I had fallen asleep slumped against the cool window and when I woke up it was dark again. "How long was I out? What time is it?" I asked rubbing my face.
"It's about nine." Ruff answered me. I looked into the back seat were Devin and the girl were. The girl was staring out the window with blank eyes while Devin had his forehead smashed against the window with his mouth wide open. "Hey Ruff do you have a pen or a marker or something?" I asked grinning at the unsuspecting Devin. I had it all planned out. Devin was going to wake up with a uni brow and a funny guy mustache.
"Look at that we made it." Ruff ignored me and pointed at another road sign. "We're in Texas."
I looked at the green sign that was lit up by the truck's headlights. It had the Texan Flag and said "Welcome to The Lone Star State."
"It's about time." I sighed. "It'll probably take until morning to reach Abilene. Aren't you tired? You've been driving all day."
"I'm fine." Ruff grunted. "We might need to pull over a little later for more gas."
"You remember what happened last time we did that? We were almost killed."
"Well would you rather stop at a gas station and almost get killed or walk the rest of the way and defiantly get killed?" Ruff pointed out.
"Yeah, you're right." I agreed. I glanced back at Devin and the girl. Abilene was my hometown. It wasn't nearly as big as Dallas or Fort Worth but it sure wasn't small. The probability of my mom still being alive was slim to none. I knew this, but I tried not to dwell on it. "This place is probably going to be packed with zombies."
"We'll see. Hopefully most of them left in search of bigger cities." Ruff grunted. He was just trying to make me feel better and I appreciated that. I rubbed my red and swollen eyes and a split second later I felt the truck jerk to the side and then all I saw was black.
"What the hell?" Devin groaned loudly. I opened my eyes and noticed something was immediately wrong. Ruff wasn't moving and we were upside down. "The truck has flipped over." The little girl answered back.
"No shit!" Devin growled. "Is everyone alright?"
"Ruff isn't moving." I said as I unbuckled and lowered myself carefully. "Ruff? Ruff wake up!" I slapped his face lightly. This is not good. I need Ruff and his one hand.
"What happened? How did we flip over?" Devin unbuckled and crawled over to Ruff as well.
"I'm not sure I wasn't watching the road." I answered turning back to Ruff's body. "Ruff!"
"Jen that's not going to get him up." Devin announced pushing me back slightly. "We need to get out of here."
What is Devin's problem? Can he not see that it is pitch dark outside? "I'm not getting out of the truck even if it is flipped over." I shot back defiantly. "I'm staying in here with Ruff."
Just then the windshield cracked loudly. "Jen the glass is going to shatter any second now we have to get out of here!" Devin shouted turning back around to help the girl.
"I'm not leaving Ruff!" I shouted back.
"Jen Ruff is DEAD!"
"He is not dead!" I roared as the glass began to show tiny cracks resembling spider webs.
"GET OUT OF THE TRUCK NOW!" Devin screamed at me again.
"Not without Ruff!"
"Jen get out of the truck." Ruff growled.
Holy crap I was right Ruff was alive! Take that Devin you stupid know it all!
"Jen!" Devin was still yelling at me as he climbed out of the truck after the little girl who was already standing on the pavement. Ruff kicked his way out of the door and then reached back in to pull me out by my arms.
"I could have done that by myself!" I hollered as Ruff set me down. The glass completely shattered a second later. I ducked my head instinctively. When I looked up again Ruff was looking at me with a smirk, his arms folded securely across his chest. "But-uh-thanks anyway buddy." I added sheepishly dusting myself off.
"Come on, we have to get somewhere safe for the night." Ruff was still smiling as he said this.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, not so fast Mr. Tough guy." Devin stepped forward. "First you're going to tell us what the hell just happened."
"There was something in the road, a deer or something. Not my fault I turned to hard." Ruff held up his stump as if it was an excuse.
"What do you mean it's not your fault? It is completely your fault!" Devin pointed a finger at him. "Now you want us to follow you?"
"I don't care whose fault it is I'm following Ruff." And that was the truth. I have grown way too attached to Ruff. He was that extra security I needed right now.
"We should stick together." The girl finally piped up.
"Finally Claire is talking some sense!" I sighed. "Halleluiah!"
"Claire?" Ruff and Devin asked at the same time.
"I've decided to call her Claire."
"My name is not Claire." Claire said with a twinge of anger in her voice. She actually sounded pretty scary when she was mad. Maybe I should think twice before pissing her off. Eh, what the hell.
"Well I told you before I'm not calling you God."
"Jen, please." Ruff tried.
"Don't 'Jen please' me!" I said. Pssh I don't have to call her God.
"What was that?" Devin said suddenly.
"Ha ha very funny Devin, nice try." I laughed at his attempt to try to scare me.
"No I'm serious I heard something."
I stopped and listened hard. "I don't hear anyth-" then I did hear it. A low moan and a shuffle of leaves. "Oh shit!"
"Nobody move." Ruff whispered.
"Fuck that let's run!" I whispered back. I have come way too far to die now.
"You're not going anywhere."
The moan started to get further away until I couldn't hear it at all anymore. "Is it gone?"
"I don't know I can't see shit." Devin whispered.
"Don't curse." Claire said in a regular voice which sounded like shouting in the quiet night.
"Shhh!" I immediately whispered. "You want that thing to come back?"
"What if there are more out there?" Devin said nervously. Crap, he was right. There could be one right behind me for all I know. How is it that I always get into situations like this? Seriously, there we were four unarmed people in the middle of a deserted road in the dead of night. Yup, I'm going to die.
"Everyone for tonight let's all get back under the truck. It will provide some shelter until at least morning." Ruff said.
"Are you sure getting back in the truck is safe? There is glass everywhere." Devin pointed out.
"He meant underneath the bed. There isn't any glass under there and it'll be enough room for all of us." I answered for him. I wasn't too keen on slipping under there for a night but it was better than sitting out in the dark where anything could get to us.
"Okay and then what?" Devin asked.
"We'll worry about that when the time comes kid just get under the truck!" Ruff was getting annoyed I could tell. And getting Ruff annoyed probably wasn't the best idea if you know what I mean. Claire rolled under and I followed her. Ruff and Devin stood outside talking about something before they finally crawled under.
"See? This isn't that bad! In the morning we'll find some shelter, maybe find another car." Ruff chuckled. "Let's all get some sleep huh?"
Devin almost fell asleep immediately, but I stayed up. I wasn't tired and every sound the night made caused shivers to run up and down my spine. Ruff began snoring not to long after Claire finally succumbed to sleep as well. I was left alone with my thoughts.
In the last three days I have gone through one car, a truck, and a motorcycle. Man, maybe mom not buying me my own car wasn't such a bad idea after all…
I woke up startled with someone's hand clamped around my mouth. Devin was looking at me with his finger pressed against his lips, silently instructing me to be quiet.
Aw crap why do we have to be quiet? Well I got my answer a second later, boots crunched on the broken glass outside.
"They ain't here. Probably ran off in them woods over there and got themselves eaten." A man said.
"Gage won't be happy unless we bring back some bodies." Another man answered the first.
"Fuck Gage," The first man spit onto the pavement. "If it weren't for him I could be in that fort with the others."
"Now what then? Are we going to go back?" The second man pondered out loud.
Devin pulled his hand off of my mouth and pulled out a pocket knife. Where the hell did he get that from? How come I don't have a knife or a hammer or something at least! I looked over to Ruff and he pulled out a knife too!
I turned to Claire half-expecting her to pull out a shot gun but she just shrugged at me.
"Nah, I'm not going back. Gage is starting to change, ever since he started eating those dead folk."
I watched as Devin and Ruff army-crawled closer to the pair of feet sticking underneath the truck bed. Oh geez this isn't going to be good. Claire reached over and covered my eyes with her hands. I batted them away annoyed, but not without making a loud slapping noise.
"What the hell was what?" On the men asked and the feet moved out of Ruff or Devin's reach.
Devin and Ruff froze and looked at me in utter non-belief. I gave them a half-grin and shrugged.
"I think it came from the truck."
"Well check it out then!"
Timidly the feet returned as the man bent down. He was moving really slowly or maybe I just thought he was because I knew what was about to happen. A hand touched the pavement and then a knee the man's face slowly peered into the truck and before he could count how many of us were under here Devin thrusted his knife into the man's eye.
"Holy F-" I started to scream as blood shot out all over us. The man was screaming and thrashing around. Ruff pushed passed him and climbed out obviously keen on attacking the other man who was also screaming loudly.
"I'm getting out of here!" I shouted and climbed out as quickly as I could. When I stood up outside I witnessed Ruff gutting the other man with his knife. He jerked it back out and splattered even more blood in my face.
I felt it again. The urge to throw up.
Devin pushed the body aside and crawled out. Ruff threw the other body off to the side of the road like it was a rag doll. And I was on my knees throwing up a lung. "Jesus Jen." Ruff said picking me up. "You have to start getting use to this sometime. You don't see her throwing up do you?" He pointed at Claire who was being wiped clean by Devin.
"Yeah well what do you expect? She is God." I spit.
"Well we are all okay now and that's all that is important." Ruff sighed as he looked down on the two bodies.
"And now we have guns!" Devin shouted holding up a small pistol. Ruff walked over to the two motorcycles that lined the road. Each one had a shot gun strapped to it.
"Here." Devin threw the pistol at me and rushed to pick up a shot gun from Ruff. I examined the pistol carefully. This thing would not do that much damage."Hey no fair I want a bigger gun!" I said to Devin who was craddling his new shot gun.
"No way you don't even know how to shoot!" Devin shouted back.
"The boy is right Jen." Ruff sighed. "It could be dangerous to let you hold something that dangerous."
I groaned. Ruff had made his decision so I had to deal with it. Devin chuckled and when Ruff's back was turned he held up the gun and pretended to shoot me. I launched towards him and was able to get him on his back. Then I started to throw punches into his face. He could have fought back but I knew he didn't want to actually hurt me so I was taking full advantage of that.
Ruff pulled me off but I continued to squirm in his grasp even though I was a few inches off the ground. Suddenly and unexpectantly Ruff dropped me hard to the ground. I fell flat on my face in front of Devin.
"Oh shit…" I whispered. Above Devin stood a woman who was holding him down with a crude spear pointed straight at his heart. I scarambled back towards Ruff only to see the he too was being held at knife point by another woman who was almost as tall as he. Then I turned to see if Claire was okay and what I saw shocked me. Claire was standing with two more women, each one had a hand on each of her shoulders.
"What the hell is going on?" I asked in disbelief.
"You are coming with us." The tall woman holding Ruff answered.