Chapter 3 – Leaving home

Eric stumbled back into his garage, his mind reeling from what had just happened. The bat, now stained with blood and... other things, felt heavy in his hands. Yet despite that, he set it down carefully, as if it might suddenly come to life and attack him too.

The sirens were getting closer, but Eric couldn't bring himself to care, not after what just happened. Instead, he slumped against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting on the cold concrete floor. His hands were shaking again, and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

"What the hell is happening?" he whispered to himself, not daring to run his fingers through his hair.

And while he wasn't expecting any response, it would have so welcome to have someone near him right then and there. Alas, what's done is done and just like Mr. Williams said to him, those two were no longer Mrs. Williams or Mr. Nelson. Yet even if that were to be true, seeing people getting back to life after losing so much blood from having their neck's bitten opened wasn't exactly reassuring, no matter how Eric looked at it.

Fearing that he would have a panic attack if he were to remained covered in blood, he decided that it would be for the best to take a shower and then try getting some rest, at least until later today.

With his mind made, Eric forced himself to his feet. He stumbled towards the door leading into the house, leaving a trail of bloody footprints in his garage, at least until he realized his shoes were dirty.

After leaving his bloodied clothes and shoes in his garage, it took longer than usual for Eric to make it to the bathroom, only for him to caught sight of himself in the mirror. His face was splattered with blood, while his eyes were wide and looked haunted. For a moment, he didn't recognize himself.

The shower hissed to life, steam quickly filling the small room. Eric peeled off his clothes, wincing as the fabric stuck to his skin where the blood had dried. He stepped under the scalding water, watching as red swirled down the drain.

As he scrubbed himself raw, Eric begun to think about this whole ordeal. What if this wasn't an isolated case? What if there were more of them out there? Worse than that, what if even one of them were to break into his girlfriend's house?

Could he bear to find Sarah in a similar state as Mrs. Williams?

That was a question, Eric didn't know the answer, but one thing was for sure: He would do everything in his power to make sure that will not happen as long as he draw breath.

Once he was clean, Eric went to his room and rummaged through his closet, pulling out his motorcycle gear. The thick leather jacket and reinforced pants would be his best armor for now against whatever these things were, not that he planned to get bitten by one of them, but it didn't hurt to be prepared. He tugged on his heavy boots before grabbing his freshly cleaned bat and making his way to the garage. The first thing Eric did when he sat on his bike was to tighten his gloves. Then he had the bat strapped to the side of his bike, because he wasn't going to leave his house without at least an usable weapon. With a deep breath, he reached for the ignition.

For a moment, Eric sat there, inhaling deeply and exhaling slowly, trying to calm himself. He could hear distant screams and the faint, guttural groans of those things, but he forced himself to focus on his more important worries.

He pressed the remote for the garage door making at least a few hungry things turn their heads towards him. But what welcome them were the headlights of his motorcycle.

However, what shocked Eric the most was how different the whole street looked compared to when he helped Mr. Wiliams. The body, or at least what was left of Mr. Nelson was still there, but all over the street there were cars abandoned. Many seemly in a hurry, at least from what Eric could see. Though, some even had their owners inside looking very much like those damned "shamblers," as Eric decided to call them.

Not wanting to waste any more time or draw more of these things to his house, he drove out of his garage before closing the door behind, which unfortunately did draw the shamblers who lost interest in him. Their heads snapped in his direction, and a guttural moan escaped from one, triggering the others like a pack of wolves making them all move toward him.

"Damn it, there goes my plan of leaving unheard…" he muttered, twisting the throttle. His bike drove forward, and while some of the shamblers gave chase, they were way too slow to even try matching a motorcycle.

Turning onto the major road, Eric was stunned by just how much "traffic" he stumbled upon. At this time of day, there should not have been the tens, maybe even hundreds of cars all heading towards Atlanta. Cursing his luck, Eric, double back and took another only to reach a similar road packed to the brim with cars or shamblers. Something was drawing them to the big city, which maybe was a blessing in disguise. After all, if everyone was heading to Atlanta, then that would mean fewer people and shamblers left in his town.

As Eric slowly passed a parking lot, he saw two men fighting at least ten shamblers, but as much as it hurt him to ignore them, there was no way in hell anyone could help these two, not when another group of five shamblers were coming from their left side. Being a hero would most likely end up with him dead, and that wasn't something Eric would enjoy, nor would he forgive himself in the afterlife.

Driving for a while and seeing that it was only leading him to more "traffic" and "dead ends", Eric decided to pull off the main road towards a hopefully less packed secondary road. The street was narrower, than usual, but at least it barely had any vehicles parked on it, which was like a God sent, after having to deal with all the nightmares from before. At first, it seemed quieter, and Eric allowed himself a sliver of hope. But that hope was short-lived.

The faint sputter of the engine was the first non-hungry thing to draw Eric's attention. It was subtle, and if he weren't so on edge, maybe he wouldn't have even noticed, but when he looked down and saw the needle of his bike's fuel gauge hugging the E, Eric wanted nothing more than to smash his face for being such an idiot.

"Damn it, Eric, how could you forget something this important?"

While he wasn't all that far from where Sarah lived, truth be told, he didn't want to abandon his bike, not when right now it proved quite useful dodging those shamblers. Luckly for him, up ahead, there was an unmistakable neon sign with the words: Gas Station written on it. Eric tightened his grip on the handlebars, really trying to talk himself out of doing something stupid, especially when the world seemed to have gone to hell, but he needed fuel.

The Gas Station… well, it looked…normal enough. Too normal, and maybe that was what kept Eric paranoid of this place, as in all alien invasion or post-apocalyptic movies and books, the gas stations were the first one hit by looters alongside stores and gun shops. The pumps were all available, while the convenience store windows looked intact. But there was no movement at all. Nor were there any bodies lying on the ground either.

It felt like a trap.

But the alternative was worse. Running out of gas in the middle of the street, surrounded by who-knew-what? That wasn't an option. With a deep breath, Eric veered toward the gas station, slowing his bike as he approached. The closer he got, the more it felt like he was actually ready to pull the trigger at his temple.

Parking his bike near the pump, Eric turned the engine off and listened. But other than the wind, nothing could be heard.

Not liking what he was hearing, Eric got off of his bike and grabbed his bat before making its way towards the door of the convenience store. Surprisingly, the door swung open without resistance, while the little bell overhead made its jingle noise like it was just another normal day.

Ignoring the bell, Eric looked inside the store, but once again everything looked normal, if one were to ignore the distinct lack of people.

"Hello?"

When no response came, Eric allowed himself to relax, just a little. It was almost unnerving how empty the gas station felt, especially when just a few miles away from this place, there was enough chaos to make a man go mad. Even though Eric didn't saw or heard anyone inside, he kept his bat in hand as he stepped further into the convenience store, before putting his backpack down near the chips shelf.

"Alright, let's not waste this," he muttered to himself, moving quickly to grab what he could. After all it would be a waste to leave food behind.

Despite what his teenager brain screamed at him, Eric didn't fill his backpack with only candy and chips, no, instead he grabbed as much protein bars, jerky, cans of soup and frankly anything that was portable and had a long shelf life. He grabbed a few bottles of water and a couple of energy drinks for good measure as well. There was even a rack of small lighters by the register, and he snagged a handful, despite not being a smoker. Who knows? Maybe it would help?

"Just a few more things and I'm out of here. This place is making me regret watching horror movies with Sarah."

While reaching for a flashlight hanging on a display rack, Eric finally noticed the two doors tucked behind it, partially obscured by a rack of cigarettes and gum. One door was labeled Restroom, while the other was unmarked, but it most likely led to a storage room.

Just as Eric was about to check these two rooms for anybody at this point, a blinding light hit his back stretching his shadow inside the shop. Fearing the worst, his head snapped toward the sound of a vehicle approaching the gas station.

"Whoa, whoa!" Eric muttered, taking a step back instinctively.

Instead of pulling into the lot like any sane person would, the SUV veered sharply and slammed into the base of the nearby light pole. While the pole wasn't exactly destroyed, it did got bend, the car, on the other hand, its windshield shattered in an instant, and the driver was launched forward, landing hard on the asphalt a few good meters away from their car.

Eric ducked low, gripping his bat tightly as he tried to process what had just happened. Was that guy running away from someone? Or was he infected like Mr. Nelson and lost control of his car mid drive?

Fearing the worst, Eric didn't outright go to help the driver, instead he choose to see if anyone would leave the car. Though as the seconds pass and nothing happened, the figure on the ground twitched slightly, making some rather grotesque noises which really didn't help Eric put him in the human camp or the shambler's one.

Maybe it was his mind not wanting to believe that the world might have just ended and so, when the man raised his hand again, Eric made his mind.

"Damn it."

He glanced toward the road, expecting to see shamblers. Sure enough, faint shapes began to appear in the distance. No, doubt more would come thanks to the loud dinner bell, which meant that Eric couldn't waste anymore time around. Not unless he was planning to face dozens of shamblers alone.

Grabbing his backpack and bat, Eric rush out of the door and towards the crashed SUV.

"Hey!" Eric called out cautiously, keeping his distance. "You… alive?"

Not getting an answer from the man, Eric kneeled down and turned the man over, hoping he was still alive. But as soon as he did that, he immediately stepped back, because the man had a gaping hole where his throat used to be. His shirt was covered in dried blood, and his face had dried blood all around the mouth, beside the fresher wounds cause by the crash.

Was the man dead already? But if so, did his mind play some trick and made him see things?

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do for you."

Eric said to the body, and just as he was about to turn around, he noticed a pistol in a holster around the man's waist. He wasn't a fan of stealing, but it was quite clear the man would no longer need his gun and so, Eric took it from the holster. But just as he pulled the gun, the dead man's hand grabbed his wrist scaring the hell out of Eric.

"Let go! Hey, let go of my hand!" The dead drive looked at Eric with its pale eyes and let out a groan before reaching out with his other arm.

Scared, and without his bat in hand, Eric used his left foot to kick the dead drive's hand away and free himself, before getting back on his feet and aiming his new gun.

"I really don't want to do this man, but for my sanity's sake, please tell me this is a joke."

The man didn't answer, he just let out another groan, and lunged for Eric, which made him backed up and aim his gun at the man.

The shot seemed unnaturally loud, but it did strike the man squarely in the chest. Despite being just a regular Glock, it did stagger the driver, but sadly for Eric, shooting the man in the chest wouldn't help.

Seeing that shooting the man in the chest had no effect, Eric let out a sigh and grabbed his bat before swinging hard at the driver's head sending the man back on the ground for a second time. This time thought, he didn't get up, much to Eric's relief.

However, since he fired the pistol his time in this gas station was coming to an end, and so after checking and failing to find anything useful in the man's car, Eric refueled his bike and left, praying to God that Sarah and her family were still home.

< Just change "3" with "e" Patr3on Link : https://patr3on.com/meatbunkun>