Zero

Chapter 14

Hey lovely people! Hope you enjoy this chapter. 

Chapter 14

 

A loud pound followed by yells jerks me awake. My eyes flash open to a dark car that I suddenly realize not only isn’t moving, but also is empty, except for me. Panic fills my chest. I rush forward to go to the aid of my family only to be jerked back by the still buckled belt. My fingers fiddle with the clasp until it finally releases and I rush out of the minivan ready for anything.

But it’s suddenly clear that the yells I thought I heard were nothing more than laughter as I watch my group not fifty feet away, setting up camp for the night. I feel like I might collapse as the adrenaline drains from my veins as quickly as it surged and I lean against the side of the minivan.

Once my breath is caught and my heart is no longer galloping in my chest, I push off the van and walk toward where the rest of the group is. Bambi and Squirrel are nowhere to be seen, but the dim flashlight glow coming from the only set up tent lets me know the two probably went off to bed the moment their tent was ready.

“You guys scared the shit out of me,” I say when I’m close enough to hear but no one has noticed me yet. I smile to myself when they all jump at the unexpected noise. Good. After the near heart attack they gave me, they deserved to be a little jumpy.

“Hey, I said we should wake you up,” Birdie is quick to point fingers.

“You needed the sleep,” Braces says holding up his hand in surrender.

At the same time Hunter unapologetically says, “You were too cute to wake up.”

I stare at Hunter, his cheeky smirk challenging me… but I don’t exactly know what the challenge is. If it were bright enough out here – thank God it’s not – I’m sure everyone would be able to see my cheeks turn pink at his comment. I’m about to say something snarky, maybe punch him when I suddenly remember it wasn’t their laughter that woke me up, but a pound on the car.

“Was one you just at the car?”

No one says anything.

“I’m not joking. Something woke up me up, was it one of you acting like a tool?

“Did you check the area at all?” I say frustrated when they all shake their heads that they weren’t responsible for the banging on the back window of the minivan. But something was. A creep probably bumped into the car while tripping over something in the road and woke me.

“We checked, Zero,” Braces promises. “But they are mobile creatures, it’s possible one was wondering down the street.”

I turn around to examine our location. We’ve pulled off at the highway rest stop, probably not ideal, but the minivan is well hidden from anyone who may drive by and the camp is nestled on the opposite side of the visitor center offering coverage from the street but also nice so that we don’t have to watch our backs so closely.

“I’m going to go take care of it,” I say and pull the knife kept fastened to my side.

I stalk back out toward the minivan, careful as I near the vehicle. It’s close enough to where we’re planning to sleep that I’m uncomfortable with the proximity. It could become a problem too quickly. And too quickly problems become death. I think death is all that’s really left, but I intend to avoid it for as long as possible.

Sometimes I wonder if I was this pessimistic or if it’s simply a side effect of the end of the world. I like to think the latter. Maybe there was time when I was super cheerful and peppy. Hey, it could happen.