America The Dead Book Two: The Road To Somewhere (23 page)

God be with us, please.

~Through the woods~

The trees grew ever taller, the darkness deeper
as the moonlight's path to the ground was blocked by the high
canopy of the branches as they closed in.

An hour before dawn they came to a wide and
long valley. A small village was nestled in the bottom next to a
broad river. The smell of wood fire hung on the cold night air, the
glow of fire in the distance.

The boy came slowly up on one side, the twins
on the other, scenting the air with their eyes, listening to the
tale that it told. The horse, somewhere in the darkness behind them
all, silent, its large eyes wild in the moonlight. She knew that
was true, even though she could not see it. It was coming to her,
finding its own way, miles away still.

There where ten breathers there in the small
village below, camped among the ruins, on the road, just stopped
for the night. Out of the ten, five were to be part of them,
walkers, their souls only waiting to be claimed. The air carried
their story to them, and another, more complex story with it. A
story of the next ones that were to come, the next additions, the
army that would be assembled and the place that it would be
assembled in.

The boy and the twins trembled and whined,
rusty nails on chalkboard whines, high pitched, slightly crazy,
sounding like bats on the wing in the darkness. She did not correct
them or scold them. Her hands rose and fell upon their thin
shoulders as the air told its tales. A few moments later, the spell
was broken, and they were on their way down to the village, winding
through the thinning trees, finding the broken parts of what had
been the main road, walking close to the tree line as they made
their way closer to the fire.

Fire was their enemy, smoke the
messenger of that enemy. Fire was heat; heat
consumed.
That is what it had been
created for.

This fire frightened her, but it
did not set the terror loose inside of her that it once had. It
could not,
would
not kill her. And if it could not, then there was no real
reason to fear it. If it could not, then it was no real protection
to the breathers. Maybe it could still drive away the living
predators, the wolves, the big cats, but she could know about it,
reason it out, think around it... feel it. And it said that it was
not able to hurt her. Not this time.

That was another change. Not so long ago she
could not think around anything. Every thought was a challenge, and
she had been born into this like that, like a blind and dumb baby
of sorts, growing blinder and dumber as the time
passed...

And then the change had come. The change
brought to her on the air, delivered to her eyes, and these, the
boy and the twins, born into that change on the air, struggling
less and less, knowing more and more, bodies changing faster and
faster. And the horse gone to do.

She didn't really know what part the animal
played. Some part. Some part that was needed for the larger
purpose. Maybe this other life would not be the only other
life.

They came to the edge of the darkness, where
the fire light refused to lend its light, and stood staring at the
small group of breathers bedded down around the fire.

The one who was supposed to be on guard had
dozed. The fire had burned low. He would probably chastise himself
for it, except he would never have the opportunity to do that. He
might have a split second in which to ask his God to forgive him,
but he would probably waste that split second drowning in his fear,
cursing, fighting, dying before he realized he had wasted his
time.

She was by his side a moment later. He slept on
as she bent and prepared to take him. The boy and the twins had
made their own choices. Her hands pinned his arms and her head
darted quickly to his throat. The killing began.

Evidence

~ April 2~

Morning came slowly, golden light filtering
down through the trees painting light and dark shadows on the pine
covered floor. A light breeze shifted through the limbs causing the
shadows to chase each other.

They searched through the first gray light of
dawn, but they had not been able to find Jeff's body. They combed
the top of the hill to the highway. All of them had ended up at an
area near the top of the hill. A scuffed area of dirt showed
something had transpired there, but there was no way to know what
or whether it had anything to do with Jeff. A few minutes later
Ronnie had found a jacket that they were sure was Jeff's near the
bottom of the long hill. It had lain crumpled and bloodstained in a
ditch that lead up to the road surface. They had gathered around
it, staring down. Kate had finally crouched down and studied it. A
few minutes later she picked it up to look closer.

Several dozen bullet holes stitched the jacket
across the back; two punched through the hood. The jacket was blood
drenched. She let it fall from her hands and stood, rubbing her
hands against her jeans in an unconscious scrubbing motion, her
mouth tight and trembling. “He couldn't have walked away from
that,” she said.

Mike lifted his eyes to the trees and then the
road. Beside him Ronnie did the same. His eyes came back to Kate to
find that she also had checked the surrounding area, even though
she knew he could not possibly have walked away. He shook his head.
“I... We can look back up the hillside...” He trailed off. Looking
anywhere after finding the jacket made no real sense at
all.

Kate shook her head. “They must have taken his
body. But why?” She looked at Mike and Ronnie.

Ronnie shook his head also. Mike spoke. “Makes
no sense to me. People? Wolves?”

“
Could be... Could be either. And
what do we tell his woman?” Ronnie added.

Kate toed Jeff's jacket where it lay at her
feet. She hesitated and then bent and picked it up. “If it's all
they left us, then we'll give him a burial.” She looked at Ronnie.
“Wolves,” She said.

Ronnie shrugged. “Could be. Why would a person
take him?”

“
Mike?” She looked at
him

“
Maybe... Maybe a couple of wolves
could have made off with his body, I guess.” He looked up and met
her eyes. “We'll run it past Bob. He should know.”

“
Yeah.” Ronnie agreed. “Bob will
know. Makes sense.”

~

Mike spoke to Bob, but he thought the wolf idea
was unlikely. They spoke in quiet tones as Kate insisted on digging
a hole and burying the jacket.

Kate had found herself wishing for Lilly. Her
own relationship with God was stretched to say the least, filled
with animosity to say a little more. But she spoke some words about
the shadow of death that she remembered from Sunday school, and
they piled the rocks upon the shallow grave they had dug for Jeff's
jacket.

They walked as a group down to where the trucks
had been parked next to the woods. One was still idling, the other
had either run out of gas or had been damaged by the spray of
bullets Kate had hit it with the night before.

Kate reached in and turned off the switch of
the one still running truck. The silence of the trees and the
forest behind them descended.

~

They had parked and had climbed out through the
windows. From there they had walked through the shadows down to the
park road, and it had almost worked. Only a shadow of movement had
alerted Kate. And if were not for that, the night could have turned
out completely different.

Back in the camp, after the gun battle was
over, Mike had checked Kate over, building up the fire that he had
started earlier to make dinner so he would have enough light to see
by.

The wound on her forehead looked like a cut,
possibly from a rock as she had dove to the ground and rolled. The
stab wound in her arm was red and swollen where the blade had
bitten into the bone. She admitted it ached when she moved it too
fast. Another shallow cut lower down had completely escaped her
attention. And a neat round hole through her jacket showed how
close one particular bullet had come.

After they had taken care of Jeff's jacket,
they searched for the bodies of the others.

They searched for over three hours, all of
them, but they could not come up with the ten bodies they were sure
they should have come up with.

They came up with only five. Two of the young
women were missing, and Cindy couldn't tell them which ones. Either
Tammy or Chloe lay dead where Mike had shot her in the head. Too
much of her face was missing for Cindy to tell. The body in the
truck was missing, and the other that had lain in the road, Death,
was also gone.

“
Kate shook her head. “No. This
guy was dead. I kicked him. I also shot into him twice more to make
sure he was dead. He was dead, no doubt about it.” She walked
further down the road and then stopped and walked off into the
trees. The others followed after a second when it was clear she did
not intend to come back.

Mike walked up beside her where she had
squatted down in the tall grass. A large jelled pool of blood lay
stuck to the root mass of the grasses. Ants crawled all over
it.

“
Nobody walked away after losing
this much blood.” She shot to her feet; her eyes darted around at
the trees. “Mike,” She waited until his eyes met her own. “I dumped
most of a clip into this one. No way they got up and walked away.
No Fuckin' way.”

“
I believe you.” Mike told her.
His eyes looked worried. “I just want to know they're dead not...
not coming back at us again.” His eyes also swept the trees. Cindy,
Ronnie and Bob exchanged uneasy glances.

“
Had to have been more of the
others,” Ronnie said.

“
No, Man,” Cindy said.

“
How do you know that?” Ronnie
turned to her. His voice was raised, but she did not flinch at
all.

“
Because I was there. I know. I
was there. I wouldn't lie. I would be the first one they'd kill...
and not fast either,” She finished. And then she did flinch as a
shudder ran through her.

Ronnie turned away embarrassed. “I'm sorry,” he
said clearly, albeit as he was turning away. Kate tried to catch
his eyes, but he refused to look at her.

Mike shook his head. “Let's not go at each
other. Let's let that whole thing that just happened slide. We're
all tense. It doesn't mean shit, except we're a little spooked...
and... with good reason too.” He kicked at the ground. “What the
fuck,” he muttered. “Listen,“ he shook his head once more... “Okay,
listen, Jeff told me this. I said nothing about it, but maybe
it...“ He shook his head again, but he brought his eyes up from the
ground where they had been watching his boots scuff the dirt into a
small pile.

“
So... Jeff said
this... a little more about what happened. They had come upon this
small town somewhere, didn't say where. He's by himself, like he
had said before, looking through this little drug store... busted
up but still somewhat intact. Turns the corner in an aisle, and
there's the dead woman there. Bad, but, well, we have all seen so
much death that after his initial jump back, he takes a close look
at her because... well,
his words,
and he said it to all of us... she didn't
look
quite right.
Somewhere east of okay.” Mike shrugged. “As he is trying to put his
finger on what it is that is not quite right, she sits up in the
aisle, looks around likes she's blind, then sort of focused on
him.” Mike shrugged again. “Said she was blind or seemed blind, but
she focused on him...”

“
He didn't just stumble over her
like he said to us. Anyway... Jeff don't know what to do or say,
forgets to breath for a second, and then starts forward to help
her. But the first thing he notices is that she has a hole the size
of a fist in her chest. The blood is old. There's a puddle on the
floor; she pulled herself out of it. And before he can think even a
little more, she snarls and begins to backpedal on the tile floor.
His mouth drops, and he stands there watching even after she's
gone.” Mike had turned his attention back to the ground as he
spoke. The little pile of earth had grown considerably.

“
A little more than he said the
first time he told us. We talked about it a little more... just he
and I. I wasn't trying to freeze anyone out or keep it from you.
Things have just been happening too fast.” He looked up after a
quiet moment had passed to see all of them simply staring at
him.

“
So...
What?”
Tom asked. “Are
you saying she managed to live with that hole in her? And you
guys,” He turned and looked at the others, “You guys talked about
this before?”

Mike shook his head.
“
I'm
not saying
anything at all.
Jeff
said he thought she was dead. Never sucked in a breath as she
got up... even exerting herself scrambling backwards to get away
from him. Nothing. No breath. No blood. No
anything...
And, yeah... We talked
about it, and that was the morning before we left that little
complex we were camped out in. Jeff found a...
a place.
Some of us went and looked
it over.”