The Reanimates (Book 2): The Highway (11 page)

Trent sat quietly, staring at the pavement, taking in what everyone said. He sighed and looked up from his gaze. "You are all right. Let's change the things we can." He pushed off from where he was leaning against Matt's car and brushed off his hands. He seemed a little more relaxed. "Tell you all what, I am so grateful that this happened on the van instead of the semi. Had that been destroyed that would be a lot harder to replace."

Tyreese looked like he had an idea when Trent said that. "So, I'm having a thought. Let me know if you guys think this is just overkill. As we come across dead cars, we probably should grab a complete spare tire, rims and all. That way if anything like this happens again, we can just swap the wheel and get going until we know we are in a safe place. I'm not saying this should be a priority, just as it happens."

Trent nodded and added, "Everyone double check your tires before we go, just to make sure we're all good."

The guys exchanged quick man hugs and separated to their vehicles with a fake macho swagger. Men. Have an emotional moment, then follow it by acting all tough.

On The Road Again

We took off again. A town or two down the road had a gun shop that was visible from the freeway. Tyreese got on the radio and offered to do a quick detour off the road if Lucas paved the way. Lucas agreed quickly. While we didn't often split up, the idea of not redirecting the entire convoy off the road had its appeal. Besides, the shop was in the line of sight to where the rest of us were. Trent stood with his rifle ready to lay down fire if things got messy. They were in and out with bags full of ammo for the guns and the bows. They had a couple of new rifles slung on their shoulders as well. They made a couple trips in and out of the store before they were done and rejoined us. They handed bags to people that had the appropriate supplies for the weapons they had on hand and we got going again. I was pleasantly surprised that for once everything was not dramatic and things just worked. I grinned at Trent who laughed at me. "I bet I know what you're thinking." Trent said with a sing song tone.

"Oh yeah?" I challenged.

Trent laughed at me. "You're digging on how smooth that was and that you love having new shiny things for your Luger." I couldn't deny it so I laughed.

We passed through a couple little towns and drove into a town called Payson. There were billboards for a grocery store and one of those chain drugstores. We all agreed that we might as well do a supply search and hunker down for the evening. Payson was pretty. It had this little old time feel like it was a snapshot from the past. We saw a hotel and decided to check it out. Matt cheered when he saw that the locks were old fashioned keys instead of the electronic key cards, so we could just go in easy. This would be as good a place as any to set up as home base if it was all clear.

Matt and Lucas went into the lobby and got the keys to a bank of rooms that we cleared one by one. We were lucky that there was only one room occupied by a member of undead. We put it out of its misery and to mark the room we hung up the maid requested door hanger. Matt went back to the lobby to get a new key for another room that was empty. Things were feeling a lot more solid, the ground wasn't shaking so much anymore.

I helped the others get settled in to their rooms. DaWayne and his sister took a room with the girls so Tanya and Tyreese could have some alone time. Erin tried to get a room with Justin, which Jody responded with a 'cold day in hell would she allow her teen-aged daughter have a room unsupervised with a boy' sort of speech. Erin countered with asking if it would be okay if Jackson was there too and met the cold hard stare of a mom who was not amused. Erin stomped off to sulk by the stairs. Justin and Jackson were assigned a room with their cousin Raine. Jody compromised with Erin that she and her other siblings could have the room next door to the others, but she would be in the room on the other side keeping an ear out. Drew begged to be able to sleep in the same room as Liam and I gave in after asking Erin if it would be alright by her to keep an eye on him. Erin had finally stopped sulking when she realized that she was going to be in charge of that group.

Matt, Lucas, Tyreese and Trent put together a game plan on where to go with the help of maps found in the lobby. We decided not to press our luck on the turn of fortune that came our way and to just hang out for a while and just spend some time together before we turned in for the night after dinner.

I missed Mercedes. She really helped make dinner a nice group thing even when all we were eating was boil-in-a-bag lasagna or stroganoff. We set up a kitchen on the tailgate of Tyreese's mini-van outside the hotel rooms and put together a dinner of beef stew and mixed vegetables. Tiny spurts of conversation broke up the relatively quiet meal. Most of those conversations were about Mercedes so I definitely was not the only one thinking of her. She was more of a central grounding point than we thought.

The term slept like the dead was an utterly stupid saying now. We knew the dead didn't sleep anymore. So, while I couldn't say that anymore, I did sleep. Since this all started, I've had quite the collection of bad dreams, but last night even those dreams gave me a respite. I woke up feeling disoriented, feeling like I was lost. For a split second I was sure that the zombies had all been a nightmare. After I got my bearings and remembered what was real, I went to check on Drew. The slumber party room must have been living it up last night because they were all sleeping deeply, sprawled out over the two beds like they passed out where they landed.

It was cold. I rubbed my hands together briskly to try to warm them up as I wandered to our kitchen. I turned on the propane burner and while it got going hot, I mixed powdered eggs. I poured the mix over the hot skillet and started breakfast going in the parking lot. Trent came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He kissed me on the cheek and I leaned into him while I stirred the mix in the pan.

"You always made the best eggs." Trent whispered in my ear.

I laughed. "Yeah, back when we had eggs. The powdered ones just aren't the same." Trent squeezed me. "Hon? Can you go wake everyone up? I'm just about done here. Just have to make the milk."

Trent made a look of disgust over the make the milk part of what I said. "I will never get used to that stuff. It smells like stomach acid. Blech." He shuddered involuntarily as he walked away to start knocking on doors.

I invited all the adults to our room to eat and sent the kids into the room that Drew slept in for two reasons. The cover story was that it was cold outside, but we really wanted to talk without little ears. Once we were all settled, we got to work setting up our game plan for the day ahead.

Groceries and Strangers

It was decided, as we forced those powdered eggs down, that the easiest way to go about this run would be to pair up into groups and hit the town. Tyreese poured over one of the maps they had found in the lobby and we decided that the best way to go about this was if we divided the town into a four square grid and each team would go on their hunt in their grid. We chose to go with husband and wife teams partly so everyone could have time with their spouses and because no one knew the other people as well as a spouse does, with the theory that nonverbal communication may be critical. Part of me thought about all the times that I went out with Trent and got things running with him. I wondered if there were others that had resented that he and I went out on these trips and got to spend time with one another.

Trent and I took the North West side, Tyreese and Tanya took the North East. Matt and Merideth took the South West, and Lucas and Lacey took the South East. From the way that map looked I was glad that the brothers and their wives were going into the more residential area where I thought they stood a chance at being safer. I reminded them about the announcement that the CDC had run saying that if you have been bitten or believe yourself infected to put a piece of white fabric on your window or door. I mentioned that we only saw that once in California though, so most people were non-compliant in the request, so I begged them to treat every house they came upon as an infected one. We planned on making sure that we all got back by dusk, giving us several hours to search and return.

It was a lovely morning, the first one that I could actually say that about. We were packed and ready just after nine AM and the little analogue patio thermometer, outside of the building next to the outdoor lobby window, said it was a wonderful 53 degrees in the sun. I said good bye to Drew and gave him a kiss. I told him I would be back soon. He knew that ultimately Jody was in charge but to mind Erin. Tyreese popped into the kid's room holding his hands behind his back.

"Guess what, guys?" Tyreese said in a sing song tone that gave them the prompt they were gonna have to keep guessing on this one game. "I found something in our room you kids might like. Make some guesses on what it is!" They tried to oblige him for a second with wild guesses like a cure for zombies or a movie theater. He took his arms out from behind him and showed them the two board games.

Kids are hard to guess at on how things will be received. Sometimes games are the coolest thing ever while other days they are worse than homework. I know that I'm part of why Drew used to react that way. When he was little, he was having a hard time counting money so we played Monopoly with loose change. Dollars were converted to ten cent increments. We played over and over again until he could count change like no tomorrow. I loved it and thought I was rather creative but Drew, well, I don't think Monopoly would ever be the same.

Today, most games were just there. They stopped being a trick into education. Non-educational games were still alright to play, and these were those kinds of games. They were setting up the board of the first game before Tyreese and I were out the door. I think the absolute boredom helped the excitement factor.

I went to say good bye to Drew and felt more than a little guilty that I was running off to handle stuff while he stayed behind with someone, again. I knew he was safe when he was with the rest of the group and that being able to play was super critical to his sense of normalcy, but I wondered what the concern that his parents were facing scary things was doing to his emotional health. I hoped that we were doing a good enough job making sure that he was feeling protected as much as possible in this world, and that he wasn't filled with fear all the time. I gave him a kiss and told him we'd be back soon and hopefully bring back some good stuff. He waved me off dismissively because there was a new game to play with his group. I hoped that meant he was fine.

The air was so fresh here. I took a deep breath when we all set out, filling my lungs completely. This was definitely not California. I wondered how long it would take before all the air pollution went away from the zillions of cars that we had run in the old world. I also wondered what the effect of those many campfires that the survivors burned to keep warm was doing to the environment. Every time there were wildfires there was always someone talking about how harsh the smoke was trapped in the atmosphere. I wondered how many campfires that took to be equal to a southern California fire storm. Not that it really mattered in the immediate situation, freezing was not an option either. I shook myself back to the task at hand. Trent and I looked at our portion of the map and set out. We figured that starting down what looked to be one of the main streets was the best bet.

Snow was melting, revealing the asphalt in scattered dark patches. I linked my arm in Trent's and we walked along the middle of the road. Clumps of snow in the tree tops were starting to melt and water dripped off the branches like little localized rain storms. It felt like Trent and I were on a date, setting out to hunt down stuff in an antique store, not hunting down more goods to survive with. It was beautiful here in this moment, as the snowy landscape stretched out before us.

We found a grocery store and crept toward it. Most of the glass windows were broken and when we peeked through the broken panes into the abandoned building we could see there were few usable groceries left. The smell of the rotted perishables almost slapped me in the face. We were deciding on the risk to reward on this place when I swore I heard branches breaking from around the corner. I froze for a moment, expecting something to come around the corner. I tapped Trent, pointed to my ear then gestured to where the sound came from. We walked silently to the edge of the building. There was nothing there. I was getting nervous about not being able to find the source of the noise when a rabbit hopped out from behind a trash can. I put an arrow in the crossbow and fired, and hit the rabbit dead on, catching dinner for us. I had become a much better shot with the bow. Practice makes perfect, I suppose, because I've had a lot of practice lately.

We continued on, stopping at quick marts and gas stations, finding random supplies here and there that we put in our backpacks. This town was more picked over than I thought it would be.

I couldn't help but feeling that there was something watching us as we went on, staying just out of sight. It almost felt like we were being stalked. Trent saw my face was lined with worry. We both jumped a little when we heard something like a twig break near a building and agreed that we were not alone.

Trent spun around to the source of the noise and cocked the rifle, pointing it at the sound. Trent called out, "You come out right now, or you will be sorry. You have three seconds before I fire." His tone was serious and left no room for questioning the sincerity of his statement.

A woman came out from behind the building. She put her hands in the air to show that she was unarmed. "Y'all keep your weapons pointed down, ya hear?" She yelled out. "We got more in our group right around here and we don't want anyone to get hurt, ya got that? We were lookin' for stuff up here too. We don't want any trouble, ya hear?"

Trent and I looked at each other trying to decide what to do. This is why we had paired up this way. We spoke volumes about what to do here with barely perceptible shrugs and eyebrow movements. We decided to take a chance. I pulled the arrow out of the bow and put it in the arrow pouch. I slung the bow back on my shoulder. Trent put the rifle back on its shoulder sling.

We made a good choice in putting down our weapons, because as it turned out, the rest of the group had us surrounded. Even though the group was small, they could have done a lot of damage to us and we would have never seen where the hit came from.

The woman called out to us. "Morning. You folks from around here?" I shook my head no. "Yeah, us either. We were trying to get back home to New Orleans." I must have given a puzzled look because she continued on. "Yeah. We are far from where we should be, huh? We were thinkin' we were a tad hungry. Ya wanna join us for a lunch?" She offered.

I looked at Trent then called back, "Yeah, a lunch break does sound good."

"Well, come on over you two. We'll eat together."

Her name was Marnie. She lived in New Orleans when threshold hit. Most of her family moved to Oakland a while back, so when the news started reporting that there was something weird going on out in California and New York she got worried. The first day she watched the news in horror as live feeds showed the cities being overrun by waves of the undead and the panic of people as they tried to evacuate. She saw similar stuff that we did on TV, just more of it. She spoke with her family who said they were going to try to get out of town. It wasn't long before the news stopped showing the carnage, as media at ground zero became dinner. The CDC continued to make news releases about how there were quarantine areas that kept getting wider until the state of California was on lock down as were most of the New England states. The virus still got out. After all, how do you contain a virus that transmits so easily?

When the news quit saying anything a few days later, and the phone service stopped processing calls, Marnie started to form a plan to get to her family. When the reanimates started to show up in her neck of the woods she talked her neighbors, Philip and Zola, into a road trip and they were off.

They got to Oakland. There was no one left. Her family was gone. She didn't have a clue what became of them. Things were scary and with no sign of anyone, they made the decision that they had to turn back and get out of this hot zone. The car that got them there had died a bit after they had started back and they hadn't had much luck finding a new one. Between the slim pickings of functional cars and the general chaos of the roads they were using, they mostly kept to walking and when they could find them, the occasional bike until they had to abandon them or they broke. They decided that since they really weren't in much of a rush to get anywhere, that traveling quietly and taking in the parts of the country that they'd never seen was a nice way to spend time, like an extended camping trip. They collected a few goods when they found them, enough to last a couple days but not so much that they were overwhelmed with weight. They found a young man named Zach in Nevada on their trek back home who had heard reports that there was a safe zone in Denver. It was believed that the air was so thin that the virus couldn't adapt and it died. It was the first believable story that they heard. With that hope, they headed off in the general direction of Colorado. They had been traveling a bit more motivated than they had before, but they were still without a car so progress had been slow.

It was a remarkable story. Marnie, Philip, Zola, and Zach were making an incredible journey. I felt bad for her, not knowing what became of her family, but at the same time I was rather impressed that they had come all this way and how even though they kept running into stumbling blocks, they still managed to hang on to that hope.

After we were done eating lunch, I invited her to walk with us and to meet the rest of our group. She wasn't sure that she wanted to meet them but did agree to join us in the scavenging. "Marnie," I asked, "Would it be alright if I asked some stuff? You've been to more places that we have since this started." She nodded her head. "Is it the same? Where we are with them and where you were? The zombies I mean?"

"Yeah. It is." She waved Zach over to where we were standing. "Zach, baby, tell Miss Cali here about what you learned about those dead things."

Zach had a lot to say. He was a bright young man. He was a biology major in his college, hoping to get into the pre-med program when this all hit, and he had some great theories and observations on the dead. It appealed to my science-geek self to listen to his words.

"The most important part of the biology program to me was Anatomy and Physiology. I lived it and breathed it, no pun intended. Without knowing your body systems you couldn't begin to realize the importance of deviations from normal. It's like not realizing that shudder you feel in your car means that your engine is about to blow, or if it was just a weird nothing.

"I wanted to know how these zombies work. I wanted to know more about their functions. What is a zombie able to see and will knowing this keep me alive? We dissected cats in anatomy lab to understand how all these systems came together. It made sense to me to dissect the zombies, though all I could do is record observations when we came on them. I had no plans on playing zombie autopsy. Besides, it passed the time while on the road.

"The number one thing is the virus must eat. If it is not getting food stuff from the zombie's oral intake then the virus will take from its host."

Zach paused to open his water bottle and I thought back to that gas station guy. His clothes were hanging on him. Just like any sick guy who does not eat will lose weight, he lost weight. Had he not had Shelton's he would have just died of starvation. Nine months of not eating does that to a person. Because of the Shelton's, he kept going, and the virus fed on his body.

Zach closed the bottle, set it down, and picked up his story where he left off. "Zombies from around here are very leathery, like they had somehow traded in their skin for a suit made from cowhide. I noticed it the most when I was in Nevada, though there are a few here too. I think the low humidity of the southwest contributed to this near mummification.”

Marnie interrupted with something she observed on this. “Near the gulf, a blanket of humidity surrounded us all the time. There, the zombies tended to be squishy. Some of the zombies landed in the swamp and that was just gross. Flies landed on them and maggots played in the wounds they had, playin' peek-a-boo around the rotting meat in their guts." When she talked about them it reminded me of the zombies that got stuck in the mud in the wash behind the complex. I was, for a moment, grateful for our zombies. I didn't think I could be so strong in the face of all this if they were squishy.