Above the vehicles, a cable holding up the traffic signal units had snapped, and they had crashed into the fire truck. Shards of red, amber, and green glass lay scattered across the roadway. The culprit was a car that had slammed into a light pole at one of the corners. The pole had collapsed into the parking lot of a pizza delivery joint. A rusted-out old Cadillac now rested on top of the pole, its front tires slightly off the ground. There was a spider web of cracks radiating outward from the bloody spot on the windshield where the driver’s head had hit the glass.
Scavengers had picked most of the scattered bones clean, and even the remnants of blood and tattered clothing had been washed away by rain or blown away in the wind. The sun had baked the rest of the gore into the pavement, but the area had been purged of most signs of the former human inhabitants. It was a dead zone.
* * *
In the distance, something shattered the persistent silence.
It was a car engine, its roar reverberating off the buildings as it gunned and hesitated repeatedly. It grew louder and quieter in turn, the noise coming and going at random intervals.
The roads surrounding the intersection were clogged with stalled and demolished vehicles. It was a maze, the navigation of which would challenge any driver, even at a snail’s pace.
Jeff and Megan found freedom from their residential prison by plowing through a fenced-in yard at the edge of the subdivision and avoiding the vehicle blockade entirely. Their journey of less than a couple of miles afterward took thirty minutes and gave them a bitter taste of what the outside world now had to offer.
Most of the vehicles they encountered were abandoned, with doors wide open and discarded suitcases strewn across the pavement. Others were smashed, telltale drag marks and trails of blood the only evidence as to what had happened to the owners. But some of the cars still had bodies inside.
The corpses of the people who managed to stay locked in their vehicles were in bad shape. A month of summer heat and direct sunlight had taken its toll, bloating and warping them until they were unrecognizable. In some cases, the bodies had ruptured and splattered their rotten contents on windows, hiding the most gruesome aspects of their demise.
But the worst was the little girl.
She was locked in a car seat in the back of an Altima on the side of the road. At first Jeff thought she was just like the rest of the corpses until he saw her arm twitch. As he looked closer, her eyes opened. When she twisted around to look at him, Jeff nearly screamed. Her skin had gone runny, having melted away from her face and arms in thick, gluey globs. The blistered remains of her visage made her eyes look wide and haunted and her grin demonic. Jeff drove on, unsure whether his companion had seen the girl. Megan never said a word.
The blue minivan made agonizingly slow progress toward the intersection, braking then shifting into reverse on several occasions as it moved past one obstacle or maneuvered around another. A few solitary plague-ravaged people limped into view from the houses and wooded areas surrounding the road but were scattered and could not keep up with the van, even at its creeping pace. When the Odyssey finally came to a halt a hundred yards from the intersection, Jeff and Megan paused to survey the destruction.
“I think the junior high was one of those emergency shelters the National Guard opened up,” Megan said as they stared at the clog of military and police vehicles up ahead.
After a few moments of silence, she looked at Jeff and realized he hadn’t heard her, or wasn’t paying attention. She nudged him with her elbow.
“Huh? Oh, sorry. I was just…” Jeff waved a hand in front of them, showing a trace of the shock Megan knew was on her face as well.
“I know. It’s hard to believe.” She looked back outside, trying to grasp what had become of all the shops and stores she remembered so well from her three years living in the area. Megan tried to blot out the thoughts, tried to focus. “I think we should check out the junior high.”
Jeff looked off into the distance in the direction of the high school and junior high. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.” He pointed above the buildings that lined the street. “See that smoke? I don’t like the looks of it.”
Megan scrunched up her face until she caught sight of the smoke curling toward the sky. “I think that’s too far away. It’s coming from the city or at least a suburb closer to it than Milfield. The junior high is just a mile down the road.”
Jeff did not respond immediately. He studied the fire truck and other vehicles at the intersection. His eyes narrowed with understanding, and he turned to Megan.
“I really don’t think we should go that way.” He raised his hand to stall her protest and pointed to the vehicles in front of them. “See that fire truck?”
Megan’s expression told him how stupid she thought his question was.
“I mean do you see how it’s set up?” Jeff paused as she looked out at the truck once again and waited until she nodded. “I think there was some sort of last stand here.”
He let his words sink in as they both studied the fire truck. It was blocking the road leading to the junior high and beyond, where the interstate that circled Cincinnati ran. Downtown was a mere twenty-five miles from where they sat.
Megan’s face was a picture of conflicting emotions as she let the ramifications of Jeff’s words sink in. The city had been ground zero for the first viral outbreaks in the region. From there it spiraled outward, attacking the suburban landscape in random spots as it built momentum and grew out of the control of the civil and military authorities trying to contain its progress.
Jeff could see the sparkle of tears in Megan’s eyes even as she tried to blink them away. His heart sank, watching her struggle with the reality that it was unlikely anyone they knew was a survivor. The shelter had, in all probability, been overrun weeks ago.
He sat in silence, unsure of what to say that might offer her comfort. As he stared down at the steering wheel, he tried to clear his mind and focus on the magnitude of what they were facing.
“So where do we go from here?”
Jeff glanced over at Megan, but she was still looking down the road. She rubbed at her eyes fiercely with the back of her hand and sniffled, but otherwise showed no further emotion as she asked the question.
“I think we should head out into the country. We might have a fighting chance out there,” he suggested without hesitation. They needed to get as far away from the city as possible.
“Yeah,” Megan whispered and sniffled again. After a moment, she grimaced and shook her head. “Probably a bunch of gun nuts and survivalists out there, but what other choice do we have?”
“Maybe, but they’re the ones who have the best shot of making it through something like this,…not a couple of suburban dipwads like us.”
Megan tilted her head and stared at him. She could see a gleam in his eyes when he winked at her. She gave him a halfhearted laugh in response.
“Okay then, Mister Dipwad, let’s get the hell out of here.”
Jeff grinned, relieved that Megan seemed to be handling things well enough to toss a bit of abuse his way.
Lifting his foot off the brake, he let the van roll forward and scanned the immediate buildings. They had been sitting near the intersection for a couple of minutes and had seen no movement thus far. His eyes moved from building to building, settling on the drugstore, where they stayed focused for several seconds. A look of grim concentration came over Jeff’s face.
“What?” Megan asked as they slowed to a stop again. She stiffened, fearing an attack, and swiveled around to see what he was staring at with such intensity. When all she saw was the drugstore and not much else, she relaxed and turned back to Jeff to await his explanation.
“I think…” He paused and seemed to confirm something with himself. “Yep, definitely.”
“What, for Chrissakes?” Megan blurted out.
Jeff snorted at the frustration in his companion’s voice. He nodded at the drugstore. “Before we go, I think w
e should do a little shopping.”
Chapter 15
Jeff was grateful for the sunlight that crept inside the entrance to the drugstore, even though much of it was blotted out by the minivan, which was parked directly in front of the demolished front doors, blocking anything from getting past them from outside. Unfortunately, the light only illuminated a short distance into the building. He could see another glimmer of light at the back, where the pharmacy drive-through window was, but much of the cavernous store was buried in a deep layer of darkness.
He gave one look back toward the van where Megan sat behind the wheel and sighed. It had taken some work to convince her to let him check out the drugstore, but in the end, she had agreed, knowing just as well as he did that they desperately needed supplies. She still refused to come inside, stating that he might be crazy but she wasn’t. Megan had gone so far as to give him ten minutes to get back to the van before she would leave without him. He thought she was joking until he saw the naked fear in her eyes. That was when he nodded and promised to be quick.
Most of the aisles were still standing, although many of the contents were scattered on the floor. Makeup, candy, and overpriced DVDs covered the ground and had been trampled repeatedly. Jeff turned on the flashlight and swung it back and forth.
To his left were the registers and photo development area. Much of the products hanging on the walls-film, batteries, more candy, magazines-were still there, untouched. He crept farther into the store, the rubber soles of his hiking boots squeaking as he skirted the piles of trash on the floor.
He noticed congealed blood pooled between several aisles. Down one lane, it looked like a skirmish had occurred, with a jumble of bloody footprints layered on top of one another and thick ropy splatters of red sprayed against a display of vacuum cleaner bags and humidifiers. Several shelves in the area had collapsed.
Jeff tried to detect any sounds that might hint of anyone still in residence in the drugstore, but he heard nothing except his own breathing. Gritting his teeth, he moved deeper into the gloom.
He found an overturned shopping cart and righted it. Pushing it along, he moved through the more well stocked aisles, grabbing anything that looked even remotely useful.
Jeff snatched up bandages, aspirin, allergy medicine, deodorant, hydrogen peroxide, razors, shaving cream, tampons (stifling a giggle as he did), and anything else within reach. He filled the metal cart and built up speed, the flashlight jammed in an armpit as he grabbed snacks and cases of soda. Unfortunately, there was no food of any real substance, but they had already collected quite a few canned goods from the house in which they had hidden the night before.
He glanced at his watch: three more minutes before Megan started freaking out. He was still staring at the timepiece when the contents of a shelf next to his head crashed down on him.
The flashlight clattered to the floor, and Jeff let out an involuntary squeal and dove forward. He thought he felt a hand touching his shoulder when several bags of chips and boxes of cookies fell on him. In his mad, blind dash, he slammed into another shelf and nearly sent it teetering over. He tried to keep his balance, but tripped on something between his feet and sprawled headlong, landing on palms and knees and then sliding across the floor.
Quickly rolling over, he scooted backwards in a crab-like fashion, trying to get a fix on his location. The flashlight was still rolling, its light pointing away from him. Jeff moved his hand back and forth across the floor until he found a small cardboard box. He grabbed it, cocking his arm back, ready to launch it at anything that came forward in the darkness.
He could hear something over the pounding of blood in his ears, but barely. It sounded like scurrying and scratching. Although there was no moaning, Jeff had learned not to rely on that as the only indicator that he was in the presence of a predator.
His pupils dilated as he absorbed all the dim light available and looked out in front of him. He tried to scan for any looming shapes and saw none. After giving his breathing another thirty seconds to return to normal, he quietly stood and moved back to the shopping cart and fallen flashlight. Picking up the Maglite, he pointed it toward the shelf.
It only took a few moments to discover the culprit. Jeff smiled in spite of himself as he saw several shredded Fritos bags with small teeth marks on them. A rat, or perhaps a squirrel, had taken up residence in the abandoned store. He took a deep breath, trying to throttle back on the adrenaline. Gripping the shopping cart, he headed toward the pharmacy counter.
After a quick leap over the counter, he scanned the medications. It took a minute or so to find some of the drugs he knew would be useful. He tossed bottle after bottle over the counter at the cart. When he had cleared out as much as he could, he launched himself back over the counter. His cart filled, Jeff was about to head back to the front when he noticed more bloody footprints off to his left. They led to a swinging door marked Employees Only. It was next to the pharmacy and probably led back to the store’s stock room. He recalled a door outside near the drive through that must have served as a loading dock.
The debate in his head on whether he should risk taking a look lasted a scant two seconds. Leaving the cart, Jeff moved to the door. He flipped off the flashlight and stood and listened.
He held the flashlight like a club, but he doubted anyone was back there. They would have responded to all the noise his clumsy fall had caused. Then he remembered the menacing giant from the day before. The creature had been far too busy disemboweling his wife to give a damn about any distant noises. Jeff tensed but did not move away from the door. He knew he wasn’t prepared but felt compelled to take a look anyway.
Listening for another few seconds, he began to hear a low humming noise. It sounded like a machine-maybe a generator or a refrigerator. Staying to the side of the door, Jeff used the long barrel of the flashlight to push it open. When nothing burst through, he moved in front of the doorway to look inside.
The stench pounced, as if it had been waiting for a victim to assault. It was overwhelming. The combination of heat and the small enclosed area made Jeff feel like he had stepped into a crematorium basement where the furnace was kept burning day and night.
It was the stock room, as he had guessed. Racks filled with boxes of various shapes and sizes reached to the ceiling. The ones higher up had avoided the spray of blood, but those closer to the floor were saturated.
A cloud of flies rose angrily from their meal. The swarm, larger than any Jeff had ever seen in his life, was the source of the furious humming noise. After a few seconds, most of them settled down and got back to their meal, which consisted of blood and entrails splattered across the floor.
Jeff covered his mouth as he felt his gorge rising at the sight-and smell-of the torn bodies scattered throughout the room. They were devastated, ripped to pieces, but…
Eyes scanning the carnage, he caught sight of what he deduced was the reason these people had not succumbed to the virus. Next to a sprawled-out appendage lay a semiautomatic handgun.
The people who had hidden in the storeroom had been mauled so thoroughly it was hard to tell where one body ended and another began, but Jeff’s best guess was that they had formed some sort of suicide pact. Someone had pulled the trigger and put bullets in each of his comrade’s heads before turning the gun on himself.
The gun was drenched with gore, and he dismissed the idea of stepping over the slick remains to retrieve it. It was already enough of a challenge to hang onto the contents of his stomach as it was. Fighting the feelings of helplessness and remorse that threatened to consume him, Jeff turned to leave.
As the metal door swung shut again, he did not look back. He grabbed the shopping cart and pushed it toward the dim light of the entrance. His teeth clenched as he wrestled with a rising sense of anger. The world had become a madhouse-an endless supply of macabre images slowly eating away at his sanity, bit by bloody bit.
Jeff gripped the handle of the shopping cart tightly. Despite the anger and fear
threatening to claim his mind, a crystal-clear thought cut through all the crap floating around in his head: he wanted to live. That was all that mattered. He knew he was smarter than those things trying to kill him, and there was no way, no how, he was going to end up like the poor saps whose guts were strewn across the storage room floor. He rolled his cart through the aisles, a grim smile plastered across his face. In that instant, he felt more confident than he had in weeks.
The smile faltered as Jeff neared the entrance of the store and he heard Megan screaming.
Chapter 16
Megan screamed again when the sliding door of the minivan opened. She turned, gun in hand, and Jeff was staring down the barrel of the.357 Magnum.
He raised his hands and yelled, “Whoa, it’s me! It’s okay, Megan, it’s me!” For an instant, he thought she was going to pull the trigger, but something like recognition passed over her face and she dropped her hand. She was clearly still freaked out.
A fist slammed into one of the windows, and Megan whipped around toward the noise. Jeff looked as well and saw blood caking the rear window where the fist had connected.
He could also hear the moans. The van was surrounded. The infected had crept out of their various hiding places: abandoned cars, dark shadows, and the other buildings where they had hidden from the blazing sun. That the dead had come for them did not surprise Jeff. What did surprise him was that Megan had not already started shooting.
Through the dirty window glass, he could see several figures moving slowly toward the minivan. Only a handful had reached the vehicle so far, but they were a gruesome lot. One that had found its way to the driver’s-side window made Jeff squirm. Its face had nearly been obliterated by the chunks of glass wedged into its flesh. One eye was split in half, the largest shard of glass jammed deep within the orb. Its other eye stared at Megan balefully as it hissed with all its shattered teeth and blackened gums on display.
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