In the last chapter I said that this one would be angsty- I got them mixed up sorry, this isn't the angsty chapter it may be the next one or the one after that. But this one has a lot of action.
Chuck threw on his yellow jacket and shouted up the stairs to Katey "C'mon Katey are you ready?"
"Yeah dad, hang on" she responded as she ran down the stairs. She hooked arms with her father as they left their home and entered Chuck's pickup truck. Chuck turned on the radio as they were driving and noticed it wasn't getting any signal.
"Huh, that's weird" he said. He disregarded the matter and kept driving. They ended up trapped in traffic for a good portion of the ride which annoyed the pair to no end. Finally they ended up at the front a long line of cars but to no avail as they were still at a red light.
"Oh for fu-" he realised his four year old daughter was present and stopped himself swearing, though under his breath he whispered "fucking Vegas, should've moved to Connecticut, boring but less traffic. And I'm a handyman, could've gotten work in a garage and Sarah coul- oh shit" Chuck noticed he was rambling to himself and the lights went yellow. Works for me, he thought to himself as he sped through the intersection. As he drove away he looked through his side window to look behind him and saw people exiting their cars, abandoning them in the middle of the road. He was puzzled but he ignored it, he was too focused on giving Katey a fantastic time at the carnival-she was still clearly upset her mother couldn't come. She looked down to the floor, kicking her legs back and forth through empty space-she was so small her legs couldn't reach the car's floor.
Chuck sighed, but then his face brightened as he saw lights in the sky and heard a child like melody loop endlessly, getting louder and louder. "Here we are kiddo" he said with excitement. Katey slowly lifted her face but soon quickly jumped up and glued her face to the window as she saw all the flashing lights and fantastical wonders of the carnival. Chuck wasted no time finding a parking space as he pulled up to a parking lot, nearly hitting a parked car.
As Chuck unbuckled his seat belt he saw Katey was far too excited to focus and was ragging it off with no success. "Hang on Katey" he laughed as he undid he seatbelt for her. As soon as he did however she forced her door open and ran towards the entrance.
"KATEY" Chuck yelled to his daughter.
She looked back and shouted "C'mon dad" as she kept running.
"Katey just wait a sec" Chuck sped after his daughter, just catching up to her before reaching the entrance. Chuck lost his temper and shouted "Katey don't you ever run off again do you hear me" he raised his finger "not ever!"
Katey flinched before saying "Okay dad, I'm sorry. I won't do it again I swear."
Chuck lowered his tone and calmed down as he said "Good. Now C'mon, what do you wanna go on first?"
"OOH, THE BUMPER CARS!" she shouted ecstatically.
"Ha ha, okay kiddo. But I have to be in the car with you, those are the rules."
"Okay fine fine, can we please just go see the bumper cars?" she pleaded.
"Okay Katey. C'mon." And with that he took her by the hand and they entered the carnival.
*2 hours later*
Chuck and Katey were sitting in a Ferris wheel eating cotton candy. They were enjoying the sights of the carnival. The bright lights were all pleasant to look at if a little headache inducing. She looks like she's gotten over her mom not coming, Chuck thought. Katey was smiling and laughing. She was happy.
However when they got to the highest point Chuck could see the intersection the passed through before. Cars were crashed and on fire, some were even upside down. My God, he thought, horrible accident. But then logic struck him; that accident was too big. And it wasn't just there; all the roads surrounding the carnival had crashed and destroyed cars. Chuck was worried, something bad was happening and he knew it. Soon, screaming emanated from down below and what Chuck saw made the word fear sound redundant. The young man, teenager even, who was attending the Ferris wheel was forced up against a gate by a fat, pale faced man covered in blood. The man was tearing his way into the poor boy's throat, biting his jugular and forcing blood to spurt out like a grotesque fountain. Chuck looked around the carnival and saw such atrocities were happening all over the place; people tearing each other apart and biting into each other's flesh. It then dawned upon him-zombies. Zombies just like in the outbreaks in those other cities across the U.S, just like Willamette a few years back. He saw that on the news with Sarah, Katey being just a baby. He, just like every American citizen, bought a decent supply of zombrex when it first became available to the public.
"Oh God, oh God oh fuck" he shouted to himself as he shook with nerves.
"Daddy what's the matter?" Katey asked. Thank God she's too small to see it, he thought.
Chuck turned to his daughter and said "Okay Katey listen. We need to leave right now" Katey opened her mouth to protest but her father said "No Katey listen to me. We need to leave right now. We're gonna get your mother and get out of the city alright."
"But why dad?" she asked, puzzled.
"Because..." he thought for a moment, sweat dripping off his brow. "Be-Because there are some very bad people down there and we need to leave. Okay Katey."
"O... O-Okay Daddy" Chuck could feel Katey shaking.
"Hey hey, don't be scared Katey, just close your eyes and hold on tight alright" the worried father said reassuringly.
"Alright" Katey said, fear evident in her voice.
"Okay baby, hold on tight" Katey nodded her head and grabbed on to Chuck and he carried her as the Ferris wheel was coming closer and closer to the ground. The closest zombie was still too busy devouring that poor teenage boy so Chuck knew he had a limited time to get past it. Then the Ferris stopped and the cart opened. Chuck picked up Katey and held her close as he sped out of the Ferris wheel, narrowly avoiding the zombie as it's head turned up to face them, with flesh still hanging from it's jaw. Chuck held Katey close as he dodged and weaved between the zombies and people running to safety, although most of them eventually met a dead end, or a crowd of zombies. The zombies lurched forwards towards Chuck and Katey as he had to dodge and nudge past them. Finally, after what seemed like forever they found the exit, only to see it blocked off by zombies.
"God dammit" Chuck swore as he saw no way out of the zombie filled carnival. He looked around desperately for a way out. He couldn't find one. There was no way out. No escape. He and Katey were going to die there, in a carnival of all places. But then, salvation... salvation at the cost of the lives of young men. A group of young men and one woman charged towards the zombies that were blocking the exit, they had sticks and signs in their hands as they went in swinging. But they were too few and the zombies were many in number. Every single one of them fell. Chuck was just glad Katey had her eyes closed because what he was witnessing was horrific; Young men being torn apart by ravenous, flesh eating monstrosities. As disgusted as Chuck was, he knew that this was the opening he needed. Their deaths allowed him and Katey to live. Chuck ran full pelt ahead, knocking a couple of zombies over as he shoved by.
"OH GOD JESUS FUCK SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
Chuck froze. His head forced him to look back and he saw the woman before being mounted by a zombie. The zombie was fat and obviously much heavier than her. She was fighting it off and tried putting her purse in it's mouth but it kept avoiding it. It was relentless and it knocked the purse out of her hand. It opened it's jaws as it prepared to sink it's teeth into the young girls flesh.
"OH GOD NO! HELP!"
Chuck was conflicted. He was so close to escaping and getting himself and Katey to safety, or he could risk everything to save this girl.
"Fuck" he swore to himself. He turned and kicked the zombie in the face, sending it flying off the girl as blood splattered out of it's mouth. The girl looked up in both confusion and amazement at the fact she was still alive. "COME ON!" he ordered. The girl happily complied as she got up and onto her feet as she followed Chuck to his car. The parking lot was surprisingly scarce of zombies, most of them having entered the carnival for food. Chuck quickly got his keys out of his pocket and opened his car. "Get in" he shouted as he lifted Katey into the truck. The young woman opened the passenger door and got in. Chuck entered in the driver's side and started driving the truck. He backed out of the parking space and drove forward out of the parking lot, running over a few zombies.
The girl had shoulder length dark blond hair, it was styled in curls. She wore a pretty pink dress with dark stripes down it. She had no shoes on; she probably got rid of them so she could run faster, Chuck thought.
"Are you okay, were you bitten?" Chuck asked the young woman.
"No, no, I wasn't b- bitten" she squeaked as she started crying. She couldn't control herself as she began bawling.
"It's okay you don't need to cry" Katey said as she hugged the other girl. The girl hugged her back as she needed someone to hold onto.
Chuck pondered what to say to break the tension before he asked "What's your name?"
She kept hugging Katey as she said though her sobs "Katie... Katie Williams."
"Hey that's my name too!" Katey yelled. The woman laughed at that.
"Really" she sniffed "that's so funny" she began crying again and so the younger Katey hugged her to calm her down. She stroked Katey's hair and said "You're such a nice little girl. You must be really proud sir."
"Yeah, I am" Chuck said as he drove though the crowded streets, trying to avoid people as he had no idea whether he would be running over people or zombies. He pulled his cell phone out of his jacket pocket, gave it to the older Katie and said "Listen I know you've been through a lot but can you please call my wife for me?"
"Uh, yeah okay" she sobbed as she found Sarah's number on Chuck's phone. "It's ringing" she said. They all waited for a response. It seemed to ring forever until finally it was answered. "Hello? Hello?" the older Katie said through the phone.
"Put it on speakerphone" Chuck said. She complied and put it on speakerphone. All that was heard was screaming and chaos. "Sarah? SARAH? Are you there?" Chuck shouted. Still, just shouting and screaming, no singular voice answering Chuck, until...
"Chuck?" a voice sobbed through the phone.
"SARAH!" Chuck yelled in response. "Are- Are you alright, have you been hurt?" he shouted quickly.
"Oh my God Chuck help me please" she whimpered. She didn't shout like Katie when she was nearly killed, Sarah wept her words. Chuck wanted to say something but found himself speechless. "Chuck, are you there? Please... please say something."
"Sarah" he whispered.
"Chuck" she whispered also. "Chuck, help me. I'm really hurt. The hospital, it was full and... there's zombies and..." she started crying. Chuck couldn't help it but tears started streaming down his face.
"Listen Sarah" he cried "I'm gonna come get you alright. I don't care how many zombies there are- I'm gonna come get you. Me, you and Katey are gonna get out of the city alright."
"But Chuck-"
"I'm getting you, okay?"
"That sounds terrifying Chuck" Stacey said.
"Yeah, it was. I guess I was kind of used to zombies by the time Fortune's end happened" Chuck said with cynical laughter. Dark humour, an odd strong point for him.
Stacey chuckled and said "Well you certainly were able to handle yourself... and me and Katey and about 50 other survivors" Chuck laughed at that, genuine laughter this time.
"I brushed my teeeeeeeeth. Can I have some candy now?" Katey shouted down the stairs.
"Sorry kiddo is doesn't work that way" Chuck laughed.
"It did with Stacey" Katey replied. Chuck looked, once again, disapprovingly at Stacey.
"...Katey" Stacey said nervously "what did I say before about taddling?"
Chuck shook his head and smirked at Stacey.
"I could just tell that if you had a kid, you would be the soft one" Chuck joked. Stacey blushed at that comment. This time she went an even deeper, bright red than she had previously, making it obvious to Chuck that something was up. He moved closer, put his hands on her shoulders and said "Stace I'm kidding. You'd make a great Mom."
"Uh thanks Chuck" she blushed even harder. He called me Stace, she thought, oh for the love of God he's pouring his heart out here about his life being destroyed and I'm blushing like a high-schooler, dammit I'm not fourteen.
"You okay Stace?" Chuck asked.
"Oh, yeah I'm fine- Oh dammit I forgot about dinner" Stacey said as she ran towards the kitchen. But Chuck grabbed her arm and stopped her.
"Can't we just order take out?" he said.
"Ooh yeah can we have take out, please Stacey" Katey pleaded as she ran down the stairs.
"Uh yeah I guess" Stacey said.
"Great. I'll call a pizza place, umm, where's the closest pizza place?" Chuck asked.
"Ha ha ha, I'll call it okay" Stacey laughed. Chuck sniggered as he sat down to watch TV with Katey.
"Dad, why'd you make me brush my teeth before dinner?" Katey asked.
"Because, looking at your teeth before, they probably would have fallen out after dinner" Her father answered. Katey pouted and lightly hit Chuck on the leg as he laughed.
"Okay, so 15 minutes. Yeah that's fine. Thank you, bye" Stacey said as she put the phone down. "15 minutes on the pizza everybody."
"Okay" Father and daughter said. Stacey sat down to watch TV with the pair. They put on a kids channel on for Katey.
Katey was leaning forward in her seat and so Chuck mouthed the words "I'll finish telling you later" to Stacey. She smiled and they all cuddled up and watched Katey's show together.