by Bryan James
Rhi moved beside me, exhaling forcefully. Reggie chuckled once before his deep voice cut off Greg’s whining meandering.
“You know what man? You go ahead. My kids have been more useful than you. At least they know when to shut up, and I don’t have to worry about them shooting me in the damn back. You take one of these boats, my treat.” He stepped away from the third boat and gestured toward it.
Greg stepped forward, snarling but not passing up the opportunity to leave. Jean followed behind, her eyes doubtful and her mouth twisted as if she wanted to say something, to disagree. But his hand was like iron around her wrist, and she swallowed and jumped after him.
The water made small waves against the now greatly expanded rocky shore as he pushed away.
“Good luck,” he spat. “You’ll need it. World’s no place for weak women and children. We’ll try to leave some food behind if we find some supplies. But I gotta warn you. I feel pretty hungry.”
He laughed at his own joke as the floated away. Beside me, Rhi turned back to the group, instantly writing off the departing pair.
“So everyone else on board? We head off north and stay together?”
Almost as one, heads began to nod and voices of affirmation surrounded me. Smiling, I nodded back.
It was time to find Kate and Ky.
***
“The trail is pretty fresh, I’d say. Maybe seven hours?”
Ethan’s voice was confident as I stared into the gloomy morning sky, grateful for the loaner pair of sunglasses I had stolen from Kate’s bag.
I squinted into the midday sun, made blessedly hazy by the ash in the atmosphere still spewing from the mountains, glancing toward Ethan then back to the gate into the run-down camping sites.
Bodies of badly mangled zeds lined the edges of the main grassy area, and the flattened foliage in the middle of the site, along with sporadic fire pits, made it clear that a large group had camped here the night before.
And had fought a great battle here as well. Blood was thick in several places, a testament to both sides having borne losses.
So far, we had made incredible time from Concrete. We had made it down river with no incidents as we rowed back to the bridge where I had last left Kate.
The remains of the structure were nearly unrecognizable after the ferry had ripped the support platforms of the bridge to shreds, but the river had become so wide with the surge of flood water by the time we reached it, that the approach was simple. The water was high and clear of large obstructions as we coasted up and simply pulled our small boats onto the pavement of the battered road that now dipped directly into the quickly flowing water.
It took me nearly twenty minutes to locate the packs. They were underneath two bushes on the river side of the road, and my heart swelled when I saw them.
They had been abandoned on purpose—no blood, no bullet holes. Neatly tucked under the foliage, like someone had intended to come back for them.
Looking around at the carnage of mutilated undead—some of which Ethan and Rhi had to take care of quietly before we walked through the charnel—it had been clear that something big had gone down here. It was also clear that someone with some major firepower had been part of it. In scanning the surroundings, I knew that Kate and Ky probably had needed to take off into the woods. They hadn’t had much distance between them and the herd when we were jumping off, and if they were caught between a rock and a hard place, they would have fled into the dubious protection of the woods.
I had picked up the packs and moved on, certain that they were traveling with this group. And something that large and well-armed had to leave a trail of destruction in its wake.
Three miles up from the river, we found transportation, and Eli’s precocious skill in hot-wiring came in useful again. A single pickup truck with everyone loaded in the bed. Not comfortable, but better than walking.
Further up the road from there, we found the bullet-riddled convenience store gas station, and the bodies of a man and his young son.
And after that, the remains of the battle at the winery.
We were on the right track.
But judging by the brutality and speed of this group, I was starting to worry. I had been elated to find their packs—proof enough for me that they were alive and well. It had confirmed my gut feeling, my intuition that they had survived that herd and had found a way around the throng of the undead.
This violence, though. Children dying at the end of a gun.
This wasn’t right.
And there was no accounting for what could happen to them if they had errantly joined up with a group of psychotics that marauded across the countryside murdering men and boys, like Rhi and Ethan had long suspected. The evidence was mounting, and my desire to catch up to the group to find Kate and Ky was tempered by my reluctance to put this new group of survivors in harm’s way.
“Fewer vehicles, though,” Ethan said, bringing me back to the present. His voice was curious for once, the instinct overcoming his natural pugnaciousness.
He squinted and pointed at some dirt tracks near the entrance.
“Looks like they brought in more than they left with…Reggie, take a look in that bit of forest over there, behind that shack. I’m going to wander around the back of these bathrooms and see what’s in that shock of tall bushes. We might be due for a gift from these sick fucks.”
I didn’t bother asking, as Ethan and Reggie dispersed. In the center of the campsite, the women and children had found an overturned table, and were making it a rest stop while we confirmed the trail. Rhi waved me over and I sat next to the formidable woman, listening to Margaret and Davey talking about cartoon characters.
What an odd, wonderful thing that was. After everything they had been through, they could still reference something that brought them joy. Something that stood out from the terror and horror that lived in the world around them. I allowed a small smile as Rhi turned to me and spoke in a low voice.
“You think your friends are still with this group?” she asked, tone indicating that she already knew the answer.
“I think they were with this group, physically. As for whether they’re still with them…I suppose there’s no way to tell. But for now, this group is heading in our same direction. I think it’s time for us to veer off, take the smaller roads and head north on a lower profile. I don’t want to put anyone here at any more risk than is necessary, and I have a feeling that I know where Kate is heading.”
My hand rustled in the large cargo pocket of my right leg briefly before pulling out a map I had borrowed from the office of the administrative building. I pulled it tight over my thigh as Rhi watched, and I pointed at a spot roughly twenty miles from a rural border crossing that was, in turn, only fifteen miles away from us.
“All told, I figure it’s twenty miles to the border and another twenty to this rest stop. Can’t miss it. It’s got a big moose holding a donut outside. That’s where they’ll be waiting.”
Rhi glanced up at me once and smiled patiently.
“There’s a lot of shit up in that frozen wasteland that’s got a moose on it, you know?” she joked, then straightened.
“Okay then, cowboy, sounds like a plan.”
As she finished speaking, Ethan rounded the corner behind the nearest building with a huge smile uncharacteristically plastered on his grizzled face.
“You look like you screwed the minister’s daughter, you old bastard. What’s your story?”
He laughed at his wife as he limped closer.
“Well unless the minister’s daughter is a nickname for my right hand, that ain’t what happened. But what I did do, you ungrateful she-devil, is find us a couple more vehicles. Must have been left by those crazy wenches this morning. I reckon it’ll be a little more comfortable to spread out than cramming into that pickup.”
Well now, things were looking up indeed, I thought.
“I guess a blind, retarded pig finds a half-way decent truffle every once and a while
,” Rhi said, not entirely unaffectionately, as Ethan proudly dangled the keys from his hand.
“Okay, folks,” she said to the group as I stood up behind her. “Time to mount up.” Turning to me she asked me again.
“North on the back roads, right son?”
The group watched me as I nodded once and looked north.
“They won’t have stayed with this group long, I know it. We move north, staying away from these lunatics, and meet them on the highway into the city.” My eyes went to Rhi, voice serious and loud so all could hear it.
“And that’s where you all go your own way. Whether I find them or not, I can’t ask you to go further—certainly not into a destroyed city that could be full of zombies. Once we’re at the rest stop, you are all done. You can move north, find somewhere the zombies can’t follow. Okay?”
The general mumbling behind Rhi was hushed when she waved it away and cocked her head at me curiously.
“We’ll see, boy. We’ll see. For now, let’s get while the gettin’ is good—I got zero impulse to drive after dark round here, what with the feminazi militia roaming the earth between zombie herds. I’m too old for this shit.” She stumped off immediately, grabbing a set of keys from Ethan and slapping his wizened ass as she walked past.
Grinning, I followed.
It was time to see a moose about a girl.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Got wood ...?
“Do you even know how to find this place with the moose and the donut? It’s been a while since you were there.”
Ky stared out the window, watching the farmland pass by underneath the shadow of the looming mountains, feeling the vehicle slow and shudder as it passed onto the shoulder frequently to avoid cracks in the pavement.
Kate focused on the driving, watching for obstructions, and she periodically checked her rearview mirror for pursuit. Every ten miles, they pulled over and hid, hoping to reveal any pursuit before they could be overwhelmed suddenly. The thought of Starr catching them again wasn't one that they welcomed. Luckily, they had seen or heard nothing so far.
“It’s hard to miss,” she replied. “Big corny moose standing out front with a donut in his hand. And it’s not hard to find—it’s on the Trans-Canada highway just east of the city.”
“Well, according to that sign, the promised land of moose and snow is only a couple miles ahead. I see the funny customs and border control signs now.”
Kate followed her finger and took a deep breath. She took in the scattered buildings and the surrounding area. It was almost entirely rural, with small clusters of residential buildings throughout, mostly set back far from the road. In better times, they would have tried to scavenge from them, but in their haste, they skipped it, hoping to outdistance the convoy that they were sure was looking for them.
Kate hoped that Starr’s vengeance—or her lust for power—wouldn’t keep her moving after them for long. She also hoped that the vague direction of their travel—north—would be too little to go on. Starr had no idea they were moving toward Vancouver, and had little reason to suspect it. People of moderate to low intelligence were avoiding major metropolitan areas like—well, like the plague—recently, and she hoped that Starr would assume she wasn’t that stupid.
Ky grunted as the SUV pulled onto the median, again trying to avoid a thick crack in the pavement and two stopped cars on the right. To their left, an entire semi-truck had been subsumed into a massive crevasse that had split the southbound lanes down the white lines. All that was visible was the red top of the cab, and the long gray panels of the trailer behind the truck.
Ky laughed suddenly, pointing out the window.
“What are you laughing at? See another sign with a funny Canadian word on it?”
Ky chuckled but shook her head.
“No, over there, on the right. It’s a lumber mill. But their billboard is awesome.”
Kate spared a glance as she slowed, taking in the large metal gates with the thick lock, as well as the fencing that speared off into the distance on either side. A long driveway disappeared into a sparse tree line, and she could vaguely make out a large industrial-looking building in the distance, perched on the top of a rise.
The billboard was, however, pretty funny. It depicted a man with a weak sapling frowning as it drooped sadly away. Another man, wearing the logo of this particular lumber distributor, held a huge plank in his hand while standing proudly and smiling.
“Got Wood?” the advert read.
Kate chuckled briefly then shook her head and accelerated forward, excited now to see the border in the distance.
They were approaching one of the smaller checkpoints along the northern edge of Washington. Much less popular than the Interstate 5 corridor, but still frequented by farming trucks and agricultural vehicles. This one was a simple awning with two office buildings on either side. Two lanes northbound and two lanes southbound, with a cluster of hastily erected sandbag fortifications on both sides.
Ky lowered her window and looked into the surrounding forest—which had grown thick as they moved more northerly. She shivered briefly. The air was definitely growing colder as the ash continued to enter the upper atmosphere.
They slowed as they approached the lines of backed up cars on either side of the checkpoint, scanning the scene before Kate pulled up to the southbound gate and threw the SUV into park. Cars in an orderly line were stacked up in the northbound gate, apparently waiting to flee into Canada. Nearly all the doors were open, some bearing the signs of struggle—broken glass, blood and the like. Some held corpses. Some were simply empty and abandoned.
But on the southbound side, there were only a few cars waiting on the Canadian side to pass through into the U.S. A single pickup blocked the gate, and for a good reason. It had run into the concrete divider between the northbound and southbound lanes, and the wedge of the large structure was jammed halfway to the cab. It must have hit at speed.
Kate got out and Ky followed, both warily watching for contact as they inspected the obstruction. The front window was dirty and obscured by a cloud of blood on the inside.
Kate signaled to the left and she walked to the right, closer to the driver’s side door. As she snaked around the edge of the hood, she jumped as a hand flailed against the interior of the window, smearing blood and spiderwebbing a new array of cracks in the glass.
“This side, driver is a zed,” she said softly and Ky nodded. “Can you take him from that side with an arrow?”
Ky nodded again and brought her crossbow around, leaving her carbine on the single-point sling strapped to her chest. As she turned the corner and moved to the window, she stepped back and frowned, and Kate watched another hand fly out of the passenger side.
Two in the cab, huh? Must have been what started the backup on that side.
The heavy twang of the two bolts ended the suspense and Kate moved to the door, examining the damage. An elderly couple, the corpse of a small dog laying in the back of the crew cab, were the only occupants. She reached past the man, noting the World’s Greatest Grandpa mug in the cup holder, and pushed the gear shift into neutral before turning to the back of the truck.
“Watch here. I’m going to do a quick recon on this side before we start moving it.”
Ky’s eyes immediately started scanning the tree line and the surrounding cars with intent. These areas, with multiple urban and rural obstructions, were some of the most dangerous. These things were slow and they were dumb, but they could be damn quiet sometimes.
Behind the truck was a line of six cars—a few sedans and trucks, and a large semi-trailer. Kate did a quick circuit of the area but it was apparently clear. At least clear enough to start pushing that truck off the barrier and through the checkpoint so they could weave their SUV through the gap. Chain link fencing stretched off to either side of the road border, at least as far as the trees, thus assuring that no one could easily veer past the checkpoint by dashing through the fence.
The two women mad
e short work of the obstruction, aided by the very convenient fact that the truck’s wheels and axles hadn’t been damaged in the impact. Once they dislodged it from the barrier, it rolled moderately easy back and then forward through the checkpoint.
“Welcome to America,” Ky said quietly, as they sent the truck coasting on a slight downhill incline on the opposite side. It came to a rest and Kate took a breath and nodded.
“Mount up and grab your passport. Time to visit Canada.”
***
“My grandfather used to tell me that if I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck at all,” Kate said quietly, leaning forward against the railing of the overpass and staring west. Beside her, Ky leaned her arms against the wall, sighed and allowed her head to droop down, looking at her feet in frustration.
And not a little bit of fear.
The sun was beginning to fall behind the landscape they were facing, sharp rays of light making it through the cheap dime-store sun glasses they had picked up at a convenience store a few miles after the border.
The chill wind whipped at their exposed arms and faces as Kate tapped her fingers against the railing, thinking and cursing her fate.
The overpass upon which they stood crossed over the Trans-Canada highway, perpendicular to the wide freeway. Below them, a crowded field of vehicles sat jammed together on the eastbound route, nearly bumper to bumper.
All of the cars bore evidence of the multiple earthquakes: shattered glass, flattened tires and some were even half-buried in large crevasses in the pavement. The westbound route, blessedly clear since it ran toward a major city—something not many people were inclined to do during a zombie apocalypse—was home to weeds and tumbling trash.
But it wasn’t the freeway they were concerned with.
Nor was it the volcanoes behind them spewing ash and noxious chemicals into the air.