“Oh honey. It was a medical incident. A disease spread through the country. The world, actually. It infected millions of people. Most of the Infected died, including our daughter.” Sandra looked at Dave with weary eyes. He took her hand and lifted it to his lips, kissing it softly before releasing it. “You have survived. Thank your lucky stars.” Allison’s eyes locked with Sandra’s and there was a look of despair in her mossy green eyes. Allison knew she didn’t want to be asked any more questions. So, she slumped back in her seat while questions ran through her head. She was more confused than before, but she didn’t want to push her luck. For all she knew, if she pressed Sandra too far she’d end up kicked out of the car, alone again. Sandra faced forward and started turning dials on the radio. Dave continued staring at the road ahead, but his knuckles had turned white on the wheel. Allison wished she could read his thoughts.
She looked out the window at the blur of green foliage and realized she was tired. There was something more underneath the tiredness that was nagging her, a craving trying to push its way to the surface, begging to be indulged. She didn’t know what it was till she felt pain in her gut. Allison was hungry. The hunger was more than just an urge, it was a desire like drugs for an addict. She felt like she hadn’t eaten in years, but she knew that couldn’t be true. She faded into a deep sleep wondering why she felt a powerful longing for a bloody, rare steak.
Allison awoke to screeching tires and screams. The car swerved, throwing her across the back seat. She slammed into the car door. Allison’s head cracked against the window. Spots crowded her vision as the world became fuzzy. Stay awake, Allison! She forced her eyes open, filling her vision with light to fight back the dark haze engulfing her mind, trying to drag her into unconsciousness.
Sandra cried as she grasped the emergency handle above her head with both hands, knuckles white. Allison braced herself against Dave’s seat as she steadied her throbbing head. She gripped the door with her hands and pressed her knees against Dave’s seat as the back end of the car fishtailed across the road. Allison jerked wildly with each swerve of the car. Dave held tightly to the wheel as he pressed on the brake with both feet. His eyes widened and he reached down, fumbling for the emergency brake.
Allison closed her eyes so she couldn’t see Sandra. Her heart tried to escape her body through her throat when she looked at the woman’s terrified face. She wished she had put on her seat belt. Images of bloody, gruesome car crashes from driver’s education when she was fifteen raced through her head. Maybe going with Sandra and Dave had not been the lesser of two evils.
Dave’s hand found the emergency brake and pulled it hard.
“Hang on!” he yelled.
Allison tightened her hold on the door as the car slid sideways across the road. It came to a halt, but Sandra was still screaming with tears flowing down her face. Dave checked the door locks, then pulled Sandra near him while holding a finger gently to her lips.
“Shh, be quiet! It’s okay. Don’t let them hear you. You know they’re attracted to noise,” Dave said with a quiver in his voice. Sandra’s screaming dimmed down to a whimper as Dave wrapped her in his arms and rocked her. Who is attracted to noise? What are they talking about? What is going on?
Dave stared out the front windshield and Sandra bit her lip, silencing her cries. What is he looking at? Allison looked where Dave’s gaze was fixed. She wasn’t quite sure what was in front of her but she was sure of two things: One, she’d take being naked and lost in the woods over being near one of those things any day. Two, there was a high probability she would die today.
Chapter Three Allison
Allison vomited on the floorboard behind Dave before she even knew she needed to. She couldn’t take her eyes off what was happening outside but felt she should tear them out to stop herself from seeing it. Dave was staring out the windshield, mouth agape. Sandra was now shaking with tightly closed eyes. Allison had an urge to tell them to get out and help, but it was hypocritical to tell them to help when she was sure as hell not going to.
A black van was stopped in the middle of the road with a black sedan parked behind it. The back doors of the van were wide open, showcasing the padded walls inside. The windows on both vehicles were tinted so Allison couldn’t see if there was anyone inside. On the ground, propped up against the back of the van, lay a man with his abdomen torn open from his sternum to his belly button, guts looping in pink ropes down his black shirt and pants. The man blurred and for a split second Allison was sure his shirt was blue, not black. As fast as it happened her vision cleared. His viscera were now beside him in a bloody pile on the road, roasting in the blistering sun. Blood from his wound pooled on the pavement as a steady stream leaked out of the corner of his mouth, joining the moat of blood surrounding his body.
A woman was crouched next to him, a string of his intestines hanging from her mouth like a child eating spaghetti noodles for the first time. Allison’s heart raced as she watched the woman hold the line of slippery entrails with both hands and pull it back and forth between the corners of her mouth, sucking the
