A light tap on my shoulder rouses me from my fretful distractions, looking up I notice the van begin slowing in response to some kind of commotion up ahead. The group behind me seems just as nervous as me about the situation. My ears fold back on instinct and my tail twitches against the seat. Tara darts her eyes from the rearview mirror to the road back and forth, trying to catch her husband’s eye before speaking up.
“There’s a whole bunch of people up ahead, lights too,” She says, pulling the van over on the side of the road. Cautious of moving on with so many people blocking the way.
“Is there a way around, the city was bad enough with how many people there were,” Jonah unbuckles himself to lean forward.
“I don’t think so, they’re covering both sides of the road. We’d have to backtrack through town to get around,” She responds.
“Lights? Those look like police lights. I think it’s a checkpoint,” Merlin cuts in, leaning forward over the back of my seat.
“Shit! We’re going to have to go through,” Jonah exclaims, hands gripping the driver's seat, claws digging into it in frustration. “Nadia? You got the kids buckled and everything?” He asks, turning around. She nods, checking the kids are alright once more as we continue moving.
It only takes another minute or two for us to reach the roadblock, which is indeed a police checkpoint. Both sides of the road are lined with concrete divider blocks and sand bags. Police with assault weapons stand guard, supervised by uniformed military. Their cars are left with the light bars on. And multitudes of other civilians are in line, some on foot and some in cars, as they are slowly waved forward by officers.
Behind me I hear Jonah and Nadia talk to his kids, quietly assuring them that everything’s okay. Tara pulls into the line of cars, her hands gripping the steering wheel tight. It takes several minutes for the line to continue moving every time a car reaches the front. The guards force everyone out of their vehicles on their turn. A large speaker system spews orders about staying orderly or how failing to follow instructions is unlawful.
As the time ticks away and we inch closer to the checkpoint, I’m able to make out why people are forced out of their cars. I watch as an officer orders a canine out of his truck at gunpoint before saying something I can’t make out. The canine promptly begins undressing down to his underwear as the guard inspects him. After a while the man is allowed to dress back up and proceed through the checkpoint.
“What the hell?” Tara says, also noticing the strange procedure.
“They must be checking for infected people. They did something similar at Littleridge, but nothing that extreme,” I offer.
“Well they sure as hell aren’t making my children strip down in the cold in front of so many people,” She says looking backwards only to realize we’re trapped by the line behind us, forced to go forwards. So we do, we move forwards and forwards, until it’s our turn. Motioning for Tara to roll down the window, the guard walks up and begins speaking.
“Hello ma’am, please have everyone, including yourself, step out of the vehicle and line up on the driver’s side to proceed,” He says, voice gruff yet weary. We all do as he says and get out of the van, unease rippling through us. Once we’ve all lined up he continues. “We’re going to need all of you to please remove all clothing except for your underwear and submit to a standard check for infection-” He’s cut off by Jonah whose ears are fully back and his mouth is about ready to pull into a full snarl.
“Like hell we are. I’m not going to have my 11 and 9 year old children strip down to their goddamn underwear in front of so many people! What the fuck kind of procedure is this! We aren’t even trying to leave the damn quarantine zone so why the hell should we have to deal with this shit.” He’s scary, even more so then when he was threatening to shoot me. Thankfully he left the gun in the van or I’m sure we’d all have been shot the second he started yelling.
“Sir, step back! May I remind you that you are required by law to follow all orders given by military personnel under martial law,” The officer meets Jonah’s snarl with his own. Tara backs her husband up immediately, stepping up in front of her kids with a growl.
“I don’t give a shit we’re not fucking stripping for you, because we’re not goddamn sick!” Jonah shouts, getting closer to the guard, who steps back and points his assault rifle at us. A collective gasp of shock echoes from the clusterfuck of people behind us, shouts and yells mixing in as others voice their disapproval. I look between the group of strangers I’ve found myself with, unsure of what to do. Merlin is trying to get Jonah to calm down, Nadia is pulling Hazel and Rylan behind her, and I’m standing here like an idiot.
The people in line begin moving forward, encroaching on the checkpoint. More guards rush over to the commotion and begin shouting back at the mob, aiming their weapons forward. I attempt to make myself smaller by ducking down and backing up against the van. As the clamor grows worse I begin folding into myself like a child.
A sickening scream cuts through the shouting and shoving. Everyone pauses and looks for its source. More screams rise up into the air from near the edge of the road. All hell breaks loose. Shots are fired off. Sickening cracks that cut through the air. People duck down, shoving each other out of the way. Officers and soldiers alike begin drawing back behind their barriers. My vision blurs at the edges in panic as I struggle to scramble away from a falling woman.
One of the wails of agony causes me to snap my head back to the initial officer who approached us. Struggling to see through the crowd of people I force myself back to my feet. What I see brings a retch to my throat even before the horrid smell reaches my nose. The poor man’s jugular is spouting blood like a faucet as an infected woman rips into him with her rancid maw. The guard repeatedly tries punching and kicking behind him to no avail, the woman digs into him with a savage unyielding hunger. Yet, her eyes, what little I can see of them, are watery. A silent sob, she knows what she’s doing but can’t stop it. Her guts are hanging from a gash in her stomach and in his pained agony the guard catches an intestine with a misplaced kick. He loses his balance and they fall backwards.
“Bruno! Bruno get in the damn car!” Someone's voice cuts through the haze. A small deep black furred hand grabs mine as they struggle to drag me along. I pick up my pace and follow after Merlin who leads me around the side of the van. He slams open the sliding door and pulls himself in, before grabbing my jacket along with Tara. They both yank hard causing me to stumble forward just as another infected dives at me, just narrowly missing me. I scramble in and let them close the door behind me.
“Fucking drive Jonah!” Merlin yells at the retriever, who’s now sitting in the driver’s seat.
“I’m trying goddamnit, there’s too many people!” He shouts back while shifting the van into gear.
“Does it matter, just drive!” Tara shouts from the backseat, holding Rylan and Hazel close to her. In response Jonah lays on the horn and slams on the gas. The van jerks forward, jostling everyone around as we all struggle to find a seat. The moment I look up from putting my seatbelt on I watch as Jonah runs right over a man convulsing on the pavement as another man rips into his arm.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Holy shit!” Someone screams as the loud thunk of the wheels going over the bodies rattles the frame of the van. Rylan begins crying quietly behind me, hugging his mother tightly. Another impact hits us as Jonah blows through the check point. People jumping out of our way. A line of cars and even a few people on foot following behind us.
“Everyone okay? Nobody’s hurt?” Jonah asks after a few moments, though he refuses to pull his eyes from the road.
“I- I’m fine,” I say. Similar sentiments echoing behind me from the rest of the group.
“What the hell was that, they came out of nowhere!” Merlin exclaims in exasperation. “Is that what happened at Littleridge?” He asks, shock evident on his face.
“I think. I didn’t get much of a chance to see what was happening and I didn’t bother looking back,” I tell him, my memory hazy from the exhaustion and chaos of the morning.
“Good lord, I guess it’s a good thing the van broke down when it did then. Holy shit man,” He responds with deflective humor, a chuckle punctuating his sentence.
---
After a good few minutes of driving in our impromptu caravan an intersection comes up ahead. The quickest way to the border of the quarantine zone would be to take a right, but everyone behind us is presumably going to be doing the same thing. Not wanting a repeat of the last checkpoint I unbuckle my seatbelt and lean forward next to Jonah.
“Turn left up here,” I tell him while pointing to the left side of the road.
“What? Why, that’d take us too long to get to the actual checkpoint,” He asks, hand lifting off the wheel slightly in confusion.
“The people behind us. They’re all going to go right so we’ll all get there at the same time,” My explanation doesn’t seem to hit home.
“And? If we don’t go right we won’t make it there before dark,” He says with confusion still etching his face. Brow furrowed and nose wrinkled.
“We’ll have a repeat of earlier. Besides I’m tired, you’re probably tired, we could all do with some sleep. Not to mention we’ll only barely get there before dark,” I elaborate.
“Jonah come on, he’s right. Rylan and Hazel could really use it. We’ve barely had time to eat today,” Nadia cuts in to back me up. He takes a minute to think before speeding up. Breaking us off from the trail of cars and taking a quick left at the intersection, not even stopping at the sign.
“Alright, fine, but we’re not stopping until dark,” He says, my ears swivel backwards to hear him better as I look behind us to see if we’re followed. Fortunately I’m proven right as none of the cars turn left. I keep watching until we’re far enough down the road that the intersection starts to fade into the horizon.
While Jonah does let off the gas a bit we still stay at a fairly high speed. Falling back into my seat I take a moment to really breathe since we blew through the checkpoint. Today has been an utter shit show. For a while the only sound in the van is Rylan’s quiet crying as it grows fainter and fainter. Thankfully my brain keeps itself in check this time, too many different emotions and thoughts flying through it for me to really feel any of them at all.
The sun begins its descent from the sky, inching closer and closer to the horizon by the minute. Trees and fields grow shadows like a clawing mold. The uncaring nature of fall provides zero relief from the disasters taking place all around us. Until finally Jonah is forced to flip on the headlights, head turning as he scans the side of the road for somewhere to stop.
It doesn't take long for us to roll to a gentle stop in a small clearing off the side of the road. Shadows growing long and skinny behind the line trees as the headlights cast off their grip on the woods. Letting my buckle reel back I grab my crowbar, worrying about the potential danger lurking outside. I step out of the van, eyes scanning the tree line as I listen to Jonah hand the rifle to Tara who joins me.
We both take a breath before calling out, unheeded greetings tumbling from our snouts as we try to catch the attention of anything that might be lurking nearby. After a while we manage to satisfy our worries and give the all clear for the rest of the group to get out. Feeling my stomach growl I realize that I haven’t eaten anything today.. Rummaging through my bag for a minute while the rest open the trunk results in me remembering that I didn’t grab any kind of food this morning.
“Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it!” I shout, the stress finally getting to me as I drop to the ground. I’m a coward and a pathetic idiot. I didn’t even fucking try to turn back for him. My mind is in shambles and everything is collapsing around me.
“Woah, whoa. What’s wrong man?” It seems my outburst was noticed as Merlin pads over.
“I didn’t- fuck- I didn’t grab any food. I grabbed my tools, my goddamned tools. Who the hell grabs tools in an emergency!” I’m breaking down like a petulant child whose mother scolded him. What is wrong with me? It’s just some granola bars I forgot. We didn’t have much with us to grab anyways.
“Hey, Hey, calm down. It's fine, we have plenty with us. You got us off that road, hell, you got us away from that caravan. We might not’ve even made it through today if you hadn’t come stumbling through the woods like an idiot,” He whispers to me, hand on my shoulder, before continuing. “I’m pretty sure the least we can do is let you have some of our food,” It’s honestly kind of comical how he’s comforting me right now. I’m just so much taller than him that it adds an element of hilarity for my psyche to latch onto.
“Yeah, um thanks Merlin… Man I am so pathetic, I haven’t even known any of you for a whole day and I’ve already broken down in front of you about three times already!” I chuckle and push myself back to my feet. Dusting myself off and letting Merlin lead me around to the trunk. Nadia, who most certainly heard everything, roots around in a bag for a moment before offering me a protein bar and an applesauce pouch.
“Figured you’d want something quick and easy before bed, even if it’s not a lot?” She asks, large ears flicking in the brisk late night autumn air.
“Thanks and sorry about… all that,” I gesture behind me.
“No problem, might not be medical but I am a paramedic and my job is to help people. Besides, us foxes have to stick together right,” Her smile grows wide as I take the food.
“I’m not a fox,” I tell her, feeling a little bad that I’m ruining her attempt at a joke.
“You’re not?” She’s surprised, looking me up and down like I’m trying to mess with her.
“No, I'm a maned wolf. I get it though, happens a lot. The fur patterning and lanky build doesn't help much,” My rehearsed explanation satisfies her shock well enough it seems.
“Ha! Told you he’s too tall to be a fox!” Merlin exclaims, recovering the conversation. I opt to walk away and leave them to themselves. Eating my applesauce while padding over to Jonah and Tara who are in the process of getting their kids somewhat comfortable in the backseat, I motion for Jonah to come over.
He nods but takes a few more minutes to finish saying goodnight to his kids. While he does that I take the opportunity to unwrap my protein bar and eat it as well. The faint rumbling in my stomach going away and my mood lifting a bit as the hunger loosens its grip on me. After that Jonah says something to Tara, who then gets into the van, before walking over to me.
“Need something?” He asks, hand rubbing the back of his neck.
“Yeah I uh, I just wanted to say thank you. I know you didn’t have to let me come along or even help me at all. But you did, even if I’ve been a bit of an unstable mess,” My voice is quiet and I avoid eye contact. Which is hard given that I’m taller than him.
“Of course, I’m a father first and foremost so just because I might be a bit of an asshole when it comes to protecting my kids, that doesn't mean I’m just going leave someone else’s kid out to dry if I can do something to help,” He is shockingly profound, like my own father, though in a whole lot more words.
“Thank you Jonah,” I manage to look him in the eye this time.
“It’s fine, why don’t you get some sleep huh? I talked with Nadia and we’re both going to take turns keeping watch overnight,” He pats me on the back and ushers me into the car. Relenting, I climb inside and shut the door behind me, trying to keep the sharp breeze from disturbing the children. Trying my hardest to be quiet while sitting down, I pull out my flimsy blanket. After fighting the damn thing to get it to cooperate, it finally lays in a comfortable position and I can recline my seat for some semblance of comfort.
Sleep struggles to come to me, my mind much too uneasy with the events of the day. It feels like my head is swimming in contradictions. Both attempting to process the horrifying sights while not at the same time. Every little sound from outside makes me feel like a repeat of the morning is going to happen. I almost don’t want to fall asleep, not even for a second. But after what feels like at least an hour, maybe more, sleep takes me.
