Knight in the City: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale by Stephen J. Beard Page A

traffic.
    A lot of cars had zombies in them.  A few people were by themselves but many cars had zombie couples in them, fighting to get to us as we walked by.  The families disturbed me the most.  I can imagine the horror of being stuck in traffic with nowhere to go.  Then one person, who has been sick or bit dies, comes back and eats everyone in the car.  One SUV had a mother, father, daughter and son.  The daughter and son were close in age to me and my brother, Malcolm.
    Some people had gotten out of their cars and tried to make it out of the city on foot.  Those people became zombies and now roamed through the traffic jam looking for a meal.  We were the meal.  Most of these zombies were trapped by the traffic.
    We made our way carefully through the traffic, weaving as necessary to avoid the pockets of trapped zombies.  Sometimes we were forced to climb up onto trunks or hoods to get through.  Mostly I tried not to look into the cars. I could hear them trying to get to me and that was bad enough.  I only looked when I couldn’t help it.
    But, one time I looked I saw a couple in a minivan who didn’t look like zombies.  I thought maybe they were still alive but I could see flies and such around their heads.  They were so scared that they didn’t leave the car and eventually died of dehydration.
    I remembered watching the news with my family when this all started and figured a hospital would be the absolute worst place to be.  But, Ben and Tyler were determined to get us there.  And then, if my dad was right, they’d be determined to kill us.
    God, I felt stupid.  If I hadn’t pushed dad to let me go on a supply run, I wouldn’t be here.  Now it feels like I’m marching to my death.  I’m glad John is with me but I wish it were Mike instead.  I miss him.
    “Tabby!”  I heard my name called out.  “Keep up.”  It was Tyler.
    I nodded and jogged to where the other three were waiting next to a delivery van up on the sidewalk.
    “You Okay?” asked John.
    “Yeah, just thinking,” I replied.
    “Well, keep your head in it.  You never know what might happen out here,” he said.  As he said it he raised his eyebrows and I realized what he was really saying.  ‘Hey dummy.  I’m trying to keep us alive.  Help me out.’
    “Sorry,” I nodded.  “I’m here.”
    “We’re almost to the hospital,” interrupted Tyler.
    Across Calhoun Street was Roper Hospital.  Calhoun Street looked a lot like Lockwood Drive in front of the marina.  It was packed with cars, trucks and zombies.  But even from here we could see plenty of zombies in front of the hospital.
    “We will continue down Calhoun Street on this side until we can cross easily. Then we’ll turn left on Jonathan Lucas Street, move alongside the parking garage and in the Emergency Entrance,” said Ben.
    “You guys think the ER is the best way to go?” asked John.
    “It provides the best opportunity for us to find what we need,” replied Ben.
    “It’ll be full of zombies,” I said.
    “The whole thing will be full of zombies,” he replied.  “But this way we won’t have to maneuver through the rest of the building.”
    We made our way down our side of the street, dodging zombies and climbing over cars.  Once across the street it became obvious just how difficult this was going to be.  The front entrance of the hospital was clogged with vehicles.  There were regular cars, police cars and ambulances.  Some of the vehicles had their doors open.  There were half eaten dead bodies everywhere.  I tried not to look.  This was easily the most blood and gore I’d been exposed to since dad made me watch the hospital video that first day when all this really began.
    But I did look.  And I was scared.  I didn’t want to die.  Not today.  Not like this. Not at the hands of Ben and Tyler, either.  Not without my family here to protect me.  Could Ben and Tyler even go through with it?  Were they really up for killing a