Chapter 6: Our Presumptions Were Wrong...

The road ahead becomes obscured as young blood is smeared across my windshield. The two I had picked up were both quietly sitting in the back seat. I decide to break the silence, "You guys ok?" I ask. The girl begins to speak, stuttering through some of her words, "Yeah......my name is Nicole." The boy then also begins to talk, "...Richard." I turn over my shoulder and take a quick glance at their fear-stricken faces, "I'm Pete." I begin asking Nicole questions about what had happened, hoping that she could make things a little bit clearer. "You were there Nicole...you saw what happened. What happened to you in that house?" She takes a breath, "...It's actually my house. When it started, I was inside getting towels for a friend...that's when I heard a scream come from outside. I thought they were just playing around, but then I heard more screams. I ran to the back, towards the pool, and my sister's boyfriend, Johnny, was laying on the ground with his hands on his neck. I walked closer and saw blood seeping through his hands. I ran out to him; I thought I could help him. Everybody else was just running, trying to get out of the backyard. Some even climbed the fence even though they knew that the door was unlocked. Johnny was pulling on my shirt...He looked up at me....." she chokes, I expect her to begin bawling, but she composes herself and continues. This girls a tough one. "He...he told me to run...I didn't know what everyone else was running from. It was weird...it was like they were all running from each other. I didn't see anything right away, but then I looked up and saw someone I didn't invite. He wasn't running like the rest...he was just coming towards me. He just stared at me with these dark eyes...I looked back down at Johnny...he wasn't breathing anymore. I looked back up, and this guy was still getting closer and closer. I ran inside and locked the door. I knew that the glass wouldn't keep him out so I went upstairs, to my room. I hid in my closet until I heard your car." I let the story sink in, trying to make sense of the calamity.
Peter: "...You mentioned your sister...where is she?"
Nicole: "She went to get more drinks for the party...I keep trying to call her, but she's not picking up." She
says, with a concerned tone.

I try to stay calm, but all this shit is starting to weigh on my mind. "Look, we're going to head to the station. It's the safest place we can go so just stay CALM!!!" As calm leaves my tongue, a man runs into the path of my cruiser, kissing my hood at forty. He attributes to the coagulated carnage on the glass. I swerve to a halt. For a moment, we just pause in shock, wondering if what had happened was real. Richard and I get out and stand by the cruiser, looking back at the guy I had hit. Nicole stays in the car, also looking back through the glass. I slowly start to walk towards the guy. I can hear Nicole behind me, "...Please, can we just go!" If it weren't for the situation we were in, I'd call her heartless, but I was probably just as afraid as she was. "We can't just leave him." I say, trying to convince myself. "He has blood all over him, he might be one of those people!" Richard shouts. Ignoring them, I cautiously inch my way over to him. He lays on his side, with his face covered under his arm. I gently nudge him, to see if he's alive. "Sir?" Within a millisecond, he pounces toward me, his legs abnormally trailing behind him. "MOTHERFUCKER!!!" I fall back, trying to avoid his grasp. "Get in!" I tell Richard as the crazed man grabs a hold of my foot. He pulls on my leg, trying to use it to close our distances. I manage to land a kick to the nose that forces him to let go, though the bastard is still able to get one of my shoes. I get up and run as fast as I can back to the car."Can we agree on no more stops?" Nicole says. "What the fuck is wrong with these people?!" Richard says, now sitting in the front seat alongside me. I shift gears and continue my way back to the station. Nicole taps on the cage separating the officers from convicts; she seems extremely fidgety and rattled, spouting words like a machine gun does bullets. "S'cuse me...um...Pete? Can we check the Sundae liquor store, my sister might still be there...please, I need to find her...please, she can't be out...not now."
"I'll check up on her myself. First, I have to get you guys to a safe place." Looking out of the window as we hit mid-town, bodies are visible everywhere; some painfully slumped over like rag dolls. They weren't there the first time I had passed by and they probably weren't going to be the last. In the streets and alleyways, we can see glimpses of people sprinting frantically from one another. I tell the kids to cover their eyes, until we reach head quarters, but I know they won't listen. I speed through a couple of red lights, trying hard not to pay attention to the woman on the sidewalk feeding on the dead little boy, or the man whose trying to fend off the old, ravenous woman to no avail. Peripheral vision can be a bitch. We reach the police garage and enter the subterranean parking lot. Finally, I have the time and resources to assess the situation thoroughly without the risk of having my fucking throat ripped out.