Undead Rises

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴇɪɢʜᴛ

ᴀʀɪᴀ ꜱᴍɪᴛʜ'ꜱ ᴘᴏᴠ

The orange glow painted the sky in beautiful purples and blues. Some part of me wanted to stop and admire its beauty, but I kept driving. It was hard to appreciate beauty in a world that was constantly trying to kill you.

Joseph had asked me to drive half-way through the early morning so that he could sleep before he had to drive again. I had told Joseph about our plan on going to Texas, to the military base, for safety. He said he would drive us until he wanted to stop and settle down. But it seemed as if he no desire on joining us.

Looking in the rearview mirror, I saw the guys sitting at the back and beyond them, I saw an empty open road. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, I was just grateful we didn't have to walk through this stretch of nothingness. I snapped my attention back on the road when Joseph stirred. The old man sat upright in his chair and stretched in the limited space of the passenger seat.

"I think it's time we stop and find ourselves something to eat." Joseph yawned, he scanned his surroundings and realized that there was nothing around us, he sighed. "Never mind."

"So, old man, what did you do before the world went to shit?" I asked him as I kept both my hands on the steering wheel. Joseph looked at me, a mix of disbelief and tiredness in his eyes. "Stop calling me old man. And it's none of your damn business." he crossed his arms over his chest, I shook my head. I had been driving for ours in complete silence, I needed some sort of conversation, and it wasn't like Cora was awake.

"You're a man. You're old. I think calling you old man is just an observation." I smirked when I saw him roll his eyes, I continued talking. "Were you a pimp or something? Is that why you don't wanna tell me? I won't judge."

"No! I wasn't a pimp! I was a scientist, but I got laid off a month before all this happened. Now can you please keep your eyes on the road and stop asking questions." he was clearly annoyed; he ran on of his hands over the grey stubble on his chin. I remained quiet for a few minutes before speaking again.

"What kind of scientist were you?"

"Lord, do you ever shut up?"

"Believe it or not, I'm usually the quiet one."

"I do not believe you."

"What kind of scientist were you?" I asked again, Joseph looked at me before sighing, he knew that I wasn't going to stop asking. "A virologist." I looked at the old man with a raised eyebrow, as if I was supposed to know what kind of scientist that was. "I studied bacteria, viruses, fungi, basically anything that could make you sick."

"Did you work for the CDC?" I asked curiously, I knew they were based somewhere in Atlanta. And I was curious if he had been there and knew about the virus that has wrecked our world. He nodded his head before speaking. "Yes, but like I said, I got laid off. And I moved here."

"Why?"

"Do you ever stop asking questions?" he asked, but I remained quiet as I looked away from the road and at him. "They caught me drinking on the job. They don't take things like contamination lightly." I looked at him once again, it wasn't my place to assume or judge, but I wondered if he was an alcoholic. I had my fair share of bourbon obsessed drinkers in my life, and he didn't look like one.

"I didn't usually drink during the day, but my wife left me, and it wasn't easy." his voice softened, and he stared into his hands. "I'm sorry to hear that, it must have really sucked." there was nothing else I could think of saying, sometimes it was difficult for me to show some compassion to other people's troubles. We remained quiet after that, not knowing what to say to one another.