Zombies Vs Aliens: Respawn

Chapter 11

            "Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Fred dropped the hood of the wagon, giving the undercarriage a kick that bounced the whole car. He winced and met J.D.'s glare through the smeared windshield. "Sorry about that." The larger man was trying to determine a problem from inside the vehicle.

                "Find anything?" J.D. unfolded himself from the front seat, resting an elbow on the roof.

            "What didn't I find. Carburetor's blown, timing belt snapped, and the battery looks like it melted. I think this bird is officially dead in the water."  Fred ran a frustrated hand through his hair.

            "Uh Fred," I said, trying to gently break it to him. The poor man was distracted. "You're covered in grease."

            He blinked at his smeared hands. Grungy brown streaks stuck up through his hair. "Ugh."

            I pushed off from the guardrail, giving his shoulder a pat as I passed. After all the trouble we went through scrounging for gas, our luck didn't hold through the day. Barely an hour beyond the Rochester crater, with the Muppets crowded in the back seat on either side of myself and Wolf Girl, the car shuddered and belched black smoke, rolling to a defeated stop in the middle of the highway. The last rays of sunlight sank below the horizon, leaving us in a gloomy dusk with a busted vehicle, useless canisters of gasoline, a handful of guns, one turning human, and two possibly homicidal zombies.

            "Okay, new plan, we can't stay here for the night, so let's grab our supplies and head for the trees."

            Fred frowned at me. "Seriously, why can't we camp out here?"

            "I have to agree with the lady on this one, we're too exposed out here," J.D. said, punctuated by an unearthly squeal as Wolf Girl raced by, the Muppets hot on her heels, in pursuit of something fast and furry. The soldier paused for a moment. "What's going to happen when she catches it?"

            "Don't watch or listen too closely, big guy," Fred grinned at him, grabbing his backpack from the passenger's seat.

            J.D. shook himself. "Thought so," he said, shouldering his bag o' guns. Aside from my own little pack of  dwindling supplies, the only assets left in the car were the gas cans.

            "Don't know if they'll come in handy or not, but I think we should take these with us," I said, grabbing one of the ungainly canisters. To my surprise, neither argued with me.

            "Never know when flammable liquids could come in handy," said Fred, taking the other one. We headed for the tree line. Wolf Girl appeared out of the shadows, happily munching on the unfortunate critter, the Muppets trailing behind her. Least her appetite wasn't off, which was a good sign. Wolf Girl was our designated crisis of the night.

            We had to come up with something before she woke up dead. Letting out a hearty belch, she dropped the remains of her dinner and fell in beside me, singing a chirpy little ditty, her face smeared with blood and stringy bits. My hands itched to attack her with a bar of soap. Never mind her, I would kill for a shower right now. To my great horror the shirt I hugged Bert in was my last one, leaving me fashionably smeared with dried zombie guts on top of the coating of sewer grime and cement dust we all sported. Hell, I hoped we didn't run into any humans before we had a chance to clean up.

           J.D. found us a clearing surrounded by a dense growth of trees. It was dark under the tree cover. Fred broke out a flashlight, the beam of light marred by a cracked lens. It was enough to build a small fire by, which J.D. was against but I insisted we risk it to keep the natural predators away. It must have rained in the last couple of days; everything was still wet. We sacrificed a splash of gasoline to get the flames going and Fred dragged a few fallen trees into loose semi-circle for some make shift benches and wind cover. The wood was damp, but it beat sitting on the ground. Fred slumped down on the log next to me, J.D. across from us. Wolf Girl didn't care either way, curling up on the ground at me feet, the fire at her back. She was asleep in minutes. The light of the flames flickered over the outline of her body, shadows twisting and winding over her blood painted face.