7CHAPTER ONE
LOUIS
I sighed in annoyance as I pulled up to yet another red light. I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel impatiently, glaring up at the light as if that would make it turn green any faster. Glancing over at the luminous green numbers on the clock in my dashboard, I saw that it was only three thirty. I had made it to Baton Rouge far earlier than I had expected, but I was really itching to get to my aunt's house.
I had been away at college for the past year, and because school had taken up so much of my time I hadn't been able to come see my mother and brother for the holidays, mostly because I wanted to stay behind and do dumb college guy things like party and meet girls. Partying is basically an obligatory thing at Louisiana Tech. I felt bad for not going to see my family, so I figured I would make up for this by spending the entire summer with my little brother, who had to be my all-time favorite person ever.
I hadn't told my mom anything yet, though. On the phone yesterday, I had told her I wouldn't come home to visit until next month. I heard the disappointment in her voice, and right after I called Rae and we planned for me to pick him up from our aunt's house and then drive up to Shreveport and surprise our mom.
The light finally turned green and I sped off into the city. I had the windows down and the scorching summer air the south was known for flowed through my ancient Ford Taurus. I reached the downtown area in no time, driving by pedestrians walking their dogs, kids riding their bikes and playing with each other, couples walking and giggling and holding hands. It looked like everyone was out enjoying the beautiful day.
I turned onto another road and soon red and blue lights were flashing behind me sirens pierced the air. I cursed to myself. Had I been speeding?
I pulled over and saw two cop cars zip past me and disappeared down the street. I got back on the road and didn't make it much further when another set of red and blue lights appeared in my rear-view mirror. This time, three patrol cars sped past me, sirens blaring. I turned left at the intersection up ahead, and for a third time, red and blue lights were flashing. I pulled over and this time there were five patrol cars.
What the hell was going on?
I drove forward a bit more and soon found myself sitting a long line of traffic moving at a snail's pace. Eventually, I came to a complete stop and sat there for at least ten minutes. People around me were honking their horns and throwing their arms up in frustration. Several people in front of me got out of their cars to see what the commotion was at the front of the line. I shut off my car and stepped out as well.
Way up ahead of me, I could see most of the cars that had passed me. They had formed a roadblock at the end of the street. There were six cops standing in front of them, one of them facing the traffic and the others looking at something on the other side of the roadblock.
"What's going on?" a woman shouted.
The cop facing us held up his hands. "Everyone, remain calm and stay in your vehicles."
"Come on, man! I'm on my lunch break! Let's go!" A man yelled.
The other cops started taking guns out of their cars and making sure they were loaded. My heart was pounding. What was happening? They aimed at something that was on the other side of the roadblock.
"Why do they have guns?"
"What's happening?"
"What are they going to shoot at?"
People were shouting questions at the cops left and right. The cop in front just held up his hands and tried to answer them, but more and more people kept yelling more and more questions and it drowned out his voice.
Bloodcurdling screams filled the air. Inhuman screams that made the hairs on the back of Louis' neck stand on end. The crowd around me fell silent, and the cops at the roadblock aimed their guns and started firing.
People started screaming, others ducked down (which was stupid considering they weren't even firing at us), others looked around frantically, and others started running away from the roadblock, abandoning their cars altogether. I stood up on my tip toes to try and see what was happening.
It all seemed to play out in slow motion. Louis saw a group of people on the other side of the roadblock, running towards it. They were the ones emitting the terrible screams that had sent chills up his spine. The cops were shooting them down without a second thought. I wasn't sure how many there were, but it seemed like a lot. Even from this distance, I could see that the screaming people had piercing, blood-red eyes. Their faces were twisted into various expressions of rage and their skin was a sickly olive color. One of the cops firing at them turned to one of his comrades to say something, and that's when it happened. I watched in horror as one of the screamers lunged at the cop and pulled him onto the hood of the car. Before the other cops could do something, the screamer bit into his neck. Blood sprayed everywhere, running down the cop's body and splattering the crazy man's clothes.
And in the blink of an eye, everything went crazy. People screamed and ran away from the roadblock. They ran into each other and were knocking each other over. Some people tripped over themselves and were trampled. Others like me who had been in the back of the line of traffic got back in their cars and turned them around to drive off. I saw more crazy people jump over the roadblock, over the body of the cop that had been torn open, blood and gore spilled out onto the hood. Some of them stopped to actually eat his flesh.
I hurried back to my car, slamming the door and putting it gear in a matter of seconds. I turned out of the line and sped off into the opposite direction. The calm summer day that I had seen when I got here was gone. People were running in all directions, kids were crying, people were screaming but the screams of the crazy people drowned them out. I swerved around two cars that had just gotten into a head-on collision. I turned onto another street, driving as fast as I could. I had to get my aunt's house. I had to get to Rae.
I turned onto the next street and slammed on my brakes. A crowd of the crazies (at least thirty or so) was standing in the street in front of him. They all whirled around and glared at me, and they all screamed and charged at my car. I saw an opening in the crowd and sped for it. As I was doing so, a helicopter appeared overhead and started firing at the crowd of crazies.
I glanced up at the helicopter, then turned back to face the road. As I did, I ran into two of the crazies. I immediately lost control of the car. I fishtailed and spun around in circles, trying desperately to correct myself but I ran off the road and rolled down into a ditch.
My windshield cracked, everything in my car was thrown everywhere and I hit my head against the steering wheel. I felt a sharp pain in my left leg. The automatic fire of the helicopter's gun turret and the screams of the crazies were the last things I heard before everything faded to black.