Read with BonusRead with Bonus

Chapter 6 The Stubborn other Half

"WE"RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!"

Timothy's shriek filled my ears as the car swerved from left to right, the wheels screeching uncontrollably as Jason tried his best to remove the thing that obstructed the windshield. The thing was completely blocking our view of the road. With terror in my eyes, I covered my mouth with both of my hands to stop myself from disgorging any remaining stuff inside my stomach.

It was a human body that was ripped apart. Half of its lower part was missing, all bloody and revolting to look at. Its intestines were still affixed to the insides of its belly, sticking to the cracked windshield while it tried to hold firm to each side of the car, refusing to get tossed out as Jason expertly zigzagged the vehicle from left to right. It looked at me with its eyeballs almost falling from its socket and then at Li who started to retch again at the backseat, appeared as if he was going to collapse any minute.

"GET THAT THING AWAY FROM gluugregluglug—" Timothy didn't finish his next words because his stomach must have failed to handle the awful sight in front of us.

With his brows furrowed in utmost concentration, Jason stepped on the accelerator and drove it with the momentum that made my heart skip a beat. I heard the engine hum and roar as the zombie flattened on the windshield by the pressure of the frightening speed of the car. A scream escaped on my lips as he suddenly angled left without a warning, making Timothy, Li, and Mona fly on the backseat and squeezed together against the right side of the vehicle from the unexpected turn.

The zombie screamed, its one hand was still clasping tight on the left side of the windshield, too adamant to let go as if it was challenging Jason that he couldn't get rid of it that easily. When the zombie got back its balance again, it looked at Jason as if it was taunting him and started to bang its head on the windshield, threatening to shatter it.

Jason swore again and tried the same tactic to the zombie and this time, he didn't swivel the car in any direction but he stepped on the break, bringing the deteriorated body hurling forward and plummeting with a loud thud on the wide road, presumably two meters away in front of us.

Jaws gnashing together, Jason stepped on the accelerator again and ran over the dilapidated body, crushing it underneath the car. We all heard the sound of its bones breaking and apparently, it was its skull that gave that spine-chilling sound, a kind of noise like a popping watermelon.

"Heavens... I feel like I'll puke my stomach out." Li complained sickly, his face was pale with bullets of sweat running down his neck. Mona was silently crying while Timothy was catching up his breath, wheezing.

"We're alive..." I muttered and looked at Jason who also couldn't believe what had happened. He looked at me with panic in his eyes and I nod at him, wishing I could tell him everything will be ok now but that would only sound stupid. I just breathed and filled my lungs with air, steadying myself down. The adrenaline was still tingling inside my head and I had to shut my eyes tight and breathe deeply, trying to process slowly in my mind the things that had transpired in the airport.

My eyes welled with tears for the people in that place who have failed to escape the horrible fate they have faced. I questioned myself if we were the only ones who miraculously survived that catastrophe. All those innocent people... the mothers, the children. I couldn't imagine how those zombies turned them one by one.

Those poor innocent children...

Despite my denial to think more about them, in my head, I could hear their screams like a horrible nightmare that gave me a hollow feeling in my gut. I couldn't cease crying from the sorrow that overwhelmed me. Why did it have to happen? Why now? Why did those innocent lives have to suffer like that?

What kind of demon had made those people into monsters?

Were dad and Carl safe? Could I still find them?

Jason stopped the car and pulled me against him as I cried on his chest. I cried all the heavy feelings that were haunting me.

"Shhh... I know how you feel. I am sorry but there's nothing we could do about them." Jason murmured gently in my ears.

"I-I'm sorry. I just feel bad about those people." I sniffled. I pulled myself away from Jason and wiped the tears on my face. I was shaking but I have to remain strong. It's not time to crumble into pieces now. We have survived a surge of horrendous zombies. What now? What's waiting for us out there?

"Are we safe?" Timothy spoke in the apprehensive tone of his voice and glanced at the back of the car. We all glanced at the rear and found out we were distant enough from the building. We could still see some of the zombies running and walking towards us and Jason had to start the engine again to get us as far away from them as possible.

"Thank you so much, Jason! You saved us all!" Li cried out in relief, slumping languidly on the backseat between Mona and Timothy. He looked as if he ran a mile, his shirt wet with sweat and tears.

It was getting darker outside and the stars started to appear, twinkling above as if it was only a typical day. We were all speechless, trying our hardest to forget about the trauma we had encountered in that place as Jason drove along the empty highway, having no idea where we were heading. The car smelled disgustingly with vomit and the windshield was badly cracked in the middle, making it hard to see the road because of the fissures. Good thing that Jason was tall because the upper part of it has less damage.

I had to open the window to let the air in. Not just because the smell was suffocating, but I also needed fresh air to calm up my nerves.

I sighed with relief when the cold breeze of the dusk whipped my face. It stung my cheeks a little but it's better than suffering the suffocating smell inside.

"We smell like puke." Timothy scrunched his nose as he grumbled, looking disgusted at his pants that were smeared with vomit. He dabbed it with the handkerchief he took from one of his pockets. "What happened? Why is the building suddenly filled with zombies?" he asked.

"Tell me first how did you manage to get a car when all the vehicles in that area were already taken away by the military?" I asked him instead and looked at him suspiciously. Then I averted my eyes on him, realizing something.

Yeah... Why did the military take all the cars in the airport? Doesn't it sound absurd?

He didn't bother giving me a single look on my face and continued wiping the disgusting smell from his gray pants. "My bodyguards had called my dad and he sent me a car after the military left. It was driven by one of his best agents but I didn't see him after he left the car in the garage. Also those stupid, useless bodyguards."

"What happened to them?" Li curiously asked, he was also wiping the vomit off of his jeans and gave Mona some wet wipes to use.

"Give me some of those." Timothy rudely grabbed the wet wipes from Li's hand, took a handful of them, and threw the rest back to Li. Li helplessly took the wipes with his mouth drawn downward, unhappy with Timothy's disrespectfulness.

Jason and I looked at each other as if we were thinking the same thing if it was a good idea that we saved this guy and took him with us.

"I had no idea what happened to them. They just disappeared and left me in that hellish place." Timothy answered with a low voice, his hand kept on scrubbing as if it became a new kind of therapy for him.

"Thank you for saving us again, man. You're so cool! How did you manage to think so quickly in a situation like that?" Li praised him and patted him on his shoulder, making Jason grin a little.

"I have no idea. Instinct, maybe." He answered.

We reached a high ground where we all saw the ruined structure of the airport. We were all horrified when a thick cloud of purple fog shrouded the whole area. I had a bad feeling that that smoke was the bioweapon my father had told me. Someone must have sniffed it and turned to a living dead and started the nightmare in that place. But where did that come from? How did the military know that the place would be that kind of dangerous?

"Where are we going next?" Timothy asked, his face full of worries.

"I don't know. Maybe we could find help somewhere else." I replied with uncertainty in my voice.

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter