In the Lone and Level Sands (80 page)

“Look at that one!” Jordan said. He couldn’t
hold back a laugh, pointing to a zombie that was stuck in the
asphalt, which had hardened around its legs and arms. As Jordan and
the others drove by, it looked at them longingly, hungrily, from
eyes swollen inside a sunburned face. Moans of distress followed
the survivors as the zombie struggled to get out of its asphalt
prison.

“Oh my God,” Ashley said. She burst out
laughing. “I can’t help but feel a little bad, though.”

“He’s gotta be starving,” Alex said.

“Sucks to be him,” Aiden replied.

“Yeah, sure does.” Jordan avoided a car that
sat in the middle of his lane.

As they went down the road, most of the lane
had been gutted, leaving just the raw, base level of concrete.
Excavators sat along the left side. Several zombies wandered the
area, most of them wearing reflective vests and hard hats.

Beyond the construction area, the two cars
came within eyesight of a plane crash. Christian’s jaw dropped as
they drew closer. Thousands of bits of plane and other things
littered the ground: papers, suitcases, a charred teddy bear.

“What in the blue fuck?” Christian said.

The body of the plane had been bifurcated.
Both large chunks rested six or seven lanes apart, and stretched
into the woods and hills on either side of the interstate. Broken
trees leaned where the nose of the plane pressed against them.

Bodies were mixed in among the trash and
metal. Some were charred, some had been defiled, their remains
scattered. Blood painted the pavement.

“Just look at this shit,” Christian
said.

“I’m really trying not to,” Evelyn
replied.

A large mass of suitcases and pieces of
plane clogged the lane. Jordan and Christian managed to drive
around much of the debris, but eventually had to stop some fifty
feet in front of the two large halves of the aircraft. Christian
parked beside Jordan, and rolled his window down. Jordan did the
same.

“We’re going to have to clear some of this
shit out of the way,” Jordan said. “I don’t want to risk a flat
tire.”

“Can’t we just drive around it?” Evelyn
said.

“No way,” Christian replied. “Unless you
want to comb every blade of grass in search of shrapnel, we’d have
to drive at least a couple miles into the field. I’m low enough on
gas as it is.”

“We’ll just move the luggage and as much
metal as we can out of the road, then,” Jordan said.

“Sounds like a plan, Stan!” Christian said.
“Let’s get cracking. There might still be a few zombies
around.”

Everyone climbed out and began moving fallen
suitcases, jagged pieces of metal, and other debris out of their
path. There was a lot to move from between the two pieces of the
plane, but it went quickly with six sets of hands.

They split up to make the work go faster.
When most of the luggage and bodies had been moved, Christian
motioned for Alex. “If we want to get by, we should move some of
these seats out of the way.”

Several sets of seats had fallen from the
plane and rested in twos and threes in the road. Christian and Alex
worked together to carry them out of the way.

That was when Aiden screamed.

All eyes turned in his direction. He had
moved a suitcase from a pile, and a zombie had reached out from the
hole he’d made and grabbed his wrist. Aiden tried to pull free, but
all that did was help the zombie out from under the debris. When
the zombie finally came loose, it pushed off against the pile with
its legs, knocking it and Aiden to the ground. They began to
wrestle.

“Shit, guys! Help!” Aiden screamed. He was
holding the zombie’s arms, leaving it more than enough space to
move its teeth to his neck. He dodged his head from side to side,
afraid to even look away.

Christian and Alex were still holding a set
of seats. Jordan couldn’t wait for them to put it down. He grabbed
Christian’s gun from its holster and rushed to Aiden.

“Shoot it!” Aiden said. “Shoot it now, I
can’t hold it!”

Jordan saw the zombie lurch forward,
snapping its teeth. He had no time. He aimed and fired before he
had even stopped running.

The zombie stopped struggling and turned
toward the sound.

Another shot rang out, from behind Jordan;
it was Christian, with Alex’s gun. The zombie’s head rocked
backward, a spray of red shot out, and a hole appeared in its
forehead.

The zombie slumped to the ground. Jordan
felt his legs turn to rubber and his head turn hot when he saw
blood seeping through a hole in Aiden’s chest as Aiden tried to
stand. His shirt was growing darker. Aiden looked at Jordan and
tried to say something, but only spat blood down his chin, then
fell on top of the zombie.

Jordan collapsed to his knees. He cried, and
Ashley sat down next to him. She put an arm around his shoulders.
He was limp in her arms.

“How… I… No!”

“Jordan,” Ashley said, “It was an
accident.”

Christian was tucking his gun into his
pants. “We need to get going.”

Jordan looked at him. “Aiden’s dead!”

“Shit happens.”

Jordan jumped to his feet and charged at
Christian. Christian caught Jordan by the shirt and slapped him
across the face. Jordan fell to the ground, but Christian reached
down and yanked him back to his feet.

“Look,” Christian said, “don’t think my
heart ain’t in a million pieces right now, too. But where would you
be if I had stopped and cried about everyone I shot back at the
store?”

“It’s not the same thing, Christian! I-I
killed him. He wasn’t a god damn zombie! He was my fucking friend!
I wasn’t thinking, and I just fucking killed him!”

“I realize that, but you got people who
count on you now, kid. You gotta think about them. Let’s say
there’s some Great Beyond after we die. What do you think Aiden
would say if you met him there in five minutes and told him
everyone else died while you were crying over his dead body?”

Jordan tried to stop crying, tried to hold
his breath, nearly choked.

“Jordan,” Christian said. “I know you didn’t
do it on purpose. Ashley, Evelyn, Alex, we all know it was an
accident. You can’t blame yourself. You have to just accept that it
happened, and—”

“I… Just need a minute, okay?”

“And that’s fine. But after that, we move
on. Nobody ever got anywhere by not moving on.”

“I’ll meet you all back at the car,” Jordan
said. “Just give me a couple minutes.”

“All right,” Ashley said. She and the others
went back to clearing the road.

Jordan dragged Aiden’s body into the grass
beside the road, then covered it with a stained, tattered blanket
he found among the wreckage. It was no proper burial, but it meant
more to Jordan than leaving him there, just another body in the
middle of a road paved with bodies.

Jordan looked up at the sky. The sun shone
down on him, until a single cloud glided over it. The day grew
darker, and Jordan looked away with a sigh. He went to join his
companions, and they continued their trek to Big Springs.

****

Jordan kept his gaze on the road. Not long
after all signs of the crash had disappeared from the rearview
mirror, Jordan glanced back and saw Christian flashing his hazard
lights. He needed to fill the jeep.

The freeway branched off into an old
two-lane road. The pavement was cracked, but the yellow lines
dividing the lanes were still vibrant. A sign readied them for a
gas station coming up, and about a mile down the listless country
road, sitting in the middle of nowhere, they found it.

It looked very old, resting on the right
side of an intersection with a hanging traffic light containing one
circular, flashing, yellow light. On the opposite side of the
intersection was an equally ancient building. Judging by the vines
and other foliage growing around and over its walls, it hadn’t been
used in years.

The two cars pulled into the void that was
the parking lot. There were only four pumps, but they looked new
compared to the rest of the station.

“I sure hope this place takes plastic,”
Christian said after he got out of the Jeep. A wind blew the ends
of his do rag around, along with a few strands of hair. He plucked
his wallet from his back pocket. The dull, worn chain jingled as he
opened it.

“It looks like they’re newer pumps,” Evelyn
said. “They probably do.”

Christian withdrew his debit card and walked
over to the pump. “You’re right, Evvy.” He smiled at her and opened
the gas cover.

While he filled the Jeep, Jordan began to
fill his car. Ashley and Alex had also gotten out. There wasn’t a
zombie in sight.

“I wish we hadn’t made this trip,” Jordan
said. He looked at the ground as the gas gurgled through the hose.
Ashley and Alex looked at him, surprised.

“Why?” Ashley said. “If we hadn’t come,
you’d be wondering about your parents for however long this thing
goes on. I don’t think you’d want that, Jordan.”

“If we hadn’t come, Aiden would still be
alive.”

“Jordan, you really had no way of knowing
that was going to happen,” Alex said.

“Alex is right. It’s not your fault he’s
dead.”

“But it is my fault. I shot him!” Jordan
closed his eyes, a tear rolled down his cheek.

“Think about what Christian said. All we can
do is move on. It’s okay to feel bad about Aiden. But it’s more
important to learn from it, and shape your future around it.”
Jordan just looked off into the sky, even when the pump clicked and
his tank was full. Ashley placed a hand on his cheek, gently
guiding his head back to her. “Look at me, Jordan. We’ve all lost a
lot in this, but we need to keep going. We can’t let these things
take away our reasons to live. It’s the things we’ve lost that make
us appreciate what we still have.”

“We can grieve, but we need to keep going,”
Alex said. “It’s hard, but not impossible.”

“We all still have each other,” Ashley said.
“You still have your parents. We’re almost to Big Springs.”

“You’re right,” Jordan said. “You’re both
right.”

Christian walked over to the others, the
Jeep’s keys dangling in his right hand.

“Where exactly is this safe zone at?” he
asked.

“It’s a high school,” Jordan replied. “Big
Springs High. It can’t be more than a half hour from here.”

“Good, then.” Christian smiled a yellow
smile and flashed a thumbs-up before walking back to the Jeep. “All
right, lead us to it, Jord.”

The cars pulled out of the gravel lot and
onto the road. Dust fell off of the tires as they spun over the
pavement.

****

Big Springs looked bleak. There were dozens
of bodies and zombies around the road and among the houses.

“It’ll be a right up here,” Ashley said. She
was holding the map so Jordan could keep his eyes on the road. Some
of the zombies tried to keep up with the cars.

“Shit, they’re following us,” Alex said.

“It’ll be fine as long as we keep moving.”
Jordan looked in his rearview. Christian appeared to be calm,
Evelyn seemed a little more worried.

They passed a burning, overturned car. The
zombies following them quickly lost interest and headed for the
flames. They moaned in pain when they entered the fire, but made no
effort to escape.

Both cars took a right, and according to the
map, Big Springs High was coming up soon. The bodies in the streets
and on the sidewalks only grew in number. Even with the windows
closed, the passengers couldn’t avoid the smell.

“Are we almost there?” Alex asked.

“We should be.”

A zombie chasing a dog ran into Jordan’s
path. Jordan slammed on the brakes, but the zombie still rolled up
onto the windshield. Its face hit, smearing blood across the
glass.

“Fuck!” Jordan said. The zombie rolled off
the hood, moaning. Jordan looked back and saw Christian had stopped
shy of rear-ending him. Ahead, the zombie watched as the dog
disappeared into the neighborhood, slowly climbed to its feet, and
limped after it. Jordan and Christian moved on.

Humvees and Jeeps were parked on the street
in front of the school, a few others in the parking lot, right in
front of the entrance. There were barricades on the windows, but
there was no one in sight.

Jordan stopped. Christian pulled up by him
and rolled his window down.

“Let’s go around back,” Jordan said.

Christian nodded, looking around. “It looks
pretty fucked up around here, Jordan.”

“Yeah. I’m thinking everyone locked
themselves inside, that’s all.”

“I hope this place is safe,” Evelyn
said.

“Well, we’re attracting attention,” Ashley
said.

The windows rolled up, and the two cars
headed to the back, where there was another parking lot. It
contained a few civilian vehicles and more Humvees. The body of a
soldier, or what was left of it, leaned against the front end of
one. The school’s back door was wide open.

“This doesn’t seem good,” Alex said. He
looked at Jordan, who kept a straight face; it didn’t break, though
he was terrified.

Jordan parked behind Christian, as close to
the open door as possible. A few zombies approached from the
direction of the baseball diamond. Christian climbed out and picked
them off while the others went for the door.

“This place can’t be safe anymore,” Evelyn
said.

“My parents are in here. I have to find
them.”

Christian came up behind Jordan and clapped
a hand on his shoulder. “Whatever happens in here, kid, I’m behind
you every step of the way.”

“Thanks, Christian,” Jordan said. He entered
the school, and the others followed. Ashley brushed her hand
against Jordan’s, and he took it. Alex closed the door behind them
and latched it.

The windows were all barricaded, but the
lights were on. One of them was broken. Glass cracked beneath the
survivors’ feet, echoing down the otherwise silent hall. Bodies
rested against the walls. Most were partially eaten, some
untouched. There were bullet casings on the floor in several
places. The survivors tried not to look, especially when they
turned a corner and saw a body that had been massacred, its parts
spread all over the floor, blood smeared up the walls.