The Dead Road: The Complete Collection

by Paine, Robert

Eli beamed a smile. I looked away and focused on walking. The truth was, it was harder to predict than all of that. It's not like one of these spontaneously crawled out of the ground and started biting people. Maybe it started as an infection, or a virus, something that spread and didn't become active until the first body died from it. It could have gestated for weeks, or months, before it got lethal. I had read enough stories about epidemics, seen enough movies. These things always start small, with one or two people trying to get away from the quarantine, not realizing they're carriers. Sick people getting on planes, trying to disappear, carrying death with them.

  Entire airports get infected, spreading the disease all over the world. I needed to keep Eli's spirits up so he could in turn keep mine up. I needed him to be blissfully unaware of the possibilities, to not pay attention to the fact that my little hypothesis was weaker than my legs. The Black Death started with fleas on rats, and wiped out half of the world population, and that was before you could cross an ocean in six hours. I didn't know enough to be able to truly predict what we would find away from the mountain, but it was just enough to keep me from being optimistic. Eli needed to be optimistic. I needed to be able to lean on him, to be able to grab him when I limped, so I kept going. He wasn't the type to press on no matter what.

  I adjusted my rifle slung over my shoulder and increased my pace a little. Eli looked at me with concern. "You sure you're okay, man? Your feet are kind of fucked."

  I gave a quick nod. "They hurt, but I'll be alright. Better than sitting here and becoming dinner, you know? Besides, the longer we wait, the further away that border becomes."

  "Right, man. Didn't think of that. You just lean against me. A couple of hours and we'll be at the parking lot."

  And if its overrun, if there's a hundred of these things, I know what to do. I patted the rifle again, reassuring myself it was there, that it was the right tool for the job. It would take a lot more than this to fight off a parade of those things, but only one bullet to make sure I don't have to see how bad it's really gotten out there. "Just a couple of hours. No sweat. Thanks, Eli."

  *****

  We had to stop every so often to let me rest my feet, but our pace was steady, and we covered a lot of ground through the darkness. We heard the occasional groan of a distant creature, and we held still, my rifle poised at my shoulder, ready to fire, but nothing came close, nothing emerged from the shadows. It felt like we walked all night, but we finally reached the steady slope down to the road.

  Eli guided me to sit beside a large maple tree. "You sit tight. Rest up. I'm going to go scout the road."

  I took the rifle off of my shoulder and handed it to him. "Take this. Only shoot if you have to."

  "What about you, man? You here, by yourself? What if one comes out of the woods?"

  I smirked and patted his arm, "I'll yell loud enough that you come rushing back. Don't worry about that. Besides, I can run if I have to. I just don't want to." He nodded, but the look in his eyes told me he didn't quite believe me. I gave him a serious look. "I haven't given up yet, Eli. Go check the road. I'll be right here."

  He picked up the rifle and jogged down the hill to the pavement. I leaned back against the tree and closed my eyes. The world seemed to slip away, falling beneath me. My limbs felt heavy. My head swam for a moment, then there was nothing but the blissful embrace of sleep.

  I remember dreaming. Being chased through a maze by some unseen beast. I could hear it slavering and drooling as it ran, pursuing me tirelessly. I felt like I was running on a treadmill. The faster I went, the less ground I covered. Hallways stretched on forever. Corners went into dead ends, or turned back on themselves. Spotlights swayed from above, casting everything into eerie shadows. I could never see what was chasing me. I knew if it caught me it was over. I also knew there was nowhere to run. There was no exit. I would be running forever.

  Eli shook my shoulder and I woke with a start. I looked around wide-eyed, my heart racing. "Any?" I managed to croak, my mouth and throat dry and caked with the remnants of sleep.

  Eli shook his head, "Nothing. I went up the road a few hundred feet too. I think we're in the clear. So up to it, man. Let's get to the car." He reached a hand down and pulled me to my feet and we began the slow descent towards the road. He kept the rifle, as I was now leaning on him completely as I walked. My legs had stiffened up, my feet had swelled, and I could tell there was infection starting in the sole of my right foot. Every step was like touching a hot frying pan. Eli helped me walk as I limped towards the road.

  "We gotta get you to a doctor, man."

  I shrugged. I didn't want to say that I didn't think there were any doctors left to get to. I didn't say that the first places that probably got overrun were hospitals. "Just some bandages and antibiotics. A pharmacy will do."

  The road was much easier to walk than the woods. Stepping up onto the flat, even pavement was a welcome relief. Even though it was still painful, the pavement was cool under my feet and I could plant each step more confidently, unafraid of stepping onto something that will tear my foot open even more. Up ahead was a road sign, "Camping Ahead - 1/2 mile." In the distance I could see the faint glow of the single street light that illuminated the parking lot. Eli nudged my side with his elbow. "See that man? We're almost there."

  My thoughts drifted as we walked. With Eli's help I didn't need to think about where we were going, I just put one foot in front of the other, limping just enough that I didn't slow Eli down. I thought about Roger. I wondered if he had made it down here first, or if he was behind us still, or if he made it at all. I let my eyes drift closed as I walked. I felt exhausted. The act of walking became a mechanical thing, something that a process in my mind was making happen without any sort of thought. I let Eli guide us, and forced myself to stop thinking for a while. I imagined that none of this was real. It was all just an extension of the dreams. The running, the pain, that desperate, clawing feeling of rising panic, it was all just in my head.

  "Oh shit."

  Eli's whisper broke me out of my reverie. I opened my eyes. They were blurry and gummed with sweat and the remnants of sleep, but I could see what made Eli swear. In the glow of the single light I could see a mass of shapes, milling about the parking lot like a pride of lions. There were a dozen or so cars, and between all of the shuffled a pack of the things, over twenty of them, shifting and moving aimlessly.

  Eli ushered me to the side of the road and we ducked down behind a clutch of trees. I rubbed my eyes, trying to clear the sleep from them. Eli brought my rifle up to peer through the scope.

  "Oh god, Alex. There's a shit-ton of them. Gotta be twenty or thirty."

  I groaned and leaned heavily against the tree. "Probably the group from up top."

  "But, how man?"

  I sighed, "They followed the road. Probably followed Roger. Is your car there?"

  He scanned back and forth through the scope, frantic as he tried to peer through the foilage and crowd of monsters. "Uh, I don't see it. I don't think so, man."

  I nodded. "Alright Give me the rifle, let me see."

  He handed it to me and I lifted it up, closing one eye to look through the scope. I could see the throng of creatures as they walked, shambling back and forth around the parking lot. They seemed to move in a circular pattern, each of them shambling around one empty corner of the lot. Even the ones further away seemed to move back and forth to keep that spot in sight. It reminded me of dogs trying to catch a scent, but in slow motion.

  "Did you park in the far corner, Eli?"

  "Uh.. I don't... I'm not sure. It's been a long week, man."

  "Think, Eli!" I glared at him. "My car's two away from that spot. Were you that close?"

  "Uh, yeah, yeah I think so. You helped me carry the beer from my trunk, right? I pulled up on the other side of Roger's truck from where you were."

  I nodded. "Right, yes, that's it. So they're circling your spot. They followed Roger's scent, and lost it when he got into the car and
drove off. They're hovering around where he got away."

  Eli slammed his fist into the tree. "What the hell do we do now, man? There's twenty of those things between us and your car! We'll never get all of them!"

  I sighed, "I don't even have that much ammo on me. It was all in my pack."

  "How far is the bridge he told us to go to?"

  I shook my head, "Two or three miles he said. I'll never make it. My foot's screaming like a newborn baby." I looked over at him. "But you can make it on your own."

  Eli sniffled. I could see tears welling up in his eyes. "No way, man. I'm not leaving you here."

  "Eli, listen." He shook his head back and forth, his face screwed into a pained expression. "I can't. I just can't. You can't carry me two miles to a bridge with a pack of those things between here and there. They'll smell the blood on me. They'll smell us, and they'll chase us down, and I can't outrun them like this. I'm better off being a distraction for you, so you can run pat them. You can get to Roger."

  Eli buried his face in his hands and started to cry. It was too much for him. He already had to watch Jake die twice right in front of him: once from the bite, the other when I shot him through the eye. Now the idea of leaving me to die, after everything we'd been through to get to this point, he couldn't take it. I wiped my own tears from my eye and looked back at the lot. My car was far from the others that were parked there. If we can just distract them somehow, get them to wander away from my car just for a minute, we have a chance.

  Eli sobbed, wiping his nose on his sleeve, sniffling loudly. "I can't, man. I just can't." When he sniffled one of the things turned its head and paused. I got the feeling it was looking for the source of the noise, its dead eyes scanning the blackness. After a few seconds it started its shambling patrol again.

  "Eli. Sh!" I whispered. He swallowed back his sobs and nodded to me. He reminded me of a schoolboy, trying to hold back his tears after his teacher scolded him; his lips quivered and his nose ran, but he made no sound. I kept my eyes on the parking lot, watching that single creature that heard him. It was back in formation, wandering in the small semicircle it had been walking before. I eyed the other cars carefully. One was a fairly new BMW sedan with New York plates, probably belonging to another Manhattan weekend warrior up here to escape the city. The things didn't seem to notice it at all, walking around it like it was just another obstruction. Watching through the scope I could see a red LED flashing, reflecting off of the driver's side window the dashboard. "Holy shit, Eli. I think I have an idea."

  Eli looked up at me. I kept my eyes on the BMW. "I think that car over there has an alarm. If I put a bullet through the windshield it'll go off." He looked puzzled. "Eli, if there's a car alarm going off, we may be able to sneak into my car and get the fuck out of here before they notice."

  "You think so, man?"

  "When you made noise one of them looked over, but it wasn't enough to make it give up its hunt. It still thinks there's prey close by, even if it can't find it. I bet a loud enough noise will make them all move to check it out. Maybe not for a long time, but long enough to get a car started ."

  Eli wiped his eyes and nodded, "Okay, man. Okay. What do we do?"

  I lowered the rifle, "First, we gotta get closer. Feeling strong?" I could barely walk, and a slow limp around a parking lot full of monsters was a bad choice. If they spotted us, this plan was over. No amount of noise was going to distract a pack of hungry things when there was fresh meat in sight.

  Eli picked up on what I meant. He moved over towards me, then hunkered down in front of me. With an awkward hop I got up on his back like we were a couple of schoolboys at field day. He shifted me into a better position, then stood up. "Good thing I keep in shape," he grunted.

  "Yeah, good for us both. Now cross the road here, and let's make a wide arc towards the lot. Once we have a good view of my car, we'll find a spot to take the shot from."

  With uneasy steps he began to walk. Crossing the road was the easy part, as the pavement allowed for careful, measured steps, hell to toe, making as little noise as possible. Once we got to the other side however, the dirt and undergrowth made Eli unsteady. His steps came in stuttering shuffles, sliding in the dirt to make sure we didn't topple over. He got to a large tree and leaned against it, catching his breath for a moment, then started again, slowly making our way around the lot, keeping it distantly on our right.

  We could hear the collective groans and sighs emanating from the crowd. I could feel fear clawing at the pit of my stomach as we got closer. There was something inherently wrong with them, something that triggered every primal response in me going back to when we were still weak primates dodging saber-toothed tigers. Even the rifle slung over my shoulder didn't provide any comfort. I knew it wasn't enough.

  Eli stopped against another tree. The view of the parking lot was obscured, but we could see the shadows of the creatures milling back and forth. We were closer than we had been, the stench of death and foulness clinging in the air. I tapped Eli's shoulder and gestured for him to let me down. I slid cautiously to the ground and sat against the tree. He sat down next to me and whispered "What now?"

  I gestured to our left, where I could see a few small trees in a tight group. "That's near the edge of the lot. I've pissed at those trees a dozen times."

  He nodded, "Lemme catch my breath, man."

  "Footsteps are too risky. We'll crawl it."

  "You sure, man? Your leg--"

  "My foot, not my leg, and I don't need feet to crawl. C'mon." I laid down on my belly and started to shimmy across the ground. It was slow going, but nearly silent. I felt like a sniper in a war movie, trying to get the perfect shot on the enemy. I got closer to the trees. One of them let out a loud moan. I froze. I didn't know if they communicated with one another, but I was afraid to look.

  Eli came up behind me and shoved me forward. "Go, man!" he hissed.

  I hazarded a look over my shoulder. It was a clear view to the lot from here. I could see them, shuffling, starting to break formation. They had given up the hunt, and now were searching for new prey. It was only a matter of time before one of them caught my scent. I shook my head, turned to face the lot, and brought my rifle forward.

  Eli laid down beside me. "You're shooting from here?"

  "We don't have a choice." I sighted in the BMW. Monsters lumbered past my view as they milled, trying to find a new pattern, a new course of action. I waited for an opening. I could feel my pulse in my ears. I lined up the shot - it would go through the driver's side window and the windshield. It should be enough to set off the alarm. I took a breath, putting my finger on the trigger. One heartbeat. Exhale. Squeeze.

  The shot rang out in the night, echoing through the forest. At the last moment one of the things stepped into the line of fire. The bullet hit it in the chest, knocking it off of its feet as gore splattered against the car. The entire crowd stopped moving and turned towards us. "Holy shit!" Eli whispered. I cocked the bolt and aimed again. My heart was racing. They knew something was out here. Something loud. They were going to come this way to find out what. The one closest to us took a shuffling step. The rest started to follow. I could see the window, dripping with blood. I held my breath. I squeezed the trigger.

  The glass shattered. The car erupted into a cacophony of sirens and honks. The lights flashed, the horn blared. In the silence of the night it sounded like a parade. All the times I had heard car alarms going off I never noticed how loud they were. This one hurt my ears. The things stopped, all turning to face the car in unison. There was no hesitation this time. They all lumbered towards the car, hoping for the chance of food. I grabbed my keys out of my pocket and tossed them to Eli. "Go!"

  He grabbed them up and got to his feet, sprinting to the car. I forced myself up and started to hobble. It was only a couple hundred feet. I winced and swore as I moved, barely able to put any weight on my foot. I was hopping across the grass, sucking air in through clenched teeth. I saw Eli fumble with the ke
ys, then the tail lights flashed as he hit the unlock button on my keychain. He climbed in and started the ignition. I saw a few of the zombies turn to face him instead. I tried to speed up, but my legs wouldn't cooperate. Another fifty hops. He put the car in reverse and backed it to the edge of the lot. I could hear him yelling. "C'MON MAN! GO! GO!"

  Four of them lumber towards us. Now five. Their arms outstretched, grasping at empty air. Eli shoved the passenger door open. I was twenty feet away. I hopped in and almost fell into the seat. I could feel a cold, dead hand clutching at my ankle. Eli hit the gas. The car lurched forward as we squealed the tires. The hand flailed to try to grab on to something, but we were suddenly out of reach. I pulled my leg into the car and closed the door as Eli turned onto the road. We were safe, for now.

  *****

  We drove the couple of miles in silence. Neither of us wanted to talk, to risk breaking the feeling of peace that settled. It was a respite, nothing more. We weren't out of danger by any means, but for the moment we could convince ourselves it would be alright. We saw the wooden bridge up ahead. Eli's car was parked to one side. Eli smiled. "Fuck'n A."