(Book 2)What Remains (21 page)

Stretching my legs felt magnificent. As it
turned out, I too had to heed to the call of nature. This was a
good place for all of us to stretch out; we had no idea when
another such break would come.

“You just about done?”

“Almost. It’s pretty here, Daddy.”

Indeed, it was beautiful there, like a painting
you’d find in the waiting room of a dental office. “Very pretty.
Stopping was a good idea, baby doll.” She appeared at my side,
smiling with relief. “Go back through my door. Tell Mommy and
Monkey to come out so they can stretch their legs and use the
potty.”

Sarah emerged without Maddox. “He’s keeping
Calise company while I take my turn.” She kissed me sweetly. “Cheer
up. We made it out. The worst is behind us, right?”

“I don’t have an answer for that.”

“What have you seen while driving?”

Their banner had said ‘
CHILDREN ARE HERE
’
and I accelerated. They had children there, just as we did, and I
responded by speeding up in the opposite direction. Once again I
was able to add willful negligence to my laundry list of crimes.
Her innocent question made the moment replay in my mind.
Post-traumatic flashbacks had become a staple in our conversations;
she knew that my mind had drifted to something awful.

Her fingers snapped in front of my blank stare.
“Nathan, Stay with me. We couldn’t have changed anything you saw.
Our only priority is
them
.” I shook the memories off enough
to nod back at her. Sarah’s voice took on a more despotic tone.
“Now please go away.”

“What? Why would I go away? We need to stick
together.”

She chuckled. “Silly man…. I don’t care that the
dead are walking, I’m still not peeing in front of you.” I rolled
my eyes then walked towards the driver’s side door to respect her
privacy.

A gust of bitter wind combed over the tree line.
Discerning sounds of distant threats through the blowing winds was
hard. My imagination fed paranoia with irrational conclusions drawn
from any deviation in the quiet setting. The clatter of a discarded
can scooting with the breeze became the dragging feet of a hungry
ghoul. Howling through the branches transformed into the chorus of
an advancing horde. These embellishments of nothingness would drive
me insane if we didn’t move soon.

Sarah returned from the rear tailgate. “Calise
talked about how pretty this place is when she came back in and she
was right. It’s a nice change from home.” Another kiss was planted
upon my chapped lips. “I’ll send Maddox out.”

Maddox stretched his lanky body as soon as both
feet were planted on the pavement. He scanned the area, machete in
hand. “I don’t like it here, Daddy.”

The comment took me off guard and caused me to
snort with a laugh. “That’s pretty far off from what the girls
said. Why not?”

“I’m not sure. It just doesn’t feel right.”

It was an odd time to feel proud yet that’s
exactly how I felt. “I thought the same thing, big boy. Mind if I
go to the bathroom at the same time as you so we can get out of
here? The ladies didn’t want me near them.”

He laughed aloud then covered his mouth to stop
the noise. We walked to our own corners of the tailgate to take
care of business and stuck our blades in the soil almost
simultaneously to free up our hands. Mid-stream a sudden crash
echoed throughout the field. I swiveled and saw that the farmhouse
door was flung open, and five infected spilled onto the lawn.

“Daddy!”

“I know, bud.” Their attention was instantly
focused on us. They eagerly approached while fanning out an
advancing line that stretched to the road. “Get it all out and
finish up. We might not get another chance to stop for a
while.”

“But the zomb—”

“Will be here in about a minute. We’ll be
driving before then.”

Their motions became more excited with every
step. The wind picked up again, wafting their rotting stench with
it. I zipped with one hand and grabbed the Kukri with the other.
Maddox finished in a similar fashion then ran back inside the mail
truck. I stomped on the gas pedal before even buckling my
seatbelt.

Three of the five monsters were in the road. I
gunned it towards them hoping to clear the gap before any stood in
the way of the crossing to the westbound lanes. The farthest reaper
made it over enough to meet the truck head on. Screams came from
the rear cabin as we hit the corpse at thirty miles per hour. Its
left arm was sheared at the elbow on impact sending the amputation
careening over the fenced windshield. I could only imagine what was
happening to its lower body as it dragged across the pavement. Its
intact appendage latched onto the hood while the jagged nub pawed
towards me.

I took the turn at a high rate of speed, the
tires squealing as centrifugal force listed everything to the
left.

“You persistent little shit!” I muttered towards
the beast that was somehow still attached. A second later I took
the westbound turn just as fast, shifting us towards the right.
This time our stowaway was pried off, sending him through the air
in a short flight that came to an abrupt end at the mercy of a
‘One-Way’ sign.

I clicked my seatbelt down. “You guys alright
back there? Sorry for the bumpy ride!”

The bridge crossing the Appomattox River passed
beneath us. Calise whimpered over Sarah’s consoling shushes.

“I’m glad we went to the bathroom before the
bumpy ride started!” Maddox answered.

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich appeared at
my side. I hadn’t thought about food before seeing it then.

“Lunch time,” Sarah said

She carefully set the napkin holding the meal on
the letter tray next to the twelve gauge. After a kiss on the cheek
she disappeared behind the blanket curtain that separated the
driver’s cab from the modified rear cabin. We had the option of
closing the door between the sections; however, it seemed best to
save that for overnights or emergencies. A space at the bottom
allowed heated air from front vents to circulate back there.
Blankets pinned to the walls insulated where environmental controls
weren’t installed.

Stale bread couldn’t slow how hungry I evidently
was. I inhaled the sandwich like it was an appetizer. Maddox came
through the opening as I took the last bite. “Can I be up here with
you?”

“Not a good idea, monkey man.” The road was
uneventful, yet I didn’t want even a remote chance of him seeing
something horrid passing by. “Why don’t you sit there at the
opening? Then you can at least keep me company for a little
while.”

“Why I’d be delighted to keep you company!” he
said in a goofy voice.

We chatted for an hour. I caught him trying to
sneak a peek at the road more than once. Each time I swatted him on
top of the head playfully to keep the road out of his view. Finally
he asked, “Haven’t I shown you that I’m brave enough to handle
what’s out there?”

“You are brave. I’m not saying you aren’t.
Actually, I don’t think could have done this without your help.”
His confusion visibly grew by the second so I tried to settle the
matter. “It’s my job as your dad to protect you the best I
can.”

Any point I tried to make only riled my stubborn
son. “You said I’m brave so I can handle it. I promise I won’t get
scared,” he huffed and puffed.

“Cut the crap, Maddox!” He looked startled by
how unwilling I was to engage in banter. “Brave has nothing to do
with it. I don’t know if anyone can be
that
brave.
Understand that we’ve driven past things that would scare your
worst dreams. Those bad things are everywhere and I won’t always be
able to keep you from seeing them but I’ll be damned if I don’t
take the chance when I have it.”

Sarah opened the blanket divider. “You boys okay
up here?”

He answered, “Yeah. We’re just talking.”

“Daddy, we need to find a stop for another
bathroom break if we can then let’s have some quiet time,” Sarah
said. I grumbled acceptance then she turned to Maddox. “Calise is
ready for her nap right after we stop. I got one of your books out.
Leave Daddy alone so he can focus on the road.” She employed the
mothering tone that transformed her words from suggestion to
instruction.

“Mommy is right. I appreciate you keeping me
company. We’ll stop much faster than before then you can relax for
a while.”

Our second bathroom break was delightfully
uneventful. I pulled to the side still in the westbound lanes.
There were empty fields on all sides, unlike before when I had to
seek a place with good visibility. Sarah took both the kids out at
the same time, they did what they needed to do, and then we were
back on the road.

The skies had become cloudy; they looked almost
like it would snow. I tried to think of a time when it snowed at
all so close to Thanksgiving. It may have once or twice but not
normally.

Normally
… I thought. Normally was a
concept that I needed to let go of.

After lunch we made up for some lost time on a
long stretch of road with hardly any activity. The path carried us
along a few state parks where strip malls or gas stations legally
couldn’t be on every mile. I began to relax at points, and then
we’d pass a random wandering corpse and my attention refocused.

Another truck zipped by going eastbound. I had
seconds to react once it came into view. As it turned out, I had
nothing to react to. Two people dressed in black were in the seats
and a figure in head-to-toe layers of black clothing sat in the
truck bed. He or she had a paintball mask covering their face. When
they flew by the paintball mask figure waved at me. After they
passed I expected to see them appear next to us ready to loot
whatever we had. My head nervously panned back and forth, searching
for signs that they had turned back for us. Those signs never came.
A wave was the only acknowledgment we got. We never saw them again
after that.

If speed limits could have been maintained then
we would have arrived at the farm before the afternoon with hours
to spare. On average, we were lucky to go more than twenty miles
per hour. The speed limit couldn’t be held long enough between
obstacles to make it worth the extra gas, not to mention how
paranoid I was about the engine being too noisy.

The map said we were in South Boston, Virginia.
I assumed a town large enough to be noted on the map was nearby,
however, all we saw was a collection of stores and restaurants.
There was a maze of cars ahead starting near the turnoff for a
grocery store.

I cursed under my breath loud enough that Sarah
took notice in the back. She poked through the blanket door and
whispered, “What is it?”

I pointed forward.

She sighed. “Shit. Can we get through?”

“I think so. It’s a backup but I can see gaps in
the cars. I’ll snake through as much as I can. We might end up on
the shoulder so it could get bumpy. What are the kids doing?”

“They’re both knocked out. The morning
excitement and the car vibrations did them in pretty quickly.”

“Let them sleep. We should be past this soon
then we’re over halfway to the farm.”

She leaned forward to look out the window. “It
looks like it’s going to snow.”

“Hard to say…. although I thought the same
thing. One problem at a time, babe,” I said. She lightly squeezed
my shoulder before she returned to the back.

The cars congested rapidly. I slowed to a crawl
in order to weave around the random placement. McAllister would
have been proud to see how well 522 maneuvered around the
obstacles. We neared a purple Volkswagen Bug with windows caked in
muck from the inside. A hand slapped against the glass as we
passed. The creature inside instantly became so incensed that its
burst of movement rocked the rounded vehicle in place.

When the Beetle’s occupant threw its tantrum it
consequently invited all of the hidden friends it had in the area
to join the fun. Zombies popped up from random placements in the
traffic jam like they were lying in wait. I stopped trying to sneak
our way through and looked for the fastest way out. Side view
mirrors scraped on stopped cars as I gunned through narrow
openings. We loudly neared the outside of the traffic jam.

Finally the cars thinned. The center lane
emptied a few cars before the other two lanes. Only a box truck
that was parallel to a van/trailer combination was left to pass
until we’d be back in an open stretch on the fringes of this town.
I was so relieved to be almost through that I missed the two
bastards waiting after the box truck. They lunged when we passed. I
tried to swerve away but they were too close. Each landed against
the spray-painted covering on the passenger side with a clamorous
thud.

I regained control then sped up to give us some
distance. When the infected pair tag-teamed the side of our truck
it jolted the kids out of their naps. Calise screamed inconsolably
for close to thirty minutes. I couldn’t blame her for it because I
felt like screaming too.

Hull Street left us long before that point. It
was always Route 360 but many names were attached to it the farther
from our fallen home that we travelled. First it turned into
Patrick Henry Highway, then it became Kings Highway, onto James D
Hagood Highway, with a short stint as John Randolph Boulevard, then
it merged with Route 58 to become Philpott Road. Philpott, God I
hated that name.

Although we had made it more than one hundred
and twenty miles in zombie-infested wasteland and we were over
halfway to the farm, less than an hour of daylight remained. I
started to get stressed with our timeframe. We would have to find a
place to park 522 that was hidden enough for us to all sleep in the
back overnight. Driving in the dark wasn’t a risk I was willing to
take after having made it so far.