Dead World (Book 2): Headed North (7 page)

“As long as we don’t come across anything unexpected,” Isaiah says, “It’s hard to predict anything these days, but she is right. I gathered as much fuel as I could from the cars around here. I think if we ration things we could make it there without really needing to stop.”

“What about when we get there?” Daniel asks, “We don’t really know where this safe zone is supposed to be and Canada is a pretty big place to just be looking around.”

“Yeah, that’s one of the problems. I’m hoping they will have established something to signal people where to go. It’s not like those damn things can read so maybe they put up signs? Or they might even have a broadcast running on short wave radio. We could probably look for something when we get a little closer,” Isaiah says.

“It is our best bet,” Sasha agrees.

“What do we need to do before we can get going then?” Daniel asks.

“We already took care of all the packing. The car is ready to go. And I was able to find more bullets for the rifle,” Valentine says.

“That’s great,” Daniel says.

“You saved us all with what you did back there,” Isaiah says seriously, “I’m not saying it was smart but it saved our skins. We wouldn’t be in this good of shape had you not done all that.”

Daniel just nods and takes a bite out of his sandwich. “Then I guess we will eat up and be on the move. I shouldn’t drive for a little while. At least till this headache passes.”

“Did you find any aspirin?” Sasha asks Valentine who nods and then hops up out of her seat.

“Yeah, I’ll grab him some,” she says over her shoulder.

“I will take the first shift driving and we will split it up. That’s something else we decided. We need to split it up so that we all stay fresh and we can cover more ground,” Isaiah says.

“That’s a good idea,” Daniel replies, “I guess we are good to go then.”

They go about finishing their meals. The familiar clatter of a room full of people eating calms Daniel. He wishes they could stay here where everything seems so perfect. It is momentary, but it has been enough to recharge all of them.

He fears what will happen if they get to Canada and the whole place is as overrun as everything they have seen so far. He is terrified that it will be that way but he refuses to give into it. He spent so much of his life afraid of what would happen if he ever made a decision that he often found himself just coasting through life.

It became a pattern. Something like the grass is always greener but applied to everything. He was never bad enough off that he needed to change and so apathy became the answer.

There was the time with the first girl he had ever loved. She was everything he ever wanted. Of course that was before things got bad. He never realized just how easy it is to be happy when you are still falling in love. But eventually they fell as far as they could and once he hit the bottom and looked up he realized that things weren’t as great as he had hoped.

Then she got pregnant. It was something that he was hoping would fix their relationship. Looking at it now he is unsure how he thought it would ever help. But then they had the miscarriage. It was awful. He went through a couple jobs over the span of a few months. Unable to stay focused on anything.

He wishes they could have fixed things. Done something to make it better. But now after everything he realizes that maybe that’s just how life is. Maybe we go through all these things so that we end up on the other side with something to show for it.

Absently he rubs at his facial hair. He hasn’t thought about any of this for so long he realizes. Ever since the chaos started. It was too much just trying to stay alive. But now that he finally has a moment to think he wonders if maybe this is exactly the way things are meant to be. It is a morbid, thought but change is never easy.

13

Hardin, Montana

Peter takes a sip from his beer. It’s still frosty even after a few hours, the only thing good about the cold weather. He sets the beer down on the cracked roof and leans back in the lawn chair. The sun is just beginning to set in the distance and it casts a warm orange glow over everything. This is the best he has felt in weeks.

He pulls the rifle to his shoulder and sights down the scope into the writhing mass of bodies. From his perch atop the office building adjacent to the wall he can see the whole mass of them moving around. The zombies nearest the wall are clawing at it without result, but the sheer press of bodies might be enough to bring it down eventually.

Fear should be running through him right now but he has been afraid for so long that something finally snapped. If this is how the world is going to end. People going crazy, attacking each other. Trying to eat each other. Then he is going out in style.

Terry sits nearby in his own lawn chair. He also has a rifle and a large case of bullets at his feet. He fires into the crowd and a zombie in the middle of the horde drops, the upper half of his head blown clean off.

“So what do you think about all this?” Terry asks, looking back up from his kill. Immediately the other zombies pile in. it seems like for everyone they kill there are a dozen to take its place. Like the mythic hydra this beast just keeps coming back stronger.

“At least we have plenty of bullets,” Peter says, aiming down the scope again. He spots a middle aged woman. It’s not his wife but in her undead state she bears a remarkable likeness. He sways the scope to the right. An older gentlemen with his glasses still on by some miracle chance. His cardigan is filthy with gore and blood, ropes of his entrails hanging out from a gaping hole in his abdomen.

Peter takes a shallow breath and on the exhale he blows a whole through the left eye glass sending greying brain matter out in an arc. Other zombies watch without concern. Enthusiasm isn’t their strong suit unless they can kill one of us, thinks Peter.

“It’s not like we can do anything about them right now,” Peter says, “I mean those things just keep on coming. I never even knew there were this many people in Hardin.”

“Yeah, you’re right. I mean where could they all be coming from?” Terry asks, scratching at his chin. He was never a logistics man. He always did what the commanding officer said when they said it. Much easier if you are not questioning orders. When they say jump you do just that.

“I really don’t know. But look at this. The only section of the wall not completely surrounded is the west side now. And they just keep showing up. It’s like every night there are more,” Peter says.

“You don’t think zombies can breed do you?” Terry asks.

“I think you say a lot of dumb things, Terry. And that is right up near the top of them,” Peter says with a smile ghosting at his lips. “Look at those things, how could they possibly do that?”

“Well they have to come from somewhere,” Terry looks through his scope again. They have made something of a game of it. Taking bets on who can hit certain zombies. They have been here for hours and it has gone through phases. Sometimes they will only shoot the dead who have glasses, that was the most recent goal. Or sometimes zombies wearing red. Or maybe just the naked zombies. The rules aren’t very strictly laid out.

Terry takes another shot, the sound echoing around them for a moment. Every time they shoot Peter notices that the dead will only barely register their own loss. But they always seek the sound looking up in his direction. Their moaning overlaps into a chorus of death and they reach for him uselessly.

Peter takes another shot as well. This one didn’t have glasses. It was a girl missing most of her face. Hard to get anything particular on her, but she summed up all of the frustration that nearly drowned him over these past weeks.

“I am not sure what any of this means but I think we might just make it,” Peter says, “There are so many but we have the walls reinforced as much as we can. It might have been a patch job but it is working pretty well if you ask me.”

“Yeah, the boys are doing good work,” Terry agrees, “I’m surprised at how fast we got things in shape. For a bunch of civilians they take orders well.”

“Well when they saw what was happening to their buddies I think it was all the reinforcement they needed. Follow orders or end up like one of these freaks with your face eaten off. Doesn’t seem like much of a choice if you ask me,” they both laugh at that. Grave humor has always come easy to the two. And now that Peter has finally let go of everything he finds that he is returning to his old self. Sarcasm replacing all the harshness of the world that almost broke him.

14

Northern Wyoming

Isaiah drives through the night as they approach the border between Wyoming and Montana. The shift driving is turning out to work much better for them all. They split it up into two hour intervals allowing everyone a chance to rest.

Hot air blasts from the air conditioner keeping them all warm despite the rapidly dropping temperatures outside.

The high beams cast white pools, revealing a steady snowfall. He is nearing his two hours but it has been smooth sailing. Once they made it past Casper and Sheridan everything was easy. The Humvee was able to cross over off road whenever they came upon traffic jams. Everything settled into a sort of easy repetition.

Daniel sleeps in the passenger seat next to him, his head resting against the window, snoring softly.

Sasha and Valentine are asleep in the back with Chloe. They are all wrapped up under blankets. Isaiah checks the speedometer, 50 miles an hour. They are not moving fast but it gives him plenty of warning if they come across anything in the road which makes up for the pace. He doesn’t want them running into anything that could be avoided.

He comes up on a small bridge. It runs right over a tiny river that barely makes the name but it goes straight through where the highway was built. He taps the brakes as he sees it approaching. Light reflects off the shattered glass of a tangle of cars. The southbound bridge is collapsed. And the only way north has a nasty looking wreck blocking most of the bridge.

Isaiah reaches over and shakes Daniel awake as he stops the car a couple hundred feet from the wreckage. Nothing moves in the glare of the headlights.

“Hey man,” Isaiah says, “The road is blocked here. What do you think we should do?”

Daniel takes a moment to evaluate the scene, still groggy from sleep. He rubs his head, but at least the worst of it seems to be passing. After a few moments he says, “Let’s get out and have a look.”

“I’ll wake up Sasha then.” Isaiah opens the door and a swirl of cold air shocks him. He opens the back door as well and Sasha bolts upright fear and confusion in her eyes. “It’s ok, honey,” he says immediately trying to calm her down.

She looks about to scream but she realizes where she is. All of them have been jumpy these past weeks. The nightmares robbing their sleep, and days filled with the threat of death overcoming them slowly.

“It’s ok, honey. There is just a road block. Daniel and I are going to check it out.  See if we can’t move some of the cars,” He pats her shoulder and she nods at him her hair a mess around her head as the sleep fades from her. Chloe stirs beside her and she rests a hand on her protectively, out of instinct.

“OK,” She nods and he shuts the door again closing off the cold air.

Isaiah jogs through the frigid air to catch up to Daniel who is already up to the cars. “What’s it look like?” he calls out when he is close enough to be heard.

Daniel kicks a bit of glass with his boot and looks at the wreck. There is a little black Honda Civic fire damaged and smashed on the front end.

“It looks like this one just got smashed between this truck and the guard rail.” Daniel motions towards the truck, a heavy semi that allows barely enough room for them to walk on one side. They walk around the large truck and see that there is another wreck in front.

The semi obviously tried to avoid hitting the three car pileup and ended up running the Honda into the guard rail. Down in the darkness they catch the glint of the moon off the hood of another car that was run through the rail off into the river. The water gurgles beneath them, freezing over on the edges. The branches of trees rattle in the wind. The smell of old blood is like iron in the back of Isaiah’s throat.

“Hopefully that semi still has the keys in it or we are not going around this way,” Daniel says. He begins walking over to the cab when a moan stops him dead. The glare of the headlights casts everything in harsh light. Daniel whips around and sees that in one of the cars a zombie is pushing itself against the glass trying to get at them. Then the sound of footsteps dragging over broken glass makes him move.

“Did you bring a weapon?” he asks looking to Isaiah.

Isaiah pulls the hatchet from his belt. But by this time there are several dead bodies lurking in the shadows of the pileup. “Just run. We can find another way around,” Isaiah says.

They tear around the side of the semi and barrel towards the car. The high beams glare at them casting long shadows behind them. Valentine steps out from behind the car aiming the rifle past them. Daniel throws his hands in front of his face and veers away from the angle of fire.

“Get down,” Valentine calls and they duck to the ground feeling the rough gravel bite into their hands. She fires in quick succession and Daniel can hear the wet meat thud of the bodies hitting the ground behind him. After a few moments it is over and they look up. She fired all ten rounds. There are only three bodies on the ground between them and the wreckage.

“Well that is one way of doing it,” Isaiah says as they stand back up. He smirks at Valentine who now holds the gun awkwardly, pointed at the ground.

“I don’t care if you used a hundred bullets, you saved us,” Daniel says, smiling at her too. He reaches out and she hands the rifle to him. “Let’s clear up the rest of them and then figure out what we are going to do about getting this semi moved,” and they set back to work.

***

Daniel drives now. Isaiah reached his turn to sleep, in the shadows of the backseat Daniel can make out Isaiah with his arm around his wife. Moving the semi turned out to be easier than they thought at first. The keys were still in the ignition so after a little coaxing from the engine and a lot of shoving from the massive vehicle they were able to clear a path wide enough to fit the Humvee through.

Sasha worried at them the whole time, nervous that the bridge might collapse. It did look worse for wear, but there wasn’t much they could do so after a while she agreed to it and they were able to force their way through.

The border is long behind him now and they are making good progress through Montana. Daniel is grateful that there are fewer people this far north, less traffic and a much safer straight shot through. He stays on I-90 the whole way.

Valentine is sitting next to him staring out the window at the rapidly falling snow. It is coming thicker now but the road is still not frozen enough for it to stick. The snow piles on the dark soil though, creating slopes of pure white.

“It’s beautiful don’t you think?”

“Hmm?” Daniel says taking his eyes off the road for a moment to look at her. He thought she was asleep.

“I said it’s beautiful. All the snow, the way it looks in the moonlight,” she turns her head and he looks away back at the road again.

“It really is,” he says. “Despite everything, we still have the small things you know?” she nods at him in understanding. They drive on for a moment more in silence just enjoying the night. He watches the landscape pass by in a blur. He has always loved the way everything is just a white streak driving through the snow. The highway stays empty for a long while.

They pass by the Little Big Horn battle site. There is a memorial dedicated to that fateful battle. Snow has started to cover the low buildings.

“Do you think if this hadn’t happened we would have ever talked?” Valentine asks quietly, almost like she was just wondering to herself. Daniel looks over at her again.

“I was afraid to talk to you,” he says, “I don’t know,” he shakes his head. “So much has changed this past month.”

“Why were you afraid?” she is looking at him now too. She shifts in the seat so that she can look at him directly.

“You are just too damn pretty,” he says, a small smile tugging at his lips. “I don’t do this.”

“What do you mean
this
?” she asks.

“I mean talk to girls. I have never been good at it. I was only ever in one relationship and when things didn’t work out I just let it all go. My parents got divorced when I was young. They fought all the time and then when my relationship ended up like that I just decided it probably wasn’t for me,” he says, shifting in his seat. This is all unfamiliar territory for him.

“So you were just going to be alone?” she asks her curiosity piqued.

“Well yeah. I guess I hadn’t thought about it that way. My brother got married a couple years back. She was a real nice girl and they had a beautiful baby girl. I guess I had enough family with them,” he replies.

“Where was he?” she asks, “You know when all this started.”

“They lived in England. He was in the Airforce. A mechanic. I really don’t know if they are OK or not,” he says, “I don’t know if it was as bad over there as it was here but I have to hope that everything is OK. He deserves it. When my parents separated he was the one who took the brunt of it. He was older and he has always been stronger.”

“What is his name?”

“Robert. Everyone always called him Lucky though,” he smiles absently at the thought. “He could get away with anything. You know how it is normally the younger sibling who has it easy? I mean I should have been able to blame everything on him. But he always found a way out of everything. He never seemed to get in trouble. He really was lucky.”

Talking this much is unusual for him but now that he has started Daniel finds that the words are just falling out of him. All of this was bottled up for so long, even before the change, that to finally have someone who is interested in his story he just can’t stop.

“There was this time. It was right after I got into High School. He was a senior at the time, on his way out. He was the type of guy that girls wanted to be around. Funny, attractive, that sort of nonchalant attitude that just drives you all crazy,” he says smiling wider, “anyways he decided it would be really funny if him and his friends got together and did a little prank. Our high school was close to some fields. I still don’t know how he did it but he got one of the cows out of the field and up to the second floor of the building. The trouble is that it was too top heavy for it to go back down the stairs.”

“He got me involved in the whole thing and when it all got figured out and tracked back to us he was able to get me to take most of the blame. I was stuck in detention for weeks for that. I was so mad at the time but it is one of the best memories I have now. It seemed like such a huge deal then.”

“You’re lying,” she says, slapping his arm.

“No, I am dead serious. I know how stupid it sounds. That’s why he was able to place the blame off on me and the only friend I had at the time,” he laughs, “It sounds so ridiculous actually telling that story out loud. I couldn’t even make the principle believe me.”

“That is crazy,” she says, “so you got a cow on the second floor and then you took the blame for it as a high school prank?”

“Yeah,” He laughs again. “I know it sounds stupid, but that was my brother. Stupid and funny. He was never afraid of anything. I guess I got all the fear in the family.”

“I don’t think you’re afraid.”

“Yes I am. I mean I never know what to do. I overthink everything,” he says. He is staring out at the road now, gripping the steering wheel, imagining his brother.

“Well when it mattered you were the one who saved us,” she reaches over the console and grabs his hand squeezing it in hers. “We were dead back there. I froze up and almost got us killed,” she pauses for a moment the memory still fresh in her mind. “But you risked yourself to keep us safe.”

He looks at her for a moment. “Thank you,” he says, squeezing her hand back. They drive on for a while longer in silence. The miles pass them and the sun begins to rise thawing out the ground which has started to freeze. The snow drifts to a stop lazily leaving a thin film over everything.

Valentine falls asleep in the passenger seat again. She is holding his hand. His time is up for his shift but he doesn’t let go of her hand. He keeps driving through the sunrise so he doesn’t have to let go.