Chapter 9 Determination
Through out the parking lot, a few cars were scattered around. The blinding sun had prevented both Eric and Chris to see if the Wal-mart was alive with people. The burning asphalt road baked their shoes as they skidded across it.
Finally, shade had cloaked and they both could see that the Wal-mart had bright white lights on. They cautiously entered the cheap Wal-mart and saw a few gloomy looking cashiers leaning against their counter.
"I suggest you put away your pistol." Eric whispered hoarsely at Chris.
Chris obeyed and hastily strapped his pistol in his belt. He covered his body with his large coat and surveyed the massive but old Wal-mart.
"Should we tell them?" he asked, "I mean they look completely oblivious to the fact that there are living dead on their way to Dallas."
Eric shook his head. "This is a small town, I doubt that either one of those cashier's even own a TV set, let alone a radio," he paused, "don't waste your breath and time. Let's just get our things and scramble out."
Chris nodded slightly and walked coolly through the sensor, fearing that somehow it picked up metal objects. Eric soon followed and shifted his eyes, carefully keeping his guard. In a matter of 10 minutes, they got their necessary stuff and walked a little hastily to get out.
Two unarmed shabby looking security guards suddenly confronted them and lazily placed out their hands. "Gimme tha' stuff you punk kid, don't you be lying boy, we had them cameras." One of them said.
Chris pulled out his pistol and pointed it at them. The security guards suddenly stood straight up with their hands held high.
"Let's get a move on!" Eric yelled for the first time since Chris had met him.
The two then ran out of the Wal-mart, ignoring the beeping sound as they passed through the sensor. No one dared to follow them.
The two came back with their necessary goods and grinned widely. "We got the stuff, let's go!" Chris said to Jessy.
Chris stretched quickly and drove off. They were suddenly followed by the security guards who held shot guns. They shot a warning shot in the air but Chris kept driving. They aimed at the car and began shooting.
"Don't worry. They're only wasting their ammo," Eric said, "we're so far away it won't do any damage. It actually turned out to be a Wal-mart full of living people. I guess the infected hasn't hit this area yet."
The two security guards soon became tiny speck dots after a brief moment of driving.
Ashley sighed and wiped the sweat off her forehead. After hours, Chris had finally taken notice of Ashley. "Ash, you alright? You look troubled?" he asked while swerving left of a pot whole.
To the right was a large barren wasteland. To the left was a large farm. The sun above them had blinded and baked everyone in the car.
Ashley sighed once again and looked at Chris. "It's so damn hot here. Turn on the fucking air conditioner!" she demanded.
Chris raised his eyebrows and quickly blasted the air conditioner. The whole day Ashley had kept quiet until suddenly now. "Okay, okay it's on."
Eric felt his respect for Ashley slide down a little. He gave her a nasty look and then squinted at the sky.
Chris was mostly awake for more than 24 hours but was feeling no tiredness because of the past events that led him to driving the deserted road.
Ashley continued muttering unintelligible things to herself and Alice had taken off her quilt for it was blazing. "It's unusually hot for this time of year." She mumbled. Eric nodded but Ashley seemed to not have heard.
Chris normally would have also responded but he was still. Slowly, his hands slid down onto his lap. The car was moving with a blacked out driver at its wheel.
Alice had jumped from her seat to shake his shoulder violently. Ashley was screaming his name and Eric was keeping silent but was in shock. Jessy seemed vague at the time and was just sleeping away in the passenger's seat.
Suddenly, the car swerved by it self to the right and slammed into the short metal fence. It skidded along the fence, scraping the car's paint. The car finally came to a halt, causing everyone to jerk forward a bit. Chris's shoulder fell onto the air conditioner button and it suddenly fell silent.
The hot sweat trickled down everyone's face and it was getting extremely stuffy.
Eric got out of the car and pried open Chris's door. He checked Chris's pulse and heaved him to the back seat. "Take care of him. I'll drive." He said in a manly voice. Alice and Ashley had never learned to drive so it all came down to Eric.
"I know I'm only 15 but I know how to drive." He told them as he shut the car door. He shut his eyes and thought. When he opened his eyes, he went to the task of starting the car but something from the corner of his eye stopped him.
Two jets in the air were tiny dots at one second, but right above them in the other. The two jets flew passed them and the three all wondered why it was silent. Suddenly a large blast of what sounded like boosters filled their ears.
They all made uncomfortable faces and stuffed their hands into their ears, shoving out as much sound as possible. "It was going so fast, it beat the speed of sound." Eric mumbled. He started the car and drove slowly onto the road. He continued to drive slowly and picked up speed gradually.
He looked back out the window and saw that the two jets were no where to be seen. A second later, a large tremor shook the car. Eric slammed on the breaks, causing everyone to go flying forward.
Everyone was safe in their seatbelts. Alice and Ashley fixed themselves to a more comfortable situation. "What the hell happened?" Alice asked.
But her question was answered when Eric whimpered loudly. Eric peed himself a little at what he was witnessing. A tiny mushroom looking black cloud was barely visible to his naked eye. Suddenly, a sweep of white dusty waves was racing towards the small and vulnerable car. Really the whole east of Texas.
"Drive! Drive!" Ashley screamed to Eric.
But before Eric could even think about hitting the gas, the white dusty waves crashed into the car. The car skidded right a little and then was lifted by the extremely strong winds. The winds threw the car far right slamming it against a tree.
The disaster went on for what seemed like many, many minutes but when it finally did stop, the car was completely torn at.
The right side of the car was completely damaged but still intact. The windshield and many other windows had cracks scattered around it.
Miraculously, no one was hurt, and miraculously again, the car could drive. All of these fortunate things had baffled Eric and made him wonder whether there really was a god. You'd think that after all those things, Chris and Jessy would've been awake, but yet they were fast asleep unaware to the fact that they had just survived a bombing.
The strong silence was only hurt by the heavy breathing by the three.
"Turn on the radio." Alice said in a rough voice. This time, cold sweat was showering over her body.
Eric slowly nodded and turned on the radio while driving very slowly. He was observing the dark sky that had suddenly cooled the area. The whole sky was filled with clouds that looked as though it was about to spill a huge thunderstorm at them.
A static sound erupted out of no where and a voice of a serious man had killed the silence.
"-and we just got word that Dallas has been bombarded! Yes Dallas, Texas has just been bombarded by what we think is an act of the U.S. army. Oh my god… the footage I'm seeing here is devastating folks. Dallas is gone. Completely annihilated…." He said quietly near the end.
The words took a while before it had sunk in. All were in utter shock and the car had come to a stop.
A great sigh came from the radio and distant shouts and cries were heard. "Everybody from the south is advised to head north where it is safe. There is a base near Quebec, Canada for those on their way there. All heading west should immediately turn around and go northeast.
"The scattered infected are on their way east. I repeat-" Eric turned off the radio and pulled out a few maps. The minutes flew by before he threw them aside. He drove forward slowly and gradually onto the speed limit or more.
Alice was weeping silently and Ashley was too shocked to even notice Alice. Hitachi thought for a long while and heaved a sigh out of his lungs. "They're coming." He muttered.
