It’s the middle of the night. Ginger has put the plane on auto pilot while he gets some sleep, and Esteban is passed out on one side of the plane. Since Martha had that little nap earlier in the car, she is wide awake, thinking about the day’s events.

Things haven’t been going so great for her. Anytime she takes a step forward, somehow she is always taking two giant steps back. Escaping the police after robbing Six Flags worries her. Getting away from them was easy. Too easy. Something has to go terribly wrong now and whatever that unknown wrong is, it frightens her.

To try to get her mind out of a pessimistic place, she decides to read one of her favorite books, The Gift by Richard Paul Evans.

Before they blew up the store in their hometown, they gathered up the items they truly needed to get them through the plan and gave it to Ginger to put in the plane right away. Esteban packed up his guitars and Martha gathered up all of her books and her buddy, Kevin.

Kevin is a stuffed Minion given to Martha by her friend for her birthday one year when they knew they wouldn’t see each other as often as they did. All of her friends know how much she loves Kevin and would never leave him behind, so judge her all you want, but Kevin had to come.

When they awake the next morning, Martha is a little tired from not getting enough sleep the night before but once she has some breakfast and juice in her she is ready to go. Esteban has been up for a couple of hours already, waiting for her to wake. He has already had his morning chocolate milk fix and is waiting for her to get settled.

Martha moves Kevin next to her, has a plate of cookies for breakfast balanced on her knee and a glass of Mountain Berry, and says, “Now what?”

“You’re eating cookies? For breakfast?”

“No shame, Esteban. No shame.”

“You should eat Poptarts. Poptarts are amazing!”

“What are we doing now?” She tries to get back on topic.

“You should eat the brown sugar ones .They’re the best!”

“Esteban, stop talking about poptarts and focus on the situation.”

“Well, we can’t do anything in the air. We’ll have to wait until we land in Africa. Where are we landing again?”

“Johannesburg.”

“Well, we’ve got a lot of time on our hands before we land so, what are we going to do?”

“That’s what I wanted to know!”

“I’m going to get myself some more chocolate milk. If we’re doing anything productive, then I’m going to need a little boost.”

Esteban goes to refill his glass of chocolate milk and comes back with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and hands it to Martha saying, “Here. Apparently it’s happiness in a cup.”

“First you judge me on my cookies and now you are giving me ice cream? You make no sense,” she says as she eagerly takes the ice cream from him, “So, what are we going to do today?”

“I planned on watching some New Girl and maybe playing some guitar.”

“Wow, you’re boring.”

“What else do you expect me to do? We’re a thousand miles above ground. It’s not like I can go outside!”

“Nothing’s stopping you,” she laughs, “but seriously, this is like your twentieth time watching that show, how can it still be entertaining?”

“New Girl changes lives! It’s the best show around!”

“No, Friends is the best show around! Have you even tried watching it like I told you to?”

“I did! I just can’t do it! It’s like an older version of New Girl and I don’t like old shows!”

“It’s not that old!”

“Whatever, I’m still not going to watch it. What are you going to do today?”

“Probably read. I haven’t had much time to do that recently and I’ve got a lot of books to start.”

“How is reading any better than what I’m doing? If anything, it’s worse!”

“It’s not! You just haven’t found the right book; if you had one that interested you, you would actually like to read!”

“Reading is boring.”

“Read The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans. I really think you’re going to like it.”

“I’m not going to read it.”

“It’s not that long! It’s only like 125 pages! That’s nothing!”

“It’ll still take me a year to finish. I’ll read the first page and never continue.”

They continue arguing about this for some time. Eventually, the conversation turns back them arguing about Friends and New Girl. Time passes quickly as they move through conversation after conversation, just talking away. They haven’t seen each other for a couple of weeks, and all they’ve talked about was the plan, so they had a lot of catching up to do.

****

They land in Johannesburg and head to a hotel in the middle of the city, thinking that it’s best to be in the middle of a large crowd than stand out among them. Once they got settled into their hotel rooms, Martha asked, “Now what?”

“Now it’s time to meet with our dealer.”

The post Escape to Africa-Part Two appeared first on KRUI Radio.

“Hey, you okay?” Benny asks.

“Yeah, I’m just worried about my dad,” Joe explains.

“We’ll find him, don’t worry,” he reassures.

They lay in silence until the rest of the group wakes up. Eragon tells them that they need to keep moving. They pack up and rummage through the house, hoping to find something useful to take with them. Unfortunately, they leave empty-handed. They head down the street, Eragon leading at a brisk pace.

          “Where are we going?” Bella asks.

          “To Limbo, it’s supposed to be safe,” Eragon explains.

          “How do you know that it’s safe?” Benny asks.

          “I don’t, but we don’t really have any other option do we?” Eragon says.

Joe walks in silence as she takes in the deserted town. She sees a house with blue shutters. It reminds her of her own home. She wonders what the people that used to live in that house were like. Were they a family similar to hers? A widow trying to raise her spunky, seven-year-old daughter? Or was it home to an old couple whose children have long grown up and moved out? Whose only worries now were what flavor of tea they were going to drink as they watched the children in the neighborhood laugh and play in the streets? Sweet or unsweetened? Joe hopes that whoever lived in that house were together now. Even if they were both zombies together, at least they were together. 

They hadn’t walked for more than a mile, when they heard the sound of moaning in the distance.

“We need to find somewhere safe to hide out. We are sitting ducks out here,” Eragon says.

They keep walking, faster than before, until they reach a police station. The station is a mess. Scattered loose papers cover the floor along with tipped over computers. As soon as they get in, they barricade the doors with desks and chairs. Afterwards they start looking for something to eat. Instead of food, Scarlett finds a radio. Eragon sends out a distress call.

“Attention, anyone who is still alive. Four other people and I are trapped in a police station with zombies surrounding us. We are two miles away from Spring Valley. We are weaponless and without food. We won’t last long. Please help,” Eragon speaks into the radio clearly.

They sit there for a while, waiting for a response. Suddenly they hear moaning outside the station. Then slamming

against the window. The zombies can smell their flesh. Joe timidly walks up to the window to see how many are out there. She sees about 5 “men” walking around aimlessly in front of the station. One of them turns around so Joe can see its grayish face. Joe gasps and falls to the ground when she sees bloody drool pouring from the mouth of her dad. She gets up and watches him move in her direction. He lifts his stained-red hand up to the window and stares into Joe’s eyes.

“He recognizes me,” Joe whispers.

She moves the desks far enough away from the door so her tiny body can squeeze out. She can hear the screams of the crew inside, telling her to come back, but she keeps running toward her dad. Once in his arms, she feels his teeth rip through her neck, but she doesn’t feel any pain. She falls to the ground, her body slowly becoming numb. Relief rushes over her.

TO BE CONTINUED

The post Adventures of Joe. Pt 2 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

“Hey grandma, I was just about to make some Mac N’ Cheese. Do you want any?” Joe yells.

No response. Joe walks towards the entryway. She can hear someone in the living room, but it doesn’t sound like her grandmother. With the pot in her hand, she rushes in. It is her grandmother, but she’s not herself.

Her face is grey and drained. Her arms and legs look like they have been dislocated. And there is a red stain smeared around her mouth. She is drooling over the couch, right where Joe had been sitting only a couple minutes ago.

“Grandma? Are you okay?” Joe says creeping towards her.

Joe’s grandma turns her head towards Joe and moans loudly. She stands up and starts limping in Joe’s direction, her head cocked to the right and her eyes drooped low. Joe’s father had warned her about this. There had been an outbreak of a virus in Canada that made people forget who they were and start attacking anyone with a heartbeat. They were calling the people who had been infected zombies.

Joe holds the metal pan tight to her chest as her now zombie grandmother gets closers. A tear rolls down Joe’s thirteen year old face as she lifts up the pan and slams it into her grandma’s cheek. Her grandma hits the floor with a thud. Joe kneels next to her and lets the tears fall. Caught in remorse, Joe doesn’t notice her grandma coming to until she feels her hands grab her body. She lets out a surprised scream and stabs the zombie with the handle of the pan. It breaks through the soft skull and impales its brain.

Joe stands up and walks backwards, towards the front door. She stands with her back against the brass knob, trying to catch her breath. Suddenly someone opens the door, causing Joe to fall on her back. She gets up frantically, in fear that another zombie is about to attack her, but it is just her neighbor, Bella. Joe throws her arms around Bella, thankful to see a friendly face. When she lets go, she sees Bella is not alone. Her other neighbors, Scarlett and Benny, stand in her driveway, looking as scared as Joe feels.

Just as Joe is about to tell Bella what happened, the kids hear lazy moaning coming from the end of the street. A dozen zombies stumble towards them. They slowly creep back in the direction of Joe’s house, trying to find an escape route. As the zombies get closer, Joe begins to cry again.She knows this is it. Suddenly a man on a black horse comes riding down the street. He hits the zombies in the head  with the butt of his shotgun, taking them out.

“You guys look like you need some help,” the man says, “My name is Eragon. Follow me.”

Joe walks next to Eragon’s horse as they head towards his ranch to get more materials. After they gathered everything they need. They get into Eragon’s truck and drive until the sun starts to set. They stop at an abandoned town that appears to be safe and rest, thankful for the day to be over.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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