The Pact

Matt pulled over onto the side of the freeway. Behind them, the police car stopped, also.

"Damien, hold the shit." ordered Angel

Angel tossed the ounce into Damien's lap. Damien quickly shoved the bag in between the seats and wiped the rest of the blood off his face with the arm of his shirt. Angel slipped his guns under his seat and rolled down his window, resting his wounded arm on the outside of it.

"What if he wants to search the car?" Matt asked.

"Tell him your in a hurry and you want to get home." suggested Damien.

"Fool this isn't even your car! We could get in trouble for this! Fuck!" Angel groaned, banging his foot against the floor.

"Don't worry about it, I'll tell him I left my license at home." Matt said.

Matt's cell phone rang and he answered it.

"Hello?"

"Matt you guys have to come get me right now. The schools holding everyone in and not letting anyone leave. They're saying terrorists attacked the city! Are things ok?"

"Lauren I have to go."

"Come get me please!"

Matt hung up just as a cop walked up to the driver's window.

"Hello, boys."

"A little early in the day for someone your age to be ridin' around in a vehicle, I reckon?"

The cop really was a full blooded Southerner, straight out of a bad movie. The cop was powerfully built. Six foot four, a wide chest, and long powerful legs with a pair of combat boots strapped on. The big .44 Colt holstered at his waist only added to his menacing presence. He had straw blonde hair and pearly white teeth that reminded Matt of old Mafia movies where the hitman flashed his victim a grin before killing him. Of course, no highway patrolman's appearance could be complete without a pair of mirrored CHP aviator sunglasses, which only intimidated Matt more, seeing his pale, anxiety ridden face in the reflective lenses.

Angel replied to the cop's sarcastic question. "No man, we dropped out."

The cop chuckled, his chest rising as he did. "Sure ya did. Can I see your license and registration, please?"

Angel slowly pulled out his wallet and handed the necessary information to him.

The cop smiled like a shark and returned to his car and put in the necessary information.

Matt looked over to Angel.

"What if asks about the shooting?"

Angel stared ahead and answered. "We're gonna tell him we don't know shit."

The cop returned to the car, still grinning and acting arrogant.

"Angel Hernandez? You are the owner of this vehicle, correct?"

"Yes, sir." said Angel in a monotone voice.

"Why is this young man driving your car?" he asked, gesturing towards Matt.

"Officer, this is my cousin. I trust him with my life. Last night I went to a party and I drank alcohol. Today I still don't feel good and I don't want to drive without being 100, you know? So I let my cousin drive for a little bit of the way down the freeway while I just relaxed a bit, you know?" Angel replied apologetically.

The officer smirked and spoke.

"I don't care about your cousin driving your car without a license."

"I'm here to question you about a shooting that took place about half an hour ago in Reseda. There was a shootout between a Mexican youth matching your description and two gangster types. There was only one fatality. A nigger was found shot dead in the back of his van. We don't know if it was self-inflicted or what. Two other guys were found at the scene not too far from the van. They're some lucky pricks, though, I'll tell ya what. Two slugs in the gut and one in the throat and they're still well enough to bite the paramedics there to help them. Real Mexican hospitality there, right fellas?" The cop laughed heartily and slapped his hand against the top of the car.

"But you gentlemen wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would ya?"

"No, sir." replied Angel. Matt and Damien shook their heads as their response.

"You don't mind if I look around the car a little bit, would you?"

Angel swallowed and looked the cop in the face.

"No, officer, we can't do that. We're in a hurry. We need to go pick up his sister from school." Angel gestured towards Damien.

The cop grimaced. He wanted to look inside that car and these young punks weren't letting him do that. Based on the car model, the people inside and basic cop instinct, he had a feeling that these people knew what happened behind that liquor store and he wasn't going to let them go without a fight. No, sir. California State Highway Patrolman Rex Jackson never gave up.

Rex peered into the back of the car. "Damien", the big teenager in the back was sitting back in his seat, trying to avert making eye contact with him. He bled from a fresh cut under his eye and his cheeks were swollen.

"Holy moly, what happened to your eye, son?" Rex asked in a fatherly manner.

Damien smiled and told him he fell earlier in the day.

Rex smirked. "Looks like you duked it out with someone."

Angel looked to Rex and spoke.

"Officer we gotta go pick up his sister from school and get home. I hope you find your man but there's too much weird stuff going today to just stay here and chase monsters."

Rex opened his mouth to protest but then his radio squawked to life.

Officer in need of assistance at Reseda and Sherman Way. Shots fired.

Rex spoke into the comm piece of the radio. "Roger that, command. Enroute to scene."

10-4.

"See you later, gentlemen, try to stay out of trouble."

Rex returned to his own car and sped off, leaving only dust and an eerie feeling behind him.

Inside the car, the stunned occupants began to laugh and relax a little. "We just got away with murder.", Matt said, taking his hands off the wheel.

"Move over, man.", Angel said to Matt, motioning for them both to switch seats. Matt got out of the car and moved to the passenger seat, while Angel sat in the driver's seat. He turned the key in the ignition. The radio chirped to life. "Unconfirmed reports say that the bite of the infected transfers the virus directly into the victim, causing death within 4 hours and rescuciation within 2. It is 99 fatal and there is no cure." Angel switched it off and put his foot on the gas, merging into a lane and heading to the nearest freeway exit.

"I heard you talking on the phone before that pig showed up.", Angel spoke.

"Yeah?", replied Matt.

"We gotta go get all the homies and get outta here.", he continued.

"Somethin' big is going down and I don't wanna be around to see it. We're gonna go back to Reseda and pick up all our friends and then head out. I say we go to Ojai. My cousin lives there up in the mountains. We can hide up there in his farm. It'll be comfy. He got his own cows and vegetables and shit. It'll be all good, you'll see."

"I dunno, but I agree with you. If this shit turns serious then we gotta get out of the city."

Angel stopped at a stoplight and turned his head to face Damien.

"Are you with us?"

Damien looked unsure. He was young, only sixteen. He hadn't faced much in his short years. Being big and tall and having a reputation as the best fighter all through school made it so that he didn't have much to be afraid of. But today, on the strangest of days, Damien felt threatened. All around him, he felt a wave of unease, like an impending danger was approaching him. His instincts told him to be alert, to be on the guard against the danger. But he didn't know what it was. In a split second, Damien made his decision. He would go with them. He would get a head start ahead of the danger, running from it so that one day he hoped he would come back and defeat it.

"I'm with you."

The three men in the car put their hands together, and for a split second they gripped them together in an unspoken pact. Together they would fight, together they would survive. They would watch each other's backs and pounce on any danger that threatened each other's survival. They all let go and sat back in their seats. Angel continued forward to Reseda High. After this, they would not remain in the city for much longer. All that they were here to do was collect their friends and then leave.

Angel parked the car and turned to Matt. "Call up Lauren.", he ordered.

Matt pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number.

"Matt! Where are you?"

Lauren pressed her cell phone against her ear hurriedly, her heart jumping with joy at the prospect of escape. The LAUSD had ordered all the schools in the district closed and barricaded when reports of unprovoked attacks by the recently deceased were confirmed. No student could leave until further notice. This decree also forbade parents and guardians from picking the students up, but the school officials had not told the students that yet. At Reseda High, the faculty had ordered all 2,000 students to be packed into the school's gymnasium, which by itself could only hold 1,000 people. The other 1000 hung out in the quad, sleeping, talking, looking for a way out.

"Come outside! We're here to pick everyone up. Where's Alex and Nick?"

"I was talking to them like half an hour ago. They said that some football players were organizing a breakout and they were gonna join them. I dunno where they are now."

"Try and find them. If you can't, then run outside and come with us. We're leaving the city."

"Alright, I'll call you back in ten."

"Late."

Around them, society was crumbling. Already the inner city had fallen to the dead, and it was only a matter of a few short hours before the infection swept over the barricades and into the Valley. Then, the shit would truly hit the fan.