WILLA, стр. 34
“So, we’re still leaving in the morning?” Chase asked, then flinched as if his brother had taken a swing at him.
“As of right now,” Uncle Jamie said. “There isn’t enough stuff around for us to stay.”
“We’re still heading to the National Guard Station, aren’t we?” Chase asked.
“Yes. I think that’s our best bet,” our uncle said, though the expression on his face said he wasn’t so sure.
I doubted anywhere was safe, but didn’t voice my thoughts. Uncle Jamie and Sam were smart enough to know it was true. Chase was too. He just chose to live in denial—or maybe he decided to have hope.
That night we slept well between guard shifts. In the morning, Chase, who wasn’t in the rotation, woke us early in his eagerness to get on the road. Sam cursed him and threw a shirt at him.
Uncle Jamie, who had the last watch, came into the main area to see what was happening.
“Son, you’re going to have to calm down,” Uncle Jamie said to Chase before taking a seat on a pile of blankets.
“Sorry,” Chase said, looking sheepishly.
“Look, we know you want out of here. We know you’re scared. We feel the same way, but we’re cautious. You’re behaving impulsively. Out there, that will get you and us killed.”
“Sorry,” Chase said again.
“What’s for breakfast?” Sam asked, changing the subject.
We ate in silence. We cleaned up and packed our bags without talking as well. Chase had even seemed to no longer be in a hurry to leave.
Once we were ready to go, we stood by the front door, not moving.
“Remember, stay together, weapons at the ready, and pay attention to your surroundings. Just because it was clear yesterday and everything is silent now, doesn’t mean there isn’t something or someone waiting to ambush us,” Jamie said, removing the two-by-fours.
The world on the other side of the open door was just as bright and empty as it was the day before.
24.
The first thing I did was tilt my face to the sky to feel the sunshine when I crossed the threshold into the chilly winter day. Growing up, I hated summers in the south. Temperatures rarely fell below freezing, and we seldom got snow. That day was no different, but at that moment, I relished the forty-degree weather and the bright sky.
“Zombies did this?” Sam asked, breaking my tranquility and bringing me back to reality.
“Yep,” Uncle Jamie said.
The fact that the creatures had been in the park was undeniable. The monsters had nearly leveled the entire place. Only the random trailer or motor vehicle stood upright. Some homes, as Uncle Jamie had said yesterday, were almost flat against the ground. Bodies and body parts of zombies who’d gotten trapped under the horde also littered the area.
“If the creatures could do this, then how did they not break down our doors and windows?” Sam asked.
“I’ve been asking myself the same thing,” Uncle Jamie said. “That part doesn’t make sense.”
“God,” I suggested.
“Had to be,” Chase said.
Not everyone in my family went to church, nor, I’m sure did they all believe in God, but my grandma was insistent that we attend as much as possible, and no one told her they were atheist or agnostic. I believe in God. I didn’t think the Bible was literally “God’s word,” which Grandma did. Seeing the destruction before me and the lone office building relatively unharmed, cemented my belief whether it did for my cousins and uncle or not.
“We probably won’t find much, but we should sift through the debris for food and anything else useful,” Uncle Jamie said, moving off to one of the trailers that the creatures had only partially demolished.
“Don’t split up too much,” Sam called when he saw that Chase and I had headed in different directions from him and Uncle Jamie.
“Okay,” Chase and I called back.
I did my best to keep my family in sight as I picked through the remains of the trailer park. Mostly, what I found were body parts. My gloves were going to need a good scrubbing when we settled next.
I didn’t find any weapons, but I did find a roll of toilet paper, a can of tuna, a bottle of shampoo, and a pair of shoes that might fit Chase. As far as I could tell, my cousins and uncle were fairing about as well as I was. Hopefully, between the four of us, we’d find enough food to last a little while.
Either we were making too much noise digging through the demolished trailers or the zombies were moving silently, but one minute we were alone, and the next, we were all but surrounded.
Chase screamed.
I shot at the closest creature.
Uncle Jamie and Sam ordered us to run.
So we did.
At the far end of the park, I almost ran face-first into five zombies shambling through the trees in our direction.
“Fuck me,” I shouted before spearing one of the creatures in the eye.
“Willa, you all right?” Uncle Jamie called to me.
“Yeah. The zombies seem to be coming from all directions,” I said, spearing a second one in the neck.
“Keep running,” Sam said, sprinting up to me, grabbing my arm, and pulling me toward a gap in the horde.
Chase and Uncle Jamie were right behind us. At least for a while.
I ran.
I stumbled.
I fell.
I lost sight of Sam.
I fought.
At one point, I found myself on the ground with a sheet of metal covering my body with two creatures beating on it. I was screaming. The piece of a trailer was the only thing between me and those things eating me. I couldn’t do anything more than cry as their bodies fell on top of me.
I didn’t stop crying when I heard gunshots or after the weight pressing me into the earth eased or even when I could see the sky again.
“Get up. We gotta keep going. The creatures are still coming,” Sam said, grabbing my hand and yanking me to my feet.
I