Mom and Zombie Slayer

Chapter FIVE

It was now close to seven at night and we had drove all day. The sky was slowly getting dark and I could see the stars shinning, as if nothing had changed. As if life, my life, was still the same. But it wasn't. John was still alive. The man I had despise since I though he left me was still alive. I turned in my seat, my back to the window to be able to look at Elliott and again, for the millionth time, I marveled about how much he looked like his daddy.

I had shed so many tears over John. And now, to think that he was alive and that we were on our way to see him was unreal. I realized that I still remembered how it felt to be in his arms and how he smelled.

My thoughts were interrupted by Mr.Parker's driving. I sighed and turned back forward, looking at the road. They were full of abandoned cars and it was starting to be dangerous to drive on them. And despite the absence of life, I looked at every cars we drove by, squited at them and hoped that their occupants were safe.

As we were getting closer to New York City,  I told Mr. Parker that we had to try to find somewhere to stop for dinner, not for us, but for Elliott.  Mr. Parker was against it. On any normal day, it could be a dangerous city, but now, with the epidemic, it was too much populated to be safe.

The zombies were now everywhere and the highways were too dangerous to be on too. Everywhere, cars were abandoned, bodies on the ground and zombies walking around, looking for their next meals.

We agreed to take an isolated road and hoped we would find a stop where we could stay for an hour or so.

It took us an hour, to find this stop. We had to go back north and east, but we found the perfect place in a little town name Cozy, 750 inhabitants.

The town looked empty, so Mr. Parker decided to stopped the car behind a shed, hidden from the road, but close enough to the road in case we had to leave in a hurry.

It was very ironic that it was such a beautiful and serene place in the midst of violence, death and chaos.

I let Elliott run around us all he wanted while we ate the sandwiches Mr. Parker had took from the gas station earlier. He needed the break from all the driving, even if he was denying it, and I needed it too. I had an overload of information today and I was finding it hard to process.

After dinner, while I was playing with Elliott, the shotgun slung over my shoulder in case we would see zombies, Mr. Parker was sitting on the ground, his back against the front wheel of the car. Hi eyes were always in movement, his fingers on the trigger of the pistol he kept in his lap.

The place was so serene, that I decided let Elliott run after a butterfly. Keeping an eye on him, I sat down on the ground, facing Mr. Parker. I still had a million questions, but I didn’t know where to start. I sighed, nervously. I folded my knees under my chin, unable to speak. The shot gun was by my side and I was ready to grab it at the first sign of trouble. Mr. Parker, flies flying around his head and not seeming to be disturbing him at all, was observing Elliott playing and laughing. I never thought I would be resting while looking at my son with such an.... interesting looking man.

“What are you doing with John, exactly, Mr. Parker? Why did he sent you? I mean, no offense, but I can’t see …” I started to ask but he cut me off.

“He saved my life. John, I mean,” he started without looking at me. His eyes always scanning the area, looking for some threats. And after seeing him reacting at the gas station, seeing how he was quick, I trusted his reflexes for protecting Elliott and me. I was observing him, trying to imagine what his life was before this... zombies apocalypse happened.

“I was hold prisoner too, in South America. Except that I was not on the same side as John. They brought John in because they needed brain to develop a virus they were working on. He was treated like a king. Me, on the other side, I was used as a guinea pig.”