The Dead and the Restless (Completed with undergoing editing)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I don't know if he knew who was included in that statement, but it held true. You won't survive in this world if you're too good. You have to do bad things: lie, cheat, steal. The hard part is not becoming infatuated with the darkness, but knowing and seeing it for what it is.

We both left to our respective sides of the car and stayed quiet, mostly because there was nothing to say. Once we got off the exit, there were a few snappers wandering around, but none in our way. He turned left, and went down a street that would take us right into the city if we kept going straight. There were broken down cars on the side of the road, even a few overturned ones. Some were even sideways in the middle of the street. We just swerved around them, including the snappers. We didn't see any hordes like the one we saw in town, so that was a good thing so far. We did come across three or four in packs though, but they were too slow to catch up with us.

I looked over to Liam, letting my mind wander. I could feel the feelings I had for him just bubbling under the surface, I knew they were there, just within reach. I could feel again. I was already beginning to have feelings, beating down the barrier. I wanted to feel, I wasn't afraid anymore. I wanted to tell him that.

Suddenly my view was shaded, and I realized that we were really in the city now. Before we drove under the viaducts, there were tiny buildings, but now we were driving down the street next to the large buildings. There was more destruction here than I could have imagined. Glass was shattered in the streets, stoplights were laying in the middle of the road, bodies littered the ground along with limbs, and cars were overturned everywhere. Store windows were broken into, and several mannequins were tossed onto the street, their faces still in a permanent stale face. But the real shocker came when we turned the corner.

"Goddammit," Jackal muttered, slamming down on the brakes. I was thankful now that I had put a seat belt on, because with the way he stopped I would have flown forward and through the windshield.

"Holy crap," I breathed, looking at the jumbo jet that covered the entire street and had crashed into part of a building. It was broken in half, and it looked as though it had exploded because part of it was missing. I looked closer and I could see snappers with their outstretched hands from the wreckage, and several of them on the ground that were still charred and in pieces. We were in such awe of the wreckage, that we didn't even realize what was occurring behind us.

Liam drove his bike in front of us, turning in a circle. He pointed behind us and I could faintly hear him outside the car yelling, 'go'. I furrowed my eyebrows and looked back, instantly realizing what he was talking about.

A mass of snappers were stumbling towards us, blocking out an exit for us. They were moving quicker than usual, and I realized that several of them were the stronger, rabid ones. I unbuckled my seat belt without thinking, slung my bag around my arm, and got out of the car as fast as I could. There was no driving out of here that much was obvious. We'd have to think otherwise, and the only options I saw were either stay and try and fight all of them, or climb the plane and hope that there wasn't any waiting on the other side.

I looked over at Liam, and I knew he was forming the same plan.

I ran to the other side of the car and opened Jackals door. He was still a little shocked that there were so many coming our way, and by how quick they were moving.

"Come on," I said, giving his arm a shake. He still looked in the mirror. "Let's go!"

Once I yelled, that finally got him awake. He unbuckled his seat belt and moved as fast as he could toward the wreckage. Liam was off his bike and already half way up one of the wings, but he stopped to make sure we were behind him. Jackal was huffing by the time we even set foot on the wing, and I had to put my hand behind him to make sure he didn't slide back down it. Once we were up the wing, we hit a problem. The roof of body of it was torn up, leaving a small chasm that had burnt up snappers in it, and they're hands reaching up for us.