“What do we do about the rest?” LeBlanc looked at the boxes after the bags were stuffed.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Riley told him. “Maybe when we go, we should leave the doors open so others can take them if they want.”
“That might start fights over it,” Cole mumbled from the front seat. It was the first thing he had said in nearly ten minutes.
“I’d rather start a fight than think someone who really needed it couldn’t find it.” Riley went to the back of the ambulance and opened the doors. If she couldn’t use her own supplies, then she didn’t want them to go to waste.
LeBlanc followed her out and handed her his packsack. She gave him a confused expression with a glance to her own bag.
“My bag’s lighter than yours.” LeBlanc threaded his arms through the straps of what had been Riley’s bag. “So I’m carrying yours and you’re carrying mine.” He then looked at the old woman in the car behind theirs and winked.
Riley didn’t bother to turn to see her reaction. She just swung the pack onto her back and reached into the back of the ambulance one last time to pull out her rifle of choice. It was a bolt action model 70 Winchester rifle with 30-06 Springfield rounds. The reason for this choice was because of its accuracy and the bolt action would force her to make sure she aimed every shot. What was the point of firing hundreds of bullets if only one to the head mattered? Automatics were a waste of ammo when body shots were worthless. It only held five rounds a magazine but she had been reloading guns about as long as she could walk so she was pretty quick at it.
“Do your guns have a single shot setting?” Riley asked LeBlanc.
“Yup.” LeBlanc showed her. “As soon as we knew we were coming out here, we flipped it to that setting and on that setting it will stay.”
Good, they knew single shots were best. Riley couldn’t help but notice the gun. She had never seen that kind before. At first, she had mistaken it for an M4A1 carbine, but with a closer look, she saw that there were a lot of subtle differences. The barrel was shorter and the magazine was wider, possibly to hold more rounds. The end of the stock that you would butt up against your shoulder was padded which suggested to Riley it had more kick. She could see smaller detail changes as well, but without a thorough study, she couldn’t say for sure what they were. It must be one of the perks of working for Keystone: you get all the neat toys before they come out on the market.
Around them, the mass of people was starting to catch up. Only the quickest of the groups so far, most of them in ones and twos, the largest group consisting of just four. Cole hopped out of the front seat, slinging his own pack onto his back as he went. The three grouped together at the back of the ambulance, looking inside to make sure there was nothing else they could take. Riley grabbed one more loaded mag and a box of latex gloves and put them in the cargo pockets on the sides of her shorts. Then she decided to grab her stethoscope and slung it around her neck. She didn’t think she would be able to carry any more than that and so stepped back from the open doors. It was painful for her to do it, worse than leaving her house. Already she noticed some people looking at the ambulance with curiosity.
* * *
The trio climbed over the barrier and started weaving their way through traffic. Although the moving cars on this side posed some threat, it would get them past the truck and out of its danger zone faster. The truck was currently more worrisome than the creeping traffic.
Riley looked around. It seemed the Jeep had made its way through the crowd and taken off because she couldn’t see it anywhere. Further back there must have been a safe route to get off-road without ending up in a ditch, because more and more cars were making their rough way next to the tree line. Riley guessed a fair number of people were going to be run down by those cars, especially as the drivers became more impatient. Once the first zombie, or someone mistaken for a zombie, got close enough to one of those cars, it would start an automobile stampede that no one would be safe from. It could happen on this side of the highway too, but because there were more cars than people, they were actually safer. The bulk of the cars would offer some protection, but they would still have to be careful not to get their legs pinned between them.
When they made it to the top of the hill, they could see the truck billowing smoke at the bottom of it. There was even more than before.
“I don’t like the look of that,” Cole frowned.
“I don’t either,” Riley agreed.
“What do you think? Should we make our way to the tree line and pass over there? That’d be further away than we could get on this side.” Cole looked down at Riley.
She hadn’t realized until just that moment how much taller he was. She only made it up to about his chin. Riley was a little on the short side and Cole was a little on the tall side. “Yeah. Even further though. We’re going to walk through the trees; if that thing goes, I want something solid between us and it.”
Cole nodded his agreement and crossed over the barrier once again. It would have been nice to avoid the faster moving cars on the other side of the ditch, but they had no choice. Their side of the road didn’t have trees. It still had housing developments along it and a large stone wall separating them from the highway.
Riley and LeBlanc followed Cole back over the barrier and wove their way through the stopped vehicles. Nearly all of them had been abandoned by now. In the few that were still occupied, the owners clearly didn’t know what to do; couldn’t decide on the best course of action. The group climbed down the ditch and stopped once they had scrambled up the other side. Checking first that no cars were going to come tearing along, they hurried over to the tree line. This close to the turned-over truck, Riley could smell gas over the perpetual stink of exhaust. She was surprised it hadn’t gone up in a great whoosh of flames already. Everybody in the area had been lucky about that, so far. The hoard that was coming up might not be though. If this day continued to be as unlucky as it had been, the truck-turned-bomb was likely to go off just as the masses surrounded it.
They entered the trees and began putting some distance between them and the highway. This side of the highway had never been developed because it was a national park. Keystone probably could have found a way to buy it out and develop all they wanted but they had decided not to. In fact, they donated a lot of money to keep it a park and had made sure that no trees in it were harmed when they widened the highway. It was something about helping with the pollution, although Riley doubted it would do much good. Then again, Leighton was a very clean city as far as cities go.
Marble Keystone had built it from the ground up. Nearly forty years ago, they had decided to place their headquarters and main labs in the middle of nowhere off highway 533. Then they had to build homes for their workers to live in because commuting would be ghastly. After that, they needed shops so the workers could buy necessities, and other businesses so that their families could live and work there as well. The place was pretty much always under construction, but everything had been planned out rather well. Leighton could just as easily be called Keystone City. The only reason it wasn’t was because the people had decided to vote for Leighton instead. There were other locations around the world where Keystone was doing this kind of thing as well, but Leighton was the first and the oldest. The others couldn’t be considered cities yet.
The trees and brush were thick next to the highway, but after pushing through the worst of it, it cleared out a bit. There was enough brush though, that Riley wished she had attached the bottoms of her pants. Other people were tromping their way through the woods as well. Not a lot, but a few. They looked very wary and scared. Riley bet that each of them had had a zombie encounter.
They went far enough into the woods to make out some glittering off the lake on the other side of the trees. Coming across a deer trail that ran parallel to the highway was a bit of luck. It made the going easier but Riley’s bare shins were still brushed by bushes every so often. It was a good thing she had grown up in the w
oods and was used to having various parts of herself scratched up.
They walked in silence, each in their own thoughts. Riley’s were mostly about what to do next and trying to do an inventory from memory of the things they had in the cabin. Occasionally, thoughts of her family invaded and she wondered how they were handling things. She also wondered how Cender was doing.
It was while she was lost in these thoughts that the explosion happened. The trees dampened the shock wave, but a great flock of birds exploded out of the bushes all around.
“The truck.” Riley instinctively ran toward the highway. Her training as an ER doctor kicked in and she felt a need to make sure people were okay. Apparently, she could turn that part of her off when it came to zombie infection, but not to other sorts of accidents.
She leaped over brush and darted around rocks, ducked under branches and swerved around tree trunks. Her childhood times spent running through the woods with her sister and brothers came back to her in a flood. Her feet knew where to land with only minimum input from her eyes.
Behind her, she could hear the boys plowing after her, more like charging bulls to her graceful deer. She squeezed out through the thick stuff and into the bright, clear sunlight. It took her a moment to get oriented to the highway again but it didn’t take long to spot the truck. A wall of black smoke rose up from the highway behind them obscuring everything past it. Riley headed toward it.
“Wait.” LeBlanc caught up and placed a restraining hand on her arm.
“There might be someone I can help.” Riley didn’t try to pull away though. Even if she had, LeBlanc’s grip was like steel.
“There could be, yes,” LeBlanc nodded. “But some people will have died, and some of those dead may have been infected and are now rising again. Or even if they aren’t dead, you run a high risk of getting contaminated blood on you and getting infected yourself. Besides, how many do you really think you can save with the supplies you have on hand? Not to mention we may need those supplies.”
“What if one of them is Danny?” Cole stared at the pillar of black.
LeBlanc let go of Riley and sat silent for a moment. “We’ll take a quick look,” he finally said. “But we’re not to use our supplies on anyone. If they have their own, then go for it using theirs, but only if you think you can do it without getting any blood on you.”
Riley nodded and headed toward the wreck. Cole followed right beside her, but LeBlanc stayed a few steps behind them. He kept his rifle up and at the ready; he was being the rational one.
* * *
The first victim Riley came across was very dead. She couldn’t even tell if it was male or female, just a hunk of charred and burned flesh. He or she must have been next to the tanker when it went up, the body thrown a good distance. It was probably a quick and maybe even instant death. Here and there were bits and pieces, some identifiable, some not. Riley tried not to focus on them.
Cole started calling out his brother’s name. The closer they got to the truck, the louder he had to call to be heard. The roar of the flames was consuming all other sound. A second, smaller explosion went off causing everyone conscious to duck. It had been a car on the other side of the tanker exploding. Several others were on fire and likely to go off as well. Riley quickly saw there was little she could do. Even with an unlimited amount of supplies, a sterile work environment, and no risk of infection, those that weren’t dead already soon would be. Cole wasn’t the only one calling out a name. Several people were looking for friends, loved ones. Some had found them and just sat there, bawling.
A woman spotted Riley and her eyes went wide. She must have noticed the stethoscope around her neck. She stumbled toward Riley, arms stretched out. She wasn’t badly hurt, only a few minor burns on her arms, but she kept pointing behind her, gesturing to someone else in the crowd. The roar of the flames and Cole’s shouting drowned out her cries for help. Riley didn’t know what to do. The doctor in her wanted to step forward, the survivalist wanted to run away.
LeBlanc suddenly stepped forward, placing himself between Riley and the woman. His gun was raised, muzzle pointed at the woman’s face. He began shouting at her, telling her to back off. She stopped, scared of the gun, but continued to cry out for help. LeBlanc started backing up, pushing Riley along behind him. Cole scanned the area frantically but he stopped calling out and followed backwards with them. LeBlanc finally turned around. He grabbed Riley’s shoulders and spun her around as well, marching her forward by grabbing the handle on the top of her bag and pushing. He kept looking over his shoulder.
“I can walk on my own.” Riley finally managed to shrug out of his grip.
“How about we agree not to stop for any more big disasters?” LeBlanc suggested. He looked at Riley only briefly as he said this and focused most of this statement toward Cole.
Cole nodded, but continued to look around.
Out of the bushes next to them sprang a snarling man, causing Riley to gasp and trip over her own feet. Despite seeming distracted, Cole raised his gun reflexively and fired. The man went down, two shots to the torso and one saviour to the head. A bit of ammo waste, but at least the zombie was down.
“They’ve gotten pretty far,” Cole frowned as he helped Riley get back to her feet. Her heart was hammering in her throat.
“Like I said, that blast probably created a bunch in a hurry,” LeBlanc shrugged. Both the men were eerily calm.
“No,” Riley shook her head as she looked down at the body. “This man has no burns. Other than the gunshots, it looks like his only injury is to his shoulder.”
Riley looked around and noticed a wide swath of brush had been flattened nearby. She made her way to it, her own rifle now raised to her shoulder. Down the cleared patch was the Jeep they saw earlier, now rammed up against a tree. The three of them headed for it.
“What did I just say about accidents?” LeBlanc muttered.
“You actually said ‘big disasters’,” Cole pointed out. “I don’t think a car crash counts as that.”
They slowly surrounded the Jeep and took a quick look inside. There was nothing and no one, although there was a fair amount of blood on the dashboard, especially around the passenger seat.
“Looks like at least one person walked away.” Cole stepped forward and took a closer look at the vehicle. “It’s totalled, we can’t use it.”
“Gee, you think? I thought the crushed hood kind of gave it away.” LeBlanc tapped the end of his gun on the crumpled nose of the vehicle.
Riley was trying to get a look in the glove box, which had popped open, without having to open the door, when Cole dropped out of sight around the back. She half hurried around the car to make sure he was all right. He was just checking out something in the dirt.
“What is it?” Riley crouched down beside him, slightly irritated that he had made her worry but more curious. LeBlanc made his way over to them but stayed upright, keeping watch.
“What do these look like to you?” Cole pointed to a pair of grooves in the dirt.
At first, Riley didn’t know and shrugged. “Wait a minute.” She remembered seeing something similar earlier that day. “Wheelchair treads?”
Cole grinned up at her.
“Hey now,” Riley shook her head, “it could easily be someone else in a chair.” It could have even been a shopping cart for all they knew.
Cole paid no attention to her and started looking around in the dirt. “Here!” He cried out with joy. Riley hurried over and looked. Sure enough, it was a shoe print similar to the one in her house.
“I’ll be damned,” she shook her head, not quite believing. She looked up at LeBlanc who seemed just as surprised.
Cole took off running back toward the road. “Danny! Danny!”
“Cole, wait!” Riley wasn’t as quick to get to her feet. First, it was she who went off running, and now it was Cole. They weren’t doing a very good job of keeping their heads.
LeBlanc was already on his feet and was able to reach Cole
faster. Cole was damned lucky he was able to. Just as LeBlanc grabbed his pack and pulled, a pickup truck roared past them, just barely missing Cole.
“Slow down some.” LeBlanc hit him on the arm. “Not to sound like a cliché but, you’re no good to anyone dead.”
Cole took a breath and closed his eyes. He opened them and looked at Riley. Riley had no idea what it meant but knew it meant something. He then looked to the ground for tracks. LeBlanc helped him while Riley kept watch for attackers. She was a little jumpy. A few survivors were already on the move again, even more cautious than before. Riley wondered how much longer it would be before they had to worry about the uninfected trying to attack them.
They found the wheelchair tracks and started following them again. Cole kept looking forward, expecting to see his little brother walking up ahead. Hell, Riley herself thought that might happen. The odds were insurmountable and yet, here was evidence.
Then they rounded a bend and the tracks disappeared. Cole searched the area frantically but found nothing. He yelled out a wordless curse of pure frustration. The survivors nearby flinched, wondering if they should run and hide. Riley understood the feeling, wondering that a little herself.
“Calm yourself, dude.” LeBlanc put a hand on his shoulder. “There are still cars moving on this side. You nearly got run over by one yourself. They probably managed to thumb a ride.” He pointed out a bunch of tire tracks running through the dirt. “Something we should start thinking about doing ourselves.” He looked to Riley for support.
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