With the new addition to their family, Johnny, Natalie, Jen, and Mark sat up late in Mark's livingroom mapping out their route to the next Horseman. Mark and Johnny didn't need to sleep so they sat up later than the other two.
"Well," Johnny said looking at the map he had pulled up on his laptop, "the way I see it the closest Horseman to us is in Albany, New York."
"Yeah, all we gotta do is stay on Interstate 90, heading west." Mark said, tracing the yellow line that represented the highway they would have to take.
And with that they shut down the computer and woke the girls, they walked out to the car. Johnny turned the key and the engine roared. He set the car into reverse and backed out into the street, putting the car in drive he headed toward the highway.
They got up the ramp and onto the roadway, riding along smoothly, it was going to be a three hour ride, but Johnny didn't plan to go as slow as the speed limit told him to so it would be a shorter ride.
Johnny was speeding at a steady speed of 100mph, the highway was clear, no cars, no undead, just the open roadway. Until they got to the Mass/NY border. Johnny slammed on the brakes the car came to a complete stop just an inch behind a VW Buggy. Johnny looked at Mark and they were both thinking the same thing, I just nearly pissed my pants.
The stop was enough to wake the girls and they looked wide awake. There was a huge traffic jam trying to get into New York. Johnny looked out his window and saw a guy next to him. He rolled down his window and yell over to him, "Hey buddy!" the guy looked over at him, "What's goin' on here?"
"Haven't you heard?" The man said, he looked irritable and tired, "New York hasn't been hit by this virus!"
"Really?" Johnny asked.
"Yeah, only problem is, they won't let anyone through!"
"Dammit," Johnny swore, "Thanks, man." he said, rolling his window back up.
"So, what, we can't get into New York?" Jen asked.
"Seems that way." Johnny said.
"Don't be too sure my boy," a male voice said from behind him.
The girls turned toward the middle of them, they let out two screams.
Johnny looked in his rear view, "Jesus Christ!"
"No, not even close, son," Lou said with a wink.
"Lou! What the hell man!"
"Well you seem to be stuck, so I can tell you this, you can make a man do anything you want, you know what to do now yes?"
"Yeah I gue..." but before he could finish Lou was gone and it was just the four of them once again.
"So that was the infamous Lou huh?" Natalie said, clutching her chest.
Johnny nodded, and he looked at the man in front of the gate. He opened the door and walked up to him. The man held his rifle at the ready.
Johnny put his hands up, "Whoa buddy, I'm not gunna do anything! I just wanted to know if I could go through with my friends." he said gesturing toward the Cadillac.
The guard snorted, "What make you think I would let four teenagers in when I wouldn't let anyone else in?"
Johnny snapped his fingers, and the guard seemed to go into some kind of trace. Johnny looked at the man and said, "You are going to let us through, got it?"
The guard nodded and said in a spacey kinda way, "I am going to let you though."
Johnny walked back to the car and pulled up to the gate, it opened just long enough for him to pull through and then it shut again. He heard horns blaring and people yelling. He looked in his side mirror and saw the guy that help him out, he was being eaten by his wife, he was glad he didn't ask for everyone to go through.
Johnny look up and saw a sign that said, Albany next right.
Almost there, he thought.
Katie Smith was a 19 year old girl who lived in Albany, NY. She was having a difficult time with her life right now, first she catches her bestfriend and her boyfriend making out in her bedroom then she finds out that while away on a business trip her father was bitten by some maniac. He was on his way home now, his plane would land in 5 minutes, her mother went to wait for him. It was 3 in the morning and she sat up late, typing up an economics paper, when the screen when black.
"No," she said, "no, no, NO, NO!" he hit the enter button a million times, then tried to turn the computer back on, it wouldn't turn on. Then there came a voice, from right behind her.
"Katie," it wheezed. Katie turned to see and old man who looked like he hadn't eaten in years.
"Who are you?" She asked, frightened.
"To the world I am known as Famine," the old man said.
"You mean like... like the Apocalyptic Horseman?" Katie asked.
"Yes, the very one," Famine wheezed, "I am afraid I am no longer able to go on, and you have been chosen to be my replacement."
"M-me?" Katie asked, "why me?"
"Who knows, these things are chosen at random my dear girl. But all I know is you are to be my replacement. I can teach you all of my abilities, and you will help Death and War stop Pestilence."
"Wait wait wait, Death? War? Pestilence? What's going on! It can't be the end of the world!"
"But it is Katie," the old man snapped his arthritic fingers and the T.V turned on, showing Washington D.C, being over run by savage undead monsters. "And you must help stop it."
"I don't believe it," Katie said, feeling light headed and falling back into her chair.
"Believe girl, now we must train you so I may rest."
"I'm not gunna look... like you am I?" She asked.
"No, no. Not for another few millennium. And now we train!"
Johnny drove around and around, but there was no sign of anything to do with Famine or Pestilence. They were almost ready to give up when Mark and Johnny felt an odd pain in the back of their heads.
Johnny turned to Mark, "Did you feel that?"
Mark nodded, "I think I know where we need to go."
"Me too," Johnny said, he put the car back in gear and sped toward a house on Washington Ave. They pulled up to their destination, knowing they had reached the right place at once. There were locusts flying all over the house. They went to the door and rang the bell. The door seemed to open on it's own, they went inside and looked around. The girls stayed back in the car, but the two horsemen went inside to find Famine.
"Hello?" Johnny called, "Anyone home?"
Just then a cloud of locusts attacked the two boys. Mark screamed like a little girl and waved his hands around like a mad man and ran out of the house crying. Johnny on the other hand just snapped his fingers and the locusts fell, dead.
"Hey!" came a female voice from the room to Johnny's left. "What'd you do that for!"
Johnny turned to see who was talking to him, she was beautiful, you know, minus the locusts buzzing around her.
"Um, hi," Johnny said awkwardly, "I, uh, I am Johnny Larson, I'm... Death."
Sudden realization seemed to spread across the girl's face, "Oh!" she said, "Oh you're... you're the guy that Famine told me about!" She blushed, and stuck out her hand to shake. Johnny took her hand and shook.
"Listen we don't have much time before the whole world is overrun by undead creeps, we need to find Pestilence... and I know where we have to go. So, maybe you should just go on up and pack or whatever and meet us out at the car."
"Oh I already packed," the girl said, and with a snap of her fingers a cloud of locusts came swarming down the stairs with a suitcase.
"Oh, well, er, lets go then!" Johnny said awkwardly, he couldn't tell what it was about this girl but something about her made him feel awkward.
They headed out toward the bridge leading out of the city, where there was a flash of light, and a man was standing in the middle of the road. Johnny slammed on his brakes and he came to a stop mere inches from the man, who didn't even blink. They all got out of the car and Johnny walked up to the man.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing, man?" He shouted.
The man turned his head to look at Johnny, he said, "Do not shout Johnathan."
Johnny was surprised to hear his name come from a stranger. "How do you know my name?" He asked bewildered.
"Why Johnathan, I should you would recognize me, after all you met my former counter part and we have the same sense of fashion."
Johnny was completely clueless, former counter part, fashion. He didn't know anyone that wore clothes like that, except...
"You're God," Johnny said with sudden realization.
The man inclined his head. Everyone stared with awe at the creator of all that was around them.
"Listen," God said, "you cannot go to Pestilence."
"What?" Johnny asked, "Why?"
"Because it is a trap, set by Lucifer. He wants the four horsemen to be together so that he can take them out."
"But, he told me he wanted this apocalypse to end."
"And you believed him? So easily?" At this, Johnny blushed, he never once thought it may be a trap set by the devil himself.
"Why does he need us all together?" Katie asked.
"I am not sure, he is blocking me out so I cannot see what he is up to. All I know is, it is a trap. You must stay away from Dover, Delaware my boy." There was another flash, and he was gone.
"So what do we do now, Johnny?" Jen asked, a worried look on her face.
"We do as he said," Johnny said simply, "We stay away from Delaware."
And with that they all got back into the Cadillac and left New York, but not the way the had originally planned. They were headed for the opposite side of the country, they were going to L.A.