Apocalypse Dreams

Surrounded

"And it's another dead end," Red said.

"Now what?" Parkinson asked.

"We walk," Jack replied.

"That sounds a little insane," Parkinson said. "It would take ages getting there... if we don't die from heat and exhaustion."

"We'll steal another car along the way," Jack replied.

"How many of those cars will have the key attached to it, like this one?" Parkinson asked.

As the verbal argument continued between those two, I looked at the wreckage that lay in front of us. The road had about a hundred cars all clumped together, representing an epic collision, something only a little child could dream if they were handed dozens of toy cars to play with. Many of these cars had smoke streaming from them, some had been on fire, and others were pitch black due to the aftermath of a fire.

Bodies lay on the roads lifelessly, almost making it seem like they were in deep sleep. Many of them had sharp objects sticking out from their limbs and other body parts. This work could only be the cause of extreme paranoia and anger boiled together and force-fed to the people. It was insane to think that humans would actually behave like this during a time of restlessness. However, this was not surprising in the least, especially after experiencing many other horrible events. One thing was certain, at a time when push comes to shove, the world was doomed.

"Okay, this is counterproductive," I interrupted. "We're not going anywhere with this."

A brief pause ensued among the crew as we stared outside from the car. We had barely thirty minutes into our long and excruciating journey towards what Cady used to call "hope".

"We're out of fuel anyway," Jack said. "Are you okay, Lydia?"

"I guess," Lydia muttered from the backseat.

"We should probably turn around, Jack," Parkinson said from the passenger seat as the group looked at a dozen of the infected creatures approaching from the right side of the vehicle, while others were coming from the front and the left. I could not tell where they were coming from, but they seemed to be getting more and more faster. Their halfway opened mouths and dead eyes gave a somewhat frightening look as Jack attempted to turn on the engine.

"And we're officially out of gas," Jack said angrily while turning back to face the group. "Okay, everyone just sit tight and lock your doors."

The crew quickly obeyed the orders and we locked the doors and waited. Every step that the creatures took, instilled fear into Lydia's eyes as I watched her hold onto her seat belt tight. There was a stark difference between these creatures, however. Compared to the previous ones that we entangled, these seemed more vicious and lifeless. Their low pitched groaning sounds were more evident and their entire body color seemed to be getting grayer. Before, they had their regular skin tones, but now they were dull and contained not a hint of brown. Wrinkles appeared on their skins, even the younger creatures. Their hair seemed to be getting thinner and thinner, almost to the point of nearly being bald. The eyelids also began to disappear completely and looked loose enough to appear as if their entire eyeballs were about to fall off any moment. These creatures were somehow evolving with the passage of time.

In a brief moment, they were towards the door and the entire car suddenly began to shake as they all huddled onto the car. I did not notice this before in this instance of panic, however, it was obvious that their mouths had also changed. Instead of a regular human-looking facial structure, they had lost all skin from their lower face and their teeth seemed sharper due to excessive grinding. They were no longer recognizable.