Read Online Rabid by J.W. Bouchard - Free Book Online Page B

punched the accelerator with disappointing results.  The takeoff was sluggish; revealing the car’s lack of get-up-and-go that Tina had warned them about.  Taylor watched in slow motion as the rest of the mob arrived and kept pace with them until the Escort gained momentum.
    The car fishtailed and the inhuman thing that clung to the trunk went sailing away, sending up a spray of water as its body collided with the curb.           
    So long, Dave.  Thanks for letting us hole up in your store, Taylor thought.   I’ll take good care of your daughter.
    Carl found the controls for the windshield wipers and turned them on.  He glanced out the rearview mirror.   Despite poor visibility, he kept the car at a steady forty-five, watching the mob grow smaller and smaller as the distance increased.  After they had driven several blocks, he slowed at the intersection and said, “What now?  If we go straight, we can get back on the highway.”
    “Let’s get out of here,” Tina said.  “Out of this town.  It might be different somewhere else.”
    She’s in denial, Taylor thought.  She could be right and the radio could have been wrong, but I doubt it.
    “I second that motion,” Carl said.  “Let’s get the hell out’ve Dodge.” 
    Taylor said, “It’s gonna be a long drive.  An hour-and-a-half at least.”
    “I can get us there faster than that.  Call me crazy, but I don’t think they’ll be handing out speeding tickets.”
    “We could use some supplies.”
    “Sitting right next to you.  Everything you put in the tarp.  What else do you want?”
    “For starters?  Food .”
    Carl pondered this.  His stomach rumbled at the thought.  “Food would be good.  But none of us are going to starve to death in the hour and a half it takes to get back home.  I’m hungry, but I’m not that hungry.  Not enough to risk getting hung up in this town.”
    “There’s nothing left for me here,” Tina said.  “I just hope that my dad got out before things got bad.”
    Taylor stared out the window.  What you don’t know can’t hurt you, he thought, and wondered if he was breaking some law of morality by not telling Tina he had seen her father.  Wondered if he would have wanted to know if the roles were reversed.  He decided that in this case, the old saying held true: ignorance is bliss.
    “It’s not a matter of how long we can hold out.  I’m thinking about all the possibilities.  Like the possibility that we hit a roadblock.  What if we have to travel on foot at some point?  What if we can’t get home?  I can think of a bunch of them.  It might be smart to stop off and find food here.  Find a house and raid the fridge if we have to.”  He turned in his seat so he could see out the back window.  “Those things aren’t behind us anymore.  Even if they try to follow us, it will take a little while for them to get this far.  We can hide the car.”
    “They could find us,” Tina said.  “The way they found us in the store.”
    Carl said, “Yeah, I don’t want to get boxed-in again.”
    Taylor leaned forward.  “Maybe we were too loud.  That could be all it was.  They got lucky.  It doesn’t necessarily mean they have special abilities.”  Taylor noticed Carl staring at him in the rearview mirror.  “I’m not proposing we hole up here.  We’ll just take some food and whatever else is useful.  We can do that in less than twenty minutes.  Then we leave.”
    Carl stared into the rearview mirror again, and this time Taylor was certain that his brother’s attention was focused on him.
    “Listen, guys, think about it.  It’s the smartest thing.”
    Carl sighed and tapped gently on the brakes.  “Fine.”  He gestured out the window at the houses lining the street.  “So which one?  Or are we gonna play eenie-meenie-miney-mo?”
    Taylor put his hand on Tina’s shoulder.  He could a tremor of fear running through her.  “Are you okay with that?” he