Chapter 2
The Trail Blazer flew down the street at incredible speeds, narrowly dodging debris that lined the once busy roads. Summer's eyes were locked on the surroundings outside, for it was the first time she'd seen the devastation. Buildings looked older than they should have and most of them were charred black from previous fires that had long gone out. Cars piled onto other cars with blood-smeared doors, broken windows, and bullet holes lining the sides. The world looked frozen, telling the story of the last days before all hell had broken out and taken form on the streets. The only movement were a few flames that danced in the wind, trying desperately to stay alive, and thousands of sheets of paper that matched in the wind dance.
The sky was darkened from the storm, but the rain had let up long enough for her to make heads or tails of everything outside. In the alleys she would catch a glimpse of a person moving, but she knew that they weren't alive, not in the traditional sense at least.
Screeching of tires brought her attention back to the inside of the vehicle. The driver made a sharp turn to avoid a fallen light post that stood like a barrier in the road, and then another turn to get back and straight on the path.
"Whoohoo!" The driver shouted out in a cowboy fashion. His lips tightened and formed a grin, but his eyes stayed locked on the road.
Summer reached around her right shoulder with her left hand and grabbed the seatbelt, bringing it around her quickly and snapping it into place. She clutched her own body and put her right foot down hard on the floorboard as if she had her own invisible brake.
The man sitting next to her, her savior as it were, heard the click and locked over at her.
"That belt wont help you any", he said. Once again his voice reminded Summer of Darth Vader, so she gave him the nickname of Darth in her head. The pairing of his voice and the black mask made him seem very menacing. "If we crash you are dead either way."
The words took away what little comfort the seatbelt had given her, and she hated him for it. Some illusion can go along way, and Summer had learned that lesson not far into this disaster.
"Where are we going?" She finally managed to get a sentence out. It seemed like talking took all her energy away, and suddenly she felt exhausted.
The person in the front seat spoke up, revealing that under the mask and protective canine training suit, it was in fact a woman. "We are taking you to some place safe. Trust us." Her voice came out just as muffled as Darth's, but it was much higher and spoke with a certain finesse that women have.
Trust you? The thought went over and over in her mind until she found it was almost laughable. It had been nearly three weeks since she'd seen another living soul, there were walking, flesh-eating monsters running around outside, she wasn't given any explanation as to what was had happened or what was going on, and she was expected to trust eight absolute strangers, including the drivers. It didn't sound like a great idea, but she didn't have many other options.
Another four minutes went by of unbearable silence before they arrived to their destination. It was odd to Summer that silence for three weeks alone hadn't bothered her nearly as much as silence for four minutes with four complete strangers.
Their destination turned out to be a prison, and a very high tech one at that. They pulled up to a gate that was just big enough for a single vehicle to pass through it. A large metal gate stood in the path, and in front of that stood about twenty of those walking things. Just seeing them caused Summer to grip her seatbelt tighter between both hands. Once they got closer to them, she could hear them moaning and groaning, longing for another meal.
The Trail Blazer stopped with the brush guard touching the gate, monsters all around the SUV. They placed their grimy hands on the windows, looking for a way in. The vehicle started to rock as the monsters tried to figure out a way to flip it over.
The red pickup truck stopped about fifty yards down the road from the gate. Summer waited to see a miracle on how they were expecting to get inside unharmed because there were three men still sitting in the back. Surely the canine training suits wouldn't be able to protect the men from twenty monsters.
"Hey! Ya sorry sons of bitches! Get ya asses over here! Hey!" Calls from far behind the Trail Blazer made Summer look through the back window. It was tented and the mounted gun stood partially in the way, but she could make out that the men in the back of the truck were calling at the beasts.
The ploy worked like a charm as all of them started running in their direction with much haste. She didn't know what the next part of the plan would entail, but she was sure anxious to see it.
The front gate that they were waiting at suddenly sprang to life with a mechanical sound that gave the impression that it was being powered by a motor. The gate lifted quickly towards the sky, giving the SUV a chance to go under and into the compound. Once in deep enough, the Trail Blazer hooked a sharp right, getting off the road and coming to stop on a front yard so to speak.
As soon as they came to a stop she heard the rumbling of the truck behind them barreling down the road in their direction. The gate was clear and the monsters couldn't keep up with the truck. It had worked flawlessly and Summer couldn't believe her eyes as the truck came into the compound and the gate close behind them.
Once the monsters got to the metal barrier, it was too late. They were locked out once again, and waiting for their next shot to get the men waiting inside.
Summer instantly hopped out of the vehicle, pulled her hair out of her face with one hand, bent over, and proceeded to vomit all the food she had in her stomach. She could feel the eyes of the men on her, but there wasn't much she could do to stop the throw up from escaping her mouth.
One of the men without at canine suit took his mask off and stepped up to help hold back her hair. He quickly retreated once she accidentally got vomit all over the bottom of his pant leg.
Embarrassment crept up her face in the form of vibrant red cheeks. She wanted to fall on the ground right there and cry until everyone else just walked away. She wanted to stand up tall and shout out, "No show here folks, just a little girl that couldn't take the excitement. Nothing to see here." Neither seemed like a logical choice, so instead she just looked around at all the faces and masks that looked at her.
"Where am I?" It seemed like a good start. Her throat still burned from the acid and her nose stung, implying that she gotten throw up in her nostrils.
The woman in the full suit stepped forward. She pulled her mask off showing that she was a pretty woman in her thirties with straight black hair that was cut off at the shoulders and dark blue eyes. Her lips were thin and they formed into a smile that you'd see a mother give a child if they'd scrapped their knees. It was a warm, caring smile that would have made Summer feel better had it not reminded her of her mother.
"This is our home now." She put emphasis on the words our and now.
Summer hadn't taken the time to see what "home" was yet, due to the vomiting. She looked up to see a menacing prison that was very large in size. There was a tall, cement wall that went all the way around the compound and it was lined with razor wire on top. The only variation in the wall was that on each corner there was a tower that had been used for watching the prison, but now each of them had mounted machine guns and a man at each. The men were distant figures, but she could make them out. She found herself standing in a large courtyard grown so that it wasn't pretty anymore. The prison was drab with off white walls and few windows; much like you'd picture a prison.
"I don't--" She found it hard to talk without more nausea. "I don't understand." Summer didn't even recognize her own voice.
"Come on," her voice was sweet and caring, "I'll take you to someone that can tell you what you need to know."
The nice woman struggled with bending over in the protection suit, but she found a way. She grabbed Summer under the arms and lifted her to her feet in an awkward manner; almost falling over several times. Regaining herself, Summer managed to stand on her own without the thought of vomiting again. Summer and the woman headed towards the closest door to them. The door itself was painted a horrible forest green and was made of a heavy metal. The small window that stood at head height for most people but was just out of Summer's view was lined with a thin wire.
"I'm Desire Sims", the nice woman announced.
"I'm Summer Plum."
"Welcome to your new home, Summer."