THE APOCALYPTIC RISE OF ADAM

Chp 5 - Not For Rent

Adam soon realised that the Jeep he took wasn’t just any car but a modified one with amazing capabilities.

As he had predicted; as he drove the jeep through the deserted streets of Joville; the sound attracted zombies from street corners, doorways, and houses.

Although most zombies couldn’t keep up with him, a few with immense speed still came after him.

He fired the engines to the utmost as he ran down many zombies who tried to block his path.

Like moths to flame, they were drawn by the sound of the heavy-duty Rebel jeep and he didn’t hesitate to clear them off the road as well.

Until he came across a fallen lorry right in the middle of the road.

The driver must have lost control when they attacked him.

Just as he was wondering what to do, Adam saw from his side mirror that one zombie had clung to the edge of the jeep’s bed.

Adam made sure that all the windows were tightly shut, yet he knew that he would be like a goose for them to pick off if he did not do something fast.

More zombies poured out from behind, in front of, and on all sides.

As strong as the Jeep looked, he was sure that it would not survive a collision with the truck.

The zombies had gotten to the Jeep at that time.

They were snarling at him from all sides as they hit the Jeep from all sides with their might.

He had originally planned to charge forward and push the obstructing lorry out of the way with the speed of his Jeep or turn back, but then he caught a glimpse of a row of modified buttons.

His eyes alighted on one behind the main panel.

Nothing was written on it but there was an arrow up on the button.

He had seen similar function buttons in a modified car of a wealthy individual on a YouTube video before.

Upon pressing it, the vehicle would be lifted off the ground.

He clicked on it with hope that this car had the same modified function.

And Adam was both relieved and surprised when the Jeep started rising.

The zombies at the sides of the Jeep didn’t allow him to see what was happening to the wheels but he couldn’t care less as he pressed the button again and again.

The jeep kept going up until it passed the heads of the zombies.

Some still clung to it but Adam saw a lever close to that button and when he flipped it, he saw that there were different sets of control buttons there, he clicked on one that had arrows pointing to the sides.

He heard the sounds of rims changing direction and he could feel the jeep buckle again.

He clicked on the button with a camera icon on it.

A monitor whirred to life close to the windshield.

Adam chortled with glee as he finally saw what had been happening to the car.

 There was an extension attached to the tyres.

As he was pressing the up button, the extension extended, lifting the car into the sky while the tyres were still firmly on the floor.

He was high up in the air but the width of the tyres still couldn’t bypass the lorry, so he pressed the side arrow button, and the space of the tyres, extended until it could bypass the lorry without scratching the car.

Ignoring the snarling and clinging zombies that were already on the roof of the jeep, Adam started moving forward.

When he saw that the Jeep wasn’t scraping against the lorry; he sped forward until he left the lorry behind.

Zombies were falling off the jeep as he kept moving like that for a while, then suddenly he pressed the down button while still speeding.

He clung tightly to the wheel as the bucking motion jolted him and flung off the zombies still clung to the car.

He didn’t let himself breathe in relief until he was certain that the momentary crisis was behind him.

He whooped in elation, accidentally hitting the horn.

He stuck his middle finger at the zombies that the sound attracted as he prepared to turn the Jeep up to the highest speed that it would go.

Then the fuel indicator started beeping.

“Shit!” Adam shouted when he saw that the truck was low on fuel.

“Come on! I didn’t come this far just to die now!” he cursed inwardly as he kept driving while looking from side to side for a gas station.

Just as he saw the sign of “Goodbye to Joville, The Hospitality City” from afar, he spotted a gas station, and he almost wept from sheer relief.

The jeep was already spurting as he entered the gas station and the engine died on its own before he could park close enough to the pump.

“Well, it is sink or swim,” he thought to himself as he immediately brought out his Claymore sword even before he stepped out.

He was getting more accustomed to using the blades now, and it seemed like the blade was working with his thoughts the more he used it.

Looking around carefully, he was priming the pump when the door of the gas station convenience store burst open and three zombies, with the gas station uniforms on them, bursted out of the door.

Already prepared, Adam met them head-on.

The blade of the sword heated, and cut through the heads of the zombies effortlessly.

Three crystal orbs rolled out and disappeared. The storehouse increased three times.

“Good. More space for gasoline,” Adam thought as he pulled out the gallons that he had seen in the truck bed earlier.

He went back to start the pump, and just as he put the nuzzle in the Jeep fuel compartment; he caught movements in the upstairs office of the gas station building.

“More?” he thought wearily, as he had intended to munch on something while waiting for the gas to fill up.

At first, he thought the teenagers peering out at him through the glass walls were zombies, but on closer inspection, he saw that they were humans.

He wondered what they were doing there and how they had been able to escape being killed by the three zombies.

He soon realised that one of them—a girl in crop top and shorts—was crooking her finger at him.

She was motioning for him to come.

Adam would have gone over if he had thought that she was afraid to come out, but her arrogant and disrespectful gesture made him change his mind.

He ignored them as he spotted some gasoline cans in the generator shed.

Since he had more space in his storehouse, he decided to get them to fill it with more gas for storage.

“Hey!” he heard after ignoring the footsteps he heard behind him as the teenagers finally came down.

“Didn’t you see that Sybil was calling you? How dare you ignore Syb? Do you know who she is, you fool?” he heard one of the two teenage girls said as they all came closer to him.

He assumed the girl in pink was Sybil, even as he pretended to pay them no attention.

“Dude, show some respect. I can beat you up, you know.” One of the three teenage boys yelled, then he lowered his voice as fear showed in his voice.

Adam simply ignored them as he filled the gallons and cans as fast as possible.

He made sure that the ones he wanted to put in the spatial storehouse were on the other side of the truck. Away from where they could see it.

The moment he filled them, he quickly stored them away in the spatial storehouse with his thoughts. Then he started filing the ones going in the truck bed.

When the teenagers saw that he did not respond to all their rants and threats, the one who seemed like the leader, Sybil, moved towards him and said, “I want you to take us to my dad’s jet. It has landed on an airstrip in Maleny. How much is your payment?” She asked snottily.

Adam finally paid them attention, as his mind whirred in calculation.

If he could take them to the airship, and they could carry him in their jet, then he would be able to get to his parents even faster. Still, he said “I am not for rent. Go get your driver elsewhere.”

The teenagers’ mouths dropped in shock when they heard him speak.

They had expected him to start fawning on them immediately he heard that a private jet would be carrying them.

In their thoughts, lowlife like him in such cheap clothes and shoes that he probably stole, they believed he was not even worthy to lick their shoes, and he should be grateful that they are even offering to breathe the same air as him.

“What is wrong with you?" Sybil snapped at him.

Adam responded primly as he shut off the pump. “Get away from me and go wait for the zombies to come and accompany you,” he said.

At the thought of what will happen to them if he left, the teenagers all looked at each other uneasily.

“Okay, I will pay you $200,000 for the trip. Even you can’t be so dumb not to collect that,” Sybil said.

Adam snorted inevitably.

He doubted if bucks would be of any use in the future ever again.

Maybe they would make good toilet paper, he thought.

Even though it was more than what Adam had ever made in a whole year, he said “No” and then turned away as if he wanted to enter the car.

“Please! Help us!” Sybil shouted desperately. A fearful whine in her tone.