They are dead 3

8

When she had come to, she had found herself in a vehicle. An ambulance siren had rang and for a moment and was probably what woke her up. Maybe she was just waking up from a horrible dream. A dream where she had been in a terrible and harrowing situation, zombie-like people being after her and tearing everyone else apart. In the dream, chaos was king and the guy that was with her and helped her was trying to keep her calm, the last thing that he said being that she was going into shock. She had thought at the time that it was a weird thing to tell someone that but it being a dream and all, she knew that anything could have happened; even zombies taking over the Sterkfontein caves.

After she had looked around for the paramedics - not finding any - she looked towards the drivers seat. Someone was definitely driving and she had not just noticed it by the way the ambulance had been moving. How could there be someone in the driver's seat but no one with her in the back? Surely this was not standard practice. She sat up, grabbed her head, feeling the pain now searing through it and sure that she groaned in the process as a voice came from the front of the van, while she was seated in the passenger's seat.

"Thank God you're okay," Luke said. In that moment she realised that it was never a dream; it was real. Images of people foaming at the mouth, blood dripping down their chin, was now more vivid than ever. Her stomach turned again but not as badly as before. When she had realised it she really just wanted to lay back down but thought that it would probably be rude of her, seeing as Luke knew that she was awake. Luke now looked back at her and kept his eyes on her as she made her way back to full consciousness, looking back at him before she tried to open her mouth to speak.

"Where are we going?"

"Home."

A silence fell now and all that could be heard was the hum of the vehicle driving on the slightly damaged tar road, the sun baking and the heat waves visible in the distance.

"What about -"

"What about what? The bloody mess that was left behind?" he said in seriousness and sarcastic questioning. She hung her head and felt the burning sensation in her eyes as the water in them started boiling. She couldn't stop imagining and replaying the events of her friend and the paramedics who were now dead. Not wanting him to see or know that she was becoming emotional, she turned her face towards the bushveld that was now waving passed them as they traveled at a speed of 100kmh. Maybe Luke didn't know what to say. Maybe he didn't know how to respond at all. Who would? After going through such an ordeal, there was really nothing that could have been said.

Now she could only worry about her family and where they might have been. Were the same things happening in the city or were they different? Maybe things were the same and her family was in grave danger. All she could do was hope and pray that her family and friends back in the city were fine. That they were safe. All she could do was hope for the best and that the incident that took place at the Sterkfontein Caves was a singular event.

"Are you doing okay?"

"What do you think?"

"Look, I know what happend back there was... crazy."

"No shit."

"To be honest, I don't really know what to do." he admitted and looked at her for answers. She tried to steer away from his glare as his green eyes kept her view locked on him.

"Listen, I'm taking us back to the city, maybe they will have some answers. Right now, I don't really care. I just want to get out of this situation and back to Johannesburg, away from whatever the fuck happened back there. I'm sure you feel the same way." Luke continued and kept his eyes on her. She already knew that and he didn't really have to say that for her to notice. His actions back in the cave had confirmed it. Suddenly, after thinking of his selfish act in the cave she could break away from his green glare and look at the road again, to where she saw someone very close, standing in the road about to be hit by the ambulance vehicle.

"Look out!" She screamed but it was too late. Luke tried to swerve but hit the person on the side of the vehicle. The windshield shattered and blood splattered across the cracks as Luke swerved the big van onto the gravel road. He tried to turn into the turn as the van lost control but Nomonde felt gravity take over as the ambulance started rolling violently.