. Always outta stock."

Thad frowned and blew his hair out of his face. Cigarette smoke drifted into Killy's nose, the familiar scent making her smirk. But Thad wasn't in a smirking mood. "His supplier has the Green Flu, girl," he said sternly. "Actually both of them do. Colin was sick when he got raided. He's in the prison's hospital infirmary. Anyway, JayJay's back in his old place. Cops don't go there no more."

"Is Ciara okay?"

This time, Thad's friend shifted on his feet and dropped his cigarette in the convenient disposal that stood outside the store's main door. "Ciara's dead," he said shortly. "She had the Flu bad. Turned into like one of those zombies so they had to euthanize her or whatever they call it."

Killy felt like she'd been punched. "Ciara's dead? For real?"

Thad's friend nodded. "I was at Mercy with my girl, and they brought in Ciara, and she was twisting around in her bed and I knew she was zombiefied already. Then they brought her downstairs on the elevator. That's where they took Chloe, my girl, when she started snarling and growling and trying to kill me. JayJay's healthy as an ox though, and will sell to anyone with cash." Killy frowned. "Sorry about that, man. Anyway, you wouldn't happen to be able to get me a couple bottles . . . .?"

Thad nodded and twitched his fedora in a kind of jerky salute. "To business, then, young Denton."

Twenty minutes later five bottles of Jack, two bottles of vodka, and three cases of beer were packed into the backseat of the pickup, which was parked behind the store where there were no cameras. Killy drove away after giving both men a friendly hug and an extra twenty for themselves. As she drove, she thought briefly of the last time she'd seen Thad. Before the Flu. Perhaps some small part of her had taken note of how muffled his voice had sounded, of how he kept pausing to catch his breath or cough into his sleeve. Perhaps his friend (whose name was Max) had also known, for he shifted away from Thad every time he coughed. Killy knew deep in her heart that Thad was sick. He had the Green Flu, and while Max had seemed well, she knew it was probably just a matter of time. Thad would join Ciara and Colin and Max's girl Chloe. He was doomed to suffer the same fate and spend the rest of his days wandering around like a lost soul, until starvation or injury led to his eventual death, a death he wouldn't even be aware of until his fever-damaged brain shut down for good.

As she drove to JayJay's apartment, Killy Denton said a brief prayer for the first time in ten years, praying to God to help the two young men.

She never saw Max or Thad again.

JayJay wasn't in his first floor apartment. He was in the alley outside of it, hanging with four friends and their girls. They were all piled onto an old couch, smoking cigarettes and talking. She parked in the lot and walked down to them, touching the knife in her pocket. She didn't trust JayJay, not as much as she used to. He was a tall, skinny guy with a lot of secrets, and during the brief time they were together, two years ago, she had learned more than she cared to about his dealers and his agreements with the landlord. He knew a little something about everyone, and worse, he knew things about Killy.

They did their business quietly and totally at leisure, eyes open for cops. By the time four hundred dollars had vanished into his ratty jacket and a Ziploc bag had vanished into Killy's, the sun was starting to drift toward the horizon again, and two of the couples had gone off, leaving only John, his girl Laurie, and two Killy didn't recognize. But she did recognize the look of vacancy on their faces. Only Laurie, however, seemed to be sick out of all six people present.

"Is anyone guarding your shit?" Killy asked in an undertone, glancing at some old man who passed the mouth of the alley with a trash bag.

"Roy and Steven are in there having a threeway with Roy's girlfriend," said JayJay dismissively, lighting another cigarette. "They're watching in between banging."

Killy frowned. "I totally didn't need to know that. It's gross."

"You're not a virgin, shut up," responded JayJay, in a voice only she could hear. "I know we didn't get to threeways, but . . . ."

"Shut up-"

Suddenly there was a huge bang, a shriek, and an inhuman roar. Instinctively JayJay threw himself at Killy, pulling her down and away from the wall. The roar had come from behind him, behind the brick wall. It was startlingly loud. Quite abruptly Killy realized that there had been a window above the couch, but there was no longer. Glittering daggers of broken glass lay scattered all about the pavement, and the couple who had been sitting on the couch leaped up and dashed off, shouting. Laurie, sitting beside the couch, screamed; John hauled her upward and shoved her in the opposite direction of the unnamed couple, down toward the parking lot. "What the fuck is up with you assholes?" roared Killy through the window. "Fucking doesn't make THAT much noise!"

Then she noticed the wall.

It was moving.

In time to the three muffled smashing noises she heard, the bricks in the wall trembled and began to fall. She howled, holding JayJay's hand tightly. John and Laurie paused, eyes wide with hysterical fear. There was a silence save for the noise of heavy breathing.

"The fuck?" whispered JayJay.

Then the wall imploded.

Flying chunks of brick all around her, Killy dropped to the ground, shouting, never letting go of JayJay. Through the hole she had one tiny glimpse of the apartment she used to know so well, and the bed she had slept in for over a year, and then it was blocked by a monster.

If any of her worst nightmares ever came true, none of them would match the extremity of this one. The creature was a mass of muscle in human form, its skin crimson and mottled with sores, face almost buried in its shoulder muscles. Huddled beneath its bulk were the bodies of three people who had obviously been crushed by the huge monster's fists, which were caked with blood, bone, and brains. Killy had a second to think of a killer ape before she threw up harshly and dashed off, shrieking, disoriented by a brick to the head, JayJay trailing behind her. Laurie and John were also screaming, and the monster was roaring, swaying unsteadily as it lumbered after them. It seemed to be using its fists to run like the apes did, but that was preposterous. No human had arms that long! And yet here it was, a freakish nightmare come to life, and it was chasing them.

"HURRY UP YOU FUCKS," roared Killy, shoving Laurie hard. The girl was lagging badly, gasping for air, unused to running this fast. Killy pulled Laurie up onto her shoulder. "JOHN! GO FASTER DAMMIT!" "That thing killed Marinda!" Laurie was wailing, pounding her fists on Killy's back. "It killed Roy and Steven! What is it oh my God what IS IT?"

Killy resisted the urge to groan and compensated with a burst of speed. JayJay was slightly in front of her, John slightly behind. The monster was stumbling, unsteady on its feet, overdeveloped arms swinging ponderously around and impeding its progress. Its roars, however, were not in the least bit muted. It had cleared the couch without much effort and was lumbering after them, breathing hard, snarling, eyes filled with merciless rage. It would catch them, and it would murder them.

The alleyway had never seemed so long before.

To give credit to John, there had always been a seed of courage blooming in him, suppressed but real, and it was this courage he drew upon halfway down the alley. He stopped, whipped around, and threw a broken beer bottle at the thing. The glass was only strong enough to produce tiny nicks on its skin, but the thing paused, glared at John, and continued running. John stood his ground, though his legs were trembling.

"JOHN!" shrieked Laurie, deafening Killy in one ear. Killy slid to a stop and whirled around. "What are you doing?"

"Buying you guys time!" he yelled, pulling out a gun from his pocket. He aimed and with trembling hands pulled the trigger twice. The first bullet missed, but the second one clipped the monster's knee. It snarled and seized a trash bin from the pavement. John stood firm, firing again, but the can sailed through the air and slammed into John with crushing force. The gun flew out of his hand and skittered across the concrete, coming to a rest not fifty feet from Killy's pickup. Such a short distance, but terror made it seem like a thousand miles.

"RUN!" shrieked John, as the monster bore down upon him. Its huge fists crushed the ground to either side of him, creating splits in the pavement.

"NO! JOHN!" weeping hysterically, Laurie beat at Killy's back. "LET ME GO!" "Numb cunt," muttered JayJay under his breath, turning away. "Hurry up Denton! We gotta get outta here!"

Killy opened her mouth to make a sharp reply, but a huge weight pushed her off her feet. Stars winked in front of her eyes, and blood filled her mouth. Laurie began to scream again, but Killy didn't feel her nearby. She had somehow managed to roll away with a surprising amount of agility when Killy hit the ground. Then a hand touched her face, and Killy screamed. John lay above her, eyes wide in his ruined face, blood pouring out of the back of his shattered skull. Shuddering in revulsion, she threw off the body and stood up, not wanting to look at the huge crimson spot marring the brick wall to her side. Sickening images of his broken body slamming into the wall, splitting open his head, his brains splattering everywhere, made her puke again. The tank-like monster beat its chest and picked up another garbage can, aiming this time for Killy. It was less than ten feet away. She saw nothing but hate in its eyes. The feeling of impending death washed over her. She closed her eyes.

BANG! The beast dropped the can, roaring in agony. Hot blood splashed against the pavement by Killy's feet. Her eyes flew open. One monstrous hand clamped over its eye, the tank monster thrashed around and tripped over the can it had dropped. Killy whirled around. Laurie's car was gone, but JayJay still stood at the mouth of the alleyway, holding John's gun. His face was pale and his eyes full of terror, but his mouth was firm and resolute. "GO NOW!" he yelled at Killy, firing again and catching the zombie in the throat. "GO!"

"I ain't leaving you!" Killy screamed back. "That thing'll kill you!"

"GO NOW DENTON! HURRY!"

Weeping, unaware of her tears, Killy turned away and dashed for the truck, hearing JayJay fire a third time. She didn't turn around even when the beast growled, and JayJay cried out. He fired once more, his last bullet, as Killy leaped into the car and peeled out of the parking lot. Alarms started to sound all around her, as cops made their way to the scene, but by then, Killy was already out on the street and halfway to the Cleric Motel, speeding well over eighty miles per hour. By the time she arrived there, she had Jack Daniels in her veins and enough weed to calm her down enough to face Audrey. But hysteria was overtaking her despite this, and she raced up the stairs, shoving past a young woman and her baby, and threw herself at the motel room door.

She heard a scream from inside, and pattering feet. "Who's there?" Audrey yelled.

"OPEN THE MOTHERFUCKING DOOR AUDREY!" Killy roared back. There was the sound of scrabbling at the chain. "Hurry!" Killy cried, wiping her reddened eyes on her sleeve. "HURRY!"

"I'm sorry, Killy!" Audrey screamed. Finally the door came open, Audrey's dark face full of fear, and Killy shoved past her, her heart pounding. She looked around the room. Thankfully, all the stuff they had brought was still in the duffel bags. "Take the booze," she ordered, handing Aud the bottle. "There's more in the truck I just forgot to take it out of my pocket." She seized her own bag and rifled around. "Get your laptop now."

"Why?" shouted Audrey. "What's going on?"

"Hurry up you dumb bitch," said Killy flatly, anger and fear making her sharp. She finally found the gun and wrenched it out, jamming it in her pocket. I need to get a better gun, she thought wildly. Out loud she said, "I got the food. Just hurry the fuck up."

Looking hurt, Audrey ran to the drawer. Killy zipped back up her bag and shouldered it. By the time she turned around Audrey was standing awkwardly, bag in hand, looking frightened. She too heard the screams and sirens from JayJay's apartment. "What's going ON!" Audrey yelled.

"It doesn't matter!" roared Killy, yanking the back of the girl's black shirt. It ripped, but Killy didn't care. She hauled the girl by the scruff of the neck toward the door until Audrey began to squirm. The girl raced after her as Killy pounded down the stairs, holding her gun, scared that this was the end. She caught Audrey when she stumbled on the stairs, then half-carried her to the car. "We gotta hurry," she muttered.

"WHY?" shrieked Audrey.

"SHUT UP," Killy roared back, and threw the car into reverse. With a squeal of tires, the blue pickup shot out of the parking lot, Killy behind the wheel, still muttering, mind whirling.

Meanwhile, Audrey was swearing. "What's going on? Holy shit look out!" A siren and a honk sounded behind them. "Jesus Christ Killy you almost hit a cop! Why isn't he coming after us?"

"He'll be busy soon enough," muttered Killy, swinging onto the highway. "Too busy to deal with us."

And as the sirens ran on and on, the screams of the murdered rang in her ears, and she slowly succumbed to insanity.

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