Max and Jesse never had any doubt that they would make it home to their families. They knew the trip was dangerous and they were careful, but it had never occurred to either of them that one of them might not survive it. Max had no idea how he was going to tell Michelle what had happened. Jesse was a good friend, a good husband who was madly in love with his wife and a father any kid would wish for.
Thinking of Michelle, Joey and Lucia, Max had opened another beer. He imagined the looks that would be on their faces when they found out. Definitely devastated. Maybe accusatory. Most likely angry.
Max knew he wasn’t invincible, but until Jesse’s death he hadn’t realized how much they had survived thus far that was pure luck. Skill, stealth, muscle and brainpower had played a huge role. But he hadn’t accounted for pure dumb luck. They’d had several close calls. The way Jesse went out just wasn’t right.
He watched the sun rise as Junior and Vince slept. Frank had the predawn watch. Soon it would be time to wake the others and get moving again. He’d already made the difficult decision to leave Jesse’s body where it lay atop the truck. Based on what had happened so far, he knew they were likely to make the trip both on foot and by vehicle. Carrying and transferring Jesse’s body repeatedly was a dangerous and unrealistic option. Bringing home his body in whatever state it might be in by the time they got there wouldn’t do anyone any good. His family didn’t need to see him like that. They needed to remember him as he was. Max had removed Jesse’s wedding ring from his hand sometime during the night. He couldn’t bring his body to his family but at least he could bring his ring to Michelle.
Max had decided that moving forward they would be much more cautious. He was going to see to it that all four men made it safely to his house.
Max looked up as Frank approached him. The guys had given him space all night, but it was time to get ready to move again.
“Drink these and eat that,” Frank handed him two bottles of water and a bag of beef jerky. “You need to rehydrate, and you need protein.” Max nodded and accepted the water and food. He was especially in need of water after the few beers he’d drunk during the night. His throat felt raw from the tears he’d shed and the smokes he’d had. He wasn’t hungry but knew it would be foolish not to get something in his stomach. He was mentally tired from grieving, but physically he’d be fine after some food and water.
Frank gently woke Vince and Junior. It had been a rough night for all of them. They barely knew Jesse but the way he had died had shocked all of them and forced each man to think of his own mortality.
Within minutes, everyone was awake and eating but there was little talking. The highway below held scattered dead but no large groupings of them. None of the zombies had noticed the guys on top of the truck. The dead tended not to look up unless they saw or heard something. They generally only looked at whatever was right in front of them.
When everyone had finished eating and drinking and gathering their belongings, they looked over at Max to see if he was ready. Max was hunched over Jesse to say his final goodbye. The men looked away until they heard Max stand up and turn toward them. He nodded in their direction, picked up his backpack and walked over.
“I’m driving,” Vince said. Max preferred to drive but didn’t protest. Vince had slept and he hadn’t so it only made sense for Vince to drive. One by one, they lowered themselves to the roof of the SUV then to the ground below. Max climbed into the passenger seat, Jesse’s seat. Frank and Junior got in back and they spread their backpacks around. Vince handed Max a solid knife with a fixed blade. “I found this when I was reorganizing the packs. Figured it had to have been yours or Jesse’s,” Vince said.
Max looked down at the knife, having completely forgotten about pulling it off one of his crew back at the beginning. “Thanks man,” Max said.
Vince slowly pulled away from the semi-truck and began weaving through stalled and abandoned vehicles. He avoided hitting any of the dead, even if that meant stopping and sending Junior and Frank out to kill them and move the bodies. He planned to drive this SUV all the way home unless they hit another gridlocked area, so he was determined to protect the front of it from the damage of careening bodies and the tires from crushed skulls.
The road ahead was littered with cars. There were a lot of blood smears on the sides of vehicles. On some there were visible red handprints. There were plenty of openings for Vince to maneuver through the maze as long as he drove slowly and carefully. With so many vehicles abandoned yet the road still passable, they wondered why the vehicles had been left behind. Another mystery that they’d never have the answer to.
It took about two hours of careful driving to cover five miles. They were finally out of the city and entering the first of the suburbs. The highway was approaching gridlock status again. With the gridlock came a lot more zombies, although most of them had died in the cars. Several dozen were slowly walking on the road ahead, mostly spread out in groups of ones and twos, some in groups of five or six and all of them headed west for some reason.
It seemed like the dead were attracted to each other with the way they joined up whenever they encountered one another. Maybe their instinct was to hunt in packs. They must have been following after some earlier visual or noise because all of them headed in the same direction.
It looked like the road ahead would soon be impassable. Vince had been keeping an eye on the fuel gauge and it was low enough that they were going to have to stop. They didn’t have any kind of hose to siphon gas from other vehicles and agreed that finding one would be a priority.
They briefly debated the best way to go about getting fuel. They could abandon the SUV in search of another vehicle, or they could try the gas stations off the upcoming exit. The power was still on which meant that the pumps would still be working. They didn’t know if a pump would accept a credit card since it’d been so long since anyone would have actually been working at one of the gas stations.
“Let’s stop and check some of these cars for keys,” Max said. Some of the cars were empty while the majority held the dead inside.
“People don’t usually turn off their cars, leave the keys in the ignition, close the door and walk away,” Frank said. “If they got out to walk, they probably took their keys with them in their pockets.” He thought it was highly unlikely they would find a vehicle ready to go with the keys in the ignition.
“Nothing about this is usual,” Max replied. “They were probably running from zombies. Their keys wouldn’t have been a priority.”
“What about one of the cars with the dead inside?” Junior asked. “You know their keys are still in there. We kill the dead and take the car.”
“Unnecessary risk,” Max said.
“I’m all for being cautious, but we’re not going to get anywhere without some kind of risk. All three ideas are dangerous. We need to decide which one is most likely to work,” Vince said. “We’re almost on fumes here.”
“There’s not much risk in checking empty cars,” Max was adamant.
“It’s a waste of time and there are quite a few zombies wandering the highway,” Frank argued.
“Alright, me and Max will check out a few of the trucks and SUVs. If we don’t find keys, we’ll try the gas station. What I don’t want to do is pull dead people out of a car, risk getting bit, then sit in their bloody seats,” Vince said with finality.
They all got out of the SUV. Frank and Junior automatically stood watch while Max and Vince went to check out the nearest truck. A dead man was standing near the front bumper. Max walked over and plunged his newfound knife through the zombie’s ear then threw him to the ground to check his pockets. Before Vince could react, Max was already opening the driver’s side door of the truck. “Shit, no keys.”
They moved on to the next truck and the next. A search of several SUVs in the area bore the same results. Max killed every zombie they came upon in a fury. He blamed each and every one of them for Jesse’s death and killed them accordingly. He wasn’t ca
reless in his manner, but he killed them, nonetheless. Even the dead who were well out of the way, the ones they would usually leave be. Max killed them all.
After failing to find an empty vehicle with keys, Max fixed Frank with a glare that dared him to say something about it being a waste of time. Frank knew the man was hurting and even if he hadn’t been, Frank wasn’t an asshole. Max’s glare softened when he saw Frank’s nod and he nodded back.
Max knew he was struggling, and he didn’t know how to handle his grief. It was raw and fresh, and it was the worst pain he’d ever felt. But he knew these guys were good guys. They were good men. Max needed to focus on the task at hand and save his rage for the dead.
Vince and Junior watched the silent exchange. “Let’s drive down to the gas station,” Junior said, and they all got back into the SUV.
Chapter 30
Day 3
They were a quarter mile from the exit ramp which strangely was mostly empty of vehicles and the dead. They made quick work of exiting the highway and looked to the two gas stations up ahead. Both were 24/7 before everything went to shit, so they were hopeful that they would be able to use the gas pumps.
The closest gas station was small and not quite as popular as the brand new one on the opposite corner. The smaller station held very few cars in the parking lot and just a few zombies. There were several abandoned cars parked at a few of the pumps which made the guys wonder how many of the dead had come through there.
On the opposite corner, they looked at the new gas station which was popular and generally busy. The entire front and both sides of the building were covered with tinted windows. There were three entrances, one in front and one at either end of the building. Tinted glass doors stood closed. There were at least two dozen zombies pressed up against the windows and the doors. They were spread out around all of the windows and all three entrances, so they hadn’t built up enough pressure to push forward and break through. If they had focused on just one entrance they probably would have broken through the glass already, but spread out as they were, they weren’t doing much damage.
“Oh shit,” Vince said. “Someone’s trapped in that gas station.” They all looked at the dead crowd surrounding the building.
“How do we want to do this?” Frank asked. It went without saying that they would try to rescue whoever was inside.
“Let’s try to get gas at the other place first,” Max said to everyone’s surprise. “We need the gas and our being there will drive at least some of the dead to us. Hell of a lot better than them being in one big group.”
“Much safer to take them on in ones and twos if possible,” Junior agreed.
“When I pull up, everyone get out. I’ll see if the gas pump works, while you cover my back. Kill them as they come over. Hopefully, I’ll get us a full tank then we can head over to the other place and kill any that are left,” Vince said. Everyone was in agreement, so Vince pulled into the station and up to a pump. He pulled what should have been a useless credit card from his wallet and they all got out of the SUV.
The digital display on the gas pump was lit up so Vince swiped his card. “C’mon, c’mon,” he said impatiently. There was a delay but the words on the screen suddenly changed to say ‘approved’. The guys saw him stick the gas pump in the side of the SUV then focused their attention on the zombies across the street.
“They’re not moving. They don’t seem interested in us,” Junior said in confusion.
“Hang on,” Vince said as he reached through the window and laid on the horn. That got the dead’s attention. They all turned almost as one to explore the new noise.
“Hey, enough Vince. You’re going to bring the rest of the neighborhood down on us,” Max said. Vince took his hand off of the horn. He hadn’t thought ahead and mentally kicked himself for making such a foolish mistake. There were already zombies coming out of the building of the gas station they were refueling at and more faces became visible in the street. The dead came from every direction at the intersection. They were slow as fuck, but the crowd multiplied like mice. Where there had only been a handful there were now dozens with more and more appearing every second. He had in fact gotten the attention of the neighborhood. He squeezed the handle on the pump to let the gas pump itself then turned toward the nearest zombies.
The two dozen dead across the street were slowly making their way over as the parking lot filled with zombies coming from other directions as well. Vince killed those nearest the SUV, while Junior had his back from the front and side of the parking lot. Max and Frank were positioned to take out the dead as they crossed over from the other gas station, but they had their hands full with the zombies that seemed to appear from everywhere.
“Guys, there’s too many over here and more coming,” Junior yelled. A quick glance told him that the others were about to be overwhelmed.
“Holy shit,” Frank swore. “Everyone back to the SUV now!”
They ran full speed to the SUV, taking out at least a dozen of the dead as they made their way. Vince pulled the gas pump from the side and closed the gas door. He started the car and saw that they had a full tank. A few zombies thumped and slapped up against the rear and passenger side of the SUV. “Hang on,” Vince hollered.
The front of the SUV hadn’t been swarmed yet, so Vince hit the gas and tried to dodge the dead. It was impossible to get around all of them, so he was forced to run down a few.
The gas station across the street was no longer surrounded but there were zombies scattered everywhere. If whoever was inside wanted to make a run for it, now was the time. Vince steered across the road and into the gas station parking lot. No one was coming out of the doors. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Vince swore as he tried to wait for the trapped person or group that was inside to exit the building.
“Hey man, we tried,” said Frank. “We’ve gotta move now or we’re going to be surrounded.” Frank had started to become the voice of wisdom within their group. They hadn’t seen numbers like this since downtown.
Vince pulled out of the parking lot and onto the feeder road that ran alongside the highway. They knew the highway was gridlocked so there was no reason to try the next onramp. They debated cutting north through the suburb, up toward the lake then going west from there.
“We can’t do that,” Junior started. “All of the north and southbound streets are only two lanes. This little burb is like a college town without the college. Very heavily populated with more apartments and multi-unit houses than any other five suburbs combined. If we try to cut through, we’re as good as dead,” he finished.
Given that Junior was the easiest going of the group, and wasn’t generally one to take a firm stance, they were all quick to listen to him and agreed to find another way.
“Let’s follow the feeder road for now and see if we can get back onto the highway in the next couple miles here. There was probably another huge accident that piled up traffic. If we can get in front of it, we’ll be good to go,” Max said. They had a clear view of the highway as they drove on the feeder road that ran beside it.
Vince continued to dodge the dead which were heavier here than in most places, but the feeder road was mostly empty of cars. Coming up on the next intersection they saw larger groups of zombies. “We can’t keep going straight,” Vince voiced his thoughts. There were way too many dead in the road spread out as far as they could see.
“Go left,” Junior said hurriedly. “You can’t go right. We’ll get trapped for sure.” To the right sat the town Junior insisted they avoid. Straight ahead were at least a hundred zombies. Left was to go the wrong way down a one-way street that ran above the highway.
Vince made a sharp left and crossed the bridge over the highway. Most of the zombies seemed to be coming from the north which they avoided. At the end of the bridge, Vince turned right onto another one-way street, the feeder road that sat on the other side of the highway. No cars blocked his path here. He decided to enter the highway using an off ramp and drive west i
n the eastbound lanes. The highway was nearly empty on this side. Most people had been traveling west on the correct side of the freeway. Very few cars had been headed east toward downtown. Things had fallen apart so quickly that it didn’t look like anyone else had gotten the opportunity to drive on the wrong side of the road which was nearly wide open.
There were some zombies scattered about but nothing like what they saw on the other side of the highway. The concrete median seemed to deter those from crossing into the eastbound lanes and the west bound lanes were more likely to hold fresh meals for the dead. Or at least they had been in the beginning. So many people had been trapped in their cars and surrounded by zombies. They saw the evidence of dried blood on many of the cars and dead bodies inside them. Cars that had been sitting in gridlock, surrounded by the dead only to run out of gas or have their windows broken inward by the weight of so many zombies. Those poor people had been trapped and eaten alive while sitting inside their cars.
Most of the dead remained focused on walking in the westbound lanes between the stopped vehicles. There were hundreds if not thousands of them, enough for the pressure of bodies to gradually force larger openings between lanes of cars. Some of the zombies were smashed into the cars or fell as they were pushed before being trampled by the dead behind them. It was more of what the guys had observed already. The zombies had slowly moved in that direction while hunting the living. Even though the living were now dead or gone, they continued on in that direction and would continue to do so until a living person or loud noise directed their attention elsewhere. Two on ramps leading to the westbound lanes were packed with hundreds of zombies walking onto the highway.
Vince kept the SUV at about twenty-five miles an hour even though the road was mostly clear of cars. He didn’t want to risk hitting a walking corpse and disabling their vehicle. They’d gone about two and a half miles when they passed into the next suburb. Max, Frank and Junior couldn’t look away from the zombies on the other side. The crowd of hundreds had become a crowd of thousands.
Chronicles of the Undead | Book 1 | Urban Gridlock Page 22