Pushing Up Gravestones - Pushing Up Gravestones – Chapter 32

We were walking
aimlessly through the forest, looking for a pair of headlights hoping to find a
road that would lead into town. The forest swayed, shadows shifting, like
Tina’s blonde braids, as we walked along through the cold, howling wind. The
forest making noises that normally would have been scary. Nothing scares me
anymore though, not after the crash. It was worse than anything I could have
imagined the feeling of weightlessly falling for what seems like hours. That
wasn’t the worst part though; it was the worst when I thought I was going to
turn.

When I accepted
that I would never see Rory, Denise, or Tina ever again. They’re the only
people I’ve got really, well the only ones left. I think that after all of this
craziness we will all be life-long friends. I think I don’t want to pursue a
relationship with Rory anymore. Although I still think that he is extremely hot, after the crash and
almost losing my friends, I don’t really want a serious relationship, just
companionship, and friendship, people to keep me company.

“Denise,” I
whispered, “Denise!”

“What!” She
hissed a little too loudly, and then Rory turned and gave us a questioning
look. “We need to talk.”

I grabbed her
wrist and started to pull her away from our little group. She looked back at
them a little uneasy; I bet she still thought I was going to turn into a
zombie.

“Oh come on, I
only bite blondes.” I gave her a wide toothy grin, and she started to pull
away.

I rolled my eyes,
“I was only joking.”

I choked out
giggling in between words. She relaxed and we walked just out of earshot of
Rory and Tina.  

“Denise, if you
want Rory, he’s yours.”

“What?” 

“I said you can
have Rory, I’ve been thinking about it since the crash. Although I still like
Rory, I see him more like family than as boyfriend potential. That, and if I
see him as family, and you date him, you can kind of be like the sister I never
had. I think that is how a near-death experience changed me. It was
like the clouds finally parted and let me see the sky clearly. ” 

“You want to be
sisters?”

“I already see
you that way. Just promise me one thing though. Don’t kiss him around me, if
you can avoid it. I really don’t want to see my brother and sister kissing,” I
gave her joking face and she laughed. 

“Ok I won’t, and
thank you Ferrah, it really means a lot to me.”

We hugged then
quickened our pace to catch up to Rory who now was carrying Tina
piggy-back. 

“I’m tired.”
Tina yawned.

“Me too,” Rory
repositioned Tina on his back.

“Maybe we should
stop soon and try to find the road in the morning,” Denise suggested. 

“Yeah but we
should find shelter I don’t feel safe out in the open,” I shivered as the wind
howled my words swept away.  

We trudged on
through the night. The longer we walked the sleepier all of us became. And just
as we thought that we would never find shelter it appeared, seemingly out of
thin air. We would have missed it if it weren’t for the tip of the hunting tent
reflecting the moonlight into my eyes.

“Ow, I hate the
moonlight why does it have to be in my eyes?” I whined. 

“Really? It’s
not in my eyes,” Rory looked around to see what could be reflecting moonlight
in to my eyes. “Guys I found it.” He said excitedly. “Look!” He pointed to what
seemed to be just another bush, and some trees. “What am I looking for exactly?
I don’t see anything.”  

“Look closely, I
think there’s a hunting tent and it looks big enough for all of us. Probably
left here from before everything got crazy,” I squinted and sure enough I could
make out an outline of a hunting tent.

“Thank God,
finally,” Denise sighed. 

After that we
dragged the tent more into the trees for protection, we decided that it would
be safe enough to go to sleep. Tina was the first to nod off, then it was just
Rory, Denise, and I. 

“We should play
truth or dare,” I suggested  

“Yeah,” Denise
agreed, smiling through rosy cheeks.   

“Ok Denise,
truth or dare?”  

“Um… dare.” 

“I dare you to
kiss Rory,” I hinted.

Both Denise’s
and Rory’s face turned a deep red. 

“Umm I don’t
know,” He mumbled uncomfortably.

“Oh come on Rory,” I encouraged.

“Fine,” He said
trying to hide his excitement.  

Denise and Rory
leaned into kiss and as their lips touched, we heard a loud crack, like a
branch snapped under a clumsy foot. Tina sat up, probably scared by a dream,
none of us had been able to sleep very well lately. Rory and
Denise stopped mid-kiss and we all stood perfectly still hoping and
praying that it was only a single zombie, rather than an entire horde of
them. Then we heard footsteps. They came soft at first, but as they got
closer they quickened in pace as if whatever was out there, hostile or
not, could see us in what little moonlight was unfiltered by the
trees.  

Then an
unfamiliar voice spoke, “Hello?”

Tina’s tiny
voice came next, “Who’s there?”  

“I’m Trace,” he
said, “Who are you?”

“Doesn’t matter. Where
are you, I can’t see you.” As he walked towards the tent I peeked out of
the ‘windows’ and could see that Trace was a tall built man with salt and
pepper hair, who was probably in his 40s. He stopped midway, looking for
someone, or something to come towards.   “Ok now where are you, and
who are you? If you don’t mind me asking.” 

“We’re over
here, walk slowly and follow my voice you see us when you get closer.”

He walked
towards us and was about bump into the tent when he said, “Oh, that’s why I couldn’t see you.
Anyway Tina are you the only one?” 

“No,” I replied
   

“And who might
you be?” He questioned, confused by the change in voice. 

“I am Ferrah,
also there’s Rory and Denise,” They mumbled hello to show that they
existed. 

“Well, um how
did you even find this tent? And can I please come in, it has been a long night
and I need some sleep,” He pleaded.

I turned to
Denise Rory who still only had only inches in between their faces. Well? I mouthed. They nodded,
bonking heads, “ Okay you can come in but we are only going to sleep for a few
hours they we need to keep moving.” 

“Someone should
keep watch.” Tina said sheepishly.  

“Ok I will,”
Rory said sleepily.

“No,”
Denise pleaded with him, “You’ll be too tired when we start moving
again. 

“I said
that I’ll do it. Being a little tired is better than having everyone becomes
some zombie’s midnight snack, and I’m willing to let this guy in, but I’m not
going to close my eyes while he is here.” 

With that, the
rest of us lied down and fell asleep, including the stranger who named himself
Trace.  

I was shaken
awake, “Ferrah wake up.”

I groaned
groggily, “Ferrah!”  

“Okay, OKAY, I’m
awake. What do you want?” 

“Come
on Ferrah we have to move, I heard some footsteps in the wood, and I
have a feeling, that this time, it won’t be someone human.” 

“Ok,” I looked
around, “Rory, where is Trace?”  

“He’s outside,
he said he knew where the road was and that he was going to help us find it. He
said he was heading out of town anyway but got lost, because it was so dark
last night.” 

“Ok lead the
way, the sooner we find someplace secure to stay the better.”  

We walked along
a vague path towards, what we hoped was the road, constantly listening for any
tell-tale signs of a zombie. The forest was still very dim I don’t really think
that we had been sleeping that long, maybe only a few hours. Whatever time it
was, it was definitely still night time.

“Here we are,”
Trace announced.

I shuffled to
the front of the group to see what he was looking at. It was the road. “Is this
what I think it is?” Denise questioned.

“Yeah,” Trace
said flatly, “Town is that way west so if you head left on the road you should
come to the town soon enough. As far as I’m concerned I’m going to go back to
the tent and then find somewhere close to a base to wait out all of this
craziness.”

He turned and
started to walk off.  

“Wait!” Tina
demanded. “Thank you, so much for helping all of us.”  

“You’re welcome,”
He smiled, then turned and walked into the forest before anything else could be
said.  
So we started walking in the
direction he had pointed, when we heard a scream. “Run! They’re coming! I’ll
distract th-” Trace’s voice screamed.

Then we heard
them. A ton of zombies probably a giant horde was coming. We had to get
into town quickly.

“Guy’s run
we need to get into town and
find a way to my uncle’s fort,” Denise said worriedly. 

 With that
we all took off sprinting. We probably ran for half a mile before Tina started
to slow down. After that we walked and ran, off and on until we came to a sign
post that displayed the Janesville as a few miles away. So we urged ourselves
on. 

Then we found it, a rundown gas station, with a few cars in its lot. All the lights were on in the gas station, but nobody was there. It had an eerie air to it. And all the cars looked old and abandoned. We went inside, looking for any supplies we could use. We made our way into the attached autoshop as we glanced around. A sudden loud roar emerged from just outside. I ducked behind a counter with everyone else. What was it now?