Rest Stop

Rest Stop(Mingus Veal) I drove down the dirt trail in my dark blue convertible. I kept looking in my rear view mirror for the slightest movement. I had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the cold black pump shotgun in my lap. Buck, my German Shepard, was in the passenger seat next to me, his head out the side of the car. He looked happy, oblivious to what was happening. I wished I could do that, go back to that time. But I couldn't, knowing that I aided in this apocalypse. My knowing or not, my thoughts were broken by my daughter's soft voice coming from the backseat.

"Daddy, are you okay?" Jamie asked. I looked at her in the rear view mirror. I pushed a smile onto my face.
"Honey... yes. I'm just fine." I lied.
"You don't look fine." She said in a sweet voice. I then noticed how hard I was gripping the steering wheel. My palm was red and sweaty. The gun felt heavy in my lap.
"Yea, well how do you know what I feel like, Jamie?"
"Daddy, I've been your daughter for six years now, I know how you look when you're worried."

I looked at her with a sarcastic look on my face. "Well, you don't know everything." I said. I kept down the dirt path for a while. The needle was hovering near the E on my dashboard. I sighed. I needed to find a gas station and find one fast. The last thing I wanted to do was walk to our destination. We would never make it. After about two miles we reached a clearing. I was relieved when I saw an abandoned shell. I pulled up to a tank and popped open the gas tank. I put the gas nozzle into the gas tank and prayed that it still worked. The gas started bellowing out of the tube and into the tank and the tension released from my muscles. I looked to the gas station. It was empty and we needed supplies. I held the shotgun to my chest. I looked at Jamie.

"Do you want anything from the store honey?"
"Do you think they have ice cream?"
"I'll check." I said.

I walked towards the store door slowly. I held my shotgun up to the door, and looked inside. No movement. I pushed the door open with my gun. Even though it was light outside it was dark in the store. My vision adjusted to the darkness. I held my gun to my chest, looking down the barrel. I stepped on tons of food that had been ripped open and beef jerky that was half eaten. I looked at the ground. Bloody footprints were on the floor. They were definitely not human. It looked like a human sized reptiles footprint, and they were fresh. I got an empty feeling in my stomach and started stuffing miscellaneous foods in the satchel I had on me. I jumped from a sound in the back. A bag of chips had fallen from its rack. I was shaking with fear, but kept my gun steady. Suddenly a hand grabbed my leg. I nearly jumped out of my skin. I hurled around ready to shoot, but saw a man crawling on the ground towards me. A trail of blood was behind him. His intestines hung out of his pale stomach and dripped with blood. His eyes were cold, almost dead. He was crying and shaking. He lifted his bloodied shaking hand and extended one finger. I looked in to his eyes. He pointed behind me.

"Yes, as you can see Joane, Hawaii is still overrun with these so called 'dinosaurs'. We pray for them, and keep them in our hearts...." My heart felt as if it stopped. I froze in place. My feet felt as if they were glued to the floor. I turned around slowly. In a glass both, a TV had been turned onto the news, and the remote was under the foot of a man sized Utahraptor with blood around it's snout. Its eyes stared right into mine with an evil intelligence that sent a chill down my spine. Two more behind him raised up with bloody snouts and pieces of clothing within their jaws. They all stared at me with the same look. It was the look that the man on the floor had given me. Their eyes said it all. Their eyes said to run.