ZOMBIE SHARK HIGHWAY
FOURTEEN
Here comes chapter 14! I’ll be doing a double chapter drop tomorrow. Get ready for A LOTTA TEETH!
CHOMP CHOMP!
😱🦈
As always, if you’re new to ZSH you can start at Chapter 1 here or find any of the previous chapters under the ZSH section of Authorstrator!
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FOURTEEN
Melvin leaped down from the truck.
"Get in," he growled, ripping the tarp off the rest of the harpoon.
Justin didn't need to be told twice. He clamoured after Maddie who was already scrambling in the driver's side door. He stopped.
"Wait! Where's Kayla?"
His head swiveled and he saw Kayla, standing a few feet away, staring out at the advancing sails.
"Kayla, come on!"
She stepped closer to the guardrail, closer to the charging monsters. They'd be on them in seconds.
"Can you drive?"
Justin looked up to see Melvin, struggling to unscrew a chamber on the harpoon gun.
"Kid!" Melvin shouted. "Can you drive?"
Drive. Can he drive? It was just like before, when the sharks came. He drove then.
And here they were again, slicing through the waves, cleavers through blood. Carving toward them.
They'd feed again.
That's what they wanted.
That's why they were back.
"Kid!"
"Yeah!" said Justin, snapping back to the moment. "Yeah, I can drive!"
"Good." Melvin loaded the cannon with an enormous, angry silver spear. "Keep it as steady as you can. Don't panic on me."
Don't panic.
"Now, let's go!"
Justin leaped into the truck at Melvin's instruction, trembling hands fumbling to buckle his belt.
Maddie reached over to help, fingers shaking worse than his own. "Hurry up! Hurry up!"
The belt clicked and he wrenched the key, engine growling to life.
And the sharks.
He saw them now, sliding up onto the flooded beach, sending water spraying forward in a rage of frigid white water, dead eyes gaping at nothing, hungry maws foaming with the sea.
And Kayla didn't move. She stared out at the thrashing, boiled grey bodies as they slithered their way up the bank. They were faster than Justin remembered, the rain water making everything slick and slippery beneath them.
"Punch it!" Maddie shrieked.
Melvin slammed the roof, "Move! Move! Move!"
Not without her.
"Kayla!" He slammed his fist on the horn. But she didn't move. "Kay, we gotta go!"
She was frozen, staring down the beasts driving directly at her.
Justin reached for his belt and Maddie's nails dug in. "What are you doing!?"
"I have to get her," he said, prying himself free and stumbling out of the car as Maddie screamed his name.
"Cuttin' it close, kid!" bellowed Melvin.
Justin lunged for Kayla, dragging her back to the truck as the middle shark chomped down on the guardrail.
He shoved her in beside Maddie and slammed the door, the wild, thrashing, puss-oozed face of the first shark gnawing on the metal guard beside him.
"Please Justin!" Maddie cried. "Get us out of here!"
He turned the key but not fast enough, the shark ploughing through the barrier and slamming into the truck. He braced himself as the whole vehicle lifted under the force of it, and dropped with a slam.
Melvin hammered on the roof, "It' go time! Move it!"
Justin's foot slammed down on the gas and the truck sped off, the first shark chasing after. Justin could see it in his mirror. Fast. So fast. The dry road had slowed them down last time, had made them turn back to the sea.
But now the road was flooded.
The shark's body was like a snake's, powerful tail pumping it forward as more of its friends followed.
A blast, like thunder, exploded behind them, both Maddie and Kayla spinning to look out the back window. Justin could see through his mirror something collide with the road -- Melvin's harpoon. He missed, the shark barely flinching as it pushed closer.
"This is wrong," Kayla muttered beside him.
"What?"
"You're going the wrong way."
He was, he realized now. Point Chester was the opposite direction. They were driving further up Highway 3.
"Who cares!" Maddie shouted. "Just go faster!"
Another blast, and Justin glanced back at the mirror -- green and black exploding from the middle of the first shark as Melvin's second shot found it's mark.
"Yes!" screamed Maddie, but still the other sharks advanced, gliding over the bile of their half-split friend oozing out onto the road.
A second shark, bigger than the last, pulled ahead of the pack, a sudden burst of speed that outmatched the truck.
"Justin--" Kayla warned.
But his foot was nearly through the floor.
"Justin!"
This was as fast as they could go.
"Melvin!" Justin screamed. "Melvin, shoot it, Melvin!"
"I'm trying to shoot it," he shouted back, struggling to load the next shot. The second shark's mouth gaped in his mirror, a black empty abyss.
The wheel rammed Justin's chest and Kayla's head slammed the dash as the shark's mouth came down on the rear bumper.
Maddie's screech, hot as blood, ripped through his ears. They were caught, the truck's wheels useless against the pull of the mighty shark's jaws.
Until it dropped them, with such immediate force, Justin's head bashed the side window.
"Go! Go! Go!" Maddie cried, and Justin drove his foot as hard as he could into the pedal, knuckles white-gripped to the wheel.
Kayla spun around, fingers clawed into the seat beside him.
"Melvin! Do you see him?" Justin cried.
Kayla nodded, and just then Justin could hear the shark-man howl triumphantly.
Justin's eyes flicked to his mirror. They were dropping back, all seven sharks, turning back the way they'd come.
"They're just giving up?" said Kayla, dubiously.
A grin spread across Justin's face, his lungs suddenly remembering how to take in air, and he met her eyes. "Looks like it!"
But Kayla didn't look relieved.
They drove in silence for nearly fifteen minutes, each of them recovering their breath, scanning the horizon at their backs. The sharks were gone.
Two hits on the roof of the car -- Melvin.
"Pull it over," he ordered.
Justin brought the truck over to gravel, and Maddie hopped out, leaving Kayla and Justin alone.
"Thank you," she said.
"For what?"
"Pulling me back...saving me, I guess."
Justin watched her, waiting for her to say more. She'd just froze. Why? She was the one who was supposed to stay with him, supposed to tell him what to do. And she froze. "What happened?"
"I just." He watched her fingers fidget in her lap. "I knew. I saw the water on the beach and I knew this time would be different. I knew this time they'd be faster."
And she'd been right. So much faster.
"I thought," she went on, fingers pulling and scratching and twisting, "that this time they'd get me. Same way they got my dad."
Without thinking, he reached out, placing his hand on hers to stop the fidgeting. He felt her stiffen and he wondered if he should let go. But she held his hand back, and looked at him.
"They're not gonna get you, Kay," he promised her. "You saw what Melvin can do to those things. It's almost over."
She smiled a sad sort of smile and nodded, but Justin wasn't convinced she believed him.
"Guys?" Maddie knocked on Justin's window. "You coming?"
Kayla let go of Justin's hand, his palm suddenly cold without the warmth of hers, and slipped out the passenger's side door. She'd see soon, Justin thought, hopping out to join them. One shark down, only a few more to go. The nightmare was coming to an end.
Melvin stood in the truck bed, inspecting the mechanics of his harpoon.
"You nailed that thing!" Justin beamed. "You can take out the rest of them!"
"I didn't nail anything, I missed," grumbled Melvin. "We'll see that big boy again, believe me."
Justin didn't understand. "But, you blew it in half. I saw it."
"Yeah," Melvin sighed. "It's gonna have a hell of a stomach ache when it comes back. But it's coming back."
"How?" asked Kayla.
"How?" laughed Melvin. "Nuts if I know. I just know the last time I did that, it didn't make a lick of difference." He leaped down off the truck and reached in the open driver's side door, fishing through the console and pulling out a bottle of nuclear green energy drink.
Kayla frowned.
"What does make a difference?" asked Maddie.
"The head," he said, taking a slug of green. "Destroy the brain. Only thing that seems to work."
"You mean like a zombie?" asked Justin.
Melvin nodded. "Exactly like a zombie."
"Oh come on," Justin laughed.
But Melvin wasn't smiling. "Them sharks that chased us aren't your normal shark, kid. I've been studying these animals all my life -- they're gorgeous, efficient, powerful. Mother Nature's truest beauties. What chased us on this road, that ain't no animal, kid. Nothing about them sharks is natural."
Justin's skin crawled at the thought. Back. Melvin said it's coming back. He looked at Kayla who had her eyes on the bumper, crunched and twisted from the bite. What Justin told her had been wrong. It wasn't almost over.
"Why did they stop?" asked Kayla. "That shark had us, why let us go?"
"We're out of their territory," said Melvin. "That on the bumper there? That was a warning bite. They wanted us out, and we're out. They're setting up the boundary."
"The boundary?" said Justin. "But they were headed toward Point Chester."
Melvin nodded. "My guess, Point Chester is exactly the sort of place they want to be."
Thanks so much for reading Zombie Shark Highway! I’m so happy you’ve made your way to experiencing my undead fish monsters. Double chapter drop coming tomorrow!
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