Chapter 20

The explosion was loud, and the enormous mutant burst open inside out. The blast knocked all of the humanoid creatures and other mutants out of existence as well. Amanda, Joe, Megan, and Josh were tossed into the air, and they hit the ground with a hard thud.

“Amanda!” groaned Megan, as she lifted her head and coughed.

Joe and Josh lifted their heads, and then they coughed, as they looked at the girls. Amanda shook her head, as she coughed, and rolled onto her back. Slowly, she sat up and looked at Megan.

“What?” she coughed, as she got to her feet, and Megan just looked at her, angrily, as she got to her’s.

“You could have gotten yourself killed!” she yelled, and Amanda smirked at her.

“But I didn’t,” she said matter-of-factly, and Megan walked over to her, and angrily shoved her hard.

“Hey!”

“You need to stop pulling these suicide missions!” Megan stated, heatedly, and Amanda looked at her with an apologetic look.

At that moment, more of the mutant creatures staggered through the broken gate, and Amanda and Megan looked at each other.

“Shit! We will talk about this later,” said Megan, and Amanda nodded, as they both pulled their guns, and began firing them at the creatures.

Quickly, Joe and Josh pulled their rifles up, and they began firing as well.

“We need to get out of here,” yelled Joe, and Josh nodded.

Everyone that lived in the camp was running and screaming, as they ran from the attacking mutants, and they were scattered everywhere. Seemingly, the fire from the explosion Amanda had caused began to spread, and panic and chaos was everywhere they looked.

“Come on!” yelled Josh.

Horrifically, Amanda stared at the chaos all around her, and Megan grabbed her shoulder. Sadly, she looked at her friend, and Megan nodded. Amanda nodded, and then she, Megan, Joe, and Josh ran back to the building where the base was held at. Immediately, they stopped in their tracks, and they stared in horror as the building went up in flames.

Sadly, the whole camp was overrun by mutations, and the fire was spreading rapidly. Josh ran for the building, but Joe caught him.

“DJ!” he yelled, as he struggled against his cousin to let him go, and then Megan grabbed his arm.

“No, Josh, we can’t,” she said, as her voice cracked, and Josh looked at her with wide eyes.

“That’s my cousin!” he yelled, as he continued to struggle against Joe.

“Josh, he probably got out in time, and I am sure that he has Christie with him. Right now, we have to go!” she said, and Josh only nodded.

They ran for the line of parked vehicles, and they noticed that most of the vehicles were mostly already gone, but Megan spotted a black SUV, and they ran over to it. Surprisingly, the vehicle was stocked with ammo, weapons, MRE’s, and other supplies. They realized someone must have stocked the vehicle, and never came back. Even the keys were in the ignition.

Quickly, they got in the vehicle, and Amanda started it. Megan and Josh looked out of the back window, and watched the destruction of their home, as they pulled away. Desperately, Josh searched the camp in hopes he would see his cousin, but there was no such luck. Even Joe sadly looked out of the back window. Everything was destroyed, and it seemed as though they may have been the only ones to get out alive.

**********************

Amanda drove for a little while, and then she pulled over to the side of the road. They were back on a country road with nothing in sight, but open fields and groups of trees. Without a word, Amanda got out of the car, and she walked away a few feet. Silently, Joe, Megan, and Josh all watched as Amanda hit her knees.

“What are we supposed to do?” she whispered, softly, as she sobbed.

She felt like she had failed, when all she wanted to do was to save her camp, her home, and her family from the destruction of the apocalypse. However, now she felt as though she was lost, and she didn’t know what to do anymore. Seemingly, she was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear the growling and the snarling of a hoard headed their way.

“Hey, Meg, do you want to go get her? We have company headed our way,” said Joe, as he pushed a fresh clip into his rifle.

Sadly, Megan nodded, and then she hopped out of the vehicle. Quickly, she ran to Amanda, and she put her hand on her shoulder.

“Come on, Amanda. We have to go,” she said, and then she grabbed her friend’s arm.

Quickly, she pulled Amanda to her feet, and then they ran to the SUV. Megan pulled Amanda into the backseat with her, and Joe jumped into the driver’s side as the daywalkers staggered closer.

“Drive!” yelled Megan, as she wrapped her arms around Amanda.

She seemed out of it, and not coherent enough to function. It was like she was permanently lost in her own little world. Immediately, Joe stepped on the gas, and they sped away from the grotesque monsters.

**********************

“Delt-A, do you copy?”

Joe and Josh looked at each other, and then at the handle-held radio that was in the door. While they were making their way down the country road, and since Amanda was in the back with Megan, Josh climbed up into the passenger’s side seat next to Joe. Megan held Amanda in her lap, and she rubbed her head. Unfortunately, Amanda didn’t budge when the voice came across the radio, and she was usually the first one to grab it. At that moment, Josh grabbed the radio, and he handed it to Megan.

“This is Delta-A. Who is this?” she asked, as she put the radio up to her mouth.

“It’s Lieutenant Harper. I’m so glad to hear from you. Is General DJ with you?”

Megan, Joe, and Josh exchanged glances, and then Megan put the radio back up to her mouth again.

“We have been separated. The camp went under attack, and we barely escaped,” she said, as her voice cracked.

“Amanda is in shock, and we have nowhere to go,” she added.

“Do you know where you are?” he asked, and Megan looked around.

Relieved, she saw a sign that read route two-eighty-three.

“Route two-eighty-three, heading west, somewhere in California,” she stated, and there was radio silence after that.

“Harper?” she asked, but there was no answer.

“Great!” she said, as she tossed the radio onto the seat.

“What do we do now?” Josh asked, and Joe shrugged his shoulders.

“Delta-A. Do you copy?”

Megan inhaled sharply, as she grabbed the radio.

“Yes.”

“Listen. I was able to pull your location on the satellite, and it looks like you are not that far from a town. From what I can see the town looks abandoned, but be advised, there might be those things inside the buildings,” said Harper, and Megan sighed a sigh of relief.

“Thank you,” she said.

“You’re welcome.”

“Okay, we just got to find this town,” mumbled Joe, and Josh looked at his cousin sincerely.

“We will,” he said, and Joe only nodded.

He was more worried about Amanda. He hoped that she would snap out of whatever trance she was in soon. In all of his years in the wrestling business, he had never seen someone in a state like this before. Obviously, he had seen other wrestlers get concussions, but that was when they were hit in the head. Amanda didn’t hit her head.

“Listen. When you get somewhere safe, you are going to have to snap your comrade out of this state she is in,” said Harper, and Megan grabbed the radio.

“What do you mean?” she asked, and Harper sighed over the radio.

“What I mean is, there is an adrenaline shot in the military first aid kit.”

Curiously, Megan looked around. They hadn’t gone through all of the supplies that had been loaded in the vehicle yet, but Megan maneuvered out from under Amanda and she looked around in the back. She hoped that there was a first aid kit in the back.

“Okay, hang on,” she said, and then she climbed into the trunk.

After a few moments of searching, she grinned happily as she found the first aid kit.

“Someone was really prepared just in case camp went down,” she said, as she climbed back into the seat.

“Okay, we have the adrenaline shot,” she said, as she opened the hard, green, plastic box.

“Good. Now, one of you is going to have to stab her in the chest with it, but first, you should see if she snaps out of it,” said Harper, and Megan looked down at Amanda’s face.

Her eyes were closed, and she was breathing shallowly. Megan looked at her sadly. She didn't want to lose her best friend, and she didn't think that Amanda was going to snap out of this on her own. Heavily, she sighed, as she put the radio to her mouth.

“I don’t think she is going to snap out of it on her own,” she said, sadly.

“Okay. Are her eyes open or closed?”

“Delta-A, be advised. You don’t have much time. You have to do it now,” said Harper in an urgent tone.

“But we haven’t made it to the town yet,” stated Megan.

“Pull over, and do it now!” exclaimed Harper.

Cautiously, Joe looked around for any mutations, and he didn’t see any. He slowed the car to a stop, and Megan pressed the mic button.

“Okay. What do we do?” she asked.

“Lay her flat on her back, and stab her through the chest cavity with the dose,” he instructed.

“Okay.”

Quickly, and carefully, they pulled Megan out of the vehicle, and they laid her on her back in the street. Megan pulled the fairly large syringe out of the box, and she grasped it firmly. Nervously, she was about to stab Amanda with it, but then she looked up at Joe with fear in her eyes.

“I can’t do it,” she cried, and Joe sighed, as he looked at her with care.

“I’ll do it. Give it here,” he whispered, and Megan looked up at him in shock, as he held his hand out to her, and she gave him the syringe.

“Okay,” he breathed, as he knelt down, and Megan moved out of the way.

He took a deep breath, steadied his hand, and he stabbed Amanda in the chest cavity. Slowly, he pushed the dose into her body. Before Joe could pull the needle out of her chest, Amanda sat straight up, and inhaled sharply, as she stared at him with wide eyes. Without a word, she looked down at the needle sticking out of her chest, and she began to hyperventilate.

With a shaky hand, she reached for the syringe, and she yelled out in pain, as he pulled it out. Horrifically, she stared at the large needle in her hand, and she looked back up at Joe. He only nodded, and looked at her with care.

“Delta-A. Is everything okay?”

Megan heard Harper on the radio. She got to her feet, and she walked over to the SUV and grabbed it.

“Yes, she just woke up,” she breathed, and Harper sighed a sigh of relief.

“Good, I hate to cut this short, but you might want to get on the move. There is a small hoard headed straight for you,” he said, and Megan nodded.

“Thank you,” she breathed, and she looked over at Amanda, Joe, and Josh.

“What happened?” Amanda asked, as Joe pulled her to her feet, and he smiled a relieved smile at her.

“It’s time to go. We will explain on the way,” he said, gently, as they walked over to the SUV.

Politely, he opened the passenger’s side door, and gestured for her to get in. Amanda only nodded, and she got in. Megan and Josh jumped into the backseat, and Joe jumped into the driver’s side. Joe slammed on the gas, and they sped off towards the town.

*******************

“So, what happened? The last thing I remember is driving away from camp,” Amanda said, after a few moments of silence, and Megan rested her head on the back of the seat.

“You went into shock, and we had to give you an adrenaline boost,” she said, and Amanda looked at her oddly.

“So, you had to stab me in the chest with it?”

“Uh, huh. If it wasn’t for Harper, you would probably be… be dead,” Megan stuttered, and Amanda touched the side of her face.

She then grabbed the radio, and showed it to Megan.

“May I?”

Megan nodded, and Amanda smiled as she put the radio to her mouth.

“Thank you,” she said, gratefully, as she sighed.

“You are most welcome.”

Joe glanced at Amanda, and he saw a smile on her face. She looked over at him.

“Thank you,” she said softly, and he nodded, as she turned to Josh and Megan.

“You’re my best friend. I will do anything for you,” Megan said, sincerely, and Josh nodded to her, as he touched her cheek.

“We are a family,” he said, softly, as he traced his thumb on her cheek, and Amanda placed her hand on top of his, as she nodded.

“Look,” stated Megan, and they all turned their heads to look out of the windshield.

Seemingly, they were getting close to the small abandoned town, and it looked dark and eerie.