The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (126 page)

~

T
o the west, in the city of Rochester, the sun had risen
slowly, revealing her quiet streets.

As the sun had risen, the
street lights that had held the darkness back, switched
off.

Small groups of people
walked her streets as if lost. Some had lived there, but most had
made the short trek from the surrounding communities. Others were
on their way. Already there was a battle for control of the western
New York city. Her power was still on and that made it an ideal
stronghold.

The groups were trying to
wait each other out, but shortly after sunrise the gunfire began
between a group from the south side and another from the west. Most
had no idea who they were fighting or even why they were fighting,
they were unsure. As the battle began in earnest some groups began
to join forces, and by mid-morning the entire city was under siege,
innocents caught in the crossfire or forced to flee.

~

F
ar above the Earth, satellites continued to orbit
importantly.

The north American
continent lay sleeping far below. A wide inland sea had formed in
the middle, fed by a huge river that stretched from the former
Hudson bay, to the Gulf of Mexico. The river, along with the inland
sea, split the continent in two from ocean to ocean. Small in
places and easily crossed as if it were no more than a river. Wide
in other places as if it truly were an ocean.

The state of Alabama, which
had lain directly in its path, was divided in two by the river
where it made its way to the Gulf and into the ocean beyond. What
resulted was the loss of the lower, southern half of the state. It
now sat nearly forty miles out in a shallow bay that was quickly
turning to sea: An island, the water surrounding it growing deeper
as time moved on and the gulf reclaimed the land.

The smaller eastern section
of the continent had already begun to drift. Although it was
imperceptible, the two land masses were inching away from one
another, and ultimately would be separated by a new ocean. And
become separate, smaller continents.

The eastern end of the
former United States, was also drifting away from the northern
section of Canada. The massive earthquakes had also severed the
state of Michigan, turning it into a virtual island.

Parts of Indiana had
succumbed to the water too. And the states of Ohio, Kentucky,
Tennessee, and Alabama, had been split in two, along with the upper
western edge of the state of Florida.

Toward what had been the
north, the St. Lawrence river had widened, pushing the land masses
further apart. The Thousand Islands bridge spans had toppled, and
slipped into the cold waters. The other bridges that had once
spanned the mighty river, had succumbed as well, as the river basin
had split and pulled apart.

The new continent had also
severed her ties from Nova Scotia, as she had been pulled south and
slightly east, to begin her journey. Only the province of New
Brunswick, and a small portion of Quebec remained with the
continent. The rest of Canada was severed from them by the wide and
deep river, more like a huge lake in places, that surged from ocean
to ocean.

Most of the north American
continent was now in a sub-tropical climate as well. The poles had
been displaced by the huge force of the multiple earthquakes and
volcanic blasts. The old polar caps were melting, and it would be
thousands of years before they would once again re-form in their
new locations.

The run-off, from the
melting ice, would eventually reach the oceans, and even more land
mass would be sacrificed to the waves, before the polar caps would
be re-formed.

There were only thirteen
full states left on the small continent. The two former provinces
of Canada, one of which was only a small fragment. And parts of
five former states, the largest being Florida.

Before the dawn, fires
could be seen spreading in many major cities, unchecked, and
burning quickly with the help of freak winds the flames continued
in all directions, occasionally fueled by chemical, and oil
facilities, as well as numerous other flammable sources they
encountered, destroying the cities.

Protected by tons of rock
above it, project Blue-chip survived the onslaught with very little
damage.

CHAPTER THREE

Leaving

Billy and Beth: March 12th

To leave the city with nine people they
were going to need a truck, and that was going to have to wait
until they made their way out of the city and all the stalled and
wrecked vehicles that clogged the main streets.

They had hoped to cross over the river
on the Firestone Boulevard bridge, but after a three hour walk,
most of which consisted of crawl-walking over the tops of stalled
vehicles, they had been forced to turn back when they reached the
beginning of the bridge. The bridge was gone, the pavement gone
leaving a ragged drop into the water below, and the river seemed to
be much deeper than usual, nearing the tops of the concrete side to
side, and fast moving.

They had debated back tracking and
crossing the river to the west instead. Billy had pretty much let
Beth decide. She was, after all more familiar with the city, and he
was not. In the end they had decided to continue south toward the
freeway where they could hope for a better crossing. That had
caused an argument between Billy and Jamie that had only ended
because Billy had walked away from her.

“
You want her, not me.
Her... Why don't you just say it, Billy... Just say it.” She
screamed the last as Billy picked up his pace walking faster still.
There was nothing he could say. It was true after all, and the
truth couldn't be hidden in these circumstances.

The light was fading from the day as he
found a small shop, the glass covered by steel panels. The panels
were dented, even punctured in a few places by something he assumed
had been heavy and sharp, possibly an ax, but they had held. He
rolled a cigarette and stood, one boot heel resting against the
brick wall behind him, the other holding his weight on the cracked
concrete. He watched Beth as she walked toward him.

She smiled. “Roll one for
me?”

Billy rolled one and handed it to her.
She fished a lighter from her own pocket and lit it.

“
We have to settle in for
the night... Too dark to keep on. Who knows what sort of freaks are
waiting for night to make a move on us.”

Billy nodded. “Dozens... No doubt...”
He sighed. “We'll need a place for all of us.” He tapped his free
hand against the brick. “Place looks untouched, it will take a
little work to get in but we could spend the night
here.”

Beth inhaled deeply and let the smoke
roll slowly out of her mouth. She turned the cigarette around and
looked at it. “Killing me, I know it, and I couldn't care less.
Tastes so fucking good and calms down that itch in my
brain.”

Billy laughed. “I'm pretty sure it
doesn't matter what we do know. I think the life expectancy of the
human race just dropped a whole shit load.”

Beth laughed along with him, took
another hard pull on the cigarette, looked at it once more and
dropped it to the pavement. She ground it out with her boot heel.
She raised her eyes to Billy and the laughter was gone, ground out
like the cigarette. He knew the next words she spoke would be
serious, but he wasn’t prepared for them when they came a few
moments later. “It's just you and me.” She frowned as she
finished.

“
What?”

“
What? Come on, Billy, what
did you think she was gonna do? You knew this was a problem...
Scotty ran you down after you walked away... It took very little to
turn them around... They're heading south... Lynwood Park, I think.
Scotty thinks there are safe places there and more people
too.”

“
And? … What did you
say?”

Beth shrugged. “I said go... If you
fall apart after a little tough walking we don't need
you...”

“
Jamie?”

Beth laughed, but the laugh didn't
touch her eyes, instead they narrowed, hurt. “Called me a cunt.
Told me I could have you.”

“
Wow... Right to the C
word... Must have been pissed...” Billy straightened from the wall.
“But you stayed with me.”

“
Yeah... About that....
Nothing's changed, Billy. I don't want us to get off on the wrong
foot. I like you... I even like you a great deal, but you're not
the guy for me... I don't know where that guy is. Even if I let you
be the guy you couldn't handle me, Billy.”

She had shifted her rifle from her
shoulder, she stepped forward now and rested the barrel end against
the fat padlock that held the steel shutters on one side. “Better
move off a little further,” Beth told him. “I have no idea how this
is gonna go.”

The noise was deafening in the quiet
late afternoon. A flock of pigeons startled from a nearby rooftop,
lifted into the air. Billy followed them with his eyes as they
lifted into the gloom. Suddenly a larger shadow appeared above the
pigeons and a split second later a much larger bird dropped into
the flock, talons extended, and emerged with a pigeon clasped in
those same talons. The bird wheeled, climbing on an air current and
then began to drop to a nearby roof where it apparently had a
nest.

“
Jesus,” Billy
breathed.

Beth chuckled. “Hawk,” she turned her
eyes back to the padlock. “Come on, Billy, lets get down for the
night.” She reached down and carefully pulled the jagged metal from
the eye holes where it had rested in the bottom of the steel frame.
Together they lifted the shutters.

L.A.: March 13th

Beth and Billy

The trek east out of the city was much
harder than Billy and Beth had thought it would be.

It was close to noon before they
reached Alameda, and decided to try to find some kind of four wheel
drive vehicles, at one of the many car lots that dotted
it.

It had been slow going until they
reached the El Segundo Boulevard. The stalled traffic had been much
lighter there, and they had been able to drive part of the way by
cutting into the parking lots of fast food restaurants, that dotted
almost the entire length of the highway. They had followed that to
Willmington, and picked up a truck that had seen better days.
Getting the truck had not been a problem; there were several used
car lots along the road. They had used the parking lots to swing
around the worst of the traffic, and that had worked well until
they had intersected Compton Boulevard. It was hopelessly packed
with stalled traffic. They had left the truck, which had sounded as
if it was close to dying anyway, and struck out on foot again. Beth
led the way as they cut cross lots through Compton Woodley
Airport.

Crossing the dead airfield had been
unnerving for both of them. The runways had cracked, and either
lifted skyward, or tilted down into the ground. Several blackened
skeletons of large aircraft dotted the airfield. Most of them were
so badly burned that they had been unable to tell what they had
been before. Billy thought a couple of them may have been military
aircraft, but as badly twisted as they were it was impossible to be
sure.

One large plane sat tilted skyward on a
chunk of runway that had separated from the surrounding pavement.
The plane looked untouched, and almost as though it was some sort
of rocket ship waiting to be launched skyward. Luggage, some
burned, some untouched, was scattered across the airfield in every
direction, and many of the suitcases were burst, with papers and
clothing scattered everywhere along with other personal effects.
There were bodies here too.

On their way through the city they had
seen very few bodies. It had been unsettling to both of them. Fewer
bodies meant more undead. They had both wondered aloud if the
changing was happening that fast. Raising the dead faster as time
slipped by. The bodies they had seen had not been killed by the
Earthquakes. They bore head wounds, and appeared to have been dead
for only a short period. Possibly only the last two or three days,
they decided.

The bodies at the airport were
concentrated around the terminal building. The huge glass windows
were peppered with holes, and in some cases completely blown
inward, as if a battle had taken place for the terminal. Most of
the bodies inside were concentrated behind the long rows of seats
in the main lobby, as if they had been trying to use the seats for
cover. It had apparently done no good. They paused only briefly,
wondering what had occurred before they moved on. The overwhelming
stench in the shattered terminal building drove them out. The
wrecked planes, where they had expected to see bodies scattered all
around, were empty.

Occasionally they heard gunfire around
them, and twice explosions from further north, behind them had
startled them. They had hurried along fearing the sounds, but
fearing more the possibility that the owners of the guns might find
them. They walked in silence across the remainder of the shattered
airfield, and they were both glad when they left it behind them and
eventually came to 91. 91 was traffic packed and they made their
way across the steel roof tops once more, crossing under 91 on
South Central and making their way along the sides of the road to E
Del Amo Boulevard.