Untitled novel excerpt 3:

Calling my novel untitled really isn't accurate anymore.

I have a title for the novel, but since it is a trilogy I don't have name for that overall story arc. But for the individual entries, well those I have a name for. I'm not gonna reveal 'em just yet though.

Well maybe the first one soon enough.





Fifty-three year old Claire Robertson drove the small pick-up truck like it was a lamborgini. So while Steve held on tight for his life she swung around cars and corners. She never slowed down for any significant amount of time but she would slam on the brakes suddenly only to slam on the gas pedal a moment later just as suddenly. Steve wondered what he had gotten himself into.
 
In the back of the bed, there were three other people with him.  There was a woman of about forty, clutching tightly to a twelve-year old girl who was crying, and a young man who looked to be nearing his twenties looking dazed and/or in shock.
 
Inside the cab of the truck, Claire sat with her injured daughter-in-law and eight-year old grandson. 

Sadly, Claire’s daughter-in-law (Steve hadn’t gotten her name in the panic and rush) had been struck by a bullet graze to the head from an unknown shooter. It was probably a ricochet, but whatever the case it didn’t matter as much as the fact that she was losing quite a bit of blood and desperately needed medical attention.
 
He wasn’t sure about the old woman’s judgment since he didn’t THINK they were headed to the hospital, and while she was busy driving there was no one in the truck to take care of the injured woman. The boy was barely with them, his eyes vacant and almost lifeless.
 
For the tenth time, he tried calling Tara on his cell phone but the damn thing wouldn’t even dial out. 

It kept telling him some shit about the server being busy.
 
He put the phone away, thinking.
 
After Steve had chosen to follow Claire, they had run down the street, their shoes tapping loudly on the asphalt. Each loud SMACK had sounded like thunder to him. Almost announcing their presence to everyone around, “we’re here, come get us.”
 
Luckily, they only had to go down a few houses to where Claire’s son had recently bought a home so he could be close to her.
 
From what he could tell, bad things had recently happened to the family. As Steve came up the driveway, the daughter-in-law was packing the back of the truck up with luggage, while the grandson, with his pajamas coated in blood just stared out into the distance. The husband was nowhere to be seen and the family dog (a mastiff by the look of it) was dead on the front lawn.
 
He looked back down from where he had come and saw about five people shambling up the street.
A garage door opened to the left. One of the “people” in the street turned, someone screamed and before he could take it all in, Steve watched as the five wannabe human’s walking down the street charged towards the man that was standing in the garage, trying desperately to get the door closed once again.
 
In horror, he watched as the first of the horde got to the man and was brought to the ground in a massively violent tackle.
 
Then they all fell upon the hapless man.
 
Steve turned away from the sight and realized Claire was watching with him.
 
“We’re ready to go if you’re willing to come with.” She said simply.
 
“What in the world is happening?” He asked.
 
“Near as a I can tell, it’s the end of the world. After all, we’re at the bottom of the food chain in a zombie invasion.”
 
She was gently pulling him towards the truck.
 
“Zombie, what?” He started to say.
 
Then the gunshot had rung out, Claire’s daughter-in-law had dropped to the ground and everything was panic again.
 
Claire was barking orders at her grandson as Steve helped her get the injured woman in the truck. 

He had started to get behind the wheel, but the surprisingly spry and very stubborn elderly woman had shoved him out of the way.
 
“Get in the bed mister...”
 
“Dwyer. Steve Dwyer.”
 
“Claire Robertson. Now move it!”
 
Then she’d jumped in the truck, started it up and flew out the driveway.
 
Along the way out of the housing community, they had encountered the other three people in the bed with him.
 
The woman had been screaming for help, running down the street with her child by the arm as another small horde of human things chased after her.
 
While the young man had just been wandering aimlessly, looking dazed in the middle of a main street. Claire had almost hit him in fact.
 
But at least they had done SOMETHING. Everywhere Steve looked, the end of the world had indeed shown it’s face.
 
There were abandoned cars all over the road. Actual driven traffic was sparse with very few cars driving around, it was mostly motorcycles and dirt bikes. Sometimes people were running around, looting stores from what he could tell, while sometimes there were “people” running around, looking half-injured walking with that odd gait.
 
Gunshots were now just as common as bird song, while every once in a while something could be heard exploding accompanied by smoke and fire which could be seen almost everywhere and was starting to turn the bright blue sky to a hazy but dark orange.
 
It was utterly depressing.
 
Steve laughed to himself quietly at that thought, but he couldn’t help himself. To be faced with such horror and actually have a moment to feel depressed was pretty damn laughable.
 
“What’s so funny?”
 
He looked towards the young man who had asked the question. “Just thinking about the situation and how utterly devoid it is of humor.”
 
The kid actually laughed and Steve guessed that he got the joke as well.
 
“One would hope to find at least a little bit of irony if not humor at the end of the world. I mean, what’s left, right?” Steve noticed that as he talked, the young man only looked somewhat towards him and still had that dazed look in his eye as if he was daydreaming while looking at NOTHING.
 
And then he got it.
 
“What’s your name?” He asked.
 
“Davis Patterson. And you?”
 
“Steve Dwyer.”
 
Davis reached out his hand for Steve to shake and when the kid fumbled with his hand, he decided to ask that nagging question.
 
“If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been blind Davis?”
 
Once the kid had a handle on Steve’s hand, he gripped firmly and replied, “all my life actually. Can’t keep anything a secret now can I?”
 
“Well, you know, the wandering aimlessly in the middle of the street kind of gave you away.”
 
“Oh that? That was actual shock. I’m better now though.” The kid laughed, “for a second there I thought you were going to tell me that I was just doing a really good Stevie Wonder impersonation. I’m told I do a good one.”
 
Laughing despite himself, Steve was a little blown over by Davis. He was obviously clever, good natured and well humored. Here it was doomsday and the guy was making Steve laugh. Anyone that could do that had to be worth knowing.
 
He thought for a second that if this experience must be insane for him, he wondered what it would be like to go through it without his vision. Better or worse? He wasn’t sure, but he knew he’d have to have Davis tell him sometime about his version of the morning before getting in the back of the truck.
 
“Question, Steve. Where are we going?”
 
“You know, I have absolutely no idea. Let’s find out.”
 
Turning towards the cab, and climbing somewhat towards the driver side window, Steve tapped his knuckles on the safety glass as the wind took away most of his breath and tore at his shirt.
 
Looking somewhat startled, but trying not to take her eyes off the road, Claire rolled down the window and shouted into the wind.
 
“What’s up?”
 
“Where are we going?”
 
“Gun store!”
 
“What about the hospital?” He nodded towards the injured daughter-in-law who was looking more and more pale.
 
“Gun store!”
 
Steve didn’t think Claire had heard him or understood, and he could see she was set on their destination, so he didn’t push it and sat back down in the bed.
 
He knew they weren’t far now from the gun store, maybe five minutes depending on what they encountered.
 
“What did our crazy driver say?” Davis asked.
 
“We’re going to the gun store.”
 
“Well, that’s original.”
 
Steve thought about Tara for the billionth time. One way or another he had to get to her. If she had made it to her school, he could take the highway back the way they came, head South on Del Mar and make his way towards her. If he didn’t find her there, he could backtrack her to their house. 
 
Shit, he didn’t want to go back there. But if that’s what it took to find her, he would.
 
His mind drifted and he thought about Davis, Claire, the daughter-in-law and the others in the truck. He couldn’t take them, but he wasn’t sure he could just leave them.
 
Davis would need help no matter what, the daughter-in-law needed a doctor, and he wasn’t sure Claire was in the right state of mind to be of any help.
 
He understood that the gun store was sort of a smart choice. They would certainly need weapons from what he had seen if they were going to survive this brave new world. But it wouldn’t have been his first choice. More to the fact, it wasn’t the RIGHT choice.
 
Pulling out his phone again, he tried calling Tara.
 
Nothing.
 
“I have always hated guns.”
 
Steve looked towards the voice. It was the woman in the bed with them. She had loosened her grip on her child and was looking soberly at him.
 
“Why?” He asked.
 
She thought about that for a second. “I don’t know, I was always just afraid of them.” She finally said.
 
“I LOVE them!” Davis joked.
 
The woman actually got a chuckle out of that.
 
“Well, like it or not we’re headed to the gun store. I just wonder who ELSE is headed there too.” Steve said thoughtfully.
 
Then Claire slammed on the brakes and Steve could hear them whine as they locked up and the truck lurched sickeningly forward and then to the side.
 
His momentary perception of everything was muddled, but he knew at least one woman screamed. 

He heard that for sure as the metallic floor of the truck bed beneath him disappeared and the world spun.
 
And then everything was black.