Trying to Survive (Part 1) Read Free Page B

no choice but to run some of them down and watch as they rolled over the hood and began cracking the windshield.
       “Fuck!”
       I looked to my left as I turned onto the street – the angry hoard gathered around the roman candles had turned its attention to us. Before I even realized it was happening, one of them had smashed through the side window and clawed at my face. I could feel the immense strength of its grip as it tore bits of skin away from my cheek.
       The shock staggered me. My head began to feel heavy and my grip on the steering-wheel loosened up. Within seconds, I discovered that I was blind in my left eye. I could feel the blood all over my face, now starting to make its way down my neck and collect at my collar. Walt yelled out “Are you okay!?”
       I sat up straight, tightened my grip on the wheel and decided to lie. If we stopped the car, even for a moment – they’d pull us right out. “Yeah, I’m fine!”
       I felt no pain, only a dull throbbing starting at my face and radiating throughout my entire body. But I knew whatever had just happened to me was simply being masked by adrenaline and fear. I could feel that something was very wrong with my left eye – that it wasn’t just blood blinding me. All I could do was keep it closed.
       I did my best to avoid them as they jumped at the car and cracked the windshield even more. The abandoned and wrecked vehicles were forcing me to follow a weaving and narrow path through the already thin streets. At one point, I had to swerve so violently to avoid a flipped over ambulance that I almost lost control.
       As I fish-tailed the car around the next corner, I noticed their numbers were beginning to shrink. Just as I felt a wave of relief wash over me, I began to feel dizzy as well. I glanced down, only to see that my light-blue shirt was almost completely red.
       Walt saw the blood and noticed that I was starting to nod off again, so he grabbed my arm and yelled out “Stop the fucking car now! You’re not okay – we need to switch places so I can get you somewhere safe!” He slammed his fist down on the dashboard. “FUCK!”
       I looked in the rearview mirror, then to my left and right – they were too close. I said in a shaky voice “I can’t, they’re all around us and the window’s broken. They’ll get right in… I can keep going!”
       “James, you’re covered in blood! STOP THE CAR, NOW!”
       I ignored him, put my foot hard down and kept going. As I watched them fearlessly bunching together in the attempts to jam up the car and make it stop, I knew we weren’t as afraid as we should be. That we were greatly underestimating them.
       When we turned onto the last street before the main road, it was almost completely clear… The noise must have drawn them all to my house…
       Walt was still begging me to stop, but I didn’t want to take the chance. They were just so fast, and I could still see them chasing after us in the rearview mirror... Even if one was fifty feet away – I knew we wouldn’t be able to switch places in time.
       “We’re almost to the main road and everything seems to be clearing up! Just give it another minute and I’ll stop!”
       The windshield was almost completely spider-webbed from so many of them rolling over the car. I was struggling to keep my head up, and what little vision I had in my right eye was beginning to falter. The wobbling and shaking from the damaged front end of the car was probably the only thing keeping me awake.
       Just as we got to the end of the last street, I looked to my left again and noticed a young girl pressed up against a window on the second floor of a house. She was tirelessly banging on the glass with open palms as she watched me speed by. Tears were streaming down her face and I could see her begging for me to stop and help her.
       I swerved out into the main road, slid the car sideways and came to a stop with the intention of