The car engine starts and gains the attention of the zombies around me. I put the car in drive and book it down the street. As I leave the residential area I come up to where the town's clinic is, next to an Ace Hardware and a small gun shop. I have to drive up on the sidewalk at one point because there are wrecks of cars, zombies, and fully dead people littered around the area. A hard ball of fear and sadness forms in my throat as I drive past. That gun shop didn't carry arrows or arrow supplies, but it still would have been nice to look into. I wouldn't be able to on my own though.
The road curves west, crosses a highway and I breathe a little easier as forest takes up the left side of the road. There are a few big buildings on the right, like a pet spa, a senior center, and some storage buildings. Then there's the empty lot right before the...
"Oh shit." To the left, houses and even an apartment complex, with no zombies. To the right, where the large brick firehouse stands, where the grass lawn and parking lot should be is covered in wandering zombies. Some are banging on the large garage doors, making a loud shuttering boom boom boom noise I can hear from inside the car. It had to have drawn all the nearby zombies, it had to be close to fifty or more milling about the firehouse.
Moving to the left side of the road, I speed up to dodge the few zombies turning to follow the car. The banging continues on the garage doors, and I wonder, why are they there? Were there people inside and that attracted them to the building? Was it just the noise firehouses make that attracted them? Or maybe they were alive at first and the banging of the dead just keeps them there. There were too many things to consider, but I couldn't just go by without checking. The guilt of not checking would eat me up.
The problem is how would I check? All I have is a bow with some arrows and the small Mazda with half a tank of gas. Driving down the street I run my teeth over my bottom lip in thought. I could snipe all of them, but there are only two tall buildings. The apartment complex across the street from the firehouse, and the firehouse itself. The rest of the land is flat, with some trees and a few single-story houses.
Turning the car at the intersection I slam on the brakes as I notice a bright red vehicle turned on its side. Not any vehicle, an ambulance. It was facing toward me, it was probably headed down the least traveled road to the clinic. The few zombies milling around it turn towards my car. I park it so the car is between us and about twenty feet away, opening my car door my throat feels tight. Pulling my bow up I take a step back from the car to aim, letting a shuddering breath go as I line up a shoot at one of the zombies. The lumbering woman in a paramedic uniform drops to the ground, an arrow sticking out of her eye.
Pulling my bowstring back I let it fly, another drops to the ground, then another. I draw back another arrow, rounding around my car to the ambulance. All of the bodies lay still even when I go up to them and nudge their legs with the toe of my boot. When none of them moved I let out the breath I was holding and then went to the ambulance. The front is empty of anyone, and lots of blood is splattered on the windshield, well what was left of it anyway. I make a circle around it, making sure there are no more zombies before I move back to the front.
"The radio," I mutter to myself looking at the driver's door which is facing up to the sky. It was that or going through the shattered windshield. I put my bow up onto the side of the ambulance then grab the side of the ambulance, I have to find footholds to boost myself up. My arms shake with the effort, I manage to pull myself up though. Getting into the ambulance I try to avoid the blood but it's impossible. I find the radio and begin pushing buttons because I really didn't know much about radios. The on button is easy enough, but the rest, well.
I grab the walkie, bring it up, and press the button I speak into it. "Hello?"
I wait a few seconds, then repeat myself, then one more time, before turning up the volume just in case it had somehow turned itself all the way down. There's a loud static, I pause before speaking into the walkie. A man's voice comes over the radio. "Hello? Are you there? We are trapped in the fire station, we saw a car drive by, was that you?."
"That was me," I told him. "Is everyone in there safe? Or are there zombies inside too?"
I hear a laugh when I let go of the button, then he says. "Zombies, fucking Christ." He takes a pause and then answers my questions. "Everyone inside is safe, they haven't gotten in, yet. No one has been hurt, we are just running out of food."
"Is Eric there?" I ask and wait for a response, when I don't get one I add on. "His wife's name is Kendra, I can't remember their last name."
I wait for another almost full minute and debate on if I should smack the radio. A new voice, one much more familiar answers the radio. "This is Eric, you asked for me?"
"Its Taylor -"
"Kendra? Kyle?" He asks cutting me off.
"Both are at my house with Miss May, they are armed and have food." When I tell him that he doesn't cut off the radio fast enough, I hear a sob on the other end.