Chapter 3

The smell of rotting corpses quickly permeated throughout the car, causing everyone to cough profusely and gag at the smell. Ren, Adamo, and Adam choked on the vapors while Adam pounded at the side window. Suddenly, one of the windows cracked from all the pounding and left a smear on the glass. Everyone remained silent for a moment, shocked and confused, before turning back towards the back of the vehicle. There sat one man with a pale face and eyes so white they appeared almost as ghost-like as a zombie. He was a man with his throat slit open, with only a bloody piece of string keeping the two halves together.

As everyone continued to remain motionless in a state of shock, the zombie from the passenger seat slowly grabbed Ren by the neck, its grip growing tighter and tighter by the second.

Ayoub punched the passenger in the face before he could react; Adam and Adamo yelled at the top of their lungs to draw attention to themselves; however, none of their attempts were working as intended, for instead, it decided to attempt to bite Ren in the leg. She quickly denied the attempt by kicking it in the face. The car swerved uncontrollably as Connor attempted to maneuver the vehicle in reverse. As it drifted over to the side, it skidded sideways into another parked vehicle. The momentum caused everyone to crash onto one another, but most notably onto the undead in the backseat, snapping his spinal cord in the process.

The group quickly backed away as they finally came out of their state of shock. As a result, Adam quickly scrambled over to the back, sliding into the backseat and struggling to undo his seat belt.

Adam saw Ren struggling in the seat next to him and offered her his hand. She instantly grabbed his palm tightly, her fingernails digging into her own palm, leaving marks that could very well have bled if they went in deeper.

As Ayoub stared out at the zombies, they began swarming the area where they were and blocking the entrance to the gas station.

"OH SHIT." Ayoub blurted out. "FUCK, HOW DO WE GET OUT OF HERE WITH THE CAR NOW?"

"Keep driving," Ren murmured. "All we can do is keep driving and not get killed."

Adam, Adamo, and Ren glanced out the window.

"Oh hell, Ren, are you serious? Did they ever teach this shit in biology class?" Adamo asked as he pushed her further away from the window.

"None that I can remember off the top of my head, or that we can act on now, except maybe the most basic theory about how zombies can be created through bites."

Adamo quickly rolled up the window, so Connor could continue focusing on driving without worrying about being bitten or scratched, so long as the windshield stayed in one piece. However, the window cracked, causing Ren to quickly duck as the pieces shattered everywhere, shattering as they hit the ground.

Adamo swore under his breath, and Adam pulled a random pillow from the floor and used it as a makeshift shield. Ayoub had no idea how they could manage to continue, especially when the back of the vehicle had shattered, which caused him to panic and start panicking. "Why me? Why now? Why all of this!?"

Suddenly, Connor's heart began racing even faster.

Adamo screamed something incoherent, something nobody could really understand. As a zombie entered the car, all five of them had to defend themselves with their bare hands. The zombies' blood splattered on the glass as Ayoub screamed something in French, and everyone started pushing the car as hard as they could, the glass continuing to crack more. Adam quickly thrust his fist back, which knocked the zombie unconscious.

"Hey Adam, just try and punch it! It will be easier!" Connor exclaimed.

Adam tried to aim at the zombie, only to accidentally punch Ayoub in the cheek. "AHH! SHIT! ADAM WHY!"

The car was slowing down from the combined strength of the other four, and suddenly, it stopped moving entirely as one of the zombies banged onto the glass hard enough to leave a crack.

Adamo's screams were soon covered by the sound of zombies trying to claw and beat their way inside as their nails slid across the surface of the car's window. Connor's jaw tightened. The window shattered as the creatures finally broke through. Adam, Adamo, Ren, and Ayoub shoved the zombies backward as Connor struggled to hold onto the steering wheel. They pushed against each other, fighting for control over the steering wheel and to keep themselves alive. Ayoub was shoved into Adam and hit the steering wheel in an awkward position, the wheel slamming straight into the bridge of Connor's nose, and the horn blasted loud and clear.

"C'mon, this isn't getting us anywhere!" Adamo yelled.

The zombies on the hood reached for the survivors, their nails piercing and stabbing at the windscreen. Adam used one hand to hold back a zombie's face, its eyes glowing a blinding white. He grunted with exertion, using one arm to support himself as the fingers scraped along his skin and sent burning pain shooting through his nerves. "We don't have time! The zombies could be everywhere, or worse!"

Connor screamed in anguish and lost control of his body as the zombie crawled up closer to his chest and neck, snatching his chin in between its rotting jaws. He wrestled against its weight.

"Shit," Ren growled. "How are we supposed to escape? This situation's giving us no room to run!"

"Fucking hell!" Ayoub snapped. "None of this would've happened if we had any weapons."

"I know," Adam replied through gritted teeth, barely able to hold the zombies back and barely having time to say anything to the group.

The three were being backed into the furthest possible corner they could while keeping their distance, and their efforts were futile as the zombies kept approaching inch by inch. "I hate being completely trapped, with nowhere else to run. At least we should have tried escaping sooner!

"So...are we all going to die?" Ayoub asked.

"DON'T GIVE UP YET! WE CAME THIS FAR; THERE IS NO REASON TO GIVE UP NOW!" Adamo yelled. "ADAM, WE CAN MAKE IT, AND DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE DOUBT US!"

Ayoub looked into his eyes with fear; Adam looked right back, both unsure of how to proceed.

Adamo said, "Gather yourselves! We cannot think with so many distractions around us."

As Adam tried to gather himself, the two kept staring at him, expecting an answer. "I-"

Connor suddenly jerked forward, ramming the car against the zombie's hips and making a bloody mess of it. "You've been trapped here long enough; you may want to learn a thing or two about zombies."

All of the zombies were finally crushed, and the five of them managed to make it out of the situation alive. The car was thoroughly destroyed, and the front doors were bent so severely that there was barely any room for people to get out. There wasn't a lot of space, but everyone managed to squeeze through.