Hope On The Rocks/Issue 16

This is Issue 16 of Hope On The Rocks, entitled "Now We Wait".

This issue is Chad-centric.

208, Now We Wait
The smell of burning rubber is terrible. I wake up in a burning car, my leg stuck between the seat and the floor.

I look around. My Remington shotgun is broken, which leaves me with only a Beretta handgun. I manage to get it up from the bottom of the car. I load it and turn the safety off, just in case.

“Odin?” I whisper. My head hurts so bad. I place my hand on my head, to check for scrathes or something. A little blood, but nothing to freak out for.

“Odin?” I repete. Somehow, the car had wrecked in a way, so that I can’t see Odin. I manage to turn around, but this just hurts like I-don’t-know-what in my leg. I see Odin, seemingly unharmed.

“Odin? Wake up.” I say. This guy annoys me, but I can’t just let him die.

I try and move my foot enough for it to get loose. I feel a bit of the pressure disappear. It takes me about five minutes to get it free. Nothing has happened to it, except that it hurts like hell.

I go out of the car, and see something really, really bad; zombies approaching from every direction.

“Fuck... Odin!” I say, now loud. I haste over to the other side of the car and pull out Odin.

I look around. The nearest building is the one we crashed into. I carry Odin inside the building, and just before closing the door, I see what I hit: a woman in her 20’s, now laying dead on the ground. I realize that she will reanimate soon, and so I put a bullet through her head. I then close the door after me.

The building appears to be a radio broadcasting center. It’s very quiet, and after looking through the entire floor three times, I return to the now awaken Odin.

“You’re okay?” I ask and sit down next to him. I give him a bottle with soda that I found in a vending machine.

“My leg hurts like hell. Think it might be broken.” Odin says and takes the bottle, but doesn’t drink any of the content.

I take a look at his leg. It doesn’t seem broken, but just sprained. I’m no doctor, so that’s just a guess.

“Sprained. You won’t walk today.” I say and look around. The entire place has been looted dry. Only a few things haven’t been grabbed.

“Why don’t you try and make communication with Texas?” Odin asks, also looking around. “Seems like there’s enough radio equipment.”

“Maybe.” I say and get up. “Worth a try.”

Something just hit me; I am nice to Odin right now. Why am I that? My guess is because I’m afraid... Maybe because I don’t want to die alone... Or... I don’t know...

I go over to a radio, located on the counter. It’s seems simple enough. Sitting on the chair, I begin to operate it. I have no experience with radios and communication at all, so this is very new for me.

“What did you do before the apocalypse?” Odin asks, breaking the silence. “You never told.”

That’s right. I haven’t told, and I haven’t told for a reason.

“I... had no real job.” I just say. Static noise begins to sound on the radio.

“Really? You might have had some kind of education?” Odin continues.

“What did you do?” I say, avoiding his questions.

“Me? I was a janitor. Real fancy.” Odin says.

I reach the channel which Texas’ radio is on. I begin to talk: “Texas? Chad here.”

A few moments go by before I hear Texas’ voice: “Chad? What’s going on? Where are you?”

“We’ll explain everything later. Just grab a car and pick Odin and me up at the radio station.” I say, wanting to make it quick.

“Are you okay? What shall I bring?” Texas says. Texas is allright, he is just too confused.

“Bring whatever you can carry. We’re moving.” I say, and then the signal dies.

“Damnit.” I say. “Signal died.”

“So... what now?” Odin asks, from his position on the floor, leaning agianst a desk.

“Now we wait.”