The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (54 page)

We left the straight lines of the trees
behind and rolled out into a grassy valley a short time ago. The
grass was cut short, or we thought it was cut short until, in the
distance, we saw enormous Bison grazing, or are they Buffalo? They
look to me to be bigger, like real buffalo, but it's too dark to
tell.

We have half a tank of gas, about the
same for all of us. But we each have another ten gallons riding in
cans on the back. We're all tired. We're all worried. We're going
to stop here and wait for morning to arrive. Hopefully some of us
will get some sleep.

God is with us, please.

~Through the woods~

The trees grew ever taller, the
darkness deeper as the moonlight's path to the ground was blocked
by the high canopy of the branches as they closed in.

An hour before dawn they came to a wide
and long valley. A small village was nestled in the bottom next to
a broad river. The smell of wood fire hung on the cold night air,
the glow of fire in the distance.

The boy came slowly up on one side, the
twins on the other, scenting the air with their eyes, listening to
the tale that it told. The horse, somewhere in the darkness behind
them all, silent, its large eyes wild in the moonlight. She knew
that was true, even though she could not see it. It was coming to
her, finding its own way, miles away still.

There where ten breathers there in the
small village below, camped among the ruins, on the road, just
stopped for the night. Out of the ten, five were to be part of
them, walkers, their souls only waiting to be claimed. The air
carried their story to them, and another, more complex story with
it. A story of the next ones that were to come, the next additions,
the army that would be assembled and the place that it would be
assembled in.

The boy and the twins trembled and
whined, rusty nails on chalkboard whines, high pitched, slightly
crazy, sounding like bats on the wing in the darkness. She did not
correct them or scold them. Her hands rose and fell upon their thin
shoulders as the air told its tales. A few moments later, the spell
was broken, and they were on their way down to the village, winding
through the thinning trees, finding the broken parts of what had
been the main road, walking close to the tree line as they made
their way closer to the fire.

Fire was their enemy, smoke the
messenger of that enemy. Fire was heat; heat consumed. That is what
it had been created for.

This fire frightened her, but it did
not set the terror loose inside of her that it once had. It could
not, would not kill her. And if it could not, then there was no
real reason to fear it. If it could not, then it was no real
protection to the breathers. Maybe it could still drive away the
living predators, the wolves, the big cats, but she could know
about it, reason it out, think around it... feel it. And it said
that it was not able to hurt her. Not this time.

That was another change. Not so long
ago she could not think around anything. Every thought was a
challenge, and she had been born into this like that, like a blind
and dumb baby of sorts, growing blinder and dumber as the time
passed...

And then the change had come. The
change brought to her on the air, delivered to her eyes, and these,
the boy and the twins, born into that change on the air, struggling
less and less, knowing more and more, bodies changing faster and
faster. And the horse gone to do.

She didn't really know what part the
animal played. Some part. Some part that was needed for the larger
purpose. Maybe this other life would not be the only other
life.

They came to the edge of the darkness,
where the fire light refused to lend its light, and stood staring
at the small group of breathers bedded down around the
fire.

The one who was supposed to be on guard
had dozed. The fire had burned low. He would probably chastise
himself for it, except he would never have the opportunity to do
that. He might have a split second in which to ask his God to
forgive him, but he would probably waste that split second drowning
in his fear, cursing, fighting, dying before he realized he had
wasted his time.

She was by his side a moment later. He
slept on as she bent and prepared to take him. The boy and the
twins had made their own choices. Her hands pinned his arms and her
head darted quickly to his throat. The killing began.

Chapter seven

Evidence

~ April 2~

Morning came slowly, golden light
filtering down through the trees painting light and dark shadows on
the pine covered floor. A light breeze shifted through the limbs
causing the shadows to chase each other.

They searched through the first gray
light of dawn, but they had not been able to find Jeff's body. They
combed the top of the hill to the highway. All of them had ended up
at an area near the top of the hill. A scuffed area of dirt showed
something had transpired there, but there was no way to know what
or whether it had anything to do with Jeff. A few minutes later
Ronnie had found a jacket that they were sure was Jeff's near the
bottom of the long hill. It had lain crumpled and bloodstained in a
ditch that lead up to the road surface. They had gathered around
it, staring down. Candace had finally crouched down and studied it.
A few minutes later she picked it up to look closer.

Several dozen bullet holes stitched the
jacket across the back; two punched through the hood. The jacket
was blood drenched. She let it fall from her hands and stood,
rubbing her hands against her jeans in an unconscious scrubbing
motion, her mouth tight and trembling. “He couldn't have walked
away from that,” she said.

Mike lifted his eyes to the trees and
then the road. Beside him Ronnie did the same. His eyes came back
to Candace to find that she also had checked the surrounding area,
even though she knew he could not possibly have walked away. He
shook his head. “I... We can look back up the hillside...” He
trailed off. Looking anywhere after finding the jacket made no real
sense at all.

Candace shook her head. “They must have
taken his body. But why?” She looked at Mike and Ronnie.

Ronnie shook his head as well. Mike
spoke. “Makes no sense to me. People? Wolves?”

“
Could be... Could be
either. And what do we tell his woman?” Ronnie added.

Candace toed Jeff's jacket where it lay
at her feet. She hesitated and then bent and picked it up. “If it's
all they left us, then we'll give him a burial.” She looked at
Ronnie. “Wolves,” She said.

Ronnie shrugged. “Could be. Why would a
person take him?”

“
Mike?” She looked at
him

“
Maybe... Maybe a couple of
wolves could have made off with his body, I guess.” He looked up
and met her eyes. “We'll run it past Bob. He should
know.”

“
Yeah.” Ronnie agreed. “Bob
will know. Makes sense.”

~

Mike spoke to Bob, but he thought the
wolf idea was unlikely. They spoke in quiet tones as Candace
insisted on digging a hole and burying the jacket.

Candace had found herself wishing for
Lilly. Her own relationship with God was stretched to say the
least, filled with animosity to say a little more. But she spoke
some words about the shadow of death that she remembered from
Sunday school, and they piled the rocks upon the shallow grave they
had dug for Jeff's jacket.

They walked as a group down to where
the trucks had been parked next to the woods. One was still idling,
the other had either run out of gas or had been damaged by the
spray of bullets Candace had hit it with the night
before.

Candace reached in and turned off the
switch of the one still running truck. The silence of the trees and
the forest behind them descended.

~

They had parked and had climbed out
through the windows. From there they had walked through the shadows
down to the park road, and it had almost worked. Only a shadow of
movement had alerted Candace. And if were not for that, the night
could have turned out completely different.

Back in the camp, after the gun battle
was over, Mike had checked Candace over, building up the fire that
he had started earlier to make dinner so he would have enough light
to see by.

The wound on her forehead looked like a
cut, possibly from a rock as she had dived to the ground and
rolled. The stab wound in her arm was red and swollen where the
blade had bitten into the bone. She admitted it ached when she
moved it too fast. Another shallow cut lower down had completely
escaped her attention. And a neat round hole through her jacket
showed how close one particular bullet had come.

After they had taken care of Jeff's
jacket, they searched for the bodies of the others.

They searched for over three hours, all
of them, but they could not come up with the ten bodies they were
sure they should have come up with.

They came up with only five. Two of the
young women were missing, and Cindy couldn't tell them which ones.
Either Tammy or Chloe lay dead where Mike had shot her in the head.
Too much of her face was missing for Cindy to tell. The body in the
truck was missing, and the other that had lain in the road, Death,
was also gone.

Candace shook her head. “No. This guy
was dead. I kicked him. I also shot into him twice more to make
sure he was dead. He was dead, no doubt about it.” She walked
further down the road and then stopped and walked off into the
trees. The others followed after a second when it was clear she did
not intend to come back.

Mike walked up beside her where she had
squatted down in the tall grass. A large jelled pool of blood lay
stuck to the root mass of the grasses. Ants crawled all over
it.

“
Nobody walked away after
losing this much blood.” She shot to her feet; her eyes darted
around at the trees. “Mike,” She waited until his eyes met her own.
“I dumped most of a clip into this one. No way they got up and
walked away. No Fuckin' way.”

“
I believe you.” Mike told
her. His eyes looked worried. “I just want to know they're dead
not... not coming back at us again.” His eyes also swept the trees.
Cindy, Ronnie and Bob exchanged uneasy glances.

“
Had to have been more of
the others,” Ronnie said.

“
No, Man,” Cindy
said.

“
How do you know that?”
Ronnie turned to her. His voice was raised, but she did not flinch
at all.

“
Because I was there. I
know. I was there. I wouldn't lie. I would be the first one they'd
kill... and not fast either,” She finished. And then she did flinch
as a shudder ran through her.

Ronnie turned away embarrassed. “I'm
sorry,” he said clearly, albeit as he was turning away. Candace
tried to catch his eyes, but he refused to look at her.

Mike shook his head. “Let's not go at
each other. Let's let that whole thing that just happened slide.
We're all tense. It doesn't mean shit, except we're a little
spooked... and... with good reason too.” He kicked at the ground.
“What the fuck,” he muttered. “Listen,” he shook his head once
more... “Okay, listen, Jeff told me this. I said nothing about it,
but maybe it...” He shook his head again, but he brought his eyes
up from the ground where they had been watching his boots scuff the
dirt into a small pile.

“
So... Jeff said this... a
little more about what happened. They had come upon this small town
somewhere, didn't say where. He's by himself, like he had said
before, looking through this little drug store... busted up, but
still somewhat intact. Turns the corner in an aisle, and there's
the dead woman there. Bad, but, well, we have all seen so much
death that after his initial jump back, he takes a close look at
her because... well, his words, and he said it to all of us... she
didn't look quite right. Somewhere east of okay.” Mike shrugged.
“As he is trying to put his finger on what it is that is not quite
right, she sits up in the aisle, looks around likes she's blind,
then sort of focused on him.” Mike shrugged again. “Said she was
blind or seemed blind, but she focused on him...”

“
He didn't just stumble
over her like he said to us. Anyway... Jeff don't know what to do
or say, forgets to breath for a second, and then starts forward to
help her. But the first thing he notices is that she has a hole the
size of a fist in her chest. The blood is old. There's a puddle on
the floor; she pulled herself out of it. And before he can think
even a little more, she snarls and begins to backpedal on the tile
floor. His mouth drops, and he stands there watching even after
she's gone.” Mike had turned his attention back to the ground as he
spoke. The little pile of earth had grown considerably.

“
A little more than he said
the first time he told us. We talked about it a little more... just
he and I. I wasn't trying to freeze anyone out or keep it from you.
Things have just been happening too fast.” He looked up after a
quiet moment had passed to see all of them simply staring at
him.

“
So... What?” Tom asked.
“Are you saying she managed to live with that hole in her? And you
guys,” He turned and looked at the others, “You guys talked about
this before?”