The Escape
You know those stories to where you see the homes that have been destroyed by tornados, hurricanes, and older homes were a multiple of server winds come through and just brutalize the homes, and well I never thought that anything but nature could such damage.\
Every shingle wall was damage, holes from fists, nails glazing don’t eh walls as to look like a skier going downhill. Chairs broken into little pieces, couches and all type of furniture turned upside down, throw through walls and windows. Glass shattered to million pieces, the ceiling ripped in certain areas. I made my way through starting to think that I had no weapon in hand and in one prayed that there was nothing in our home that will hurt us now and where will we go.
Our family photo albums are no more, the dishes smashed, along with all other kitchen items. I look to my left due to cool air pressing against my face, the rain blowing through the frame of once stood, sliding door. The curtains in shreds and laying in puddles of rain.. My steps are sacred and my visual is clear. Our house is a disaster and any area that once had doors or glass have been detached from their bearings. Everywhere I look there is rain coming through, there is cool air but not enough to wash way the horrific sight or the unbearable stench, the order of what they have left behind.
I walk my way to the front door, watching my steps as not to disturb anything, hoping that all are gone. Puddles gathering inside the house from open passage ways, my movements ever so smoothly. "Victor...Victor...." There is was a gap of two or three seconds, a soft whisper, almost as not to wake anyone. I realized it came from where I started and I could hear my wife coming up the ladder. I backed tracked very quickly as to attempt make no disturbance, I peered my head around the corner and looked down and there was my wife coming up and six little eyes glistening in the foreground. I press one cold finger against my lips and motion for silence, she nods. She turns to our children and passes the motion of silence onto them. "Any sign of what came through here?" she asked "no, just what they left behind"
Our search through the house was quick and there was no clear presence of danger, Raquel grabbed the kids and kept them close for when she motioned for silence they did not speak nor move in our direction, they just stayed put.
My body is cold but not to where I noticed, Raquel needed to point it out that I was cold and she showed concerned in her eyes but in my mind I feel fine, I feel better then fine.
We immediately rushed to grab whatever we felt was needed, anything would be useful in our travels. Without thoughts of what could be upstairs, I darted up, skipping two sometimes three steps to get to the top. Look left, look right, with swift movements saw nor heard anything. With knowing this, I spoke lauder than I have been to make sure Raquel heard me, I thought when I spoke the next words, that I had such confidence, that there was no fear... "The upstairs is as bad as downstairs but there are some salvageable things, I’ll be down in seconds"
I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, would I need clothes, need food, there was a million things going through my head.
As I searched with my eyes in Joeys' room I saw his collection miniature baseball bats, what the hell I thought, kids can carry them and they might come in handy later. I saw two little flashlights that are pocket size, grabbed those along Joeys school bag and tossed what clothes I could fine in his unrecognizable room. I hurried to Lucas’ room and went onto our room, the only need out of our room was the first aid kit, I headed to the bathroom, with the wind blowing through the windowless frames of our bedrooms, I stopped in my tracks for I swore to myself that I heard a movement on the wall but not anything I could see. I went to the bathroom, I reached for the medicine cabinet that was hang off the top hinge and propped it open with my left hand. Nothing touched, was odd to me that the door itself was on its last hinge but nothing touched in the cabinet, I grabbed it and made my move towards downstairs.
"Honey"??? "Yes" I took my first step downstairs "ok, good your coming down, I heard some noises outside like on the wall but wasn’t sure, are we ready" her voice had some hope in it but you could sense a nervousness too. as I get done to my last steps, the loudest steps that could be heard a sound of pounding feet came running from the hall upstairs, with just my look from the corner of my eye, I knew that this was unwanted company, I grabbed the hand rail as to give me momentum to push off from the last steps as I made my turn to go towards my family with
Only the words of "run to the car, run..." I see him, this thing comes darting down the stairs and as he is four or five steps away he ejects himself from the steps and makes his attempt to unwelcoming embrace his arms around my body, with in the same moment, with no thought in my mind I lean to my left with a slight kneel to the ground and all I feel is the motion of his body and the hissing of his voice as in anger that he didn't hit me the first time. Well his hit was not me but of the drywall shoulder and head first. Not looking I see my family still standing at the other end of the hall, my look must of said it all but because their next movement was running towards the garage. I didn’t see if this creature was still lying there but could imagine that he was still lying there, I was close to my family keeping them on their heels as we went down the second hall they stopped in unison and let me pass as to tell me that this was job, my job to clear the way to make their path safe. The garage door was damage but still intact we pushed through immediately, kids and wife enter on the passenger side and myself getting ready to go on the driver’s side, but one thing...
"Shit!!! Keys!!!!!"
I hear a little jingle and look to my right and see my one-step ahead of the game significant other dangling the keys in front of me. She gives me a slight smile that makes me show a mirror image to her.
The garage door is dented but to see what has been destroyed we would need more light, I can only hope that the garage door will open, I hope they have not done damage to the track. We hope....
I reach for the garage opener, put the key into the ignition, I turn back and look at my kids, who look like they have been in battle, sweat, tears, dirt on their clothes, they show fear in their eyes, a sadness. I give them a wink and say with what chipperness I have "Should we go" and crack a slight smile and without surprise they all smile back and nod yes.
My eyes widen as the garage door opened, “keep going, keep going” I say “come on, come on....” with a loud jerking sound the garage stops about three quarters from completing enough space for us to go through. I really didn’t care, I just knew we needed to go and go now.
I back the minivan up, with some surprise this car and our second car that has been left behind, had little or no damage. A broken side mirror, a busted headlight, several of the windows has looked like they had been smashed but none had been shattered just the design of splitting lines and numerous deep, could only imagine the unbearable sounds that it made, scratches.
Outside we felt relief.
We didn’t have to look at each other but I felt we let go of the breath we had been holding. As I looked around, I caught a glimpse of Raquel looking too, her eyes were as open as mine. Every house looked to be in shambles, windows shattered, doors hanging off hinges... "Stop!, Honey stop the car!" Raquel is starring out the passenger window, I slowed down but did not fully stop, until I saw past Raquel a saw what she saw. I stopped completely and jumped out of the car, telling Raquel to secure the doors.
Our next door neighbor, we called Mr. Peters whom was the senior of our block was lying face down in his driveway. I stepped back without hesitation seeing that the back of shirt was covered in smothering blood and that his cloths had been ripped as I turned to walk quickly I could hear him grumbling but that was not all that caught my attention. That thing that had taken a dive at me towards the bottom of the stairs had caught my eye too. I could see him running around the living room in front of the bay window, you could tell he was irritated and confused, then he stopped in his tracks and look dead at me. I scampered to the van knowing that I had one in front of me and possibly a second coming behind me. I wasn’t hundred percent on old man Mr. Peters but I had seen enough movies to know that It would be better to run away.
Raquel would not unlock the door unless my hands were on the door and she would only switch the lock for my door, not to take any chances. "Is he dead" she asked as I got in. "I don’t know, yes, no, I don’t know" we both turn to look, to see Mr. peters but there is no sign and as I put my foot on the gas to drive off, there was too loud and deep hits on the van, kids are screaming and my wife is looking out the window to see what hit us, I drove, I drove as fast as I could and looked only once to see both psychopaths running after us, trying to catch their first or next meal... but this family was not one that they would catch.
We escaped, we survived, we are few or few that we know of that have made it, the odd thing was that there was no sign of movable death, we had stayed out of the neighborhoods and kept honest to the main streets but still, were could they have gone. Raquel had somehow gotten the kids occupied with their DS's and connected their headphones to the sound of Mario world and WWE mainevent, they seemed calm but not calm enough to have my youngest Lucas ask a dozen questions. "Are those zombies, I thought you said zombies aren’t real, was that Mr. peters, where are my friends, where is grandma?" Eva, pulls off her head phones as she is listing to the Smiths, “Grandma is safe, she is with our cousin on vacation, she is fine” as Eva looked at her dad and mom to get reassurance.
“Lucas, let me get out of here, let us figure out what we are going to do or where we were going”
“Dad... Zombies....”
I let out an uncertain laugh.
“Lucas... Did you hear me?, did you?”
It stayed silent.
We had three to-do on our memory list-
1) Decide where we are going
2) Let’s get on the phone and call everyone we know
3) Get gas!
Our three responses for the to-do list-
3) I think gas is of great importance and we will need to stop for we have a half a tank, which on any other day would be good but not today.
1) We had made the choice of going straight to Mexico, in my adventure to get, Raquel had heard many facts, rumors and what ifs. She knew at this time that Mexico was not infected and that they had bulked up there security around the boarders and that they were not letting anyone in except those who were citizens or duel citizens. We happen to be the lucky few, not just that we have survived so far but that we all had dual citizenship.
I looked for emptiness for no disruptions on the street and needed to get gas soon.
2) Raquel was making calls, first to my mom and then to her sister and then we would call the rest.
"your mom is not answering, I don’t think they are getting reception, but I could be wrong, my sister is not answering, we need to go and see if she, if they are there, Victor, we need to go... "
" That’s the complete opposite way, we ..."
"Victor, this is not an option, we are going"
“You will sacrifice or at least put our lives on the line to go and see if you sister is alive, what about the kids, us? And anyway, she is married now, her husband should be doing what I’ve been doing, right?"
“Victor please, please don’t be like this now, this is my sister and there is no choice. We will drive by, if there is no sign or if there is a sign of something, well you know, please Victor...”
I took a deep breath "...sorry, your right, just thinking of what I saw and the chance of survival, well...”
"I know"
"You don’t see me asking to go drive to the Smokey and go save my...."
She glares at me, with eyes that could melt steel
"Sorry, it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have a smart ass comment"
The distance we have traveled so far have taken us past many devastating sites, are closes gas station had the look of a bomb fire, with those things running around the fire acting out of control. The streets are empty for there might be only a handful of vehicles driving franticly but each light we pass we, look down those opposite streets and see lonely store fronts, abandon restaurants, vehicles of shapes and sizes turned upside down, there are herds and herds of these mad men/women & children running around. We have seen no sign of cops driving around or standing ground and fighting, as we drive further and get closer to the I-55, we seem to see less and less of destruction.
We had turned on the radio, several miles back but with the unwanted sightseeing and the nearly fatal attack by our home we have yet to tune in, until now....
....”In the middle of the streets, in a wide range of buildings here in Chicago, there is a sea of humans, humans with rage, they attack with such furiousity. We have had calls from all over, from buildings, cars, the streets, with almost every one of them ending in tears, screams, death. Our sister station, throughout the US. Have reported the same violence as well. Television has shown what we give to you in detail. In ways we are barricaded in our station, some have left, and not knowing their fate, have ventured to what they feel is safer grounds. Earlier reports have indicated that this has all started from an unknown man, who came from overseas, there are new reports that this chaos had started on a plane that had landed in Washington and has now seem to spread throughout the states...
“I’m stopping up ahead, we know this is a very isolated area and we can see if anyone or anything is coming towards us and we don’t know what is ahead or if this stretch of disaster has affected your sister’s area.”
We pull into the last gas station that sit on top of a hill overlooking the I-55, its desolated, and it makes me wonder if gas will even be available.
“Eva, I want you to lock the doors when mommy and I go out to fill the tank”
“What!” Eva’s couldn’t hear a word with her headphones
“I need you to lock the doors and only open them when we are ready to come back in...”
“Are you sure you want us both to go out?” Raquel interjects her curiosity thoughts for why I would need both of us out there at the same time.
I glare and say “yes”
I run to the doors of the station to peer through the glass as Raquel goes through the motion of filling pup the tank.
“No one is in the station doors are locked”
I head back to the van and as I swiftly walk back to my family, I take in my surroundings and see absolutely nothing. As I approach Raquel I feel confident when speaking to her “I feel safe here for this moment, there is nothing in sight for quit a distance, we obviously need to hurry but we can...”
Out of nowhere a car is zooming down the road, headed right towards the I-55. Raquel and I look at each other, not saying a word but now looking in anticipation at the digital dollars that are increasing at the pump and I’m sure we are eagerly waiting for it to shut off.
“I wonder”
“Wonder what, victor?”
“His speeding is that a sign or just panic mode?”
“Honey you’re so calm now...”
Not intentionally trying to cut her off or trying to be rude.
“What, why would you say that, trust me, there is worrisome for my family”
Raquel took no offence “no, honey, not saying that at all, just notice how you are in such control, I love that you are calm and not making us feel panic or feared for our life”
As she is talking, I grab the back end of the luggage rack and pull myself up onto the bumper I look to see if I can see the car that glided by so quickly, I saw nothing.
I pulled myself up even more, and walk to the top center of the van and stood tall and look out beyond the station, beyond the trees that were placed were the edge of the hill met the pavement of the gas station, beyond the bushes the green grass, there was a sea, a massive sea of destruction.
Calmly I say to Raquel “get in the van” with no hesitation she closes the gas cap and hurries around to her door which was opened by me.
As I head in another direction, my family looks at me in finding it odd that I am not going towards the fifty five and that I am headed straight through the local streets towards my sister-in-laws.
Raquel moves towards the middle of the van, she grabs two emergency blankets that were in the back and swiftly puts down the middle windows and makes homemade curtains by inserting the blanket into the windows and shutting them. “There boys, hey Eva, are you sure you don’t want to sit up in the middle of the boys? As Eva was enjoying her space in the back, she just nods no and puts her head back down into her book.
“Smart move”
“Thanks freckles, do you want to tell me what happen back there”
“Fifty five is covered with them”
“What? What did you see”
Everything that you have seen on the news, everything that I saw back at the station, its bad rally bad”
Every other block or so, there would be a vehicle driving to find a secure place, every other block or so, we would see homes, offices, strip malls being ambushed by these creatures.
The clock was moving but the streets gave no life.