The Gas Station at The Edge Of Eternity by Emmaline Westlund
they’d initially thought, but that didn’t make it any less of an ordeal for Stella to work through the crowd.
She managed to decapitate two zombies with one swift motion, partially severing another’s leg before slipping in a puddle of blood. She fell hard on her ass, screaming.
Johnny took his attention away from the zombie he was disposing of; that was all it took.
The zombie tackled him, burying its teeth deep into the boy’s shoulder. He hollered in pain, swinging the bat frantically.
“No!” Stella cried, scrambling to her feet. She hit the zombie on her boyfriend with the blunt side of the blade, knocking a three-inch dent into its forehead. It twitched, loosing its grip on Johnny’s shoulder as it twisted and twitched before falling to the floor. Stella hit it again and again. “No, no, no, no, no!” she grunted with each swing. Blood sprayed all over her and Johnny, coating the soda display and the cooler doors.
Johnny swept an approaching zombie’s feet from beneath it, knocking it flat on its back. One of its legs snapped off, oozing black liquid. It was a particularly bloated zombie, and it stunk worse than the others they’d already dispatched. Stella brought her blade down into its stomach with more force than necessary and lost her balance, falling across Johnny as the blade easily tore into the soft, rotten flesh.
Pus and more black liquid flowed from the zombie, coating the already slick floor. Stella whirled around to check on Johnny, but he turned her away, hollering, “Behind you! Get ‘im!” His words were slow and slurred- more so than was normal since his accident- but his eyes were wide and full of fear.
Stella kicked her leg back as hard as she could and spun back around, bringing the hatchet straight through the zombie’s neck. It fell backward, knocking over another zombie. She kicked that one’s head in before scanning the store. She couldn’t hear anything except her own breath.
“Johnny?” She called, turning to face him.
“Stay back,” he said, “You don’t- Stella, you need to get to the car. Go!”
“I can’t leave you!” Stella cried, taking a few steps forward.
“No!” Johnny begged, “Please. You have to go. You have to live. Leave me here! If-”
“Johnny, please!”
“If you find my parents- tell them I’m sorry,” he panted, then fell silent.
“Johnny?”
No response. Stella strained her ears for any sound from him. Nothing. She turned and carefully navigated to the cooler, filling her apron with bottles of water and soda, then grabbed bags of beef jerky with her free arm as she scampered through the front doors.
Outside, everything was peaceful. The snow was falling harder, obscuring much of the space beyond the lights in the parking lot. Stella’s car was nearly completely buried in the snow. The driver door was unlocked though. She always left it unlocked.
She just had to make it over there.
As she started across the parking lot, she heard a car approaching from behind her. It was coming up fast- too fast. Stella dove out of the way as it hit the curb and careened into one of the gas pumps. The driver kept his foot on the gas even though the car was stuck.
The odors of gasoline and burning rubber filled the air as Stella scrambled to her feet and hurried to her car, diving inside as the car that hit the pump burst into flames. Shit, she thought, scrambling for her keys. The snow was maybe shin-deep. She knew she’d never be able to get the car out without shoveling, but at the same time she knew she couldn’t just go out there. She wished she’d thought past her nose and hit the pump stop button before she’d fled, but it wasn’t really something she could do anything about now. It wasn’t thick, heavy snow, so she might stand a chance of packing it down enough if she rocked back and forth.
She started the car and was delighted when the engine turned over right away. She turned on the defrosters right away and shivered. It was the first time that she’d acknowledged how cold it really was out. She could see her breath. Why had she only worn a tee shirt? Why hadn’t she grabbed her jacket out of the stockroom?
Most importantly, why had she left Johnny? Sure, he’d been bit, but who knew how long it would take for him to turn? That’s what zombies did, after all. She tried to reason with herself that she couldn’t have killed him if she’d wanted to, so it was better to just leave him. She loved him too much.
After allowing the car to warm up for a minute or two, she shifted into drive and let her car move forward until the wheels hit the curb. The she shifted into reverse and floored it. To her surprise, she moved a good four or five feet before losing traction. She threw it back into drive and began to turn.
It took almost sixteen of these little maneuvers for her to get to the driveway, and a half-assed attempt with her snowbrush to clear any of the snow from the windshield so she could actually see.
She turned right, heading for Highway 61. She’d go south. Maybe it was a localized event. She’d try Duluth. She’d have to stop for gas by then. Hopefully she’d find people, not zombies.
She drove in the muted darkness of a snowy night for more than an hour before finally reaching Two Harbors. Only a little further and she’d be in Duluth.
As she drove through Two Harbors, she noticed that she didn’t see any signs of life. Cars stood abandoned in the middle of the road. The snow hadn’t hit as hard here yet either, yet in some places the drifts were taller than Stella’s five-feet-three self.
She forced herself to park for a moment. She had to pee now. Against her better judgment, Stella parked the car and opened her door. She didn’t want to risk leaving the car, so she stepped just outside and squatted, hoping that she was hidden enough from view by the door.
As she was pulling her pants up, she heard a noise that chilled her to the bone. It was the sickly, staggering groan that the zombies at Ethel’s had made. She slipped back into the car and slammed the door shut and locking it, her pants still around her knees.
She looked around, trying to figure out where the noise had come from. Finally, something moved. A single, limping man came into view. He was wearing overalls and a flannel shirt. One of his arms was missing.
She threw it into reverse to get as much traction as she could, and then Stella ran him over. She skidded and spun twice before righting herself and continuing south.
She took the Expressway between Two Harbors and Duluth. She decided not to plan to stop in Duluth. Instead, she pulled off at the unmanned gas station that lay just north of Duluth and, thankfully, was completely deserted.
She stuck her card in the pump and filled her tank, as well as two ten-gallon gas cans she kept in the trunk. Once she had her gas, she pulled around to the vending machines and knocked one over. She had to kick the glass a couple times to get it to break loose, and she cleaned it out completely.
She took her hatchet to the soda machine and emptied it completely, too. Soon her backseat was filled with an assortment of food and drink options. Now she simply had to find warmer clothing and she could travel indefinitely.
She turned the radio on as she got back on the Expressway. Nothing but static. What had happened? What caused this? Stella couldn’t figure it out.
Pulling into Duluth, she wished she’d gone west instead. The street was nearly impassible, but not from snow. Abandoned cars lined the road, some up on the curb. She had to stop looking around when she saw the bodies. Lining the sidewalks and splayed across the road were dozens of people with various limbs and organs missing. Blood was everywhere, and it made the frozen road even slicker.
There were a few zombies still roaming the area, but they moved slowly and didn’t really seem to notice her. Still, she decided it would be wise to get through town as quickly as she could.
She was shocked to find 35 South completely empty. The roads leading to it were all clogged with abandoned cars, but the freeway wasn’t. She was relieved to be able to go a little faster- just a little. The road was still icy and snow was imminent. She’d fought tooth and nail to stay aliv
e this long, she didn’t want to veer off the road and die foolishly now.
Driving through the tunnels, she began to piece together what had happened. The walls of the tunnels were pure black, all of the lamps shattered. A few mangled cars remained in twisted, smoldering heaps.
Some kind of bomb, Stella thought, We were attacked. But why here? Why us? She shivered, wishing that she had a jacket. She wondered absently if anyone would object to her lifting a jacket from one of the burnt-out stores up the hill. Assuming she could find anything that wasn’t completely obliterated.
She exited and went down the street where The Last Place On Earth had once resided. As she passed it, she could barely recognize the store. There wasn’t anything left. It was just gone. Same with every other store she passed, until finally she found one that held a glimmer of hope- one of the shop’s windows was still intact.
The inside didn’t look completely burned out, either. And, much to Stella’s surprise, it was a clothing store. “Thank you, god,” she murmured. Even if they only had a few things that weren’t completely destroyed, she could make it work.
She parked on the street, doing her best to hide her food and drinks. She made sure all four doors were locked and stuck the key down inside her bra. The last thing she needed was someone else to jack her car.
A frigid wind blew down the block, making her shiver. She clutched her
She managed to decapitate two zombies with one swift motion, partially severing another’s leg before slipping in a puddle of blood. She fell hard on her ass, screaming.
Johnny took his attention away from the zombie he was disposing of; that was all it took.
The zombie tackled him, burying its teeth deep into the boy’s shoulder. He hollered in pain, swinging the bat frantically.
“No!” Stella cried, scrambling to her feet. She hit the zombie on her boyfriend with the blunt side of the blade, knocking a three-inch dent into its forehead. It twitched, loosing its grip on Johnny’s shoulder as it twisted and twitched before falling to the floor. Stella hit it again and again. “No, no, no, no, no!” she grunted with each swing. Blood sprayed all over her and Johnny, coating the soda display and the cooler doors.
Johnny swept an approaching zombie’s feet from beneath it, knocking it flat on its back. One of its legs snapped off, oozing black liquid. It was a particularly bloated zombie, and it stunk worse than the others they’d already dispatched. Stella brought her blade down into its stomach with more force than necessary and lost her balance, falling across Johnny as the blade easily tore into the soft, rotten flesh.
Pus and more black liquid flowed from the zombie, coating the already slick floor. Stella whirled around to check on Johnny, but he turned her away, hollering, “Behind you! Get ‘im!” His words were slow and slurred- more so than was normal since his accident- but his eyes were wide and full of fear.
Stella kicked her leg back as hard as she could and spun back around, bringing the hatchet straight through the zombie’s neck. It fell backward, knocking over another zombie. She kicked that one’s head in before scanning the store. She couldn’t hear anything except her own breath.
“Johnny?” She called, turning to face him.
“Stay back,” he said, “You don’t- Stella, you need to get to the car. Go!”
“I can’t leave you!” Stella cried, taking a few steps forward.
“No!” Johnny begged, “Please. You have to go. You have to live. Leave me here! If-”
“Johnny, please!”
“If you find my parents- tell them I’m sorry,” he panted, then fell silent.
“Johnny?”
No response. Stella strained her ears for any sound from him. Nothing. She turned and carefully navigated to the cooler, filling her apron with bottles of water and soda, then grabbed bags of beef jerky with her free arm as she scampered through the front doors.
Outside, everything was peaceful. The snow was falling harder, obscuring much of the space beyond the lights in the parking lot. Stella’s car was nearly completely buried in the snow. The driver door was unlocked though. She always left it unlocked.
She just had to make it over there.
As she started across the parking lot, she heard a car approaching from behind her. It was coming up fast- too fast. Stella dove out of the way as it hit the curb and careened into one of the gas pumps. The driver kept his foot on the gas even though the car was stuck.
The odors of gasoline and burning rubber filled the air as Stella scrambled to her feet and hurried to her car, diving inside as the car that hit the pump burst into flames. Shit, she thought, scrambling for her keys. The snow was maybe shin-deep. She knew she’d never be able to get the car out without shoveling, but at the same time she knew she couldn’t just go out there. She wished she’d thought past her nose and hit the pump stop button before she’d fled, but it wasn’t really something she could do anything about now. It wasn’t thick, heavy snow, so she might stand a chance of packing it down enough if she rocked back and forth.
She started the car and was delighted when the engine turned over right away. She turned on the defrosters right away and shivered. It was the first time that she’d acknowledged how cold it really was out. She could see her breath. Why had she only worn a tee shirt? Why hadn’t she grabbed her jacket out of the stockroom?
Most importantly, why had she left Johnny? Sure, he’d been bit, but who knew how long it would take for him to turn? That’s what zombies did, after all. She tried to reason with herself that she couldn’t have killed him if she’d wanted to, so it was better to just leave him. She loved him too much.
After allowing the car to warm up for a minute or two, she shifted into drive and let her car move forward until the wheels hit the curb. The she shifted into reverse and floored it. To her surprise, she moved a good four or five feet before losing traction. She threw it back into drive and began to turn.
It took almost sixteen of these little maneuvers for her to get to the driveway, and a half-assed attempt with her snowbrush to clear any of the snow from the windshield so she could actually see.
She turned right, heading for Highway 61. She’d go south. Maybe it was a localized event. She’d try Duluth. She’d have to stop for gas by then. Hopefully she’d find people, not zombies.
She drove in the muted darkness of a snowy night for more than an hour before finally reaching Two Harbors. Only a little further and she’d be in Duluth.
As she drove through Two Harbors, she noticed that she didn’t see any signs of life. Cars stood abandoned in the middle of the road. The snow hadn’t hit as hard here yet either, yet in some places the drifts were taller than Stella’s five-feet-three self.
She forced herself to park for a moment. She had to pee now. Against her better judgment, Stella parked the car and opened her door. She didn’t want to risk leaving the car, so she stepped just outside and squatted, hoping that she was hidden enough from view by the door.
As she was pulling her pants up, she heard a noise that chilled her to the bone. It was the sickly, staggering groan that the zombies at Ethel’s had made. She slipped back into the car and slammed the door shut and locking it, her pants still around her knees.
She looked around, trying to figure out where the noise had come from. Finally, something moved. A single, limping man came into view. He was wearing overalls and a flannel shirt. One of his arms was missing.
She threw it into reverse to get as much traction as she could, and then Stella ran him over. She skidded and spun twice before righting herself and continuing south.
She took the Expressway between Two Harbors and Duluth. She decided not to plan to stop in Duluth. Instead, she pulled off at the unmanned gas station that lay just north of Duluth and, thankfully, was completely deserted.
She stuck her card in the pump and filled her tank, as well as two ten-gallon gas cans she kept in the trunk. Once she had her gas, she pulled around to the vending machines and knocked one over. She had to kick the glass a couple times to get it to break loose, and she cleaned it out completely.
She took her hatchet to the soda machine and emptied it completely, too. Soon her backseat was filled with an assortment of food and drink options. Now she simply had to find warmer clothing and she could travel indefinitely.
She turned the radio on as she got back on the Expressway. Nothing but static. What had happened? What caused this? Stella couldn’t figure it out.
Pulling into Duluth, she wished she’d gone west instead. The street was nearly impassible, but not from snow. Abandoned cars lined the road, some up on the curb. She had to stop looking around when she saw the bodies. Lining the sidewalks and splayed across the road were dozens of people with various limbs and organs missing. Blood was everywhere, and it made the frozen road even slicker.
There were a few zombies still roaming the area, but they moved slowly and didn’t really seem to notice her. Still, she decided it would be wise to get through town as quickly as she could.
She was shocked to find 35 South completely empty. The roads leading to it were all clogged with abandoned cars, but the freeway wasn’t. She was relieved to be able to go a little faster- just a little. The road was still icy and snow was imminent. She’d fought tooth and nail to stay aliv
Driving through the tunnels, she began to piece together what had happened. The walls of the tunnels were pure black, all of the lamps shattered. A few mangled cars remained in twisted, smoldering heaps.
Some kind of bomb, Stella thought, We were attacked. But why here? Why us? She shivered, wishing that she had a jacket. She wondered absently if anyone would object to her lifting a jacket from one of the burnt-out stores up the hill. Assuming she could find anything that wasn’t completely obliterated.
She exited and went down the street where The Last Place On Earth had once resided. As she passed it, she could barely recognize the store. There wasn’t anything left. It was just gone. Same with every other store she passed, until finally she found one that held a glimmer of hope- one of the shop’s windows was still intact.
The inside didn’t look completely burned out, either. And, much to Stella’s surprise, it was a clothing store. “Thank you, god,” she murmured. Even if they only had a few things that weren’t completely destroyed, she could make it work.
She parked on the street, doing her best to hide her food and drinks. She made sure all four doors were locked and stuck the key down inside her bra. The last thing she needed was someone else to jack her car.
A frigid wind blew down the block, making her shiver. She clutched her