Chapter 6 – Chap 6

Mr. Wilson had another handgun for himself that he aimed at the door. The hunting rifles were leaning against the wall of the garage. “Anyone else know how to use these?” he asked.

“I go hunting most years,” said a man wearing cargo shorts who looked to be in his thirties. “My brother has a few guns so I always just use his. These look similar to the ones I’ve used.”

“I can take the other one,” said Mark. “I’ve been to the shooting range a few times with some of my work buddies. It’s been a while, but I’ve got a decent aim.”

The kid stood close to me with the poker ready.

Mrs. Wilson had the SUV keys and gathered everyone else to pile into the vehicle.

“We should go in and help them,” Mark said as a couple more gunshots rang out from inside.

“I’ll open it and then step back in case you need to shoot, but be careful in case the nurse or her parents are there,” I said.

Mr. Wilson, Mark, and cargo shorts all aimed at the door. I walked up to the door and started to pull the rope off of the door handle. Two quick knocks made me pull my hand back. There was a pause and then another loud gunshot.

Three more knocks followed and I quickly untied the rope. The door flew open and the nurse ran in closing the door behind her. She had tears in her eyes and was shaking.

“We have to leave,” she said.

I quickly grabbed the rope and tied it back to the door handle. Immediately after something big crashed into the door.

“Got your keys? I said to the kid.

He reached in his pocket and then held them up.

Mr. Wilson and I ran to the SUV. He climbed in and I got Allie out to come with me. “Start your car as soon as the garage door starts opening. We’ll be taking the minivan in the driveway. You can follow us,” I told Mrs. Wilson.

Allie and I along with Mark, the nurse, and cargo shorts stood with the kid ready to run to his minivan once the garage door opened.

The nurse had her gun ready and so did Mark and cargo shorts.  I went over to the button by the door and pressed it. The door handle next to me began turning, pulling the rope taut.

The garage door slowly opened. It was way too loud for my comfort as the chain drive worked to pull it up. The minivan was close, but there were a few coyotes walking towards us from in front of it.

“Shoot carefully so we don’t hit the van,” the nurse said.

Three shots were fired before the coyotes could start running. They fell to the ground and we all ran for the van. I swung my bat at the closest one knocking it back and allowing me, Allie, and the nurse to quickly make it in. Mark and cargo shorts had run around to the other side. Mark climbed in first and went to the back. Cargo shorts stepped in and screamed as he pulled his other foot in. A raccoon had gripped tightly to his leg. He tried to shake it off and I tried to pry it off with my bat.

We finally got it off and closed the door. Before the lights in the van turned off, I saw blood dripping down his leg. I looked over at Mark and then at the nurse. Their faces showed that they saw it too.

“Where are we going?” the kid frantically said as we went backwards down the driveway a little too fast. The tires squealed when we veered into the street. I held on tight to Allie so she didn’t fly across the van and then buckled both of us up.

I didn’t know how much time we had before cargo shorts changed. But I had no idea what we should do. If we let him go, he could come back and get us. I couldn’t stomach the thought of the alternative though.

“Let’s get out on the main roads and we can pull off and regroup there,” Mark suggested.

Cargo shorts had taken off his sock and wrapped it around his ankle. “I can’t go with you guys,” he said softly. “Can you drop me at my house? It’s just a few more houses down on the right.”

The kid slowed down and pulled into the driveway at cargo shorts’s house. He opened the door and hopped out once the van came to a stop. No one really knew what to say to him.

He was about to close the door when Mark said, “Hold on. Let me walk you in.” He climbed out, closed the door, and followed cargo shorts to the front door. They stopped and talked for a bit and then both went inside the house.

We waited in silence until five or so minutes had passed. “What do you think he’s doing?” the nurse asked.

“I don’t know,” I said, “but I hope he gets back here soon.

After another five minutes Mark emerged from the front door and closed it behind him. He ran to the minivan and the nurse quickly opened the door to let him in.

“Dad, what is going to happen to that man?” Allie whispered to me.

“I don’t know honey. Maybe he’ll be okay with some rest,” I said. I wasn’t sure what Mark did in there, but I didn’t want to ask in front of Allie.

“We should really get going,” Mark said.

The kid put the van in reverse and went down the driveway. When he turned onto the street, the headlights revealed an open front door at the house next door.  This time it didn’t look like anyone was standing in it. As we drove on, I pointed out the open front doors on most other houses.

“Looks like the garage doors are open too,” said the nurse. And they are empty too.”

“Do you think that’s a good thing or a bad thing?” the kid asked.

Mark said, “Might be good for us, if they’ve left. But not good for whoever lives where they are going. And we still have the animals to deal with.”

We saw lots of glowing eyes reflecting from the headlights when we turned down the streets towards the main entrance to our subdivision. We rounded the corner bringing the tree lined exit into view.

The kid slowed down and stopped about two hundred feet before the stone and wood sign that welcomed us to our sub. Mrs. Wilson pulled up next to us. We all stared ahead at the lineup of cars blocking our way out.

Mr. Wilson motioned for the kid to roll his window down. “Doesn’t look like there is any way around this,” he said.

“We can try the way out by my house,” the kid said. Mr. Wilson nodded in agreement and rolled up his window. Then we quickly turned around and took off down the road.

Before we got close to the second way out, we could see the orange glow of a fire and smoke rising into the night sky. Once we got closer, it was clear that there was no way out this way either. Five cars were lined up blocking the road and grass all.the way to the trees. Some of the trees had been knocked on top of the cars and lit on fire.

“I didn’t know they would be this organized,” Mark said. “I wish we knew if there was some way to change them back to normal.”

“Is this just happening here? I haven’t seen any news about illnesses other than COVID online, but my connection has been very spotty. And it seems to be getting worse,” said the nurse.

“I haven’t been able to make any calls on mine,” I said.

“I bet the dirt road will be blocked too,” said the kid.

“Well, we don’t really have any other choice so we need to try it,” said Mark.

The less used dirt road entrance was our last option for leaving the neighborhood by car.

“I agree,” I said. “I don’t see how we can get out of here on foot.”

The kid drove up closer to the line-up of cars and started to turn around.

“Look over there!” shouted the nurse. She was pointing out the passenger window. The lights of the Wilsons’ SUV coming up behind us showed five people standing in front of the cars; their faces and clothes covered in what I hoped was dirt.

The kid stopped the car so we could get a better look at them. I thought I recognized some of them, but it was difficult to be certain in these lighting conditions.

As soon as we stopped, the people took off running towards our van. “Go, go, go!” Mark yelled before two of them ran right into the van, causing it to rock from side to side.

Allie screamed as two more ran in front of the van. “Mom…Dad?” the kid said.  The two in front started slamming their fists down on the hood of the car. A few more people crashed into the side.

“What are you waiting for, we have to go!” the nurse yelled to the kid.

He put the car in reverse and backed into a mailbox knocking it over.  He gunned it and turned to avoid the people that were attacking the van.  We drove down the streets towards the dirt road with the kid swerving along the way to hit the animals that were on the road.

He flipped his brights on as we travelled down the straight stretch of road leading to our way out.  I didn’t see any cars blocking our way, but there were people standing by the road at some of the houses we passed.  The car sped up bringing us closer and still no sign of cars or a roadblock. Once we turned on the dirt road, it would go on for about a mile bringing us to a main road that could eventually lead us to I75. Then hopefully to somewhere safe.

The minivan zoomed down the road and hit a large bump at the end of the pavement. We then came to a sudden stop with the front end crashing into a three or four foot trench dug into the dirt.

The airbags went off in the front seats and the seatbelts locked us in place. Allie started crying and the kid was leaning into the airbag and moaning.

I unbuckled myself and Allie. “Are you hurt?” I asked her.

“I don’t think so,” she said through her tears.

“Is everyone else okay?” I asked.

Mark and the nurse nodded their heads, but the kid continued to moan. It didn’t look like he had his seatbelt on and his side window was cracked.

“I think he hit his head,” the nurse said, gesturing to the kid.

Mark opened the door and looked outside. “I don’t see anyone yet. We need to go now.”

The SUV had stopped behind us and was now turning around.  It backed up and stopped a little ways away from us. Mark and the nurse ran over to the driver’s door and pulled it open.

The liftgate on the SUV opened up for us to enter. I grabbed Allie, our backpacks and the weapons and started getting out.

“Hurry up! They’re coming fast!” yelled Mr. Wilson.