Phoenix (23 page)

After several minutes of his friends studying
the map, Brad decided he wasn’t going to keep biting his tongue.
"Hey, you guys?"

Izzy was the only one to acknowledge him.
Brad stepped up to the hood and slammed his hand down on the middle
of the map. Three heads snapped up.

"That’s better." Brad jerked a thumb over his
shoulder to Izzy. "We’re getting a little tired of being left out.
How about you stop pushing us aside and tell us what the hell is
going on."

Mort’s forehead wrinkled and he stared at
Brad for a long moment. "I’m sorry. It never dawned on me…" He
shook his head. "Anyway. Remember what you said back at the house?
About sensing the dead?" He touched the map. "You’ll see that we’ve
been traveling pretty much southeast and between towns. These ones
here," he traced an index finger along their route so far,
indicating the towns they’d passed, "are decent sized places. We’ve
went right between them without actually seeing them. You and Izzy
didn’t know it, but we did. Well, I’m only assuming Adams did."

"I didn’t. No one asked," he answered.

Brad ignored Adams and stared at Mort. "You
really need to stop assuming I always know what you’re talking
about." He sighed when he saw confusion pass over Mort’s face.
"What’s your point?"

"Okay. Adams’ viewing only works by
question/answer, so I’m not sure if this even applies to him. But
Laura can actually insert herself anywhere and tell us what she
sees, and I can interpret emotions that I see and paint a
picture."

"Okay?"

Mort rubbed his chin and collected his
thoughts. "You said you didn’t think we could sense the dead. I
think you’re half right. You and Izzy have dreamed about them.
Adams can answer questions that concern them. But me and Laura?" He
shook his head. "We tested it out all the way here. You know how
there’s that noise coming from the dead? That buzzing?"

"I don’t get the buzzing, but my danger radar
has been all twitchy and not working right. Like something is
interfering with it."

"Okay, so it’s affecting you, too. It’s like
that, for us," Mort wagged a finger between him and Laura, "if we
try to view something in real-time, and zombies are nearby or right
where we insert ourselves, it’s nothing but this God-awful noise
and a fog so thick we can barely see through it. If we’re honing in
on a specific person, it’s not as bad. We only have to fight
through the interference. But the dead, they don’t show up. Laura
can’t see them, I can’t feel them, and they don’t show on your
radar."

"Well, they do, I
think
. But their
blips are all over the place and I can’t nail down locations."

"So we can’t sense them, but we can. Make
sense?"

"They’re blotting things out. You just have
to look around them?"

Mort smiled and nodded. "Yes."

Brad looked at Laura. "So you’re trying to
find a place we can go where there isn’t noisy fog?"

She snorted. "I suppose you can say that, if
that’s how you understand it. I’m looking for areas that are quiet.
Anyplace I can view and see things as they are, with no feedback
and blood running from my orifices."

Brad cringed and turned back to Mort. "So
we’re not safe out here."

"No."

"Because there are towns nearby, and they’re
full of static."

"Yes."

"Gotcha." Brad clapped his hands and stepped
back from the map, giving Mort and Laura room to work.

"We need to find a destination, even if it’s
temporary. Anything will work at this point." Mort slid his hands
over the map. "So far the towns have been too big. I think that’s
why we’ve picked up so much noise from them. The woods around
here," he indicated the trees on either side of the road, "are
quiet. I’m not picking up anything. Are you?"

Brad brought up his radar. It was clear and
hardly twitched. He blinked a few times and the screen remained
blank. "No, nothing."

"But do you know how to live in the fucking
woods?"

Brad shook his head. "No…"

"No. Exactly. None of us know how to stay
alive outside a town or city. We are seriously deficient in
survival skills, my young friend. We need to find somewhere with
people. A small town, a community of some sort."

"Well, not necessarily."

Mort raised a bushy eyebrow and waited.

"Yeah, we may not know how to survive out
there," Brad pointed to the woods, "but we’re not entirely stupid.
We can keep moving and scavenge what we need."

"And when we run out of gas? Are we supposed
to fill up at a gas station? Power is out in a lot of places. Do
you
know how to draw fuel up from one of those pumps without
power?"

"Well, no—"

"You want to siphon it out of other cars? You
do realize that most cars on the road these days are new, and you
can’t siphon the newer vehicles? So you’re depending on finding
enough older models out there to fuel up both of ours to keep us
moving indefinitely."

Brad put his hands on his hips and stared at
the ground. "Then we’ll learn."

Mort threw his hands in the air. "Yeah, Brad,
we’ll learn. If we live long enough! And right now that’s my
priority. Keeping us alive long enough to learn how to
survive."

"So we need a place to hole up."

"Exactly."

Brad took a deep breath. "Okay." He thought a
moment. "We need to move fast, right?"

Mort rolled his eyes. "No shit."

Brad smirked. "Okay then. If we move fast
enough, we can gather what we’ll need to last out for what, a
month? How long you think?"

"That’s as good a guess as any."

"Alright, then say a month. We need supplies.
Weapons to protect ourselves. And a place to ride it out. Do you
agree?"

"Yes."

"Here." Laura pointed to a spot on the
map.

Brad and Mort leaned closer.

"That’s… in Meigs County," Brad drawled.

"I know. Look." She leaned in and used both
index fingers to specify a particular stretch of road. "See this?
The map symbols at the top say this is an unpaved road. And there’s
a town on it. Best part? It seems quiet. At least from what I can
tell. We’re still pretty far away. I’d need to be closer to dig
through all the crap the dead are pumping out to be sure." She
looked at Mort. "Right?"

Mort smiled. "Sounds good to me. Any
objections?"

Adams had been hanging back throughout the
exchange, staring at the map with his arms crossed. "I object to
your non-use of me."

"Shit. I’m sorry, let’s back up then and—"
Mort started.

Adams cut him off. "Seems you guys have
wasted a whole lot of time standing around here arguing over things
that I could have cleared up in like three seconds." He shrugged.
"Just saying."

Brad volunteered. "Magic Eight-Ball, did
Laura find a good spot?"

"Yes," he mumbled.

"Are you pouting?"

"Yes. Shut up."

"Do you need a Snickers?"

"Yes." Adams flipped Brad the bird and walked
over to stare at the woods.

Izzy spoke up. "How do I know that place?
What’s the name of the town?"

Laura double-checked. "Reuben."

"Reuben," Izzy whispered. She let the word
roll around in her head. "Why do I
know
that name?"

"Ever been there?" Laura offered.

"No."

"Know anyone who’s been there?"

"No."

Brad added, "Have you dreamed of it?"

Izzy’s eyes lit up. "Maybe. Yeah, maybe I
have. I’m not sure. Some I can’t remember because of all the gunk."
She wiggled her fingers. "But that’s probably it"

"Well, that’s very promising then. We have a
destination." Mort started to fold the map.

"Plus, it’s close to the river," Izzy added.
"If we make it that far, and if we have to, we can escape into West
Virginia. Probably lots of secluded places there. Right, Mor—"

"Stop. Show me again?" Brad stepped up and
grabbed the paper out of Mort’s hands.

Izzy pointed out Reuben, then she moved her
finger maybe an inch and showed what the map indicated was a bridge
crossing the Ohio River.

Brad studied that section of map and gasped.
"No way."

Mort moved in between him and Izzy. "What is
it?"

"See that?" Brad jabbed the map. "I think
that’s where
Jonah
is."

"Say
what
?"

"Jonah! I dreamed about him that first night
he was at the house. He was somewhere, shit. Uh—" Brad started
pacing and running his hand through his hair. "Okay. He was in this
big complex of some kind and he was playing poker. It had a really
tall wall. There were people on all the rooftops with guns. There
were spotlights on the roofs, too. And a fence way out." Brad
stopped pacing and stretched out an arm. "Yeah, the place was
surrounded by a fence with barbed wire at the top."

"Do you know when it was?" Mort pressed.

"No, no. It might be happening now, might
have already happened, might not happen for a long time yet. I
don’t know. But Mort, look." He showed his mentor the spot on the
map that had triggered the memory. "We’re not going to be far from
there. Assuming we make it, that is."

Mort stared at the map a long moment. "That’s
a prison."

"Yeah!" Brad smiled, excited.

"What you described
sounds
like a
correctional facility of some sort, but do you have any idea how
many of those there are in West Virginia? And how do you even know
Jonah was
in
the Mountain State? He moves all the time.
He’ll especially be moving around a lot now."

Brad’s smile faltered. "Because I saw Kasey
with him. And another woman I know." Brad shook his head. "I don’t
know about you, but that tells me West Virginia."

All the air left Mort’s chest. "Well, shit.
Yeah, I’d say you’re right then. Still, doesn’t necessarily mean
it’s
that
one." He tapped the map.

"True, true. And it may not be. But Adams
says Reuben is a good spot, Laura says it’s quiet, Izzy is drawn to
it like she’s dreamed of it or something, and that prison in West
Virginia is
that
close? Can’t be a coincidence. This is it."
Brad leaned over the map and stared at the Correctional Facility,
roughly fifteen miles across the river from Reuben. "This has to be
it." He yelled back over his shoulder, in Adams’ direction. "Is
that it?"

"Yes," his friend called back without
turning.

Mort pulled Brad away and gestured for Laura
to fold it back up. "Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, okay? We
have a direction, now. That’s it. Let’s do what we can to make it
that far, then we’ll see about the rest. Alright? Let’s just pack
up and head out." To Laura, he added, "You and Adams find us a
quiet place for the night. It’s getting dark and cold."

"Sure thing." Laura walked to the edge of the
road next to Adams and the two started muttering to each other.

Mort clapped his hands. "Let’s go."

Brad and Izzy headed toward their car, but
Mort held Brad back. "I’m not sure how much help Laura will be now.
Hell," he sighed, "how much help are any of us?"

"It’s not your fault. And we don’t know why
this is happening, the interference from the dead. For all we know,
it might get better. We don’t even know if PhoenTek is still
blocking us. Not like we’ve had much time to test that out. We’re
still way too early into this—"

"I know. It’s just…" Mort shook his head. "I
don’t think I’ve ever felt this helpless."

Brad smiled and squeezed Mort’s shoulder.
"Happens to the best of us. Are we done reflecting? Because it’s
getting dark and I’d kinda like to have four walls around me
soon."

Mort snorted and shooed Brad away.

Brad waited until Mort was inside Laura’s car
before sliding behind the wheel. The rearview mirror showed Izzy in
the backseat, playing with her cell phone.

"Hey, you need to charge that yet?"

Her pretty eyes looked up and caught him
watching her in the mirror. "No, not yet, thanks."

"Okay then."

Laura and Adams ended their meeting and
headed back to the cars. Lights lit up in front of Brad, and Laura
pulled out onto the road. Adams got into the passenger seat next to
Brad, shut his door, and started singing, "On the Road Again".

"I guess that’s better than the
foot-tapping," Brad mumbled and jerked the car into drive.

"I am sorry. All circuits are busy. Please
hang up and—"

Rakburn stabbed at the phone and threw it on
the passenger seat. He gripped the steering wheel and stared ahead
at the massive traffic jam extending as far as his eyes could see.
He’d made the mistake of getting onto the interstate, thinking he
would be able to make up what time he’d lost in the beginning and
find Isabel sooner. Now he was farther from her than at any point
during the hunt, and his abilities were starting to come and go
again, no matter how hard he focused. The last he’d checked, he was
able to discern her general direction. If she stayed along that
course, regardless of how his abilities were functioning, he was
confident he’d catch up with her eventually.

Hopefully "eventually" wouldn’t be too
late.

Corpses crawled over several of the cars in
front of him. They only left alone the empty ones. Judging by the
number of dead-covered vehicles, there were many people trapped out
there.

He snatched the phone and dialed the number
again. Rakburn had been trying to reach one of the other agents he
knew had family in the area southeast of his location. He could
call Briggs, but the CC wasn’t far enough south to help him.
Guessing by the voice that kept greeting him each time he dialed
the phone, he probably wouldn’t be able to contact his partner
anyway. There were other ways of contact, but he’d not felt Briggs’
psychic probing for days.