Chapter 9

A Chapter by ALITR

When I woke up, I was still holding Natasha. Pierce was already up, and said, "Good morning, lovebird number one." He waited for a second. "I had to change the joke because… it only works if you're… both awake... So, since-" "I get it Pierce!" I yelled.

Natasha woke up from the noise. "Is it already tomorrow?" She said.

She began to stir, but when she saw where she was, she looked a bit more content. "So, uh, lovebird-s, while you were cuddling, I did some studying." Said Pierce.

"Have you ever considered taking up Dr. Suess's legacy?" Natasha said groggily, while sitting up. Pierce continued, ignoring that comment, "I found out that north, the direction to the nearest city is-" he looked around for a few seconds, then pointed. "That way!" "Another inspiring statement from Sacagewea." Natasha mumbled.

Pierce looked at her. "You're a funny one, aren't you?"

"The point Pierce?" I reminded him. "We have roughly 100-150 miles to cover." We sat there. "Oh." I said. Then Pierce said, "So basically, we get walking, or 'borrow' a car."

I looked at him. "Well, first of all, borrowing would imply that the person is alive, but I think it wouldn't be out of our reach to steal a car."

Before we knew it, we were walking back towards away from our camp and headed back towards the residential area. I had second thoughts about this, and apparently Natasha did too. "What if that guy is still there?" She asked.

Pierce stopped in his tracks. "If he is still there, then I won't let him anywhere near either of you. Got it?" He said, gritting his teeth.

Pierce was a good guy. At school he would wear a shell of hate and anger, but deep down, if someone is able to poke at the real Pierce, then he will open up. And if he gets any indication that that person is in danger, he goes crazy defensive, like I was the only friend he had. But I was. I had never seen someone else touch Pierce like that besides me, but now he has no one else to defend anymore.

"Hey, this car looks fine." Pierce said, interrupting my speculation. We hadn't been walking far. I looked at it. It was an SUV, with a red finish and rails on the top. It didn't even have a popped tire. "It's creepy how it was like, waiting for us." He noted.

It was. Not only was the car intact, but it didn't have a scratch. It was parked in front of a tan house with what was a window, now broken, on the front left. "Let's go inside and look for the keys." I said. We found the keys on a hook that was right beside the front door, but I didn't leave until I took a jar of peanut butter and a butter knife.

"You know how to drive?" Natasha asked. "I don't know how to drive, but I know how to work a car. The rules of the road won't matter for a while."

Pierce sat in the passenger's seat beside me, and Natasha sat in the back with the supplies. "Buckle up." Said Pierce. We'd need it now more than ever. I started the ignition, and shifted to reverse.

Soon enough, we were on the road.

We might have driven 2 miles when we stopped. "Do you see that?" Pierce said. "See what?" Then I did. There was a far away figure on the side of the road.

"Should we stop?" Said Pierce. I had my doubts. Natasha gasped. "That's a man and a kid!" She said. As we got closer, I saw she was right. I pulled over near them. Until then, it had never occurred to me how strange we looked as a group.

A muscly kid with long black hair, a slightly smaller brown haired kid, and an even smaller brown haired girl. I realized this when I saw the look on the man's face. "What do you want? Please, just leave!" Natasha tried to calm him down. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

"Like what? Food? My son is starving." I looked down at his son. He couldn't have been more than 6 years old.

I can't imagine what it would be like to not even understand what was going on, and trying to comprehend that every one that I knew was dead. "We have food." I said. "And water. We'll give you as much as we can spare."

Which was 2 pieces of bread and our 2 full sized water bottles. When the man saw this he was amazed. "How have you kids been surviving on your own for so long?" I couldn't tell you myself. We were three adolescent kids with no idea what we were doing, yet we had survived 2 nights in a row, not to mention an attack from a middle aged man with a gun. "And how the hell did you get a car?"

"Stole it." Pierce said immediately. "Haven't you been looting houses? There's nobody to come home to them."

The man looked at Pierce nervously. "Nevertheless, me and my son need a ride to the next city over, and I'd be happy to drive, if you'd let me."

"We can offer you a ride, but we aren't throwing our trust around so carelessly. Maybe you can drive later if you earn it." I said. "I understand." He replied.

"We should introduce ourselves, if we're going to temporarily partner up. My name is Chuck, and this is my five year old son, Nathan." Nathan waved a small wave. Pierce introduced our side. "My name is Pierce, this is Garry, and this is Natasha."

Handshakes were exchanged.

"Well, there's nothing to do now but get going."

The roads were beat up bad. More than once, we had to get out of the car and move debris, which we couldn't have done without Chuck. Pierce and I were strong, but he really brought it to the table.

He seemed very grateful for our help, despite the less-than hospitable treatment we had given him and Nathan. After we had moved the third branch or car frame out of the way, I was too tired to drive. And since Chuck was the only other one there capable of driving, I loosened up on how I was treating him.

So far he had done nothing but help, and that was all he wanted to do by driving. "I won't let you down." Was all he said when I handed him the keys. "Since I can trust you with this, I think it's safe to tell you that we have a gun." I said, leaning in, so as not to scare Nathan. "What kind? Do you have any ammo for it?" He asked. "Revolver, 4 rounds." "I can live with knowing that."

Nathan sat behind his dad in the back seat, I sat on the right side behind Pierce, who had the gun, and Natasha sat in the middle. I glanced at my watch. 3:16. I ate my half piece of bread and half bottle of water. Then I laid my head on Natasha's shoulder, who laid her head on top of mine.

I had just closed my eyes when I fell asleep as quick as a tidal wave. Sick laughter. Quietly laughing about something evil that had been done. I saw Pierce, Natasha, Nathan, and Chuck's disimbodied heads speared on stakes high above me.

The laughter grew louder, more terrible. The heads all looked at me, moaning, "Sssaaaavvveeee uuusssss…"

The laughter grew louder.

I looked at my hands. They had started to bleed.

Louder.

My fingernails had started to peel off.

Louder.

The skin was coming off my entire arms now, exposing raw flesh.

Even louder.

It worked its way up my chest, showing bones and ribs.

"GARRY!" Natasha had been trying to shake me awake. My heart, still there in my chest, was pounding furiously against my ribs.

My vocal cords were sore. "Was I… screaming?" Natasha was hugging me hard enough to make my eyes pop out of my head. Pierce looked at me. "Bloody murder, Garry. You sounded like you were having your heart switch places with your stomach."

Nathan had his knees up to his chest, covering his ears. Chuck had stopped the car and was looking at me with great concern. "Kid, just what kind of nightmare were you having?"

"I…" my voice trailed off.

"It's okay, just… try to stay awake for a little bit." He said. No problem there. "Look, I stopped at this gas station. We could get some food, and probably a siphon."

It was nice to have something to occupy me. Me, Pierce, and Natasha went into the station. I had been asleep for about 2 hours, so it was just becoming dark. We took both the flashlights, while Chuck and his son waited in the car.

"So, what do you think of the new addition to the team?" Said Pierce. Natasha and I were still a bit shaken up at this point, so neither of us could say anything much. Pierce tore off the rest of the broken automatic door that had shattered and bent.

"Hello?" He asked. A raspy and annoyed sounding voice answered. He was a older man, who probably only still worked here to have something to do before he could retire.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! I know the drill! Take gas, water, food. What's left of it. At least you aren't threatening me at gunpoint." We wouldn't be needing a gun after all. "We were hoping you would have a siphon." I said. "There's one in the back." The man said.

"Thank you so much." Said Natasha, remembering her manners. "Thank you." I copied. I went to the back and got the siphon. Pierce took some energy bars and chips. Natasha and I went back out to put the gas in the car. With that, I thanked the man again and we drove off.

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