AN: Nice to see that people like the quotes. So I'm going to keep on finding new ones.
This chapter didn't take me very long to write. Only 5 days. Usually it takes me weeks to get a chapter done. I don't know why this was written so fast. I haven't spent more time writting than I usually do.
But anyway, enjoy. Hope you like it.

If you don't risk anything you risk even more.

Erica Jong

Chapter 10

Highway to Hell

Smoke rose from the center of the city, Sean noticed as they slowly got closer. He wasn't driving very fast. The surroundings wouldn't let him. There were cars "parked" everywhere and there was occasionally a group of zombies here and there. He felt like just driving them over, but if he hit one of them, they would might as well go through the windshield and land on their laps. So he had to dodge everything that got in their way.

Pat wasn't making it any better either. He kept on yelling things like; "Watch out!" "Drive, drive!" "Shit!" and "Brake for the love of god!" It was really getting on his nerves. But that was typical Pat. He couldn't relax if it was someone else than him there were driving. He had to be in control constantly.

Sean's grip around the wheel got tighter everytime Pat yelled at him. And usually when something is bugging you, everything tends to get annoying. Especially Sean's eyes; they were still irritated from the high amount of smoke he had been exposed to earlier. So he kept on scratching them, which only made it worse and him even angrier.

It might have been that that had made the water in the cup flow over. Because of all the stress and the fact that he was scared as hell, he had had just about enough.

"Shut up! Shut the fuck up!" He yelled as much as he could, as he turned his head to Pat. Normally people didn't dare to yell at a guy at Pat's size, but Sean wasn't scared of him because he knew him. And that he was so angry that he didn't care.

"I can't THINK with you yelling at me constantly! If you just shut your mouth…" Sean was cut short by Sabrina who screamed shortly.

"Sean! Look out!" She yelled and pointed at something through the windshield.

He had been so busy yelling at Pat that he had forgotten all about watching the road before him. He slowly turned his head. On the road before him was a bike on the pavement. It wasn't much, but it could easily mean the destruction of his tires. Reacting as fast as he could, he turned the wheel to the right. But it was too late. He ran the bike right over. The car bounced a little, but was then brought totally out of control. One of the tires had been torn to pieces and because of Sean's reaction had made him turn the steering wheel, the car started to spin around itself. It was like trying to steer on ice, nothing seemed to work. He tried to brake, but nothing happened. Not until they hit the curb. They were brought to a full stop instantly and it almost seemed like the car lifted itself from two of the wheels.

Sean, who was still holding the steering wheel, just stared out the windshield, breathing heavily. When he finally came to his senses, he started to look around. Pat looked just as spooked as him. He looked back at Sean, and then they both turned to see what happened on the backseat. Sabrina looked fine, a little shocked but fine. Mike on the other hand was lying on the side, though he was still wearing his seatbelt.

"Mike…" Sean tried, but then he saw the crack in the window next to him. Sabrina noticed that too and quickly examined his head. She didn't find anything though, he wasn't bleeding.

"Mike… Mike…" She said to him, while she shook him gently. Nothing happened.

Please, Mike. Wake up. Sabrina thought. I know you're not dead. Come on!

Like he had read her mind he suddenly sat up, exhaling loudly.

"Oooww! That hurt." He said and felt his head were it was hit.

They all sighed with relief.

"Jesus, Mike. You almost gave us a heart attack." Pat said, looking at him.

"Are you okay?" Sabrina asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Mike removed his hand from his head to look at it. No blood on it.

"Yeah, I guess so." He said and felt his head again. He grimaced when he hit the swelling. "It's just a bump."

"Want me to look at it?" Sabrina asked, offering her help.

"Nah, it's ok. I'm fine." He answered and smiled to her.

Sean turned to face forward again. He looked at the side view-mirror and spotted the flat tire. It was the rear tire that had been mutilated by the bike. It looked pretty bad from what he could see. He sighed and looked over at Pat.

"We need to change that tire before we are overrun by those things out there." Sean said and turned back to look at Mike. "I need your help Mike. Are you up for that?"

"Yeah, sure." He said, though not with enthusiasm.

"All right. Pat you'll cover us." Sean ordered and Pat nodded.

Pat then stepped out of the car as the first, and then came Mike who had to wait till Pat had pushed the seat out of the way. When they both had exited the car, Sean opened the door, but before he could even swing his legs out of his Honda, he got stopped by Sabrina.

"Hey! What about me?" She asked a little offended.

"You should stay in the car. I don't want you to get hurt." Sean said and smiled at her. He then crawled out of the car and slammed the door before she could get a word in.

As much as she appreciated him protecting her, she was more than capable of taking care of herself. And she didn't like to be excluded just because of her being a girl. But she didn't leave the car immediately. Not before Sean opened the door again.

"So you needed my help anyway, huh?" She said condescendingly.

Sean just looked at her, not understanding what she meant by that. So what he was about to say was a little awkward.

"Uhmm, no… I just realized that you'll have to get out of the car, so that we can lift it with the jack…" Sean said and stopped. He just realized something else. "The jack that got blown up along with Pat's car…"

Pat and Mike heard that.

"So we don't have a jack then?" Pat said thinking. He then looked around, trying to spot any other cars nearby.

Sean got the idea and started looking too. There really wasn't a car in sight. Weird to think of it, because they had been dodging cars all night. But they had apparently entered a seemingly carless zone.

Just when Sean was about to give up looking, he spotted a sign in the distance. It was a gas station.

"There!" Sean said out loud and pointed in the direction of the sign. They all turned their heads and saw it.

"A gas station! Yes, good thinking, Sean." Pat said as his eyes lit up. There would definitely be a jack there.

"Okay, me and Mike are gonna stay here while you and Pat get the jack." Sabrina said.

Sean nodded and walked up to the car where she stood.

"Thanks." He said to her. "We will be right back, okay?"

She just mimed a yes and nodded, while Sean crawled inside the car to get his Colt. When he got out again, he saw that Pat already was started to walk slowly down the road.

"Come on, man!" He yelled to him.

Sean then started running to him, not hearing what Sabrina was going to say.

"Be careful." She was about to say, but ended up whispering it.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Sean and Pat swiftly made their way to the gas station. Pat was in front with the shotgun at the ready, spotting anything that might be a threat.

As they entered the area they slowed their pace down to a walk. The gas station was practically empty, except for a big tank truck. It had probably been delivering gas to the place, but it didn't seem to have got any further than that. Sean wondered if they had gotten to empty the tank or if it was still containing the fuel. Not like any of it really mattered, but he couldn't help wondering.

"Damn, we're too late." Pat suddenly said with sarcasm when he saw the closed sign in the window. "They're closed."

Sean couldn't help chuckling a little by this. It was good with a little humor in this kind of situations. It helped breaking the constant tension that had been generated the last couple of days.

"Then we better open this place." Sean said and stepped up to the door and pushed it. Pat rolled his eyes at this.

"What did you expect?" He asked him and looked at with lifted eyebrows.

"Just had to make sure. It would be pretty stupid to break the door in if it was open, right?"

"Yeah, okay. Good point." Pat said.

Sean was just about to raise his leg to kick the door in, but then Pat stopped him.

"No wait. Let me do it." Pat said to him and held up the shotgun. Sean wasn't quite following him though.

Pat stepped up to the door, raised the shotgun and smashed in the glass with the stock. He then reached inside and unlocked the door.

"See?" He said and smiled. "Much better."

Sean just shook his head thinking that it could have worked just as well by kicking in the door. Besides, Sean always wanted to kick onein. But he would probably get the chance again sometime.

Pat pushed the door open and they both entered slowly. It was kind of dark in there, but not so dark that they couldn't see. The light from the outside came in through the open door and the windows. When Sean thought about it, he realized that it was actually getting a little bright outside. Daybreak was coming.

Have we really been up for so long? He asked himself. Though he had to admit that he was getting a little tired. But sleep had to wait. Right now he had a job to do.

Before they would start looking for a jack, they had to make sure that the place was secure. So when Pat signaled him to go right, he knew that he meant for him to check for zombies first and wait with the search for a jack.

Sean slowly moved to the aisle furthest to the right and Pat took the left one. He was being very silent as he slowly walked down to the back. It was all clear. He then looked over at Pat who nodded to him signaling that all was clear over there too.

"Good, now we can search for…" Pat said but was suddenly cut short by a bump coming from somewhere in the back of the room. They were both quick to locate the sound and aimed in the direction it came from. It was coming from a door at the right aisle. It had sounded like a broom or another wooden tool falling to the ground. Sean guessed that the door let to a broom closet or something similar. He slowly started to move closer to the door, his heart beating faster the closer he got.

Again there was a sound from in there. This time it sounded like someone or something was moving around in there, making stuff fall to the floor. Sean swallowed hard and moved his left hand down to the doorknob. Aiming his gun at the gap as he slowly started to turn it.

He opened it a little, but he couldn't see anything in the dark. When Sean heard footsteps behind him, he looked over his shoulder only to see that it was Pat that had decided to move closer.

Sean returned to look inside the closet, but by doing so he saw something terrifying just above his hand, which was still holding the doorknob. It was a hand grasping the door. But not just a regular hand. It was red and had long claw-like nails. He quickly pulled his hand away, but as he did that the door got ripped open and revealed who the hand belonged to.

In the opening was now standing a zombie, wearing a trucker's vest and a pair of ripped jeans. Or at least that was what his first thought, but this one was so different from the others they had been struggling with earlier. Those things had been rotting and had been kind of slow and dumb. But this guy was looking a whole lot more terrifying than anything that Sean had ever seen. He seemed a lot more psyched and energetic, since he was breathing really heavy. Almost panting. Like a dog or something.

But worst of all was his skin. It was red. Crimson red. It gave him an angry look, almost like when someone got so angry that their face turned red. Only this guy was red all over.

What also separated him from the rest was that he didn't seem to have any injuries. All the zombies Sean had encountered had had scars and gushing wounds all over. But not this one, instead all his veins was exposed and dark red, giving him a horrific pattern on his already red skin.

They both stood completely still, staring at each other. Or at least Sean thought he stared at him. He couldn't tell from his eyes. They seemed to be glowing white. He couldn't see his pupils at all. Then from deep down its throat it started to growl. Sean's blood froze instantly.

Suddenly it let out a loud angry cry and lunged at him. It caught Sean completely of guard and he wasn't fast enough to dodge it. It hit him like a steam train, practically throwing him to the ground. He hit the floor before he could break the fall, and all air got knocked out of him. While all strength had left his body with the air, he dropped his gun too.

Pat raised the Benelli to fire at the crimson guy, but before he could pull the trigger it had thrown itself over Sean. He could only watch as it started attacking his friend again.

Sean raised his arms to cover his head, but the crimson just grabbed his wrists, boring its long nails into his skin. Stunned by the pain, Sean couldn't hold his arms up anymore.

Holding his arms in a tight grip the crimson zombie went for the kill. It lunged at Sean's neck. What it hadn't expected thoughwas a foot to the side of its head. Pat had kicked it as hard as he could to save Sean.

It didn't fall off him, but it loosened its grip and so Sean pushed it away from himself. It was quickly up on its feet again, but this time Pat had a clear shot. He didn't hesitate for one second to pull the trigger. The crimson zombie got hit right in its chest, making it stagger to the side. But it didn't go down. It just turned back and headed for Sean again. It had apparently chosen him to be its mark, because it didn't seem to care about Pat at all, even though he had just shot it.

There was at least 7 feet between Sean and the crimson this time, so he had more time to react. So he quickly grabbed a heavy metal object on the shelf behind him and slung it at its crimson red head.

He hit it in its left temple and it stopped. It seemed like Sean had got it pretty good, because it started staggering for some time and then fell to the floor, ripping a few things of the shelves in the process.

He just watched it in silence for awhile, but then decided to go check if it was really dead. He slowly approached it. First he kicked it lightly in the stomach. Then again. Still nothing…
Then he saw the blood that had begun seeping from the temple, where he had hit it.

"I think it's dead." Pat said, looking at the head too. The blood had already formed quite a big pool.

"Yeah, me too." Sean said and wondered what object he had hit it with. He hadn't noticed what it was until he looked at it. In his hand he held a bloodied jack.

"Heh, ironic, huh?" He said and showed it too Pat.

"Hmm, yeah. That is pretty weird." He answered scratching his head. "So much for coincidences."

Sean looked at it again, then he turned around to look at shelve he had found it on. There were nine jacks lying in a row. One was missing from the middle of it. That was the one Sean was carrying.

"Better take another one. This one looks a little nasty." He said and put it neatly back on the shelve between the others. He picked a clean one from the end of the row instead.

"All right, we have what we need. Let's go." Pat said and started moving towards the exit.

Sean followed him, but suddenly realized he had forgotten something.

"Oh, wait." He said and ran back. Pat stopped and waited for him. He ran straight to where the crimson zombie had fallen.

He then picked up his Colt, which was lying right next to shelves with the jacks.

"Never leave home without it." Sean said and waved it around.

"Hehe, yeah. Now let's get back to the others."

Sean walked up to Pat, who was standing in the door with the shotgun over his shoulder. But as he walked past the counter, he noticed someone sitting behind it.

"Pat, wait. Someone's back here." He said.

It was hard to see in the dark, so Sean leaned over the counter to get a closer look. But he would have been better off not knowing what was there. Down on the floor was sitting a man with a revolver in his hand. That wasn't disturbing, but the hole the poor guy had in his temple and the mix of blood and brain matter all over the wall next to him, was indeed disturbing.

"Shit." Sean whispered, feeling his heart getting heavy.

"What?" Pat said, but then saw the poor guy. "Man…"

Hope I won't have to do that to myself. But then again, it would be better than to turn into a zombie. Sean thought but pushed it away. He was afraid to go there; after all he had been bitten. He looked at the arm with the wound, but suddenly noticed the dried blood on his wrists. It was the crimson zombie that had bored its claw-like nails into them. But because of the adrenaline that had been pumping through his veins while he fought the crimson, he had forgotten all about it. Sure he felt it when it happened, but right now he didn't. Guess he was still a little high on the adrenaline.

"Crap…" He said to himself. Pat didn't notice it in the dark, so Sean just let it be and started walking. Pat walked with him outside, and then they started slow running.

Sean couldn't wait to get out of the damned city. He had had enough of it all. But as things looked right at the time, it didn't seem like they would be out of there anytime soon.

"What was that "thing" back there, Sean?" Pat suddenly asked as they ran past that tank truck.

"I don't know. But it wasn't a regular zombie, that's for sure." Sean answered.

"It didn't look like zombie at all. More like a guy with a serious anger management problem." Pat said, still running.

Sean wondered why it had looked so different from the other zombies. Maybe it was only some people who turned into one. Or maybe it happened after you'd been a zombie for a longer period of time. No matter which one was the case, Sean had a feeling that it wasn't the only one.

There might be more of them out there. Sean thought. But he hoped not.

Now Sean and Pat had reached the corner of the apartment building next to the gas station. As they ran around the corner, they could see his car. It was about 60 yards down the road. What bothered Sean though, was that Mike and Sabrina was nowhere in sight. First he thought they had entered the car again, but as they got nearer he could see that the car was empty.

"Where the hell are they?" Sean said as he started running faster. He had a bad feeling about this.