Chapter Four - Cat
CHAPTER FOUR
Cat
I SLIPPED OUT the back door in hopes of making a quick getaway without being spotted. I made the decision to walk through a few of the backyards neighboring Harry’s place so I wouldn’t be seen leaving there whatsoever. When I finally popped out onto the street, it was quiet and the sidewalks were empty. The coast was clear, thank fuck. Not wanting to appear as if I was fleeing the scene of a crime, I tried to resist every instinct inside screaming at me to run back to my car.
I tried to tell myself I was just shaken up due to everything deviating so far from my original plan in there, requiring me to take a more hands on approach than I’d wanted. It was too quiet, though. There were so many houses on this street and it wasn’t that late at night. There should have been background noises, the sounds of people living life on a Friday evening in the very early throes of fall. It set me on edge and I upped my pace a bit with my car finally within view.
Suddenly, from the side yard of the house I was passing on my right, I saw motion in my peripheral vision. Just as my head shot around to investigate further, I saw the blur of movement of someone running behind the garage at the edge of the yard. I pulled my keys from my pocket and unlocked my car only a few steps away now, approaching with my back to the car and my eyes never leaving the garage. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but surely I didn’t want to be caught alone with someone darting around in the dark in a shitty neighborhood.
I pulled the car door open behind my back as quietly as I could, something in my body telling me to be quiet as possible. The door popped open, and I climbed in, shutting and locking it quickly before putting my keys in the ignition. Before I could start the car, someone was running up to my driver’s side window and immediately began pounding on it.
“Please, you gotta let me in,” they tried the handle. “Unlock the door! Something’s going on and I don’t have a car. I saw a lady run by covered in blood screeching, the neighbor across the street opened the door to see what was going on and she attacked him. Then she went inside the house and I heard a bunch more screaming. Please, you have to help me get out of here!”
I nodded and motioned him to go to the passenger side door. He was an innocent enough looking guy, looked to be somewhere in his early twenties. After everything that had happened with Harry’s neighbor, then him, I didn’t think this was some elaborate rouse to get into my car. Something seriously bad was happening. I didn’t want to even think of the word that came to mind because it felt silly to even consider it. Surely, what I was thinking couldn’t really be happening.
The guy got to the door, and I unlocked it, his eyes filled with gratitude. He reached to open the door, but then his body started to turn around as if responding to something behind him. Before he could even fully rotate around, a teenage girl with dark veins running up her neck and milky eyes jumped on his back, sinking her teeth into his neck.
He released a gurgling wail, his panic-stricken eyes locking on mine for a moment before he was dragged backwards towards to the ground. I sat there in shock for a second, listening to his garbled screams while contemplating if I should risk my life and try to help him.
While going back and forth, the decision hovering in my mind was made for me as I saw motion from the house across the street. Two more shadowy shapes spilled out, having been drawn out by the noise, and I realized my only option was to get out of here.
I turned on the car, immediately putting it into drive and pulling away. In my rear-view mirror, I could see the guy on the ground with the girl ripping into his body viciously, then the other two ran up and joined in. I couldn’t even believe what I was seeing with my own two eyes.
As I got further down the road, I could see an orange glow off in the distance toward downtown. Was the city on fire? I pulled up to a stop sign and braked. Everything aside, I couldn’t lose my mind and forget about safety. Across the street, I could see a couple walking down the sidewalk, hand in hand. I rolled down my window to call out a warning to them. Before my words could reach them, a figure bounded out of the alley they had just passed, tackling the man to the ground and immediately began tearing into him. The woman started screaming, hitting the attacker with her purse over and over. While she was distracted, another came out of the alley and jumped on her as well. I sped away before I could see what became of her fate.
I was glad I had packed my bag already and didn’t need to go back to our house that was located directly downtown. I had no interest in finding out exactly what was on fire. If the entire sky in that direction was lit up, I’d say it was more than a few buildings. In fact, it looked like every single building in a square mile was on fire. Concluding I had no reason to look back, I decided to just start the journey to the cabin. Hopefully, whatever was happening was localized to the city and I could get out before that wasn’t an option any longer.
I’d seen enough disaster movies. Whenever shit hit the fan, the military rushed in and locked the area down. I couldn’t let that happen. I had to get to Rhiannon before it was too late. While I wanted whatever this was to be contained, I couldn’t risk being trapped as well. Driving toward the highway, I approached the on ramp and was met with red brake lights as far as I could see. Fuck. I pulled into the left lane to go around the line of cars, looking over the bridge onto the highway, all I could see was what resembled a parking lot. Apparently, I hadn’t been alone in my thoughts of getting outta dodge.
With my mind going a million miles a minute, barely even beginning to absorb the events of this evening, it occurred to me maybe I should turn on the radio. I flicked through the stations and it seemed like they were all blaring the same emergency alert system message, declaring a state of emergency and urging citizens to shelter in place with no information as to what the fuck was going on. Clearly, everyone around me heard that, combined with what they could see happening right outside those very homes they were told to shelter in and said, ‘Fuck that!’
Making the decision to avoid the highway entirely, I took the back roads and hoped that not many others had the same idea. Then it occurred to me I should probably try to get a hold of my parents to make sure they knew that people were going crazy and attacking each other.
I pulled out my cell phone and dialed my dad’s number, but it just kept searching and searching for network. Glancing at my bars of service, it showed a big fat X. No signal? I was right near the city. I usually had at least three bars no matter where I went.
Well fuck, there are probably a lot of people in this area and I’m sure everyone’s trying to get a hold of their loved ones. I’ll keep trying .
As I got further away from the city, I was definitely seeing fewer cars which made me hopeful most took to the highway. About a half mile away from city limits, I started to see brake lights ahead of me yet again. At the start of the traffic, all I could see were big bright flood lights pointed at oncoming traffic.
Also, there were what appeared to be military vehicles blocking off the road with people in uniform standing around and they weren’t letting any cars through. At the very front, I saw people getting out of their cars and being ushered into large transport vehicles.
A few cars behind me, I watched as more military vehicles pulled up onto the shoulders. At that moment, the car in line behind me must have been thinking the same thing I was. Getting the fuck out of there while I still could. They went to pull a U-turn and then a soldier hopped down from the truck, holding up their hand.
“Please get back in line!” He shouted at the car. “No vehicles are allowed to exit the line. Please put your car in park and wait to be transported to the quarantine zone.”
Quarantine zone?
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I thought avoiding the highway would get me out of the city faster and now I’m trapped, just like I was trying to avoid . The car didn’t immediately get back into the line, rolling their window down to try to reason with the soldier. I couldn’t hear what the driver was saying, but I could see that it was met with a gun being pointed in their direction.
“I said get back in line, now! We have orders to use force if needed. We’re going to take you all somewhere safe, so please just try to remain calm.”
I guess I wasn’t getting out of this one. I tried to call my dad another time, but again, nothing. The group of military personnel rounding up everyone up were two cars away now, so I grabbed my two bags from the back seat in preparation. I quickly combined the contents of both bags, stuffing as much clothes as would fit over the bundles of cash. I had no choice but to go with this until I could find a way to get to my family.
One car away now. The older couple in the car ahead of me were attempting to argue with the group, trying to instruct them where to go. The soldier shook his head, pointed at the truck, and the woman put her hands together in a prayer motion, pleading with them.
At that moment, the soldier went to grab the husband and he jerked his arm out of his grip, then turned to try to move away. He was immediately thrown into handcuffs and walked over to the truck. The wife followed, sobbing with her arms full of now her bag and his. Then the crew approached my car and knocked on my window so I rolled it down.
“Excuse me, miss, we need you to come with us,” the man in the front requested. “We’re going to be transporting everyone to a secure quarantine zone. We can’t let anyone out of the city right now. If you lock your vehicle, it will be here waiting for you upon return.”
After seeing what transpired in front of me, I just nodded, grabbed my things, and followed them.