Death's Awakening

Chapter Forty-Seven: Karmen

Karmen struggled to keep her eyes on Noah's back or her own feet. Anything to keep from looking into those smashed-up cars with dead bodies inside. All those people who had only been trying to get out of the city. Her stomach felt queasy just thinking about it. She definitely didn't need to see it.

It was all just too much. Too much sorrow. Too much disappointment. Too much uncertainty.

The evacuation was her last real hope of a normal life. She'd wanted it so badly. When they drove up and saw all those dead bodies, the soldiers gone, she almost lost her mind.

And now these cars. She didn't want to look.

Still, her eyes betrayed her.

Karmen glanced inside the blue station wagon to her right and immediately wished she hadn't. Inside, a small child, still strapped into her car seat, lay lifeless. In front of her, Noah's foot slipped. He told her to wait there while he searched for a better path through the pileup. No matter how hard she tried, Karmen couldn't tear her eyes away from that stupid blue station wagon. In the front seat, the mother was slumped over the steering wheel. Another person was doubled over in the passenger seat. The father? Maybe. She couldn't see very well from this angle.

But it was the child who disturbed her so much. She looked like she was only sleeping. Karmen leaned in toward the car and studied the little sleeping face. The more she looked, the more she began to convince herself that the child was still alive. Her cheeks looked almost rosy in this lighting.

The window was rolled down and Karmen reached out her hand, very slowly, toward the child. She thought that maybe if she could shake the little girl's shoulders, she could find out if she was still alive or dead. She imagined saving this little precious thing from her metal tomb, and carrying her to Crash's house where she could clean her up and take care of her.

Her hand shook slightly as she reached through the open window. She could hear Noah and Parrish whispering toward the top of the car pyramid, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. All she could think about was this little girl and what she would name her once she got her out of the car.

"Hello?" she asked in a hushed voice.

Karmen ran her index finger over the child's pale, soft cheek. The girl's eyes opened wide and her head twisted with a morbid crack. The girl made an awful hissing noise and Karmen jumped back, screaming in horror.

Inside the car, the child writhed against her restraints. Her arms stretched out toward Karmen, and her jaw opened and snapped shut like an alligator. Falling back, Karmen scraped the back of her leg against the twisted metal of a pickup truck and screamed again, this time in pain.

Parrish and Noah ran to her side. "What happened?" Parrish asked, her eyes wide.

Karmen wasn't sure she could trust her voice. It was as if the moment had scared it out of her. Instead, she could only point toward the child zombie in the station wagon. In horror, she watched as Parrish lifted the butt of her shotgun and jammed it into the child's head. The tiny figure went still.

The group kept moving, finally finding a path through the twisted pile of metal. But for a long time afterward, Karmen's heart was filled with a sick, hollow sense of loss.

So sad and horrible! Yikes! Hope you guys are enjoying the book so far. If so, please vote, comment, and be sure to follow me here on Wattpad! Thanks!