Driving in the Dark

[madelineporter]

Madeline and Tess had been in her jeep for a long time now, only stopping to get gas, which was an ordeal in itself. None of the pumps were working since they ran on electric and much of that was out where they went, and when they did find places with power, there were walkers. Eventually they managed to learn how to syfin the gas out of other cars with a tube, and the only other times they stopped were to use the bathroom, and grab more food.

It was Madeline's turn to drive, and she was going cautiously down a side road doing her best to see. At night they always cut the lights off because they noticed the lights attracted the walkers, and after running over a group and screaming about it for ten minutes, Madeline decided that was enough murder for her. She was still having a problem with figuring out that these walkers were dead, and not infact human anymore. They just had a human shell.

Grabbing a twix bar she began to eat it, and groped around for an energy drink afraid to take her eyes off the road. She wasn't sure if Tess was asleep or not in her seat, but she didn't want to pester her to grab her a drink. It had been along while since they had seen any movement, and the fourth time the CD was on repeat it was starting to bore her into a lull. Sighing she leaned back in her seat re-gripping the wheel and opening her eyes wider then normal to wake up.

She had spotted a sign a bit further back that she had to stop to read due to the dim moonlight filtering through the trees. There was a town coming up, which meant she had to be on full alert for walkers, abandoned cars, and anything other debris in the street. Daring to look down for a second, Madeline hit the brakes lightly and grabbed for the CD case when she looked up and spotted it.

Shrieking she did her best to hit the gas and swerve but it was no use. Her blue jeep collided with the old truck infront of her, she hit the brakes but the Jeep kept going bouncing along the side of the road before coming to an abrupt halt when it hit a tree.

Madeline was still holding the steeringwheel as tightly as possible and half of a Twix bar was still in her mouth, how she didn't choke on it she wasn't sure. Quickly she threw the bar out the window before reaching over to Tess. "Tess! Tess are you alright?" She asked shaking her friend in near hysterics.

Oh God what if she had killed Tess? And her Jeep! She could hear the engine ticking and hissing, and there was smoke coming out the air vents that smelled like burning rubber. It was their only mode of transportation, and she was no mechanic but she was sure that the smoke and hissing was not healthy for the vehicle.

"We are so screwed!" Madeline said as she hit the steering wheel with her palm and took off her seat belt.

[tess]

Tess could deal with stress. She'd been stressed during her move to Providnce. She had felt stress when she'd been preparing for finals, but nothing, NOTHING, had prepared her for this. Tess 'felt' like a walker. She was practically blifelessness. Each day she grew closer to the point of cracking, but some how she managed to liven up and move on.

Perhaps it was Madeline. The other girl needed her just as much as she needed her. They'd been traveling as a duo for a while now. Both of them were exhausted, hungry and just...over this entire experience. The death. It was permeating through the air like an opaque fog. It clouded her judgements, made her rethink her own mortality--something she never did before this disaster began. Tess was....well she was losing her freaking mind. She knew that, Madeline knew that. Did the walkers know that?

It took all the restraint left in her to not kick a hole through the speaker of their jeep. If she heard Britney Spears one more time, she'd hit her one more time alright! Head resting lazily against the back of the seat, Tess played connect the dots with the few stars she saw in the sky. A walrus. That's what she drew in the sky. A fat, deformed walrus smoking a cigar. She wondered what brand it was. Cuban she figured. They were the best kind--or so she'd been told.

Her eyes drifted close and she took a deep breath. She needed to sleep. Soon it would be her turn to drive again. Madeline, bless her, was doing an amazing job staying between the lines while she had swerved between the white lines for over a mile before she finally admitted that she was too tired to drive any longer.

Tess barely flinched when Madeline reached for something in the back seat. Bringing her legs up to her chest, she wrapped her arms around them and dozed. Sweet oblivion. Take me now!

The high pitched screech from Madeline sent chill's down Tess' neck. Her eyes shot open and her legs and arms shot out as if she, size 7 and 125 pounds, could protect their car with sheer force and woman power alone. She didn't scream, she simply squeezed her eyes closed as they were jolted off the road. The resounded squeal of metal embedding into bark hurt her ears and she covered them with her hands. She sat there, her entire body forced forward by the inertia of their collision. Her wide eyes were as big as saucers. She could only blink.

She heard Madeline yell at her, but she didn't move. Her head lulled back and forth as her friend shook the living hell out of her. Finally, when her neck couldn't take anymore, she stammered out an "I'm ok. Ok? Calm down Maddie. We're alive...right?" She patted her face, chest, legs. Yes, intact.

She couldn't say the same for their car.

Poor, poor car.

"Screwed? More like twisted around an oak," she joked, seemingly fine with the entire situation. She chose to ignore her pounding heart.

Unbuckling herself, she tried her door. It made a god awful noise as she pushed it open. Rolling out the door, she crawled around the car before she could manage to stand up.

"Maddie, what are we going to do? Maddie...Maddie..." she said faster and faster. "We hit a fucking tree! Maddie....a tree...a tree...in the middle of North Carolina." She paused, raking her fingers through her blonde, flyaway hair. She was breathing a bit too quickly for her liking and she felt dizzy.

[madelineporter]

Madeline was freaking out when Tess didn't respond, and she was sure her friend had been impaled on something, or hit her head. As she internally weighed her options of how to fix her friend, trying to remember some basic first aid, and racking her brain for what she could use as a brace Tess finally stirred. Thank God. Without Tess Madeline probably would have run around screaming for a good while and then been taken by Walkers. Not a fate she really wanted to endure that was for sure.

When Tess crawled out, Madeline looked around the area to see if she could see any movement. Was that something over there? Squinting her eyes she leaned forward to see but realized it was just a low lying branch. When Tess finally popped up after crawling about she let herself out of the door, and put her shaking legs on the uneven ground. It was frigid out here! Rubbing her arms a bit she walked to the front corner of her Jeep which was bent and smashed to smithereens. Sighing she patted the metal before turning around to Tess who was freaking out, which cause Madeline to panic a bit as well.

"We are going to be fine, just fine...right?" She asked as she stared at Tess before looking at the car once again. She just wanted to crawl back inside, turn the heat back on, and keep on driving. Hell she would listen to the same Britney Spears song on repeat (that was trying to change) the whole way if that meant having her car back! They were still in North Carolina, a far cry from their destination in Georgia, and now thy had no way to get there. Maybe they could take another car?

The truck! That blasted truck, that was in the middle of the road. Maybe they could try that? "Do you think that truck works?" She asked with chattering teeth. You would think she could handle the cold weather growing up in Rhode Island, but Madeline was a rather tiny thing. "I mean..it's worth a shot right?"

[tess]

"Right!" Tess, cupped her hands over her nose and mouth and tried to take deep, relaxing breaths. One, two, three. It was working. She was okay, Madeline was okay. They were okay and there were no walkers....right? Her blue eyes widened and she looked around them, staring into the darkness. She couldn't see anything--just a truck sitting in the middle of the road. How had she missed that?

"If it does I wonder what happened to the driver?" she asked, not wanting to hear the answer. She or he was out taking a stroll in the middle of the night! Oh god. That made no sense at all. Crossing her arms and stuffing her hands into her armpits, she nodded at Madeline's question.

"Come on. Lets try." Her knees were trembling too badly to run, but she made it over to the truck in no time."

"Who would leave a truck in the middle of the road?" she asked as she went around to the driver's side. She glanced in through the window, which she noticed was cracked opened at the top, and pouted. Pulling open the door, she hopped in. Her eyes went straight to the keys in the ignition.

She turned to her friend. "Madeline. Something doesn't seem right about this."

[madelineporter]

That was true, where was the driver? Maybe he was lurking around the corner waiting to pounce them! At that thought she turned on her heel surveying the land to see if there was anyone out there watching them, dead or alive. "They could have lost their way? Went to get a map? Or maybe found a better car?" She was doing her best to optimistic, but Madeline's idea were quickly dying at the tip of her tongue. They all sounded ridiculous.

Following behind Tess, she leaned over the bed of the truck half expecting for someone to jump up and grab her. She was she nervous by the time she leaned over the edge of the metal she jumped as her ring connected with the metal. Nothing in there but some bungee cords, leaves, and empty food containers. "I don't know they would...rather dumb," she replied moving over to the drivers door which Tess had wrenched open.

She eyed the keys and looked back at Tess, something wasn't right. "Who leaves their car unlocked, and keys in the ignition," she pondered aloud. "Maybe we should just leave it, the person could still be around, and I really don't want some angry mountain guy coming after us for stealing his truck," Madeline said as she looked over her shoulder. Nor did she want the walker to come back that had possibly attacked the driver of this truck.

"The town isn't that far from here, maybe we can find a place to hide for the night?" She suggested, though she wasn't keen on the plan. They had no way to defend themselves, and walkers were rather stealthy.

[tess]

Tess laughed for the first time in days. "Angry mountain guy? You've been watching too many horror movies Maddie," she said, shaking her head. But then it dawned on her that they were living in a horror film. Zombies, a mass apocalypse...yes, definitely some horror movie, and one she would have refused to see in the theaters.

"I think that's a good idea. If we can get this truck going we can drive there, don't you think." It would be faster than walking." She could walk the distance, but what if they ran into walkers in town. She'd been too tired by then to run from them, much less defend herself. Pouting a bit, Tess turned and looked around at the darkness again.

"See if it runs. It feels rather warm considering it's sitting in the middle of a freezing road. Perhaps someone did just hop out and run into the woods."

In the mean time she'd go get their things out of the jeep because it could catch fire any second now. Checking again that the coast was clear, Tess walked back to the broken jeep, popped the trunk and dug around inside. They had brought so much stuff they didn't need. Hair curlers, magazines, an Ipod that had died two states back. They should have piled food into the little jeep, but she hadn't been thinking about the long drive, nor did she believe this infection would have taken over the entire United States. She wasn't in denial anymore though, yet she still clung to the hope that Georgia was safe. The CDC was there wasn't it. They had a cure for everything.

Taking out her pink Victoria secret bags, she clambered back to the truck.

[madelineporter]

Madeline nodded as Tess hopped out of the car and headed to the jeep to grab some of her things. She needed some stuff out of there as well, though her psychology homework was surely useless, as well as her large collection of fashion magazines that she had been saving for over a year now. Madeline was working on a scrapbook of clothing designs and she thought once they got to where they were going, she would need something to entertain her, as well as the long drive. Who knew that she would be too scared to barely even sleep let alone play dress-up in the backseat.

Sliding in Maddie turned the key, and listened to the engine try to turn over for a few seconds before it officially died. Trying again she pumped the gas as she held the key but nothing gave. It wasn't the battery she could tell since their jeep had done this plenty of times, it was out of gas. "Out of gas," she said as Tess climbed back in the truck. "I'll go get my stuff and ge the gas, you keep an eye out,"

With that she stepped out of the truck and went to the jeep digging about. No need for CDs, she doubted the truck even had a working radio, she tossed her fashion magazines aside, but she did grab their photo album. If it was the end of the world, she wanted her memories atleast, shoving some other things in her old backpack she grabbed the gas can and tube before going to the gas tank door.

This was the worst part. Shoving the tube in, she sucked on the tube until she felt the gas touch her lips before shoving the tube into the gas tank. Wiping her lips on her sweater she dug around in her purse for chap stick when the liquid finally finished pouring into the red tank. Patting her jeep she wandered back to the truck and threw her bag inside the truck. 'There's about a half a tank of gas in here," she said before going to fill the truck up.

"Have you seen any movement?" Maddie called out with chattering teeth as she looked around the woods.

[tess]

Tess' spirits livened a bit when Maddie mentioned there was no gas. She could stop worrying now since everything finally made sense. Whomever had been driving the truck had run out of gas in the middle of the road. Not exactly worried about anyone stealing the thing, they left the keys and probably got out and walked to town. She smiled again and then hearing Maddie's question, looked around them.

"No, nothing."

She looked back the way they came and was about to turn to face front again, but something....or many some things caught her eye. She squinted, her blue eyes slowly widening as what she was seeing struck her.

"Maddie," she murmured, voice trembling. "Get in the truck....Get in the truck right now!"

Her heart was thudding in her chest at this point as she watched, what looked like five walkers stumble out of the woods. Their bodies were illuminated by the moonlight that filtered in through the campus of tree branches. As she watched seven more came out onto the road. This couldn't be happening. Where were they coming from?

"Maddie?" Tess called out, although she tried to be as quiet as possible.

[madelineporter]

Madeline was doing her best to pour the gas into the truck as quickly as possible, she was shivering though and the can kept hopping around in her hands. This sweater from American Eagle was very cute, but not very practical. You would think if you paid an arm and a leg for a sweater it would atleast keep you warm. But no, this 'sweater' was no thicker then a tank-top, which was fine inside a nice and warm vehicle. Bouncing back and forth on her feet she almost had the gas can empty when she heard Tess hiss her name.

Her voice sounded scared, which instantly made what hairs weren't standing up already from the cold stand up. "Why?" she asked quietly as she turned her head around to see what Tess was on about. That was when she spotted them. Walkers. They must have attracted them when they crashed. "Oh God," she said as she lowered the can before tossing it into the bed of the truck. She hoped to God that the only problem with the truck was the lack of gas.

Inching down the side of the truck, Madeline had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming as a walker came out of the woods right across the road from her. It was maybe fifteen feet away. How fast could a walker run? Or did they just walk? She really didn't want to stay to find out, but she knew when she shut the truck door they would swoop down on them. "Start...the truck..." Madeline hissed to Tess as she inched closer to the door.

The walker was heading right for her, probably attracted to the popping noise her jeep was making and the smoke coming from it. She could see half of it's face was rotted away, and it took everything Madeline had to not throw up. Her sweating palm grabbed the door handle of the cracked door and tried to open it slowly, but it still squeaked loudly.

"Shit!"

[tess]

Tess did as she was told. Shaking like a tiny limb on a tree, she shifted forward, taking hold of the key and turning. It didn't start right away so she pumped the gas and tried again. The truck roared to life, shaking to life beneath her. She could smell the scent of oil and gas as the engine woke up.

"Get in!" She yelled, reaching over to help Madeline open the door. As she did, she caught a glimpse in the rearview mirror and saw that every walker on the road was running toward the truck. Crap! She looked over her shoulder as one plowed into the back.

"Oh my god!" She screamed as another banged into the side of the truck. She hadn't even seen that one coming. Getting Madeline into the truck was her first priority. If she lost her....she would probably just give up. She couldn't do this on her own.

"Come on!" She screamed. She literally jumped out of her skin as a walker collapsed into the driver's side window, scratching at the glass. Its mangled face smeared blood all over the metal. It smelled of decay; like a dead deer lying on the side of the road. It was so awful she almost threw up in her mouth. She fumbled to roll up the window even further.

[madelineporter]

Madeline rarely swore, it only happened in dire situations. Such as shutting her finger in a door, or spilling nail-polish on the couch, or in this case, the living dead coming right at you. Thank God for Tess, she probably would have never gotten the door open if it weren't for her because the instant those walkers came running at her, she lost all feeling in her body. Maddie felt like she was just going to fall over under the weight of her own body and if Tess hadn't tugged on her arm to make her get into the truck, she never would have torn her eyes off the walker coming straight at her.

She slipped into the door and slammed it shut as a walker attempted to get into the actual trunk, how the hell would they lose that? Madeline screamed as something loud banged into the window by Tess and she stared at the thing as it attempted to pry open the window. "Roll it up! Oh God, don't let it get any spit on you or anything!" Madeline said as she watched Tess roll the window up. Reaching around she locked her door...just incase the walkers knew how to open it before looking at the floorboard of the truck. Rednecks always had some big thing to use as a weapon.

Feeling under the seat her fingers closed around something metal and she pulled it out finding it to be a tire iron. "Drive Tess drive!" she said looking out the back window as the walker was climbing up over the edge while it's friends began to crowd the truck. It didn't matter if the truck could run, if they overran them, they would never be able to pull out. "hey are trying to get in the bed!" Maddie shrieked as she stared at another walker attempting to get in. God why didn't they just attack one another!

[tess]

Tess had seen her fair share of walkers during their drive from Rhode Island, but none of them had run at them nor tried to rip them apart like these guys. Perhaps the north was safer than the south. Well, it was too late now. They were almost to Georgia. They would be stupid to turn around and go back.

When Madeline was safely inside, she wasted no time stomping the gas. The engine growled angrily at them as they plowed down the road. The truck was a stick shift so she did the best she could to shift the thing into gear. She managed to get it into second without a problem. Glancing into the rearview mirror, Tess watched the walkers run after them for a while before slowing down and walking. They rounded a corner and eventually they were out of view.

"That was way too close, Maddie," she said, her lips trembling. Now that the adrenaline in her veins was beginning to subside she could feel the cold air against her skin. She shivered, but didn't complain.

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking at her friend. "You weren't bitten were you?" She asked. She grabbed at Madeline's arms, expecting to see a scratch, a bite.

"Where are we going to go?" She asked looking ahead. Her eyes strained to see through the darkness as she fumbled to turn the lights on. She looked down at the gas hand. It said full. That wasn't possible, but she chose to ignore it for now.

[madelineporter]

Madeline hung onto the tire iron like it was a life line as they drove down the road, and she watched behind them to make sure that they were getting left behind. Now that they were out of immediate danger, she realized that she was shaking horribly, not from cold, but from fear. Setting the tire iron on the floor she looked over at Tess who was investigating the gas gauge. They were both alive, and honestly that was all that mattered to her at the moment.

When Tess reached out to investigate her arms, Madeline suddenly began to panic. What if she had been but she was too scared and on too much adrenaline to have felt it. "I d-don't think so," she said looking down at her arms and spotted nothing there. A wave of relief washed over her as she leaned back against the seat taking a deep breath and letting it out. They were coming up on the town in the distance, in the dim moonlight she could see the moon reflecting off the glass of store fronts.

"I don't know, there could be walkers all over this town," she said before looking at the gas gauge herself. There was no way that was right, her Jeep was down to just above half when they crashed. Looking out the window straining her eyes to see anything she spotted something in the distance. "Hey...Tess... is that a light or am I seeing things?" she asked pointing out the window to the light that kept flickering into view between the trees.

[tess]

Tess sighed with relief. She had never admitted to Madeline how much she needed her during this journey. It was kind of a unspoken promise between them that they'd do anything for the other, even risk their lives if it meant saving a friend. She would have gone completely psycho on those walkers back there had they injured Madeline. Smart? Perhaps not, but when she had no one else in this world to love you did anything to keep that one person you did love alive.

Shifting the truck into third, Tess finally found the light switch. She flicked it on and then turned to see what Madeline was pointing out. "Lights?" she asked, shaking her head cause she didn't see anything at first and then... "I see them! Do you think someone's living out there? We should go see. Maybe they can help us."

Or maybe they would try to kill them...Everyone was trying to these days so why not take the chance?

She didn't drive too quickly because she didn't want to use what gas they had left. They drove for a while until they found a drive way. Dimming the lights, she pulled in, only barely pushing the gas as they crept toward what looked to be a house in the distance.

"Well, there's no turning back now." She said, switching off the ignition.

End Tess

[madelineporter]

Madeline didn't want to express how hopeful she was that there was someone else there. It wasn't that she didn't depend on Tess, she honestly didn't know what she would do without the girl, but having someone else to help would be amazing. Maybe they had some real food in their house besides snickers bars, and energy drinks. If she never saw either of those things again, Madeline would be a happy person. She also didn't want to get her hopes up to just dead people, or people that should be dead.

Leaning forward in the truck to try and see if she could see movement in the house, Madeline held onto the dash as they turned into a drive. She glanced at Tess and gave her a nervous smile before watching the house. She was willing whoever else was inside to come out, seeing another living face besides their own would be a much welcome surprised. Just gave the hope that the whole world wasn't in shambles.

"Hopefully they are friendly," Madeline said nervously as Tess turned off the engine watching the house. There was movement, whatever was inside had heard them, and a door opened. Gripping her purse in one hand, Madeline grabbed the tire iron once again, it wouldn't do much since she could barely swing a wooden bat let alone a heavy metal bar, but it made her feel better.

End Madeline

(continued at: in the middle of nowhere)