Persistence - Left 4 Dead X OC

21

As we started going down the highways, we started getting into bit of a jam. The road getting more crowded was empty cars, some of the lights were still on which made it even more frightening to think about. It was like everybody just suddenly got out of their cars at once, leaving nothing to be behind. Ellis started slowing down, barely squeezing past some of the traffic. We were trying to get our last miles in, everybody was silenced as we came across a fence in front of us.

Just beyond that, there was a traffic jam, and there was no way we would get around it. "Nick, help me with this." Coach commanded to Nick, who was sitting in the passenger side with Ellis still driving. Nick huffed, both of the men rolling down their windows and jumping out. Coach leaned in on the driver side door. "We are going to move that gate, you guys pull in and we'll close it behind you." Coach slapped the roof, as the two guys started picking up the fence.

Ellis pulled in, and the gate was closed behind us. Looking onward pass the traffic jam, there was going to be absolutely no way we would ever get through that without walking. "Damn!" Ellis slaps the side of the wheel, turning off the car. "Sorry folks, this car is capable of miracles but it can't drive over 20 miles of park cars. I guess we're walking."

"Don't sweat it," I started to pull myself out of the car through the window. "You got us this far." I smiled as we started laying our weapons on the back of the vehicle again, rationing what we had as well as our medkits.

Ellis walked in front of the car, staring at it as it's going to be the last time we're going to see it. "Hey guys, I just need a moment with the car... alone." He said. He set his hand on the bloodstained hood, I could tell that he was getting emotional.

We really didn't blame him though, he's been driving that thing longer than anybody else has. I knew that this was his daydream too, so having it taken away from him wasn't something to be laughing about. He looked up to me, motioning me over as a survivor's were distracted trying to scope out our area.

"Are you okay, man?" I asked him endearingly.

"Yeah..." He started, standing back with his hands on his waist and just looking at the car. "I'm just gonna miss driving in her." He laughed to himself. I set my hand on his arm, he gave me a smile. "At least I got to live out my dream, thanks for being part of it, Jo." He rolled back his shoulders.

"No doubt, you we're the best driver that this car has ever seen." I giggled, might as well praise him because I'm glad the most I had to do for this car was just be awake for Ellis and Nick.

"Aw shucks, thanks."

"We should get going, only a matter of time before the zombies on the highway notice us." Nick yammered, encouraging us to move on.

Following along, I grabbed onto my med kit and my fire axe. I think this is the strongest we've been in a long time, we've had finally eaten something worth while and were itching just to get out of the car. I picked up an smg, inspecting it before placing it my hoister. We lined up looking ahead, Coach cracked his neck taking the first step.

Stepping over the first barricade of cars, revealed a whole bunch of zombies. They were lingering around, and it just looked absolutely devastating here. Clothes thrown about on the floor, suitcases with the corners having blood stained. The piles of dead bodies, all of them having their head bashed in.

It was horrifying to come across, but we made no hesitation to step from car to car. I started hitting my shots on the zombies running near us, even covering our flank. We heard some gurgling, my ears switched in the direction and I looked upwards to a billboard sign. "Boomer!" I shouted, pointing my fingers as it started chucking up some of its vomit. I fired my SMG into it, having it explode and save anybody from an uncomfortable wash.

"Nice shot!" Rochelle praised me, earning a quick smile from me.

As we've made it past more cars, all of this felt like it happened recently. We stopped at an off-ramp, looking down and seeing a military vehicle still powered on with piles of bodies in front of it. "It looks like we're just a day short from this shit show." Nick was disgusted, as we started getting closer. Observing the bodies, we can see that they were still zombies. It didn't make it any less uncomfortable as we stepped over it and reloaded around with the ammo on the floor.

"Shotgun!" Ellis cheered, picking up one for himself. "Chic-chic." He imitated the shotgun sound.

Looking under the highway, trails of blood leading where we needed to go. More and more zombies filed out, rushing to us just to be killed. We went back up the hill, returning back to the freeway and looking past the car jams. "Check it out." Nick nodded his head in the direction of search lights in the sky, they were so bright you could see them from miles away.

"Hey, Whispering Oaks!" Coach seem relieved. "Shit, I used to go there when I was a kid."

"Oh good, now we can die there as adults." Nick scoffing at the idea, much like he always does.

"I used to go to the mall as a kid, look where that got us." Rochelle was already hesitant from the idea, and I got to admit that this already felt like a bad idea. "With all these cars on the highway, these folks might have thought they had a chance on foot... wait, that's what we're doing."

"Maybe they left them when they got rescued?" Coach tried encouraging us to think on the brighter side.

"That's one theory." Nick didn't seem to believe him, I scowled at the lights ahead of us along with him.

"That's still the first signs of life we've seen in a while." Ellis started walking towards a billboard sign, connecting us to the motel on the side of the road heading towards the direction of the park. "It wouldn't hurt to check it out."

Looking to Nick, he was the only one pessimistic enough to get a proper response from. I, myself wasn't really on board with the idea, in fact I was more willing to skip the park. "These bodies out here look pretty old... are we sure we should head to the lights?"

The survivors stared at the park, Coach huffs out. "We can't skip a chance in case rescue comes." He mustered, following Ellis to the motel.

"I don't like this either." Nick muttered, but started following them.

Theoretically, if I were a zombie I would be heading to the giant lights in the sky. Realistically, as a human, I think I rather take my chances with my team then be out here and alone. There was no other choice, straight ahead into the park.