Kids Never Die

Chapter 27: Sweet Poison

Sitting in the warm Utah air was soothing. It calmed my less than healthy mood. The day had been overcome by darkness and all was still. Morgan walked up beside me, a cigarette between his teeth, and he sat on the edge of the canyon.

"A beautiful sight, ain't it?" I smiled to him.

He peered back. "Something bothering you?"

"Just this entire thing, ya know" I signed heavily, " I mean, all these people have died. No just the zombies either. I mean, we've been chased by giant bugs, attacked by the living dead, crushed by doorways... Hell, some of us have even shot each other"

"It's been a mess, I know." He put his hand on my shoulder. "It'll all be over soon. Maybe quicker for some of is than others. Get some rest man, we'll talk in the morning, okay."

I smiled at him. "Alright. Thanks man."

He smirked back, then jumped up and walked back to the group. The problem was, I couldn't sleep. In fact, it wasn't till about five o'clock in the morning. I only got three hours of sleep that night, and around eight o'clock, we all arose to get started on the day.

I woke up to the sound of everyone getting ready. Refilling Morgan's bag, passing around water bottles, tending to Gavin's wound, reloading guns, and sharpening knives. After stretching, I joined the others in packing up. Mainly clearing out the back of the truck.

We took of the cover of the back of the truck, so sadly, Morgan had to leave his mounted gun behind. In the back, we were able to have Sadie, Nick, Gavin, Sam and Trenton. Then up front was Morgan Josh and I. Josh decided to drive.

During the packing earlier that morning, we had found a journal in Morgan's bag. It belonged to Angela. In it, was described a study of the power station in California, and the main power surge point. It was best to keep this, as it was our only knowledge of the station, besides whatever Josh knew.

It wasn't till almost nine o'clock that we left, but it seemed like a matter of minutes. There was no road, so we were just aimlessly driving through the desert. And the desert seemed to go on forever. Endless mounds of sand and plaines, but our path was fairly flat. Luckily, there were no zombies chasing us.

(Authors note: If you have reached this point in the story, I would like to give you a big thanks for you have actually stuck with my terrible spelling and extensive cursing, but, if you really thought that nothing bad was gonna happen this chapter, I'm afraid that I am going out of my way to disappoint you. Thanks again. Sincerely, @OurStories101)

After driving for several hours, only stoping once around twelve to stretch our legs and get food and drink, the sand began to get thicker, and coarser, until it was forming into full blown rocks.

The ground was still sand, but walls of rocks began to appear. Eventually, it seemed like we were driving through a maze of just rock walls. It grew dark as the walls moved higher, and the beams of light w did have we blocked out by shadows every few moments.

Looking up to the sky, Sadie knocked ok the shattered back window. I turned around to hear her. "There's something out here, and I'm not liking it. Pass me the shotgun."

Morgan reached between his legs on the floor and handed her the shotgun. I stammered inti my pocket to give her a few buck shots. "We only have a few shots, so if you do see something, be aware." She nodded and took the gun, loading the few shells she had.

Ahead of us, there was a clicking sound. Not like the spider, but instead, like the snap or crack of a whip. And it was loud. Sadie stood up slowly in the back of the truck, and held the shotgun in front of her. As we turned a corner through the spiraling maze of rocks, it appeared. A black scorpion, about ten feet tall. It's tail reached nearly thirty feet into the air and the poison spike was about the size of a smart car. It's large claws must have been at least as long as our truck, and it's black eyes stared at us. It rose it's tail above it's head, and charged at us.

"Back up! Back up!" I shouted.

Sadie jumped over the top of the car and slid down the windshield. "No, drive for it. I have an idea." She had a few knives in her boots and the shotgun clenched by her fingers. "Just go straight between the legs, and don't stop."

Josh looked at me in confusion and fear. His eyes gave that glance of "what do I do?"

I nodded back to him. "Do it. She knows what she's doing."

Josh slammed on the pedal and took off towards the scorpion. Sadie stood up on the hood, and pressed her left foot tightly against the windshield, then she sprinted off the end of the car and jumped atop of the giant pest. Once on top, she pushed on of the knives through the bottom of her boot to secure herself. Then, sheathing two more knives, she jabbed two of the eyes and blinded the creature.

Our car drifted under the legs with no trouble, mind it's colossal foot steps. As we sat relaxingly, Sadie was hard at work. She fired the shotgun at the towering tail, causing it to strain and straighten out. Then, taking the knife through her boot, she sprinted down the back and across the tail. Then, with a quick swoop, she jumped into the truck, but while in mid air, she spun around, chucking the knife at a weak spot in the rock wall. And rocks above it tumbled down, crushing the exoskeleton of the massive scorpion.

Finally, she landed back on the hood of the truck once again, sitting on her ankles, and facing us. All three of our jaws had dropped completely. Sadie stood up, walked over the drivers seat and climbed into the back like nothing had happened.

After such a confrontation, we found our way out of the rock maze and to our excitement, we found a road. A mile or so down the road, there was a gas station where we were able to refuel. The gas station has a sign that read "Sunset Road."

"Sunset road..." Repeated Sam. "What a pretty name."

Gavin scanned the horizon. "Not a very pretty place though."

"I wonder where it leads." Josh pondered while pumping gas.

"Ya never know. At least we're still heading west." I shrugged.

Nick and Sadie entered the gas station store to see if there was food or drink. After only a minute, Nick ran out to me, and handed me a pamphlet.

"We're not in Utah anymore" he said.

I repeated the printings on the pamphlet. "Welcome to Nevada." I smiled. "One step closer."