Living amongst the Dead: On the Road Again

by J. N. Morgan

  Reaching a crossroads a road going south went by an apartment building… not ideal. Towards the north some quaint houses but didn’t look like much. The east was looking quite tempting, the road going on as far as the eye can see, rising, it went past what must have been a hill for at the top was a straight wall of tree on either side and then nothing. The trees on the north side of the eastern road betrayed nothing, perhaps because there was nothing there or because it was hiding some houses very successfully. There were trees along the south side of the road too, but thinner, and some rooves were just barely visible. No… no this probably wasn’t the road for them. A zombie that was only barely in view beside a tree along that east road turned to look at them, and Richard’s keen eyes seen half its face gnawed or otherwise scraped away, its tongue hanging down loosely by his neck, or at least he assumed it was a he. The flesh on the bottom of ‘its’ mandible must be gone.

  “Follow the lines, I think.” Tiffany accepted his suggestion, but Veronica kept looking east.

  “Maybe there’s nothing on the other side of that hill, maybe we can keep going from here.”

  “Maybe, a definite maybe, but I kind of doubt it. If the line leads us astray, we’ll come back and try it, ok?” He looked to her pleadingly, not wanting to argue, and to his relief she gave a quick nod before turning to continue northeast. So far, it was going pretty good. They should be avoiding the city at this rate.

  Chapter 7

  Not as smooth traveling as the road, but going along the trail wasn’t terribly bad. At least the ammo issue seemed to have been dropped. After about 10 minutes of steady walking, they started to smell it. Another 5 minutes, and they were pulling their shirts over their faces to try and cover it from the stench. 5 minutes more, their eyes were watering and Tiffany vomited, visibly disgusted as she inadvertently breathed through her nose, so she held it with finger and thumb before letting another gush of partially-digested food splash to the ground.

  A couple thin paths, running perfectly parallel to one another even though they both weaved, betrayed it as being the tracks for vehicles. It went to a small clearing to the left. Other than what looked like a large sewer pipe that was left rusting on the ground, there was nothing of note. They were jogging by now, just wishing to get away from the unimaginably foul odour. Good thing for the tracks at least, it made traveling easier and faster as they ran along the left side of the wide clearing for the tower, however a second clearing to the left had them scrambling to the rougher right side of the clearing.

  Some black plastic garbage bags as well as a few white shopping bags sat in the Sun. The typical sight of a garbage dump, along with some discarded furniture, the rusting husks of vehicles, some appliances like fridges, deep freezes, what looked like a washer or a drier. It was insignificant however. Beside it, several times its size, a pile of festering flesh, so far gone that it just seemed to be a mount of liquefying skin with the occasional bone sticking out. Bits falling off as it baked in the sunlight. Though she held her nose, she couldn’t stop from gagging, wishing to vomit up what no longer existed in her stomach. Even Rich gave a few gags, and Nick was barely holding back what was in her stomach. Still they jogged, unable to avert their eyes from the horror.

  Without thinking they went right along the dirt path only a few meters wide, nowhere near as wide as what the line provided. The path going directly east would get them away from it more quickly, and thankfully no structures were in sight as they continued to jog. Two-lane road up ahead going north and south, and he feared that if it were a populated road they’d be forced to go back to that rot so as to continue along the path with the lines. Tiffany was looking utterly pale, potentially even threatening to faint, and had it not been for his one hand plugging his nose he’d have patted her on the back to encourage her to keep going. The stench was so bad, its affect on his nose made the healing gunshot wound on his shoulder pale in comparison.

  They were at the road in no time at all, the three of them too afraid to uncover their noses while still so close to the horror behind them even though it was now out of sight, the brief dirt trail weaving just enough to block it from sight. The trees broke on their left side first, showing a wooden house roughly the shape of a barn but with steps going halfway up the wall on the side to provide access. No paint, but with a dark finish. It looked beautiful, but the offense to their sense of smell prevented anyone from truly admiring it. No undead in sight, that much was good.

  Veronica quickly turned south, Tiff followed, however the man piped up.

  “No! No!” They turned, eyes wide, clearly just wanting to keep moving to get away from this torture. “City!” He pointed south along the road. “Lines!” He pointed north, breathing through his gaping mouth heavily while still grasping his nose, slippery with sweat from all the jogging. The three of them were getting tired of the quick movement, even the most fit of the bunch was breathing a little heavily though still maintained the least loss of breath. Not wanting to waste the time arguing, they headed north at a quick rate however no longer jogging. From behind the faintly barn-looking house came a zombie, giving a gurgled moan. It was met with a black middle finger before the three quickly was lost to a corner of trees as they kept along the asphalt. Tiffany so wanted some water to wash the taste out of her mouth. Even with said taste being made dull by keeping her nose pinched, she still knew the taste of vomit was still there.

  Must have been less than 100m and they were beneath the lines once more. They didn’t even bother looking southwest in the direction of the… must have been thousands of corpses. Northeast once more, and to their luck there were tire tracks here too. Quite a lot of them. So well-worn was the path that it was quite mucky, but it was better than being up to their knees in wild grass.

  Structures to the north, though not many. Beautiful. This must have been a fantastic and quiet little neighbourhood once upon a time. Some boats were parked in purpose-built trailers to be attached to vehicles for transport, and he even seen a blue canoe lying elevated on a couple thick junks of wood. For a brief moment he thought of the hardship that will have to be faced when attempting to sail to Newfoundland once they reach the Atlantic, but it was soon put out of his mind. There was plenty of time to worry about that, right now they just had to get the Hell away from whatever that was back there.

  A few hundred meters in, the couple beautiful houses and the pleasant little bit of grassland between was lost to a wall of trees on either side of them once more. Quite an impressive trail was cut for these little towers. Must have been close to 50m of clearance, though for now they were mostly along the left side following the tracks as they went along the perfectly straight clearing. The tracks ran right through a steam, wide but shallow, perhaps 5m. Their boots got wet but it would be worth it to keep making headway.

  The man eventually dared to release his nose which was beginning to feel sore, and giving a sniff, there was a faint scent of decay in the air, perhaps not far off from when approached a single walker to bayonet it, but ultimately tolerable. It was nice to have air coming in through both mouth and nose again. A breeze cooled the sweat on his brow, and sent him coughing and sputtering in gags. It was coming from ‘down there’, and so he continued to keep his nose pinched, informing the others to do the same for the time being.

  So their boots squelched the rest of the few hundred meters until they had reached yet another perfectly straight road, it must have been some kind of grid on the go, very large. Another two-lane road, going directly north and south. It was afternoon by now, the Sun beginning its drop towards the west. Thankfully, this road seemed baron. To the north, nothing but trees in sight. To the south, the same. Well, for the most part at least. A line of trees was thin, a house barely in view from behind it to the southeast. A straight cut, though much thinner, continued northeast, and directly east was yet another. They were probably about half as wide as what they’d been dealing with thus far.

  “A rebreeve…” his normally deep voice was
slightly high-pitched, altered heavily by his nose still being pinched. The women, also standing on the road, looked to the man who had stopped walking, a quizzical look on their faces, a slight show of amusement on Tiff’s slightly chubby face. To be fair, it did sound pretty funny. He let his nose go again.

  “A reprieve…” he said, then with clear apprehension allowed air to enter his nose once more. It was still there, but thankfully only slightly, even though they were so far away from it by now, must be over half a click at least. The women then released their nose at seeing him handling it quite well, and sighed with relief even though the stench was still slightly present. At least it wasn’t quite as horrendous.

  Veronica started to take off her boots, which she was pleased to find relatively dry. Very tough and fairly high leather boots. Richard’s didn’t fare quite as well, and it was clear that quite a bit of squelching had been coming from him. Tiff’s first priority was to wash out her mouth, and so put the hefty pack down, zipped it open, and pulled out the plastic water bottle. A mouthful taken, swished, spat towards the ditch, and then glugged some of it down. The man grunted, hand outstretched, and she passed it to him. A few glugs taken as well, and when offered to Nick it was taken, a single swig downed, then passed back to the first to drink so as to return it to the pack.

  Catching their breath, letting their sweat dry, Rich found himself lying on his back after all that jogging and fast-paced walking. Tiff did the same beside him. The survivor who wasn’t nearly as tuckered out was content to sit up straight, looking around every now and then but it was clear that nothing was going to spot them out there.

  “What a day…” she muttered, shaking her head. Tiff gave an open-mouthed noise of agreement while Richard merely inaudibly nodded to nobody in particular as he left his eyes closed, almost as though about to take a nap, but he just didn’t feel like looking up at the sky where the Sun was still quite high in. He could use a drink. It would seem that everyone had their vices.

  The two sets of power lines that reached over the road now separated, with one set of lines coupled with the skeletal metal towers heading straight east, and the other northeast. The latter seemed to veer off to the right to some extent, towards the east, after perhaps a kilometer or so. The former went on as far as the eye can see, ending in an almost perfect square of sky framed by the ground and the wall of trees on each side, much like the road they’d crossed not long ago. How long had they been going northeast now? Several kilometers to be sure, surely they had avoided the city by now?

  Nothing could be done about the wet boots, nor could much be done about the wet socks, so it was dawned once more after everyone had a nigh-sufficient break. By now, most everyone involved would have liked to call it quits for the day and just take it easy, perhaps focus on finding food for once evening as well as having Breakfast for the morning. There was more traveling to do yet however.

  As far as tire tracks or trails went, no such luck. So it was either east or northeast. The one question on Richard’s mind was ‘have we gone north enough to get around the city?’

  “We must have.” Nicky replied when the question had been muttered. The man was standing as well, looking from one cut in the trees to the other. Tiffany was still on the pavement, though sitting up rather than lying down. She was in no mood to be making decisions or providing guesses, so let the other two decide what their plan of action should be.

  “Probably.” Nodding his agreement, his eyes fixed to the east, on the nothingness that the lines seemingly lead to, wondering what the curve of the earth hid from their low vantage point. If only there was somewhere higher they could climb to get a better view, but he certainly wasn’t about to risk falling from one of those tower things, nor was he going to suggest one of the women give it a go either. “East. Northeast.” Pointing his good forward, fingers and thumb making a sort of arrow, he pointed from one route to the other, meanwhile behind them the Sun was ever so slowly dropping in the sky. Still several hours of daylight left yet however. “East?” The hand returned to the first route, the one on their righthand side that seemed to hold no certainty for where it lead, though neither did the other. The only thing the northeast path told them was that they’d have to go slightly more eastwards after a short while.

  “May as well.” Shrugging her shoulders, Veronica picked up her pack and rifle which had been put down for the time being. Walking over to his sitting woman, he leaned down and hefted up his pack, leaving the rifle for her to take. It was lighter, and he figured it was time for him to start getting used to the weight of his things again. Hopefully it won’t be much longer before he’s back to full strength, and then hopefully it won’t be much longer than that when his right arm will be in working order again. Even if it doesn’t heal completely right, which it probably won’t, it’ll be good to not have to worry about the pain any longer.

  The woman smiled, face dried from the sweat, and grunted as she got up on her feet again. As far as she was concerned she’d like to rest another hour or so on the road but there was no sense in that. Onwards. So the man’s boots continued to squelch as they went eastward bound.

  Thoroughly uneventful, but perhaps that was for the best. At least there was this much; the scent of that… scene… back there was dying out quickly. It was good to have that behind them. Minutes ticked by, more trudging through overgrowth, more squelching from worn boots, and eventually a road came into sight. Another one going north and south, only two-lane. It wasn’t the Trans-Canada which he was hoping to find soon. The prospect of having to travel along such a bleak trail for days on end was decidedly unappealing, but hopefully that wasn’t what was in store for them. Still, it would be a better alternative than finding out they in fact hadn’t gotten past the city, and after hours or days of walking it would turn out they had to either cut back west to go northeast or otherwise try to bushwhack. The woods were far too dense for that though.

  Typical wooden power poles ran the length of the road as they got closer, a metallic-looking white shed guarded fencing that was topped with barbed wire was passed on the left, right next to the road. Some pipes rose from the ground within said fence. It must have been a maintenance shed or some such thing, not of any interest to them, especially at the risk of trying to get past barbed wire.

  To the north, seemingly nothing but woods, however considering the street lights that accompanied this lonely road, he assumed there were some houses hidden from view. Peering south while the party continued east, the east side of the road looked to be solid with trees however the west side thinned out and from within those thinning trees could be seen a red roof with white walls. As they got to the end of the road, another roof faintly came into view. With no food available, a part of him, a naïve part of him that has been stomped dead months ago told him that maybe they should go and check it out. Maybe there’s food, or guns and ammo. Maybe there’s no walkers. After all, look around, there’s seemingly not many buildings, thus low population, which means I should be safe.

  Perhaps it was. Perhaps there were a few cans in there, with no undead. Perhaps it was never looted in spite of the months that had gone by since the loss of civilization and the nearby city. Perhaps there was enough food in there to stay for a few days, to sleep in beds, to relax… but October was getting nearer. Week by week the temperature was slowly dropping, with the nights getting cooler and cooler, the days getting less and less warm. There were still several hours left to the day yet, and that meant perhaps a couple dozen or more kilometers that they could put behind them. Ontario was dotted with lakes and lined with rivers, they’ll find one or the other eventually. They’ll fish, get some quick meals, perhaps luck-out and get a deer or moose to feast on for a few days, fill up his two Mason jars for a couple meals on the road later on. They’ll make things work. Even if they have to eat grass, they’ll continue to survive.

  So they went down a shallow ditch, rose to the ground on the other side, and the walls of trees took them in again as they
continued to follow the power lines. Once more, either the curvature of the round Earth or a modest hill in the distance was all that was needed to block their ability to see where this path ended, or where it lead.

  All the rough terrain was sending a burning sensation into his calves, and he could only imagine how Tiff’s legs were doing. Veronica could probably go all day long like this for days on end. Thinner than either of the whites, more toned even though Rich had more muscle mass, she had less weight to carry on her body but still had an impressive amount of muscle to fuel her almost lithe figure.

  Fifteen minutes later, several hundred meters no doubt, another break was called. Mostly spurred on by Tiff, but her man welcomed it as well. Veronica groaned, finding this impeded progress daunting. While the other two sat to catch their breath and rub their sore calves, she looked up at one of the tower, hands on her hips.

  “I could get a Hell of a view from up there, y’know…” she said to nobody in particular, and was resting her thumbs on the sash that kept the baggy coat tight to her body. It was meant for someone who was much larger than her, so zipping it up would leave it incredibly ill-fitting. By tying the sash tightly around her mid-section, it was snug against her, the flaps of the front nearly reaching either side of her thin frame.

  “Could suffer a Hell of a drop from up there, too.” Rich replied, and soon the young woman’s friend piped up as well.

  “It would be useful, but it’s far too dangerous sweetie. We’ll keep going in a bit, just let us catch our breaths.” Something was grumbled from under the thin one’s breath, but neither of the older survivors bothered to ask what was said. As luck would have it, no attempts were made at climbing the transmission tower or whatever it’s called, and a couple minutes later the three were off again along the perfectly straight and roughly 20-25m wide path cut through the greenery.