Barely Alive (24 page)

I opened the door and climbed into the compact cab. The inside was set up with carpet on the floor and no seats in the back. A cooler and TV had been hooked to the wall behind the driver’s seat. I leaned across and unlocked the passenger’s door.

Heather bounded in and unlocked the door behind her. Travis, James, and Connie climbed in, exclaiming over the interior. James voice was loudest. “This is awesome. Now we can
travel
.”

We’d have to stop eventually, but we needed to get going first. The zombies hadn’t been far behind us.

My luck didn’t hold with the van. I couldn’t find keys anywhere. I leaned down to hotwire it, but James pushed open the side door again. “Connie and I’ll push it. You can pop it into third.”

Zombie strength was a good thing. They pushed at a fast enough pace the transmission popped and the engine turned over. I stopped the van and they climbed in while it idled in neutral. I glanced at James. “You realize you’re going to be doing that every time we have to stop, right?”

“
Stop on a hill and we’ll be fine.” He gasped.

They settled into the vinyl bean bags strewn about the back.

In the new-to-us van, we revved toward the Nevada-Idaho border. How the heck had zombies made it as far north as Jackpot?

Chapter 19

A well-worn wooden sign for a fish hatchery swung in the mountain breeze. A breeze I swore was hell bent on freezing my nuts off.

Heather and Travis wanted the windows down because the spring afternoon was “so nice”. I’d clenched my teeth together to stop the tremors. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin the good vibe she and I had cultivated for the last twelve hours or so because I was cold. And
hungry
.

I couldn’t help wondering for the billionth time since leaving Jackpot, how far had the zombies made it?

“
Hey, let’s stop at the hatchery. I’ve never seen one.” And swimming fish sounded good. Anything sounded good, but at least they moved. Even some of the trees had a fleshy look to them which I was tempted to sharpen my teeth on.

Travis glanced from the notes he shared with his wife to the sign. “We aren’t on a vacation, Paul. Maybe we should press on.”

I could’ve whimpered. I hadn’t eaten fresh meat since the deer. “Well, I was thinking Connie, James, and I could try the fish, see what it tastes like.” I offered a weak smile, even turning the wheel and shifting the manual transmission had become tiresome.

“
Oh, right.” His face reddened. “Sorry. By all means.” He looked at Connie, her face unreadable.

I turned onto the dirt road and followed the modest signs to a parking lot outside Ranger-type buildings, wood logs and all. The afternoon sunlight angled through the thick leafy growth of wide trees. Evergreens poked into the blue sky like rockets toward outer space.

Birds whistled in the woods around us. But when we got out of the van, they stopped. Even nature knew we weren’t right.

Oh, stretching my legs felt good. Each bend and flex filled with tingles of pain as I worked the kinks out. The atrophying process had started on the long drive. Gray tinged to the second knuckle on some fingers, third on others. James and Connie were thankfully still pale peach.

James’s lips puckered and unpuckered. He was going all twitchy on me again. I nudged him with my elbow as we walked side-by-side down the packed-down trail to the building marked “Information”. “Stop with the twitching crap. That’s so annoying.”

The puckering stopped. “Sorry. I’m a little nervous. And hungry.”
Ya think?

“
Me, too. We need some food. We’ll feel better after.” I pulled his elbow so he didn’t follow Heather and Travis turning to go through the doors. They’d distract any humans inside. We zombies needed to eat.

Around the corner of the dark brown building, we walked into a clearing surrounded by other structures, most were houses, but some looked like over-sized filtering devices. I lost interest in the layout when my gaze fell on a lazy salmon swimming along the top of a recessed pond. The behemoth looked like he swallowed bears instead of the other way around.

I pointed, not stopping in my rush to the water’s edge. “That one’s mine.”

Connie scanned the area. “You can’t just go in there and eat it. Are you crazy?”

“
Hell, yeah, I am. I’m starving.” And I climbed the fence surrounding the manmade body of water. Tennis shoes on – ‘cause you never know how many layers of fish crap were under the green-hued water – I waded in knee deep. In the chilly water slippery bodies bumped my jean-clad legs and ankles. My mouth watered. “You guys, the water isn’t green, it’s all the fish. They’re packed in here like sardines.”

Large, dark lanky forms created shadows under the sunlight. They darted back and forth without really going anywhere. I didn’t venture any further into the water. Some of them were so large, I really did worry they would try to eat parts of me, if they could get me under.

I’d never fished before, and hell, if I’d ever touched a fish either. I didn’t think canned tuna counted. I reached down and pulled back before I broke the water’s surface. I could break a deer’s neck, but doing the same to a fish didn’t seem as effective.

James whispered across the moving water. “Are you going to, or what?”

“
Shh.” I replied. He’d be a bigger puss in there than me. He didn’t even like the tilapia my mom made. And without over-thinking it, I plunged my hand into the water and grabbed the first thing my palm touched. Digging my fingers into its side, I yanked a three and a half foot long salmon out of the water. The monster wriggled against my grasp. I cradled it and hurried outside the fenced area to eat in the shade of a gazebo.

The torpedo-shaped body jerked when I set it down on a wooden picnic table. The well- maintained yard had little to offer to bash the head in with. I removed my dripping shoe and whacked the fish with two solid hits. He stopped moving.

I put my shoe back on and tore in.

Oh, manna. I’d heard once that when you get extremely hungry your tastes refine and your pallet can detect nuances you would otherwise miss. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the scent of the water on his skin, the residual salt in his flesh from the ocean, and even the mild musky taste of age. He’d migrated a time or two and was on his last leg in life.

Hot damn, he tasted good.

Smacking sounds startled me. I looked up to find James and Connie had joined me on the table with catches of their own. Connie really did eat with patience. She had control I’d never seen before.

James and I had at least reserved the mess to our hands and lower wrists. My little brother groaned softly. I nodded in agreement.

In minutes, we’d left little more than bones and unnecessary organs in our wake. Our leftovers cluttered in the garbage can on the side of the picnic table. We washed our hands at the water fountain before wandering into the information building.

My wet shoes and lower jeans had cooled enough I worried. Could I get frost bite and lose toes and fingers as a zombie?

Travis didn’t look our way when we walked in. He was completely engrossed by a monologue given by a scrawny man trying to cover his smallness in too-big of clothes. A news program flickered on an aged television sitting on the back counter.

Heather covered a yawn and glanced up from the stuffed fish display she’d been staring at. She pinched Travis’s shirt. “That’s so interesting.” She nodded our direction. “The rest of the group is here.”

The gentleman stopped mid-sentence and offered a subdued smile. He glanced toward the door and his polite smile froze.

I studied him as Heather and Travis walked toward us, discussing the merits of listening to a lecture at a fish hatchery. The man’s eyes shifted, more than I was comfortable with. I opened the door further.

His gaze flicked to the TV. I looked closer. A rough sketch of my face flashed on the screen with the underlining caption “Armed and extremely dangerous”. He looked at me and I met his stare. A sheen of perspiration popped out above his upper lip.

I smiled and walked outside. Even if he called the cops, they’d never get there in time. We were so backwoods. My guess? They were so far off the grid, 911 didn’t even work. I’d worry when we got to a town that didn’t disappear when you blinked driving through it.

In the van, the mood had lightened a great deal. James hummed under his breath and Connie pushed her pencil in a maddening scratchy pace across the paper. The gray had dimmed down to my first knuckle again, not as far as I would’ve liked, but I’d take it. And my headache had dissipated.

My omissions piled up, yet I wasn’t ready to say anything. Wanted by the law paled in comparison to Dominic racing us to Sandpoint, but I didn’t want to ruin the mood. We needed a break from worrying, even if only for a short time.

We turned onto the main highway passing through the river city. White rapids whipped beneath the bridge and James and Travis pointed at the rafts tumbling down the river.

Jealousy stabbed me in the center of my fear and anxiety. The rafters were carefree with no idea their world was about to get turned upside down.

Chapter 20

An hour and a half passed so fast, I don’t know where it went.

A gray sedan was the only sign of life on the road and its driver held its speed about a quarter of a mile behind us.

Lewiston’s infamous smell would assault us any minute. On the top of the rise just outside of town, the phone beeped when it found service. Heather palmed it. “Do you mind if I call my grandma now? We aren’t more than three or four hours away.”

“
Sure. Can you get directions so James can let my mom know?” I was in too good a mood to be upset or worried. We’d reach her house by late evening. Too fast for Dominic to beat us.

She dialed and laughed when her grandma’s voice came on the other end. I couldn’t understand the older woman’s thick Irish accent, so I focused on Heather’s half of the conversation. “Grandma! It’s Heather. No everything’s fine. I’m driving up to see you. Is that okay? I have some friends with me.” Her happiness dimmed. “Um, no, they didn’t make it. Yeah, they’re dead. Okay, well, keep your cell on you. We’re just outside Lewiston.” Her smile returned. “Yes, steak sounds wonderful. See you soon, Grandma. Love you.” She clicked off and it was like she’d just eaten as well as we had.

She handed the phone back to James who dialed.

“
What does your grandma do?” I glanced in the side window. The car closed the distance between us, pulling close to our rear bumper. I stuck my arm out the window and waved it passed.

“
She’s a nurse in Las Vegas but grew up in Sandpoint. Sometimes she goes to the hospital to check on the staff and tease the doctors when she’s visiting her old place. She’s been a nurse for almost forty years.” Pride warmed her words with her grin. Her curls needed taming, but I didn’t think she could look prettier.

The phone went directly to voicemail. If Mom was headed toward Idaho, she could have been out of range.

“
That’s awesome. My mom is in consulting. She’s good at it, but I have no idea what she consults about, strategy or something.” I shrugged and basked in her happiness. I’d love to reach over and hold her hand. I needed to grow some balls, ‘cause her hand wouldn’t be grabbed unless I did it.

The car didn’t pass. I slowed down and pulled to the side to give it room. The flat nosed sedan didn’t take the hint. The dark windows blocked my view from making eye contact with the driver.

I sped up to my normal speed and ignored the car until a red and blue light flashed in my side window. An unmarked police cruiser had tailed us for quite a ways. Brushing off the small communities in the woods wasn’t turning out to be so bright.

James and Connie glimpsed the colors in the glass. James scooted up to kneel next to me. “What do we do?”

I matched the low volume of his voice. “I don’t know. What can we do? I don’t want to bring attention to us in Lewiston.” I picked the skin on my thumb. And stopped. Who knew if it would grow back? “I’m going to pull over.” And do what? But the more attention we brought on ourselves, the more information Dominic could get. The last thing we needed was a high-speed chase broadcast on TV.

James nodded and backed up. Heather and Travis paled, almost matching the three of us. I offered them what I hoped was a reassuring smile, but I’m sure it fell flat and could only be described as a scared-shitless grimace.

Down-shifting, I pulled to the next available shoulder. I had to leave the car on. No keys. And I had no wallet or registration. I leaned my head back for a second. And I was on the news as wanted. Holy crap. I was so screwed, and not in a good way either.

With a solid swagger, the square shouldered officer approached my door with his hand on the butt of his pistol. Dark sunglasses covered his eyes. A trickle of sweat blazed a trail down his forehead. It wasn’t that hot out. He stopped three feet from the door in a defensive stance.

“
R-raise your hands in the air and exit the vehicle, please.” He sounded like he wanted to run screaming into the woods.

I did as he said, leaving the door open. Facing him, I raised my hands above my shoulders. “What seems to be the trouble, officer?” I squinted in the sunlight, envious of his shades. They looked a little on the dorky side, but he wasn’t squinting. Dorky was better than wimpy.