We're Still Alive(Book1)BEING REWRITTEN

Thirty

Indiana

          "It smiled at you?" Tom's tone suggested that he didn't really believe Jared's statement.
          "Yeah. I guess. I don't know." He paced the ground in front of the jeep. "Can we just go now?" He wanted to get as far away from that thing as possible.

          "Why would it do that? Why not just kill him?" Casey asked to no one in particular.

          "What I wanna know is what was so bleedin' funny." Miles grumbled. He was leaning against the pickup truck, eyes flitting nervously side to side every few seconds.
          "Well, waiting around here isn't gonna answer anything." Renee said. "We should go. The sooner we get to Cincinnati, the better. Maybe someone there knows what's going on."
          Tom sighed but didn't protest. Disagreeing with Renee was just a waste of time and breath. If there had to be a leader, Jared would say it was Tom if he wasn't so scared of Renee. Tom never showed it, of course, but Jared knew. The whole group probably knew. She was a natural leader.
          "Let's go then." Laina spoke up. "I don't wanna be here any longer than I have to." Jared couldn't agree more. Tom was already in the driver's seat, so Jared sat in back with Casey and Renee, and Joe sat in shotgun. Jared heard the doors of the truck closing and sat back in his seat. They still had hours of driving. He closed his eyes, but Casey wasn't as tired.
          "So what did the thing look like? Ya know, before Miles blew its head up. Did it have sharp teeth? Was it a boy or girl? How old do you think it was?"
          Jared thought for a minute or two, then replied, knowing better than to ignore the questions. "I couldn't tell if it was a boy or girl. It was too...disfigured... It was about the size of an adult, though. And no, it did not have sharp teeth. Unless you count the canines." Casey nodded and sat back, like she was satisfied with his answer.
          "Well, I'm glad you're okay. I'm not sure how long I could make it without you before I went crazy." She said it jokingly, but Jared still gave her a weird look.
          "So you're saying that you would miss me?"
          "Psht, no, of course not." She laughed and playfully shoved him. He pushed her back and then leaned back in his seat again. Casey, seeing his eyes already drooping, sat back in her own and let him be. He was asleep in seconds.

          "No!!!" He woke suddenly to screaming. Renee had her hands over her mouth, and tears flowed down her face. The jeep wasn't moving, and Casey, Joe, and even Tom seemed frozen in place. He followed their gazes and immediately realized what was wrong.
          "What? No, that's not right. Tom, we're at the wrong place..." Jared was trying more to convince himself than Tom, though. While they had parked a good distance away, Jared could still see every detail. He saw every body that lay on the ground, too far gone to change. He saw the blood on the side of the tank that sat inside the tall fencing. He saw the camouflaged uniform on one of the zombies. A rifle dangled at its back, still held on by its sling. The creature, once a human with a purpose, moved at a slow and lumbering pace. That was, until it saw them. It let out an ear-splitting screech and jumped at the fence, struggling to avoid getting tangled in the barbed wire at the top. Before it had a chance to actually get there, Tom turned the jeep around and drove down a road leading away from the fencing and the horrors that now lay behind the once-safe and protected haven.
       Renee was still crying, and Jared was surprised. He'd never seen her like this before. She always acted so tough. Then there was Joe and Tom. Jared didn't know Joe too well, but he'd never seen Tom look as defeated as he was now. He drove without a word, eyes cold and hard, lips pulled into a tight line. His hands shook on the steering wheel, and he drove faster than normal.
          With every second that passed, the realization became more and more clear. It wasn't safe. So many people had died on their way here, and for what? Nothing. There was nothing left. Whatever was going on had failed, and he thought bitterly that they had been left alone to die.