Dead California

Escape Plan

Rob opens his eyes feeling sunlight glare in through the cracks in the blinds and looks up at the ceiling through crusty eyes. His mind immediately starts racing as he thinks about how he is going to get out of this house as safely as possible. He also thinks about Anna.

How has she survived here all by herself. What happened to her parents?

He hears her move around in her bed and he sits up slowly for a few seconds then stands up and starts to fold up his blankets as quietly as he can. He then takes his pistol and tucks it into the back of his waistband, walking towards the door, Indio blinks his eyes open and notices his dad leaving.

"Dad, where are you going?" he says in a whisper.

"Just going to check out the house. If anything happens or you hear something take Anna and hide."

"But dad-"

"Don't argue, please, just do it." Robert pleads

He then opens the skinny, red door, clicks it shut behind him and tip-toes quietly to the stairs, the old wood floor creaking under his weight. He gets to the top of the stairs and heads to the front door, stepping around the puddle of blood from the last intruder. He opens the door slowly and peeks his head out to survey the surroundings. The streets show no signs of undead life so he silently closes it again, turning the lock back into place. The rest of the house is as dormant and empty, so he returns to searching for anything of use. He starts in the kitchen, finding various canned and packaged foods that they can take with them, then continues, making his way through the rooms. Entering the parent's bedroom, he finds a picture of the whole family. A brown haired man with brown eyes and a blonde woman with green eyes, both crouching next to a little girl and a boy that looked slightly older. This was Anna's family. A moment of remorse comes over him as he feels the stinging realization that he isn't the only one who has lost his family. He snaps back to reality and tucks the picture into his bag. After searching what used to be little Anna's princess-themed room and putting together a small bag of clothes and other necessities for her, he ends up back in the living room and looks out a window. The street appears to still be vacant of the dead beings he saw the day before. Not wanting to stay in the house any longer than he possibly had to, he devises an escape plan and goes to find Indio to debrief him. Once he gets downstairs and opens the door to where they slept overnight he sees Indio and Anna playing a hand game on the floor. He smiles and sits next to them.

 "Good Morning Anna." Rob says sweetly.

She smiles and returns a good morning.

"I found a picture of your family upstairs do you want it?"

She nods and he turns around and finds it in his bag then hands it to her. She smiles and points at the picture of the people and starts to point out the people in her family.

 "Mom" pointing at the woman.

"Daddy" moving her finger to the man in the picture.

"That's David" pointing to a boy that looked the age of twelve with blond hair and green eyes

"Do you know what happened to them?" Rob asked

"Th-They left me here. They forgot me." She says with a frown.

Rob's face turns into a sad expression.

"I'm so sorry Anna."

Tears start to slide down her face and she wipes them away with the back of her hand. Rob opens his arms to offer a hug and she climbs into his lap and hugs him. He holds the back of her head and hugs her, feeling her tears soak through his shirt.

"It's okay Anna, we're here for you and we'll never leave you behind."

He pulls away and smiles at her, wiping away a tear from her cheek with his thumb.

Rob looks to Indio and stands up.

"Hey son, can you join me in the living room please. We'll be right back Anna."

She nods, and Indio follows him into the open hallway, out of ear shot.

"Yeah?"

"We need to get out of here, it's too close to the city. There are way too there and you saw how they travel in groups. It's only a matter of time before they make their way out of the city and into the suburbs."

"Alright, what do you suppose we do?"

"Hm. Well I saw that the street looked fairly abandoned so we can just take out the few that haven't moved yet and find a car and get the heck outta dodge."

Indio laughs, shaking his head "Do you know how to hot wire a car?"

"It couldn't be that difficult."

They walk back to the room to Anna and tell her the plan so she gets ready to leave. They all make their way to the upstairs living room. Rob looks out the blinds and sees that there are only a few dead walking around and spots a car across the street. He looks over to Indio who has a metal baseball bat he found in the city. He holds up the baseball bat up ready to swing. Rob opens the door and holds up his weapon as well. He leads Indio and Anna to the car and sees that the car is unlocked and the keys in the ignition.

"Got lucky this time." Indio says attracting a dead man that Rob didn't see while they made their way to the car. The dead man limped his way to the group and gets only inches away from Anna before she turns around and screams. Indio smacks the man in the head knocking him down. He scoops Anna up, opens the back door and sets her inside. Rob walks over to the man and swings the axe down onto the dead man's head. A red mist of blood splashes his face and he continues to swing until the man is actually dead. Out of breath, he takes the bottom of the shirt up to his face and wipes the blood away. He then makes his way to the driver's side of the car, opens the door and sinks into the seat. He regains his breath and turns the ignition starting the car. Not saying a word he drives past all of the remaining dead that lunge at the car as they pass, stumbling after the car.

Indio looks at his dad with concern. "You okay?"

He doesn't answer for a moment, furrowing his eyebrows and pursing his quivering lips together. "Yeah, I'm alright. I just hate killing those...people."

"They aren't people anymore, dad. People don't eat each other." Indio corrects him.

"You okay Anna?" Robert asks into the rear-view mirror, ignoring his son.

She nods and looks out the window with her elbow on the arm rest with her face in her hand.

Rob continued to drive till they get to a road block.

"What in the-"

Before he can finish, a man dressed in full body armor, with a riot shield and a Glock 17 rushes out from behind it.

"Get out of the car!" His voice booms

Rob turns to Indio, seeing panic in his eyes, they all throw their hands into the air.