In The Midst of Terror 2

By Maxi France

Part 3

"Crap," I muttered. "This can't be happening."

They were going towards us, and everyone in the pile-up's first instinct was to run in the opposite direction. So we did. At least everyone else did. I hid in the woods behind a few trees and if any of them would spot me, I would just rush to the nearest tree, deeper into the forest. While I was trying to wait this out and forget about the zombie-like creatures (I think it's safe to say that's what they're like...) I started thinking about Mia and Darren. Are they protected? Are they wondering where I am? And my mother... I can't afford to lose her too. She's probably worried sick. Anyway, the bigger question is... how in this crazy world am I going to get out of here? I can't just teleport myself home. I decided to be brave and go out into the highway road to just check it out. Everyone had abandoned their cars. A few of those "zombies" were still out there. Well, they're technically not zombies if they can run, right? Whatever. The truth of the matter is, nobody was on the highway, and best of all, I could still see my car with the other four, squished together. I did hear a noise, though. The sound of rustling leaves. Coming from the forest. Oh, my! An actual, real life person! But... it's Professor Blackman? I rushed into the woods to greet him.

"What the... Professor? What are you doing here?" I was worried about Mia and Darren getting out of Milton okay, but Blackman clearly did!

"Are you okay?" I said to him before he had a chance to answer my question.

"I'm just fine, Kiara. How are you?" When Professor asked me that I didn't respond, because I was too worried about Darren and Mia possibly still being at the Burlington Mall, possibly surrounded by more of those things.

"Did you see my classmate Mia when she left campus? Or Darren?" I desperately asked.

Professor raised his eyebrows. "Actually, yes. They seemed to have gone the other direction from campus..." he replied.

But, oh no. The other way from campus is the Burlington Mall. So Mia probably went there. But where's Darren? Did he go there too instead of home? I didn't care. We just had to find my mom, Mia and Darren and get out of this forest ridden with poison ivy.

"I think we have to find them," I said to Professor Blackman.

"Well, let's go before one of them finds out where we are," Blackman replied, glancing at the few "zombies" still out on the road.

I hope this ends soon.

Part 4

Before we even did anything, I asked Blackman this question: "Where did you come from?" I had to know where his vehicle was or however he got there in order to find Mia and the others.

"Well, Kiara, I'll show you," he said. "Come with me." So I did. I followed Blackman through the forest, towards the highway, (where I guess he left his car). The thing is, did Blackman run into traffic, leave his car, and go somewhere else where those "zombies" wouldn't be? If the two of us could somehow manage to get the car moving and out of this cursed highway to find out where Darren and Mia were and to get my mom, I'd be forever grateful to God.
As I expected, Blackman led me to his car that was abandoned.

"So, Kiara. Do you have any clue how to get the car out of this... jumble?" he curiously asked me.

He wasn't really exaggerating when he said "jumble". There were a lot of cars lined up behind and in front of Blackman's, all abandoned. We needed to get this car out of here, and fast. But, obviously there weren't a lot of ways to do that. But I did have an idea. It wasn't the best, but it's the only way we could get out of here without damaging the other cars. Besides, I couldn't leave my mother behind in her house, where she potentially might not be safe, you know, from the "Zs". I pitched the idea to Blackman.

"Yeah. I do, actually," I told him.

"Well, I'm listening, Kiara," he said.

"Okay. Here we go. So. We get in the car. We drive it through the woods. I know that seems a little reckless, but it's literally our only option right now. All we have to do is just get away from the "zombies" and find people." I really hoped that he would go along with it.

"You know what? Fine. But we have to avoid the trees. We'll keep going until we reach the road," he said.

As crazy as it seemed, it was the perfect plan. I started glancing around my surroundings, looking for a clear path with no highway rails blocking it, and the car obviously wouldn't be able to handle lots of obstacles such as trees or boulders. But there was one problem: every clear path went down to a hill. Meaning it could take a while to get across the forest instead of just speeding, which I assumed we could do that now since apparently no one uses their cars anymore... But, seriously, the less time the two of us wait to reunite with everyone we can, the better. It was go time.

"Hey, Professor?" I got Blackman's attention. "I found a path." I pointed to where I found the safe spot for the car.

"Nice, Kiara," he responded.

I waited. "Well? What are you waiting for? Let's go. I'll do the talking, you drive."

"All right," Blackman said. Although I didn't respond and I didn't even get in the car, because my eyes were too fixated on something else. I couldn't believe it. No freaking way. Those rotters. Biters, wanderers, whatever you want to call it. "Zombies". They must've circled back to the highway after going through it once, because they turned up again on the highway - a thousand of them, coming in our direction.

"Kiara! Let's go!" Blackman shouted to me.

I speedily got in the car and we started heading towards the road on our clear path. I could just see it, and I could also see that the row of houses situated on it seemed kind of, well, bleak. Something about them just felt... off. As if society was crumbling.