Escape

What's Happening?

Car horns blared in every direction. The seventeen year old was grinding her teeth together, hands gripping the steering wheel, while trying to avoid the lunatics, either speeding by her or slowly easing beside the 2005 blue Dodge caravan. Frustrated, the curly haired brunette unintentionally released several curses. She had never seen traffic this terrible, unless she was driving by the university; but this wasn't the road that led to College Town, this was the road she took to get home from Wal-Mart.

She recieved a text before first period from her mother reminding her to stop by the store to pick up two gallons of milk and three loaves of bread after leaving school. What surprised the teenager was the crowd of people shuffling in and out of Wal-Mart with baskets full of food and other essentials. Some of the charts that were seen carried supplies that towered at least six feet.

The brunette hurried in and out of the store with what she needed, pushing and shoving people aside to get to the exit. Approaching the caravan, her phone went off in her pocket. The teenager got into the vehicle, locking the door while doing so, before answering.

"Hello?"

"Jessica?" A woman's voice replied on the other end.

"Hey mom, what's up?" Jessica asked, placing the goceries in the foot area in front of the passenger seat.

"Don't worry about going to Wal-Mart, just go straight home. There are too many crazy people on the road and I don't want you getting hurt."

Jessica shook her head, releasing a light chuckle. "Too late mom, I just picked up what you needed."

"Oh, okay," Her mother sighed, concern laced with her tone "Just be careful getting home."

"Okay, I'll see you later mom. Bye."

The drive home was chaotic, though when entering her neighborhood Jessica found the place to be unusually bleak. The other thing that was bizarre was several of her neighbors were planted head first into their lawns or stumbling erractically across the road into other yards.

The Dodge caravan pulled into the driveway of Jessica's home. As soon as she got out of the vehicle, the brunette knew something felt out of the ordinary. Approaching the porch, Jessica noticed a figure, hunched over, standing a few yards away from her. The teenager trained her gaze upon the silhouette, while she unlocked the front door. The figure, who's slippers were rustling through the grass, was her friendly next-door neighbor, Mrs. Baxter. The older woman's vacant eyes narrowed upon the brunette. Foam-like drool cascaded from the corner of the neighbor's lips; her skin was as grey as her wild, frazzled hair. A growl struggled through Mrs. Baxter's vocal cords.

Jessica's eyes widened, realizing this woman wasn't the Mrs. Baxter she knew for three years. The body limped and stumbled towards the brunette. Jessica barged through the door, dropping the groceries onto the rug of the of the entryway, and locking the front door before any harm could come to her. 

The evening’s dinner remained within the grocery bags, disregarded by Jessica who at the moment was struggling to comprehend what was happening outside. Her heart was beating frantically, while pondering whether she should confront Mrs. Baxter and congratulate the woman for scaring her, or stay inside and call her parents. The constant growls and the pounding on the other side of the door caused Jessica to choose the later.

The teenager sidestepped into the bedroom to her right, her gaze never veering away. Jessica’s fingers trembled as they extracted the red flip phone from her pocket. Dialing her mother’s cell phone number, the teenager waited anxiously for someone to answer.