America the Dead (14 page)

I handed a piece of paper to him and he grunted as he took it. I decided on a different tack.

In my best Darth Vader voice, I said “When I left you I was but the learner, now
I
am the master.”

Nate, a die hard Star Wars fan, couldn’t stop himself from grinning. “You’re a real smart ass, you know that?” I could see dozens of cars stalled out on the road as we passed under Route 396 and a line of cars backed up to the highway. Interstate 80 was up there and it was as useless to us as rubber bullets.

I grinned. “Gee, you think?” I swiveled in the chair and tapped his arm. “Stop here.”

Nate slowed the vehicle down. “Why here?” he asked. One side of the street was wooded with a few homes tucked away. On the other side was a small strip mall, with a copy pace and restaurant taking up most of the space.

I checked the mirrors and headed for the side door. “Check it out. Gun shop by the pizza place and the nail salon.” I pointed to the small store nestled in between pepperoni and pedicures.

“All right,” Nate said. “I need some back-up ammo, if you find any.”

“Will do.”

I nodded to Tommy to follow me and motioned for Duncan to cover us from the roof. We left the RV and scooted over the road to check out the small business. We avoided the cars in the lot and headed straight to the store. The front window had been smashed in and the door was broken as well, so I didn’t think we’d find anything, but it never hurt to look.

I picked up a chunk of glass and tossed it into the store, hoping to stir any waiting Z’s. Not hearing anything, I nodded to Tommy and went in first, SIG already out. The store was very narrow, barely ten feet wide. The counter area ran the length of the store and took up almost all usable space. Every case had been smashed in and there was dried blood on some of the glass, indicating that people had been desperate enough to smash the case with their bare hands.

The cases were empty as were the ones on the wall. We moved farther back and that’s when Tommy nudged me and pointed to the door that led to the back room. A pair of feet were stretched out, with the rest of the corpse still hidden. I moved closer and took a quick look in the back area and saw it was a really small gun range.

Bet the neighbors loved that
, I thought, looking around the corner at the owner of the feet. He was a black man, about six feet tall, but his age was impossible to determine. He had been shot three times in the chest, likely trying to defend his business from looters. He was still wearing a holster, which based on the shape, once held a Government Model 1911. A quick glance around the office showed a lot of scattered papers, but nothing of value.

I stepped out and shook my head at Tommy, who nodded and started back to the door. He took two steps then stopped, staring at something near the floor of the display cases.

I tapped him on the shoulder, but he crouched down and pulled at a handle partially hidden under the lip of the case. A drawer came out and we were excited to see a bunch of different magazines for various guns. Tommy put about ten AR-15 mags in my backpack and I put a bunch of Glock and SIG magazines in his. We moved down the row of cases, pulling out the hidden drawers. We found gun cleaning kits, animal calling lures and a bunch of adult magazines. In the last drawer we found some ammo, but not a lot. There was two boxes of .223, one box of .38’s and three boxes of .45 acp. We took it all, figuring to trade the bullets we didn’t need for stuff we could use.

My pack was full, so I carried the ammo in my left hand, keeping my right free to use my gun. Tommy and I scrunched our way through the broken glass and out into the parking lot. We threw a wave to Duncan on the roof of the RV and scampered over. Rounding the front of the RV, we ran smack into a trio of zombies.

These guys must have come through the woods to check out the shiny intruder to their world. They were about the same age, roughly teens and looked relatively fresh. In the back of my mind I figured these guys had been surviving until one of them got sick and infected the others. At the sight of Tommy and myself skidding to a halt, the trio groaned loudly as one and advanced on us.

I threw my gun up and shot the nearest one in the face, snapping his head back and dumping him to the ground. Tommy shot the next one just as quickly, pausing for a microsecond to aim his shot. A dark hole appeared in the forehead of the ghoul and its’ dead eyes rolled up into its head as it collapsed. I was lining up the third for a shot when a rifle cracked from the roof of the RV, hammering the last one to the ground with a blown-out skull. Apparently, Duncan wanted a piece of the action, too.

We climbed aboard and Nate quickly got us under way. A few dozen zombies were climbing out of homes and businesses, making their way over to our position. I personally didn’t like the odds, so we beat the hell out of there.

I put the ammo into our storage locker and went back to sit next to Nate. I handed him a box of .38’s and he grinned like a kid at Christmas.

“Hey, thanks! I didn’t think you’d find anything in there.” Nate exclaimed happily, losing his previous funk.

“No problem,” I said. “Actually got some for the AR’s and a 1911, if we ever find one.”

“Trade it, if someone wants it.”

“There is that. What town is next?”

“Check the map. I didn’t live here.”

“Lazy grouch.” I blocked Nate’s swing at my head and opened up the map and looked it over as we passed a few subdivisions. I didn’t need to see the tattered white flags to know this area was as dead as the next. Empty homes and empty cars told the tale as loudly as a concert. This close to the city, these people didn’t have a chance once the Z’s spread out. Once again, I was amazed that we had managed to survive the worst of the Upheaval, although the trio we just killed was a potent reminder that this conflict was far from over.

Looking quickly at the map and getting my look-see bearings, I figured we were about to cross the Illinois/Indiana border into Dyer. I flipped the road atlas to Indiana and checked for the population of town to get an idea of what we might be heading into.

I looked at the number and winced. Over fifteen thousand. I exhaled and Nate looked over at me.

“Fifteen thousand,” I said.

“Great.”

“I’ll tell the guys,” I said as I headed to the back areas. Duncan was sharpening a knife and Tommy was still looking over a map. They both looked up as I cam into the kitchen area.

“Dyer up ahead,” I said. “Population was fifteen thousand.”

“What about now?” Duncan asked, sheathing his blade.

“We’ll know in a minute. Heads up,” I said, taking my carbine out of its place and checking the camber.

They both retrieved their long guns and readied themselves on both sides of the RV. I went back up to the front and positioned myself next to Nate. A thoughtful gent had made a portal in the windshield which could be opened to allow front firing. It saved me the trouble of trying to lean out the side window and possibly get grabbed from behind.

We followed Route 30 as it wound around a bend and straightened out. Slowly coasting down a small hill, we eased into the center of Dyer, which had several roads intersecting in one place, making for a huge intersection. Brick buildings surrounded us and there were a couple of state-line cigarette shops within view, as well as a gas station. The road we wanted to head down was directly ahead, down a hill and under a viaduct.

Unfortunately, that road was occupied by about a thousand zombies, whose heads turned as one to see the big vehicle lumbering through their town.

Nate and I ducked down and I signaled to Tommy and Duncan in the back to get out of sight. Zombies will be attracted to movement, but if they don’t see or smell prey, they aren’t likely to attack. If they can’t see the driver of a car, then they will generally let it pass. Tinted windows were very handy with zombies. Since we were high enough, we were able to duck down and stay out of sight. They could still inspect the vehicle, but if we could keep them from swarming, we wouldn’t have to stop. If we got stopped and they thought there was food inside, it was going to get ugly in a hurry.

Nate had the worst of it, since he had to try and drive from the floor. He was cramped up and waiting instruction as I moved further back to guide him out of sight.

“Keep it straight,” I whispered, watching as we moved into the zombie horde. The RV was barely moving, but we were making progress. I could feel the RV shift a little under my feet as we ran into zombies, pushing them out of the way with the plow in front, knocking them into other zombies. Glancing out the back window, we left a wake of tangled arms and legs.

“To the left. Left. Your other left!” I whispered hoarsely and winced as we nailed a Z head on. The RV lurched slightly as we ground the ghoul into the road.

Nate shook his head as an apology and corrected the big vehicle.

“Turn it back more. More. Good. Hold it—run it back a bit—hold it… okay, let it straighten. Okay, good. Now to the right, keep going.” I tried to steer us around the larger groups of zombies, kind of like steering a ship through an ice flow.

We kept this up for nearly twenty minutes and I could see the raised arms as we passed the crowds. They seemed to sense that something was wrong with a big vehicle moving on its own, but they were too stupid to connect the dots. Which was fortunate for us since there were enough of them to stop us cold if they swarmed all at once.

The zombies weren’t the only problem. We had to steer around abandoned cars, which added more stress to our trip. Luckily, we managed to get through the worst of it, then the way cleared for a bit.

“You can get up now,” I said, returning to my seat. Nate levered himself back into the driver’s seat and shook his head at me.

“Let’s try not to do that again,” he said, looking at the shambling horde behind us.

“With the hill, there was no way to reconnoiter. Be grateful we managed to get through unseen.”

“That is true.” After travelling for about twenty minutes, Nate looked over to the right and pointed at what appeared to be a middle school. “Looks like there might be survivors,” he said as he pulled in to the school’s parking lot.

I looked over the building. The windows looked to be reinforced from the inside and the doorways I could see were all blocked from the inside as well. It was close to the hordes we left behind, but any survivor was worth making contact with.

I moved back to get my gear and ran into Tommy and Duncan.

“What’s up?” Duncan asked, checking the magazine in his sidearm.

“School looks like it might have survivors, or at least have been a place where people holed up. Probably nothing, but worth checking out.” I took my faithful pickaxe out of the closet, checked my knife for clearance, and made sure my pistol magazine was full. Tommy went through the same checklist before we stepped outside. There were a few zombies across the road and they started moaning when they saw us, but since there was a fence between us and them, they weren’t any real danger.

We moved up to the building and saw the front door was completely blocked on the inside. Circling quickly, we moved around the building and checked out the other entrances. All of them were blocked, but based on personal experience, I had to figure they had to have an easy way in and out. The windows near the ground floor were all blocked and covered over, so they wouldn’t have been used. I started to look up and that’s when I saw the door for the roof access by the gym. Following the progression of floors, I figured that in order to get in, I had to get on the roof. Looking around with new knowledge, I saw a dumpster out of place by the building and a sturdy wooden box on top of it.

I tapped Duncan on the arm and he scampered over to the dumpster and climbed up. Tommy and I kept our rifles at the ready, me pointing at the roof and Tommy making sure we weren’t surprised. When Duncan stood on the box the edge of the roof was just over his head, making easy access for a live person, but impossible for a zombie. He climbed up and with a quick look around, signaled us to follow.

We looked for signs of violence on the roof, but finding none we went over to the door and tried the handle. It opened easily and we all stepped back as the door swung wide with a squeak. Training my rifle at the dark opening, I flicked on my combat light and stepped into the dark. I stayed to the right to give Tommy a clear line of fire and Duncan brought up the rear.

We descended into the gloom and found ourselves in a power room. I guessed this was a custodial room based on the mops and cleaning supplies scattered about. I didn’t see anything that indicated the presence of zombies, so it was So Far, So Good.

Descending another small flight of stairs brought us to what looked like a P.E. teacher’s office and we approached another door. I assumed this one would bring us to the gym. We doused our lights and stood by the door, listening intently for sounds of activity. We had made it so far without detection and didn’t want to be shot for popping up in the middle of a council meeting or something.

Hearing nothing, I opened the door slowly and stepped out of the way as Tommy brought his rifle up. Nothing appeared out of the gloom and we could see fairly well, thanks to the skylights in the gym ceiling. There were piles of clothing, food and water bottles, tools and equipment. I saw bags of seeds and dirt, mixed in with bags of rice and flour. In one corner were weapons of various types, from hand axes to what appeared to be spears, of all things. Baseball bats were in abundance and there were modified hockey sticks as well.