Respect for the Dead (Surviving the Dead Book 1) (37 page)

              “Static, static and more static!”  Trevor clicked off the radio with disgust.  Devin had resumed their meander through abandon vehicles but upon reaching an open stretch had not sped up.  Coming to an area with a wide flat field on either side of the road and a small median he rolled to a stop. 

              “What’s up?”  Beth asked moving to Devin’s shoulder.

              “Where do we go?”  He asked turning to look at the others. The question hung in the air unanswered.  No one knew the answer.  Beth looked out across the field.  An old car sat rusting in the middle of it. Further out, along the fence line  she could see them wandering back and forth trying to find a way through.  

              “Where are we?”  She asked.  “I remember Amish farms out this way.” 

              Matt spoke up, excited.  “Hey hey, I just came this way a couple of weeks ago.  I remember that car.  I thought it might be cool to try to fix it up.”  He faltered at the look on Beth’s face that told him to make a point.  “I…well, I remember that it took forever to get here from Harrisburg because of all the construction.” 

              “So?  There is always construction on this road.  Steve, Wes and I go to the lake every summer and there is always one lane or the other closed.”  Beth noted.

              “Yeah but when we were stuck behind this cattle hauler, wow that stunk, I noticed a huge farm house in the construction zone.  I’m pretty sure it was Amish.”

              “If it was that would be great.”  Beth smiled. 

“If we can get to it, we might be able to use the construction barricades to build a kinda fort.  I just hope it was a more progressive Amish house.”  Devin remarked.   

              Hector was scratching his chin, “Why is it a good thing if it is an Amish house?  Wouldn’t any farm house be good if we can fortify it?” 

              “Well,” Beth explained, “Any farm house would be good, but if is an Amish house it would be better suited for our current circumstance.” 

              “Did the Amish have a plan for the living dead?”  Hector asked with raised eyebrows. 

              Matt laughed.  “No.  Not that I am aware of.  No what Beth means is they didn’t have electricity prior to now.  So the thing is, they have things like oil lamps, candles, and maybe if they are more progressive they could have propane powered refrigerators and ovens.  If not they will have wood for fires for cooking and heating.” 

              “Never thought I would hope to end up in an Amish house.”  Hector mused. 

              Putting the truck back in drive, Devin asked Matt, “So how far do you think it is?”   Matt couldn’t remember if it was a half hour or longer to the construction zone.  Beth watched the rusty car as Devin pulled away.  Several zombies had found a hole in the fence and were now even with the old hulk.  The field and the undead disappeared as they passed under a bridge. 

              After forty five minutes the air in the armored car was becoming tense.  Several signs had warned of the upcoming construction zone.  The amount of discarded automobiles and belongs had begun to increase.  The trail of luggage told a tale of the change in priorities from objects to survival.  The frequency of stains on the asphalt made it clear that survival wasn’t always obtained. 

              Passing the sign that informed them of “Road Construction 1 mile”  Gillian called out from one of the small windows in the back.  “Hey! Slow down!  What is that over there?”  She was pointing to something off the highway. 

Devin slowed the truck and found himself crowded as everyone tried to find a larger window to look out.  Not too far from the highway was a large white building.  In the parking lot were several cars, and a few tour buses.  They were parked haphazardly all over the lot.  “It looks like it was a rendezvous spot.”  Hector commented. 

“What do you think?  Should we check it out?  It might be an evacuation point.  There might be information on where we should go.”  Trevor nearly bounced in his seat.    

Ryan sat on the roof eating the cold microwave meal with a plastic Spork.  His legs dangled over the edge.  He watched the undead below him milling about.  Somewhere in there was his last companion.  Ryan searched the crowd for the familiar hideous red jacket embroidered with a dragon.

“He really loved that damn jacket.”  Ryan smiled as he shook his head. 

Finishing the last of the cold spaghetti, Ryan wiped his mouth and surveyed the throng.  He cleaned the Spork and put it in his pocket.  He returned his gaze down to the zombies.  He needed to find the perfect one amongst the graying skin and torn clothes.  ‘Yes.  There she was.  If it weren’t for the fact that she was dead she looked almost normal. 

Ryan watched her for a few moments and wondered how she died.  The many zombies around her showed obvious wounds.  Torn throats, ripped limbs, some even looked as if they had been disemboweled but she looked untouched.  Her business suit was a little dirty and wrinkled.  Ryan attributed this to the resent rain.  He kept watching her as he turned the food container over in his hand to empty any remaining sauce.  Her face was clean, grey and sunken, but clean.  He wondered if she had ever killed anyone.  He knew for certain that many of the others below had.  As he thought of this he saw the familiar red jacket a smile crept over his face. 

Returning his attention to the dead business woman he wished her could see her hands.  Would they also be clean, or had she ripped someone apart, they would be covered in blood then?  As if to answer his question the ghouls around her moved out of his view and there it was. 

He could almost picture how she died now.  In his mind he told himself the story.  ‘She was working late at the office.  Her husband or boyfriend called her to tell her what was happening.’

“Hurry home so we can escape.”

“In a little bit I have some work to finish.”  Ryan laughed as he spoke their conversation.

She hung up the phone and finished filing the report that no one would ever read.  Gathering her keys and briefcase, she headed to the door.  There was someone there, a janitor perhaps?  She would have opened the door and come face to face with a zombie or two.  Throwing up a hand in self defense she would have tried to close the door.  The zombie grabbed her hand and either ripped it off himself or had help.  She would have been able to shut the door.  She would have been leaning against the door while she bleeds to death trying to keep them out. 

It would only take a few minutes by the look of the wound.  Shrugging Ryan took aim.  When he hit her with this they would start to howl.  They would moan and wail for hours while he hid inside and waited for them to forget why they were there.  It had become his daily entertainment. 

He drew back, this was going to be a good one.  Ryan froze.  The sound of a large truck engine and then the chink of the gate opening on the other side of the building met his ears. 

“Interesting, we have new friends.”  He smiled at the zombies below.  “Better go and make them welcome.”  He dropped the empty container onto the roof and headed for the hatch that led back down into the massive warehouse.

The closer they approached the deeper the feeling of dread filled Beth.  Several cars and a few larger trucks sat haphazardly in the lot.  One of the trucks, it looked to be a moving truck by the bright orange logos on the side, sat with it back door up and open.  Devin paused at the closed gate.  The chain holding the gates together was held with a padlock.  “Well we could just push through the gates.”  He suggested. 

              “Why?  The lock is open.  We can just jump out and open the gate.”  Beth pointed to the lock that hung on the chain.  Devin stared at the huge lock, it was indeed open, but turned in a manner to not be too noticeable. 

              “Who gets the honors of going out there?”  Matt asked with raised eyebrows and a scrunched mouth.  Everyone turned to look at him.  “What? No I did the factory.”

              “Oh for goodness, seriously!”  Beth huffed and climbed over Trevor.  She wrenched open the door then hoped down to the pavement.   The air was cold, with a hint of impending rain.  A light breeze brought with it faint moans, moans she knew to be of the undead.  Nervously looking around she hurried to remove the lock with shaking hands.  The chain fell free with a clatter.  Beth jump aside so Devin could push the gates open with the front bumper.  The truck rumbled through, Hector jumped out of the back to get the other gate, catching up to Beth who almost had hers closed.  Several frantic seconds later they had the lock hooking the chains together but still not locked.  Breathing heavily Beth regained the warmth of the interior.  She looked over at Matt, “Ok I see your point, that was no fun.”  He laughed while Romero forced his head under her hand, begging to be petted. 

              Devin slowly approached the first car near the back of the lot.  The back window was dirty as if it had been sitting for a while.  Through the grime they could see several boxes and luggage.  The doors were closed and the windows were rolled up.  Devin continued past several more cars on his way through the lot.  He slowed to a halt by the back of the moving truck.  Here again they spied boxes and luggage buy no signs of death. 

              “Ok, so where did they go?”  Beth asked barely able to keep the quavering fear from her voice.

              “I don’t know.  Man, I really don’t like this.”  Matt grumbled staring out the back window at the lot and the empty vehicles.  “I mean it looks like there should be a lot of people here.” 

              “Well maybe they are holed up inside.  You know safe.  This might be a great place.  It looks like it might have been a distribution center.  We are in farm country.”  Trevor added hopefully.

              Beth grimaced, “I heard them when I was out there.  Sounded like a lot of them and they weren’t too far away.” 

              Instead of discouraging Trevor this seemed to bolster him, “Great!  That means there must be people in there.   I mean the dead wouldn’t be interested if there wasn’t someone here right?” 

              “Or they are all inside already.”  Hector offered.  Trevor’s face fell.   

              “Well we’re here so we might as well check it out.  Trevor is right.  There might be something useful in there.”  Devin noted pulling the truck ever closer to the front doors of the building.  Several cars blocked their path, a few still had their doors open but most were closed.  The front of the building looked as if it was just closed for the weekend.   There was no sign of forced entry or of any attacks.  The engine rumbled under the hood, the springs of the suspension creaked as a couple of people shifted to get a better look but no one uttered a sound. 

              A sign hung above the doors, “Harrowdale Distribution”.  “Looks like the way is shut.”  Matt commented then shouted, “Look!”  He needn’t have shouted as everyone in the truck had already seen the door open.  A man peaked out.  He looked around quickly then beckoned them in.  The group sat stunned for a moment.   The door opened again, the man stood staring then looked frantically around.  He waved for them to hurry in.  He let the door shut as he disappeared back inside. 

              “I’m starting to think Matt is right, I don’t like this.”  Beth breathed. 

              “Come on.  Look at all the other vehicles.  I bet there are a bunch of survivors in there.  If there are a bunch of us then we have a shot at the government coming to help us.”  Trevor exclaimed excitedly as he reached for the door handle. 

              “Wait!  This could be a trap.”  Hector cautioned grabbing Trevor’s shoulder. 

              “No way, look at all the cars.  There has to be a ton of people in there.”

              “Yeah, and how many might be infected?”

              “I’m going!”  Trevor yelled angrily as he wrenched his shoulder free of Hector’s grip and threw open the door.  Gillian moved into his seat pulling the door closed as she did.  Trevor paused for a second at the door looked back to the truck, raised his hands questioningly.  With a wave of disgust he pulled the door open and disappeared inside.   

              “Well we can’t let him go by himself.”  Gillian sighed.  Devin grudgingly turned the key, silence filled the cab as the engine died. 

              “I really don’t like this.”  Matt grumbled.  Gillian patted him on the back, then opened the door.  Devin sighed, Hector grimaced and hiked his rifle onto his shoulder.  Beth shook her head but checked her gun.

              “I’m sorry Romero you need to stay here.”  Beth sighed to the whimpering dog.  She opened a window a crack then joined Gillian and the others at the front entrance.  Gillian reached for the handle.  Matt grabbed her arm and shook his head.  Gillian put a hand over his and smiled.  She reached out opening  the door.  Hector aimed his rifle into the opening.  Beth kept an eye out behind the group. Hector crossed into the building followed by Gillian then Devin.  Matt and Beth stood outside they glanced at each other.  Matt hesitated grabbed Beth’s sleeve and whispered, “This isn’t going to end well, I know it.” 

              Beth stared into Matt’s eyes, he was terrified.  “This isn’t like the factory.  We’re going to be fine.”  She tried to reassure but felt that Matt was right.  He shrugged and shook his head.  She gave him a little push through the door following him in.  She was pulling the door shut behind her when she stopped to wave at the little dog.  He was standing with his front paws on the dash.  Romero yipped at her.