The Long Way
(Chapter 4)
Riley sat in silence listening to the radio as she waited for Josh to return. These so called riots, that the news had been talking about, had spread across the United States and had originated somewhere on the east coast. Many were calling it the end of the world and the fall of the United States. There were also reports that it had spread to Europe and Asia.
Riley fixed her eyes on the rear view mirror.
"Well I guess things have really hit the fan now." She thought to herself. "Josh is taking way too long."
Back inside the house Josh was still struggling to open the safe. If he didn't get the rest of the ammunition there chances of surviving were slim to none. Josh knew what those things outside were. They weren't rioters, they were zombies, something out of horror movies, but none the less they were real.
"Now what the hell is the combination…?"
As Josh tried various combinations he felt something vibrating in his pocket, he had felt before while they were running from the janitor, but had completely forgotten about it. Josh dug into his pocket and pulled out his IPhone. It was his older brother Aza, he had called 12 times, and Josh was stunned he hadn't noticed that he had called so many times.
"Hello?" Josh answered the phone, while continuing to try the safe.
"Josh, where the hell are you?" Aza's deep voice crackled through the phones speaker.
"I'm at the damn house getting ammo for my gun, where the hell are you? Are you ok?"
"Yeah I'm fine" Aza replied, "Listen to me very closely, those things are everywhere especially downtown, do not take the free way and try to avoid the main roads the most you can. Me and my co-workers locked the warehouse down before those things hit town, its safe here, come as fast as you can, we secured the other warehouses next door too. We have guns, ammo and plenty of food. Don't bring anyone who's been bitten and keep a low profile, I'll see you when you get here."
Josh nodded his head. "Hey one question"
"Yeah, what is it?"
"What's the damn combination to the safe?"
"You seriously forgot? It's our birthday months 10,10,7, now hurry the hell up and get down here!"
Josh hung up the phone and entered the combination, the safe clicked open and Josh proceeded to empty the contents of the safe. There were two clips already loaded and a box of 50 5.7x28 hollow points in the safe (the armor piercing rounds were illegal for civilians to own so he had to make do with the hollow points), as well as a few thousand dollars. Josh didn't touch the money, the way he figured it would be useless. He stuffed the clips into his jeans pocket and locked the safe back up with the money inside it. He picked up the box of ammunition and headed for his room. His phones battery was already running low.
"God damn IPhone has the worst battery life, I swear to god"
Josh reached his room and found his charger, just then a sound he didn't want to hear pierced the air.
Riley's eyes locked on the rearview mirror as she saw the first one of the so called "rioters" heading for her in the car. Riley was frozen for what felt like an eternity as she finally got to her sense and did what Josh had instructed her to do. She reached over the driver's seat and smashed her hand down onto the cars horn.
Josh ran as fast as he could down the stairs as he made his way out the front door. Riley saw Josh running towards her with his gun in one hand and a red box in the other. Riley unlocked the doors and Josh threw his things into the backseat.
"Let's get the fuck out of here, I know a safe place" Josh said frantically as he put the Mustang GT into reverse.
He pulled out the drive way and gunned the gas pedal down to the floor. The thing Riley had seen coming was running straight for them.
"Run him over Josh!" Riley screamed
"Hell no, I'm not ruining this car with blood, its white, and it'd be a bitch to clean off" Josh retorted.
He swerved the car around the oncoming zombie and took a sharp right onto the back roads again. Behind them giving chase were what appeared to be hundreds of zombies, more now than there were last time. Josh quickly shifted gears coming to a comfortable cruising speed of 50 mph in 4th gear. He had only had half a tank of gas and getting to the warehouse without using the main roads would take up most of it, especially with his mustangs V8.
"So where is this safe place, you talked about?" Riley asked with a hint of hope in her voice.
"It's just on the outskirts of downtown, it's a big warehouse, they have guns, and food. It's safe, my brother told me so."
"But on the radio it said to avoid the cities, especially downtown, that's where most of the rioters are!" Riley said unsure of the plan that they were now pursuing.
"They're not rioters Riley, they're zombies… ya know the I'm gonna eat you kind, the ones from the movies."
"Well whatever they are, we shouldn't go to where they all are."
"Don't worry, it'll be fine, were just gonna have to stay away from the main roads and take the long way there." Josh said reassuringly.
"What's the place even called?" Riley asked, as she slumped into her seat, staring out the window at the foliage that surrounded the road.
"Guardian" Josh said, as he drove on ahead not breaking concentration on the road. The last thing he'd want would be to crash on this road and have to walk the 25 miles to safety.