Day 345 - Untitled Zombie Story Chapter 7.1 - (1,080 words)

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UNTITLED ZOMBIE STORY

By Wayne Webb

Chapter 7.1

Derek opened his eyes and tried to blink the blurred vision away from his sight, but it was taking longer than he thought it should. How long was he asleep? Where was he? What time is it? These questions shook around in his head like stones in his shoes. Annoying little irritants that he could not ignore and not quite get at.

It was very uncomfortable where he was lying down, his head was on a flat surface and it was hard, too hard to be sleeping properly, his neck and shoulders ached.

His eyesight was slowly coming back into focus and the world righted itself, showing him more of where he was, allowing him to piece it back together if he could.

The shape and outline of a car swum into view but it was upside down, or was he lying down still, he could not tell easily and his head hurt, a migraine perhaps? Was he trying to sleep off a migraine?

The car! He had been in that car, that was where he had been, they had been driving, James and he had been chasing that guy that came to their town with the magic sound sticks! Ben? Yes it was Ben someone or other. They had been driving after him, trying to catch up and … no wait, they did catch up and it had been … bloody and violent, there had been deaths.

“James? Jimmy?” Derek called out for his brother and the resulting sound made this stabbing noise in his head, his brain rattling inside his skull so that he could feel it there, the sides pressing in on his physical mind. The ache and piercing pain that came with his shouting made him wince and hold his head.

The left hand was wet, and when he tried to focus on it, he saw a red splotch where his fingers should have been.  Was he bleeding? Where was James? Ben Johnson that was his name it was Ben Johnson! He had been in the car, and James was not there, it had been Ben and Derek. Ben and Derek and … Margaret? No, she had not been there either, and he was glad she was gone from the car, now that he thought about it.

He stood up and his legs wobbled, the blurred world tilting at his movements, but the car remained upside down, and then he saw and orange flicker and that image suddenly became sharp and he could see clearly, suddenly and shockingly.

The car was on fire, the flames licking at the underside of the engine, the car flipped and on it’s roof, it was half on the road and halfway to a ditch, so the place closest to him was lifted up a little and he could see a body inside the car. Adrenalin coursed through him and he ran unsteadily but rapidly to the wreck and without hesitating pulled the body out by it’s legs until the head came out and he could not make out who it was, the face was covered in blood and his head was throbbing.

Derek picked the person up and knew that it was a female, from the lighter frame and the breasts that pressed into his own chest, despite the situation, causing him instant arousal and attraction. It was the worst possible time but it had been far too long since he was physically intimate so his body and soul reacted primally to the proximity of a female.

Instant disgust and revulsion at himself in the moment followed very quickly and he laid the woman down in the ditch a few feet from the car and went back to find Ben.

The car was empty and there was no sign of the driver at all. The only thing that triggered any memory was the gun lying in the middle of the upended roof of the car. He picked it up, dropped it into his back pocket and got away from the burning wreck quickly as possible, he could feel the heat increasing, the flames licking higher and higher while he rescued the girl that he could barely remember.

Alice? Was her name Alice? Or Anne? He could not place her face in his memory and she was hard to recognize anyway as he face was painted red with blood, which was drying now from a cut in her hairline, running down her face like a red curtain.  The car was still burning and now he could hear a crackling noise of the flames and a popping, sparking noise from the various parts of the vehicle heating and burning.

“Help me.” The woman moaned into the air, faintly and desperately at the same time. Derek picked her up and carried her a lot further away, hopefully far enough that if the car exploded they would not be in the blast.

“Boom! Boom!” The vehicle did explode and the sound, shockwave and light all seemed to wash over Derek and his charge in the same instant, buffeting them in the inescapable wave of pressure and power.

The air was moving like a soft wall, not enough to knock them over but enough to make its presence felt all over them and even push them forwards a little, making him pitch forward and drop them both to the ground, she on her back and he on his knees.

The stunning force of the explosion was overwhelming and as soon as he let go of her, safe on the ground, if a little knocked about, he too fell down on his back and gave into the exhaustion and shock.

If he had passed out he had no idea how long it had been and he woke up with a start and he was still in the ditch down the road from the still burning car wreck, and the woman he had saved was no longer next to him.

“Angela?” He called weakly, and then realized that he did know her name, it was Angela and she had joined them in… where were they? Her name was Angela and she was a hostage? Their prisoner?

No, not their prisoner, HIS prisoner, it had been Ben who had been holding the gun on her.

Ben? Where was he? Had he moved the girl or had she woken up and moved on her own? He felt in his back pocket but it was empty, the gun had gone.