Chapter Eight

Chapter 8


Tom Williams shook in his seat as Nick sped out of the city.

“Just hang in there, Mike!” The soldier he rescued back at the park moaned in pain as Tom wrapped his hands around in piece of metal lodged in his chest. He wasn’t a medic, but it didn’t look like it had pierced anything vital. Just a flesh wound… hopefully.

“Just do it, man!” Mike Osborn winced as Tom prepared to pull it out. Tom had known Mike from a tour in Iraq, he had always been a happy guy, he’d never seen him down. His black skin glistened with sweat in blood as he cried out in pain again. “Hurry, bitch!”

“One…” Mike prepared himself.

“Two…” Tom quickly pulled it out before he reached three.

“Ow! Fuck man, you didn’t say three!” Mike grabbed his wound. Tom pried his hands away, inspecting it.

“It’s not that bad… I really think you’ll pull through.”

“Damn right I will! That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t warn me of three!”

“You’re welcome.” Tom chuckled as he grabbed a rag and placed it over the wound. “Keep pressure on it, we’ll stop once we’re out of the city and grab a med kit.”

“Yeah, yeah… crazy ass white boy.” Tom sat back in his seat, resting his head back and closing his eyes.

“Hey… I’m going to rest for a few minutes…” Tom heard Nick say something up front, but the words were lost as his worn out state got the best of him. Nick had plugged in the address to his grandfather’s house. They all agreed that it would at least be a good place to finally rest up as well as arm themselves better. Sleep finally got the better of him as his thoughts faded away.

He awoke some time later to a loud slam. Tom jumped, his hand instantly reaching for his rifle.

“Hey, calm down.” He blinked his eyes a few times, his eyes adjusted to light. Katharina was crouched down over him, his door open.

“Where are we? How long was I out?” He asked, he could see the sun rising. She brushed hair behind her ear.

“You were out for a long time. We didn’t wake you… we all probably wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for you, Tom. It’s about 5am, we just stopped for a bathroom break.” She tilted her head, Tom looked over her shoulder and saw a few port-a-potties at a small construction site.

“Damn… that long?” He sat up and rubbed the back of his head, yawning. It almost seemed like yesterday was a dream. He wished it was a dream. Katharina stood up.

“Use the bathroom, we’re heading out soon. Just thought I‘d wake you quick.” She smiled at him. Tom nodded and stood up, grabbing his rifle and patting her on the shoulder.

“Thanks, Kath.” He returned the smile as he groggily made his way towards one of the portable toilets. His stomach growled at him, and he realized for the first time just how hungry he was. When was the last time he hate? Yesterday morning? Tom walked passed the cop as he reached one of the bathrooms.

“Rise and shine.” Tom gave a wave as he set his rifle against the bathroom and went in, still tired as hell. As he relieved himself, he wondered when all of this would end. He hoped that the plague hadn’t reached Pennsylvania yet… but he doubted it had been contained. Tom finished up and opened the door of the portable toilet, grabbing his rifle and making his way back to the car where the others waited for him.

“We’re still about two hours away.” Nick said as he came close. “But we’re low on gas, and we need to grab a bite to eat… I don’t know how much longer I can last.” Tom nodded as he climbed back in the backseat. “Stop at the next gas station, we’ll refuel and pick up some supplies there.”

“Sounds good to me.” Nick got back behind the wheel as Mike went to climb in the back before Katharina stopped him.

“You’re riding shotgun.” She pushed passed the soldier and nestled next to Tom.

“You see dat shit?” He asked Nick as he got in the passenger seat.

“Drop it.” Nick mumbled as he started the engine and slowly pulled away. Katharina snuggled up close to him, kissing him on the cheek before closing her eyes as Nick maneuvered around abandoned vehicles. Tom slowly wrapped an arm around her, enjoying the warmth of her against him. Tom looked outside his window as Nick and Mike silently chatted amongst themselves up front.

As Nick continued driving, Tom didn’t see a single living person. He didn’t see much of the undead either aside from the occasional one wandering around a wreckage or in the middle of the street.

“Yo, she asleep?” Mike asked finally after about a half hour.

“Yeah, why?”

“I got dibs on that hot ass.” He grinned. Tom flipped him off.

“Back off.”

“What? Aw we can share!”

“Damn it, I said-”

“Hey guys, we might have company.” Nick said as he slowed down, nearing an Exxon gas station. Tom looked ahead and saw a large convey of tracker trailers parked around the gas station, he counted six.

“Shit, kill the engine.” Tom said as he sat up a little. He saw that each of the trucks were aligned in a sort of circle around the station, completely barricading whoever was inside. Multiple corpses aligned the road around the trucks. Looking above at one of the trailers, he saw a flash of someone ducking.

“What should we do?” Mike asked as he pulled his M9 out of his holster.

“No, no wait… You all stay here, I’ll go.” Tom grabbed his rifle. “Do not open fire. We don’t want a firefight we can’t win.” Tom gently pushed Katharina off his lap and grabbed his rifle, holding it aimed down as he walked slowly towards the trucker convey. “If anything happens, get the hell out of here.” He called over his shoulder as he slowly crept forward.

As the Tom neared the convey, two people snapped up on opposite ends of him from the tops of their trailers. One held a hunting rifle, the other a handgun. He raised one hand, waving it. One of the truckers turned back and said something to someone hidden behind the trucks. Moments later, a large man stepped out from between two trucks.

The trucker was huge. He was easily at least 6’4, his snakeskin boots slapped against a puddle as he walked towards him, muscles bulging out of a tight black shirt. He wore a brown cowboy hat, his eyes hidden by a pair of aviators. A shining Colt Python could be seen in his belt. The trucker pulled a cigar smoked down to the nub out of his mouth and exhaled smoke upon reaching him.

“What’s your business here, boy?”


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Tom nervously lowered his rifle and held a hand up.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble.” He said, keeping his tone as calm as possible. The trucker didn’t move, and he couldn’t tell what the hell he was looking at behind those aviators. Tom knew his group couldn’t afford any more trouble, considering one of his men was wounded. The large man took in another puff of smoke before tossing the cigar to the ground and putting it out with his boot.

“What’s yer business?” The trucker asked again.

“We were looking to pick up some supplies and refuel… we can trade with you if you’re up for it. We have weapons and ammo.” This seemed to catch the man’s attention. The trucker lifted one of his massive hands and took off the sunglasses. Large, brown eyes stared back at him as he raised his hand to shake.

“The name’s Gus.” Tom shook his hand.

“Private To- ugh, Tom.” The trucker laughed.

“Abandoned yer post, eh?” Gus raised a hand and rubbed his goatee. Tom shook his hand.

“Most of my unit was wiped out. I got out while I still could, call it what you will.” Gus nodded.

“Doesn’t matter to me. How many you travelin’ with?” Gus motioned towards his vehicle.

“Three, one’s wounded though, if you can spare it we could use a med kit.” Gus cocked an eyebrow.

“He bit?”

“No, no. Helicopter wreck, not too bad just need a patch up.”

“Good,” Gus turned towards his men perched up on the trailers and gave a short whistle. “Let ‘em in.” Tom turned back towards the squad car and gave a wave, Nick brought the engine to life and slowly drove up. The three survivors got out.

“Uh, Gus this is Nick, Katharina, and Mike.” Tom said as the walked up to the barricade.

“Howdy,” Gus turned around and started walking back towards the tractor trailer barricade. “let’s go.” Tom slung his rifle over his shoulder as he followed the trucker through. After a tight squeeze through the trucks, Tom was met by Gus again, who was conversing with one of the other truckers; there were five others besides him, only two of them were armed though. Gus turned away from the trucker and back towards him.

“Look, Tom, I’ll make you a deal. My group is ill armed, I’ll give you whatever you need here along with another vehicle. In return I request some firepower... What is your group carryin‘?” He was looking at the rifle Tom was packing. Damn it, Tom really didn’t want to give up his weapons. They did need to refuel though, and the squad car was pretty banged up…

“Well, we have two service rifles, a shotgun, and a couple handguns…” Gus chuckled as he pulled out another cigar and lit up.

“Alright soldier boy, tell ya what. Go in the station and take what ya want. Once yer ready meet me back out here. There’s a few vehicles my men picked up out back, we’ll trade then.”

“Sounds good, Gus.” Tom turned back to his group. “Alright, let’s head into the station. Grab some food and drinks, along with anything else you’ll need.” Tom’s stomach growled in anticipation. He was starving.




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Gus Valudes watched as the soldier and his ragtag group hurried into the gas station as he took a puff from his cigar. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on in the world, the death and destruction he’d seen in the last couple of days had haunted him. Seeing a few new faces though brought a sort of comfort to him. He’d been paying attention to the news the last few days, and when the shit hit the fan he and some other truck drivers from work had decided it was best to stick together. They traveled as a pack, watching each other's backs and gathering as many supplies in their trailers as they could get their hands on. This gas station had been their latest stop.

As the group disappeared into the station, one of the other truckers, Dan, approached him. He already had his handgun out.

“So, we going to jack them of their shit or what?” Dan asked with an evil grin. Gus and his men had done some real nasty things the last few days, just doing what they needed to survive. Yet, this group of people was different. He exhaled the smoke.

“No.” He simply said. “We’ll let them take what they want and trade.” Dan had a confused look on his face. Although Gus’ men had enough supplies hoarded up in their trailers to last them for months, they weren’t packing much firepower.

“The fuck? Why not? You saw what they were packin’! We need those guns!” Dan exclaimed.

“That one’s a soldier.” Gus explained as he pulled out his dogtags from underneath his shirt and showed Dan.

“So?” Dan asked, getting frustrated. “New world order, we need their stuff-” Gus pulled out a knife he kept tucked in his back belt and slammed Dan against one of the trailers, holding the knife to his neck.

“God damn it, Dan, we let ‘em pass! You got a problem with that?” Dan was speechless. “Do ya?” He growled, getting up in his face. Their eyes locked for a long moment before Dan finally shook his head.

“Naw.” Dan grunted.

“Good.” Gus released Dan and tucked his knife away. He wouldn’t steal from one of his own…




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