Duality (The Hitchhiker Strain) (6 page)

"Maybe. But we've heard it from a few different places now and I think people are starting to take notice."

"Take notice good or take notice bad?"

"When I was with the United Militia, people would talk about the possibility of there being other groups li
ke ours and it was never a good thing. Competition for food and weapons, all that fun stuff. But I think, with the Initiative, it would be a good thing. Get in touch with Kansas and whoever else is out there and let the bigwigs tell everyone else about the cure. Then all we have to worry about is distribution."

I try and hide the smile that creeps onto my face. He's clearly been giving this some thought. His thought process seems a little simplistic to me though
—maybe even naïve. "Or we'd have to worry about them using their manpower to come and take the cure by force, holding it over everyone else's head in a power play."

"Or that. Depends on the kinds of people that are in power now, I guess. There's going to be a lot of people grasping at power, and we'll
probably end up with a bunch of city states all functioning over a different set of rules and trying to crush any potential competition." He pauses, pushing his lips together as though deep in thought. "Being able to treat the infection would go a long way toward making sure you had the upper hand."

"If only the internet was still around. Then we could upload the formula so anyone and everyone would be able to reproduce it."

"Or they'd be too busy bingeing on Netflix and Reddit again and have no time left to worry about fighting each other."

I laugh at that as Liam goes back to concentrating on where he
’s going. I have to admit it would be nice, but we both know it could never happen. People's priorities have changed since the infection first started taking over. I don't think we can ever go back to simply relaxing and enjoying celebrity news and TV marathons. I know I wouldn't be able to.

We take a different route back than the one that got us to Kearney in the first place. As we pull back onto a main stree
t, Liam explains that it has to do with getting the best picture of the area that we can. Our main goal was supplies, but it’s always useful to know the lay of the land and which areas are heavily infested in case we ever need to relocate.

We meet up with
the others again right before we leave the city, not even bothering to get out of our vehicles since we’re close enough to talk over walkie-talkie now. Dooley will be leading the way, followed by Eduardo in a pickup, with me and Liam taking up the rear.

Af
ter Liam’s chatter about strategy and tactics dies down, I lean over to the back seat and find the bag where I left my new CD collection and grab as many cases as I can hold in one hand. On a whim, I pop in some folk rock, knowing I’ll have no problem falling asleep to it once my body realizes we don’t need to be on high alert right now.

Liam seems lost in thought, so I
’m left with nothing but the view from my window to keep me company. Houses, stores, and road signs line our back-road route. It’s all so mundanely Midwestern that it should all be blending together as we pass through. Except…a lot of the buildings and landmarks we pass look really familiar. Weirdly familiar. A memory itches at the back of my mind, but no matter how hard I try to tug it to the surface, it won’t budge.

“
Where are we?” I ask Liam, turning down the music.

“
I have no idea,” he says, shrugging. “Why?”

“
Do you ever get that feeling where you know you’ve forgotten something?”

“
I guess. Usually when I forget something, it’s also accompanied by the bad habit of forgetting that I’ve forgotten it.”

I let the subject drop but still keep my eyes trained on the scenery passing around us as I let the steady movement of the road lull me into an uncomfortable nap.

I haven’t even managed to fall into my first dream before the crackling from Liam’s walkie-talkie wakes me up. “Are you guys seeing this?” Dooley’s voice rings through. Begrudgingly, I open my eyes. I can’t tell what it is he’s talking about until Liam points up ahead. A massive roadblock has been constructed off in the distance, bridging the space between two houses.

I
’m wide awake by the time we pull up beside the ten-foot-high wall of rubble. Following Liam’s lead, I get out of the van for a closer look. The wall is made up of everything from tattered furniture to bricks, and it looks like there are even a few bodies thrown into the mix. It’s not here by accident—it’s too perfectly placed. It’s a far cry from impenetrable though, so why is it here at all?

“
We could probably move enough of it to get the cars through,” I suggest.

“
We could,” Eduardo agrees, “but we won’t. We’d lose a few hours, and for what? We only have to backtrack about ten minutes. It’ll be faster to take another route back. We’ll make note of the spot though. It might be worth checking out later on.”

Everyone agrees without complaint. We pile back into our motorcade and take off in the opposite direction, this time with Eduardo in the lead. Liam and I fall back into easy conversation and I know any chance of a good nap is long gone.

When I’m barely paying attention to our surroundings, we pass a half-burned-down gas station. And I
know
that gas station. All at once, I realize exactly why these vaguely familiar places have been gnawing at the back of my mind.

Cole and I passed this exact spot when we sep
arated from the remaining New Ravencrest survivors. It was maybe half a day into our trip to Veritas, and I only saw it for a minute, but there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s the same one. My fingers clench around the edge of my seat. I’ve been here before—and if we keep going in the same direction, I’ll be getting closer and closer to the friends I never thought I’d see again.

Chapter 9 - Chelsea

Awake. Asleep. Unconscious. It doesn’t matter anymore—through all of it I feel as though my body is being ripped apart and stitched back together from the inside out. Again and again without end. I stop wondering about the whys behind my torture. All there is for me now is when, when, when will this stop? Except it doesn’t stop. Not all at once.

I don
’t even notice at first, but hour by hour, the fire in my veins begins its retreat.

Asleep. I dream of hunting. I am a shark. My teeth are designed to tear and shred. I am a jungle cat with claws sharper than knives. I am infected with a hunger that can never be s
atisfied.

Awake. The boy with the sad eyes stands over me, watching carefully. My body remains frozen, unable to express anything it feels. The boy watches me watch him until I disappear within myself again.

Unconscious. There is blackness and pain, but it lessens somewhat, leaving an itching in my veins that would drive me mad if there was enough of my mind left to acknowledge it.

Awake. A lab rat I haven
’t seen before tracks the movements of my eyes with a pen light. I finally find the strength to scream and send him rocketing backward in fear. I scream and scream, the beast reveling in our newfound power. We yell and shriek and bellow until our lungs are too tired to continue. It is glorious, but our strength doesn’t last long.

We slip back into a dreamless sleep, the sounds of our voice echoing in my mind more comforting than any lullaby.

Asleep. No dreams, only quiet.

I open my eyes but see nothing. For a moment I fear that I
’ve lost my vision entirely, that somehow they’ve stripped me of my sight as well as my dignity. But no, when I force my eyes closed again, the darkness shifts. If there was anything to see in this stark prison cell, I’d be able to see it. Inky blackness and silence are my only company now.

The night h
as always been my friend. As Chelsea, I could never even start my homework until after I was supposed to have been in bed already. My brain started to churn once everything else around me started to settle down. As the beast, the implied peace of the night was a weapon I used well, taking advantage of human habits and assumptions. Now the night will give me rest.

This time, when I drift off to sleep, it
’s entirely my own decision. It’s nice to know that the night is still on my side.

Chapter 10 – Savannah

We
’re skirting around the very edge of Militia territory when we reach our third roadblock and decide to call it a night. It’s bigger than the last two combined and consists almost entirely of abandoned cars and trucks—I can almost make myself believe the blockage wasn’t deliberate, just a traffic jam that was cleared out by the undead, except it’s spread out over a quarter of a mile and reaches across roads, fields, and grocery store parking lots alike. One giant line of cars, completely devoid of both human remains and gas. Definitely not a coincidence.

Eduardo sits across from me in the library where we
’ve taken shelter to eat, rubbing his brow with his hands while the rest of us chew on stale rations Dooley brought for the trip. We’ve already lost hours to all the detours we’ve had to take and have opted to spend the night here, close to the edge of the roadblock. Nobody wanted to lose the time, but whatever is going on, it’s officially important enough to take note of and come back to later. This building’s entire western wall is made from glass, so we can easily keep an eye out on the road without having to worry about any hungry guests in the middle of the night. It’s already too dark to see beyond the beams of all the flashlights we brought with us, but we’ll be able to see any cars coming from miles out.

“
I’ll take the first watch,” I offer once everyone has finished eating, trying not to seem too eager. The beauty of first watch is that, once you’re done, you can look forward to at least a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. Thankfully, no one argues with me.

It
’s not even ten yet, but we’re all exhausted. We’re all practically zombies ourselves as we putter around the sitting area, getting ready to settle in for the night.

“
Wake me up at midnight,” Dooley says, tossing a travel blanket to Liam and another to Eduardo.

“
I’ll take two a.m.” Liam yawns dramatically after he speaks. And just like that, it’s settled.

I take my flashlight and prop it up against the chair I
’ve curled into. I’m surrounded by books, so I may as well get some reading in. It’s probably the one thing that will keep me awake at this point anyway.

Before long, the other three lights flicker out as everyone else drifts off to sleep. Outside, everything is still and quiet.

All three of the guys have been snoring for an hour or so when I finally can’t sit still for a second longer without risking falling asleep myself. Careful not to so much as let the chair squeak as I stand, I grab my flashlight and go to the circulation desk, struck by a sudden idea. It’s not easy to do in the dark, with only a flashlight to guide me but I eventually find what I’m looking for—a stack of local maps.

There
’s one that points out all of the landmarks in this dinky little town, but I already know most of them all by heart. We‘re in the very same part of eastern Illinois where I spent most of my life. I have—or had—cousins who lived in this town. If I got in a car now, I could be back in my bedroom before the sun came up. But I already know that. What I need from the map is information about where this town is in relation to where my friends and neighbors relocated after they evacuated New Ravencrest.

My bleary eyes have trouble finding anything specific at first. Then I see it. Meadowvale
—once home to twenty thousand people. Now it is simply the town that sits between Ravencrest and Tilton. Bordered on one side by where I grew up and on the other by the place where everyone I knew was forced to flee after I’d royally screwed up. And— assuming there were no more surprise roadblocks—it was a clear shot from here to there.

But I
’m not exactly in a position to ask for a pit stop. Even if I was, I doubt I’d even have it in me to ask. We have three carloads of supplies to deliver, not to mention the growing mystery of the Militia border to contend with.

No. I won
’t ask. It’s not like I don’t know where to find my friends if I need to. I can go back and find them later, when things have settled down. Maybe once the cure is finally perfected, when I have evidence that I really did leave them to try and contribute to something bigger than all of us. I can’t be selfish in this, not again. I’ll wait.

Except, now that I know how close I am to everything I gave up, it
’s all I can think about. It’s all I think about as I drag my feet back to the area where everyone else is still fast asleep. It’s all I think about as I nudge Dooley awake with my toe. It’s all I think about as I crawl onto the floor and cover myself with Dooley’s discarded blanket. Finally, I drift off to sleep and think of nothing at all.

I
’m still lost in thought the next morning long after we’ve gotten back on the road. I imagine how a reunion between Alex and me might play out when something that sounds a little like a cannon explodes in the distance.

“
Did you hear that?” Liam eases off of the gas and then starts manually rolling down his window. I nod, rolling down my window as well.

“
Uhh, guys?” Dooley’s voice comes through from the walkie-talkie in my lap. “Any ideas what that was?”

Before I can ans
wer, the noise comes again. It’s undoubtedly some kind of explosion coming from somewhere in the same direction we’re heading. The night passed without incident, and we’re still clueless about how, when, or why the border started going up around Militia territory. We opted to skirt around it for as long as possible until we could get a clearer picture about what exactly was going on. We’d have to move things out of the way eventually if we wanted to get back home, but for now, our main goal is to stay out of trouble and to try and figure out what is happening around us.

“
Should we check it out?” I ask over our channel.

“
At this point, I think we have to. I’m just worried about driving into a potentially risky situation while transporting all of this. The Militia is obviously up to something along their border, and we’d be painting massive targets on all of our backs if they spot us.”

“
But that’s just as true for when we’re driving right through their territory to get home,” Dooley counters.

I get the sense I
’m supposed to chime in and play devil’s advocate as well, but I’m honestly not sure what I think the best plan of action is. There are risks either way, and we’re still almost a day’s drive away from being able to ask for backup.

Determined to at least lo
ok busy, I unfold the map I brought with me, handing over the walkie-talkie to Liam. The very next off-ramp would take us into downtown Meadowvale. I stay quiet as Liam drives past the exit, having agreed with the others to continue the way we’re going, only planning to veer off if we hear the noise again and can pinpoint where it’s coming from.

“
I never thought I’d say this, but I’m ready to get back to Veritas and away from all of this for a little while.”

“
Hah,” Liam scoffs. "A few days on the road with us and you’re ready to retire.”

“
Hey now,” I argue, reaching over to poke him in the ribs. “By ‘a little while,’ I meant like a day or two. Mostly I want a hot shower, some hot food—”

“
And some hot and sweaty time with Cole.”

“
That’s enough chitchat out of you.” I can feel the heat rising to my ears. My blushing has always been legendary, but Liam’s eyes are on the road so he can at least pretend not to notice.

“
Nah, it’s nice you have someone to go home to,” he says, his voice quiet. I freeze in my seat, not sure what I’m supposed to say. “It’s okay,” he continues for me. “I know you go out of your way not to talk about her.”

Liam purses his lips together but doesn
’t turn to face me. Still, I can’t take my eyes off him as I search his face for any clues about what he’s feeling right now.

“
Honestly though, part of me really wants to talk about her. I spent all of my time in the Militia with memories of her, mourning her. I thought I got past it. Then, in one moment, it was all right back up at the surface. I need to… I don’t know.”

I know how he feels. I know
exactly
how he feels. After my parents died, talking to Zack was the one thing that kept me sane, but… “I figured I’d be the last person you’d want to talk to about any of this.”

Finally, he looks at me
. For the first time since I met him, his tough exterior melts away. I stop seeing his signature leather jacket or the tattoo that loops up to the side of his neck and see someone who’s hurting as much as I am.

“
Savannah, I don’t blame you.”

I open my mou
th to respond, but no words come out. I’m at a loss. When it comes to the big moments, all I ever seem to be is at a loss. I turn my head away, and as soon as I look out the passenger side window, all thoughts of Liam and loss are pushed from my mind.

Grab
bing the walkie-talkie from the cup holder, I fumble to bring it up to my mouth. “Stop!” I screech, failing to keep the panic from my voice.

My eyes stay glued to the scene in front of me until we come to a stop behind the others. Eduardo steps out of his
truck, but as soon as he walks around to the flatbed, he sees it too. Together, the four of us make our way to the edge of the bridge where we’ve stopped, overlooking another highway below, all trying to figure out exactly what it is we’re seeing. The first word that comes to mind is horde—more of the undead than I can count. There are so many of them that at first it’s impossible to wrap my mind around the fact that it’s not people we’re seeing.

There
’s a pack—or maybe you’d call it a herd since there was never time to give all the elements of this disaster proper names—of Zs in the distance, all streaming steadily down the western highway. Row upon row. They’re all keeping a fair distance from one another, but there’s still enough of them to stretch across six lanes of traffic. I’d be surprised to learn there are any less than a thousand, but it might be even more than that. The ones I can see are headed down a long stretch of road, but it’s easy to imagine that there are hundreds more trailing them in the forest as well.

I
’m still staring in awe when everyone else starts putting the pieces together faster than I ever could have hoped.

“
That’s what all of the roadblocks are about,” Liam says, his voice hushed.

“
And that explosion we heard,” Eduardo adds. “The Militia must have known this was coming, and they’ve been trying to corral them away from their territory.”

“
But all the commotion they’ve been making has probably drawn more into the group. They’ve only made things worse,” I add, horrified.

It
’s possible that this many people died together in one place—a stadium or hospital maybe—and have somehow gotten out of their prison to start hunting together as well. I don’t bother mentioning any of my theories out loud, because where they came from doesn’t matter. It’s why they’re here, where they’re going, that we should be concerned with.

“
Maybe they have a plan on how to dispose of that many zombies all at once,” Dooley suggests. “They have to.”
I’m not that optimistic. “Or maybe they know they can’t stop them, so they’ve been focusing on keeping them away from their border. It would take days, weeks even, but they could steer them right around their entire border and send them off to the west, making them someone else’s problem.”

I
’m not sure if this theory is more smart or awful.

“
Are they full on zombies or second-gen?” Liam asks.

“
Zs, I think.” They’re so far away that it’s impossible to tell for sure, but I add in my two cents anyway. “I’ve never seen a group of super-Zs that big. Nowhere close to that big. But the dead ones sometimes flock together like that, although I have no idea why. They would have to use some pretty serious bait to keep a group of second-gen together, but with zombies, you kind of point them in the right direction and you’re good. They’ll veer off course if something catches their attention, and this whole area is basically deserted.”

Then it hits me.

My lungs deflate as bile rises in the back of my throat.

Unless there
’s something in place ahead of them that’s meant to reroute the herd again, this massive crowd of undead is going to go straight through New Ravencrest, or whatever it is my friends and neighbors are calling their newest settlement. They wouldn’t stand a chance.

“
Savannah, are you okay?” Liam asks, grabbing my arm when I take an unsteady step backward. I rest my weight against Dooley’s car before looking up at the three concerned faces in front of me.

“
No. I’m really not.” I force myself to inhale then exhale. “I have to tell you all something.”

Wasting precious time,
I explain my history with this area, telling them about New Ravencrest, the people who live there, and even the reason why they were forced to abandon their home in the first place. I offer them no time to respond once I’m finished, choosing instead to jump right into forming a plan.