Kids Never Die

Chapter 25: A Feat of Strength

My new outfit was already trashed. The back all torn up and bloody. I had severe cutting and scrapes down my back. The others trued desperately to pull me back in, but only one proved to avail, and that was Gavin. The one who had not the strength to even speak pulled me back into the truck.

As I sat up in the seat, I felt the blood drizzling down onto the seat. Gavin gripped my hand tightly and nodded. I smiled back. "I thought I was done for back there."

"I don't think the radio worked." Morgan shook his head.

"You think dip shit? Almost got me killed is what it did." I whipped the rain off my face. "It doesn't matter now. Let's just get off this mountain."

The zombies sure made a quick follow but our vehicles were just a bit faster. After we were out of the mountains, we joined with the grassy, flat plains again. Endless fields of green and yellow, all perfectly parallel to each other.

But once we passed a small city to refuel, the landscape changed. Instead of flat the land waved and curved. Instead of grassy plains, it was rocky soil and eventually, even sandy. At one point, the road even appeared to morph into a pure desert but that only went on for a few miles.

We had now entered Utah. The land eventually flattened out with an occasional drop below sea level but nothing too drastic. We all remained pretty quite with an occasional wince from Gavin as he shifted weight from his leg.

Our banter was kept quieted and replaced with remorse and regret. Our radio had not worked. We were in the middle of no where. Our food and water were running low. Some of us were sick. Others starving. We drove in shifts just to insure we all got sleep. Morale was low and it was only to worsen.

We were probably going to die but at least we were doing the right thing. But no one would ever know of our success. Not our families. Not our friends. No one would ever find out that we, the kids who survived, had actually done all of this.

When you drive one thousand, eight hundred miles across an entire country, you can't help but run into a landmark or two. Just this one was not the landmark we wanted.

We pulled up to probably the largest obstacle we would ever encounter. In Utah, it's known as the 'Not-so-grand Canyon' but we know it as the 'Little Grand.' It's basically a small part of the Grand Canyon that reaches up into Utah. And of all the places it could have gone, it decided to go right through our path.

I stepped out of the truck, and we all gathered along the edge of the walls down into the canyon. "Well that's just fucking great!" I shouted.

"What do we do?" Asked Morgan.

"We could always go around it." Shrugged Sam.

Josh shook his head. "That will take too long and we don't have enough gas."

I scanned my surroundings, shifting my eyes from left to right, but there was nothing in sight. Nothing at all. That is, until Nick had something to say about it.

"Are you all idiot's?" He asked.

I turned around "what do you mean?" I asked, flustered.

"It's simple damn it! See, the Canyon is only about thirty feet across. All you have to do is make a ramp at least ten feet high and it we can glide right across." He grabbed a piece of sketch paper from Kyra and drew out a plan.

I looked over his plans. "It just seems too simple." I criticized.

"I think it's worth a shot." Kyra smiled.

"Let's do it!" Emilee shouted.

We ran over to the railing, safe guarding the Canyon, and used to wooden boards too make legs for the ramp, much like the pipes we used at the school. We connected them together by tying them with the straps from Morgan's book bag.

Emilee dug holes in the sand near the canyon and we filled them with the legs of the ramp and made sure to pack them tightly. Then with some spare two by fours, we build two forty foot long poles with the same method of tying, then placed them atop of each of the legs.

Because we were being followed by the zombies, we had limited time and we worked fast. Our ramp consisted of two large angles that would support each tire, so we had to hit them directly with the wheels or it was no go.

I was skeptical on how well the legs would hold under the weight of two cars, but the zombies neared ever closer and so we had no time to waste. The quickly drafted ramp would have to do.

Morgan lined up the trucks wheels with the legs of the ramp and revved the engines. Gavin and I sat in front with Morgan, and Nick and Trenton got in back. Sam took the front seat of the police cruiser and Josh the driver. Emilee, Sadie and Kyra were in the back.

Morgan gripped his hands at ten and two and clenched his eyes shut. His breathing was slow but deep. I hit him on the shoulder. "If we die, I swear to God I will kill you."

He smiled and reversed the car. I peered into the mirror. I spotted giant flesh eaters on the horizon. Gavin clenched his leg very tightly and winced in pain but he remained still.

After what felt like hours but was merely seconds, Morgan slammed his foot on the gas, and we took off for the ramp. A cloud of sand and dust blew behind is and our speed slowly increased. Finally we hit the ramp. The ties buckled a bit, but held fast and we were send into the air. I looked put the window down into the deep chasm.

Morgan let out a deafening scream that echoed across the canyon. I couldn't help but do the same. Gavin just looked at us like a bunch of ass holes. The Canyon reached hundreds of feet below and looked even deeper as I was staring down into it. But there was no disarray as the car sailed smoothly through the air and met the ground gently. All of us in the car jumped but it was only a jerky bounce.

I looked at Morgan. He was still screaming and holding the wheel tightly.

"Bro!" I shouted. "We made it."

He refrained from opening his eyes, but stopped screaming. "We did?... We... We're not dead?"

"No man!" Gavin laughed.

I picked up the radio. The others were cheering. "Don't cheer yet, now it's your turn."