Apocalypse Asunder (19 page)

There were
a lot
.  Far more than she and Austin could have held off.  Certainly more than they could have somehow slaughtered.

“Hiding was the right move.” Jessica said as they finally broke out into a more open area, leaving the neighborhoods behind.

“Looks like it.” Austin said tightly.

Jessica glanced at him.  “How are you doing?”

“I’m okay.”

“You sound like you’re in pain.”

“I am.”

“We need to find a car or something.”

“I agree.” he replied, making a show of looking around.  The road was flat and nearly level – like most of the state, in stark contrast to Georgia’s nearly continuous arrangement of hills and slopes – running west away from the neighborhood, and Ocala to the east of that.

“What about the zombies?” Candice asked.  She was starting to sound more ‘normal’; or, at least, as normal as she had since the outbreaks.  The panic and terror of the previous day wasn’t as evident, and there was now a bit of very obvious hope for safety on her face and in her voice.

“We’ll just keep dealing with them the best we can when we run across them.” Jessica answered her daughter.

“No, I mean the ones behind us.” Candice said.

Jessica glanced back.  The trio had opened a gap of over a block between themselves and the leading edge of the pursuing horde, but the zombies were still following.  She looked around, trying to figure something out.  The landscape was much more open, another difference between Georgia and Florida.

Back in Georgia, trees were everywhere; mostly pines.  There
was
open land, but especially along roadways, trees tended to border the pavement unless it was a settled area like a city or town.  And even there, a lot of the space not occupied by pavement or specific landscaping, or buildings and their cleared yards, tended to have pine tree stands growing.

Here, there were some trees; but they ranged from the
occasional
pine, through a varied mix of things like scrub oaks and sometimes maples, and even a not infrequent number of palm trees.  None of the palms Jessica had taken note of were the towering examples she saw in movies or on television, but palm trees they definitely were.

But here the trees were an exception, not a rule; mostly singles, and well spaced singles at that.  A lot of the land was fairly open; with grass and other low lying vegetation predominant.  It made for an easier view, and as she took it in, she noticed a less upscale collection of houses off to the southwest.  The trio would have to cross maybe half a mile of sandy ground, but it looked like there were at least several dozen houses over there.

Austin had told her, repeatedly, the best place to find a car
and
its keys, would usually be a house.  If the car was parked at the house, it probably had belonged to someone who lived there.  Most people had multiple keys for their vehicles, if only because there were usually multiple people residing there that might need to make use of it.  If the people were gone but the car was still there, there was at least a decent chance the house might hold the keys that would go to the car.

“What about over there.” Jessica said, pointing.

“Worth a shot.” Austin said immediately.

She eyed him.  “You’ve been waiting for me to suggest it, haven’t you?”

“Would I do that?”

She shook her head, uninterested in teasing him very much when he was obviously having to dig some for the drive to keep going.  He was tough and determined, but there was always a limit.  Nothing said flesh could keep going even when will demanded it.  “Watch yourselves going through the ditch.”

“It should slow the horde down some.” Austin said, changing course to angle off-road.

“Let’s hope.”

“Ten bucks says we at least double our lead before a decent line of them make it off the road to keep coming.”

“No bet.” Jessica snorted.

“Chicken.”

“I don’t have ten bucks.” she pointed out.  She’d been suburban through and through; living her life via cards.  She still had the cards, in her wallet tucked away in her purse, but they were useless.  Though, to be fair, the money – if she’d had any cash – was equally useless now.

“And we don’t bet with you.” Candice chimed in.  She was starting to look and sound calmer, as the trio continued to outpace the zombies and gained some separation from the hordes.  “You’re too good at betting games.  That’s why we usually play rummy or Nah-Ah.”

“I’d laugh if I wasn’t trying so hard to breathe.” Austin said, though he did flash a smile that held most of his usual good cheer.  “But you’re both still chicken.”

“Less name calling, more breathing.” Jessica said as she went down the front side of the ditch.  The bottom was sandy but gave good footing.  She climbed up the far side and turned in case Austin needed a hand.  He didn’t; his height and long legs gave him an advantage even though he was moving gingerly.

Sure enough, they did double their lead over the zombies by cutting cross-country.  Jessica ignored her growing thirst as the exertion and sun raised a good sweat; anything was better than getting eaten.  As they neared the new neighborhood, she recognized it as definitely a lower income one.  The houses were back to single story, and there was little sign of any carefully cultivated landscaping or grounds keeping.  Some were clearly in need of fresh paint and basic maintenance.

But out of the first half dozen houses she could see, three had cars parked in their driveways.  That offered hope.  She glanced behind at the zombie pack, then eyed the houses ahead again.  She saw only a small handful of milling figures that might be zombies; but nothing that was going to block her off from getting into any of the houses.

“Candice, stay with Austin.” she said as she decided.

“What?  Why?” the girl asked, her voice rising in alarm.

“Stay with Austin.  I’m going ahead to start checking for a car we can use.”

“But—” Candice began, then stopped herself.  “Be careful Mom.” she said, her voice obviously under tremendous control.

Jessica smiled her best reassuring smile; they weren’t out the woods yet, and the girl obviously knew it.  “Always.”

Jessica broke into a jog, pulling away from Austin and her daughter.  She angled directly for the closest house that had a vehicle out front, heading right for the glass doors on the back patio.  She was concerned about Austin, but she also trusted him.  If he couldn’t keep going, he’d figure something out.  Candice was safe with him.

As Jessica neared the house, she noticed a line running from one corner out to a stake planted a good ways from the structure.  Then she saw the bodies close to it; each laying crumpled up and still leashed to the runner cord.  The dogs had suffered a lot of damage from zombies that had clearly caught them, but even after that and the intervening decomposition, the bodies were still recognizable.  She averted her eyes as best she could, and hoped Candice focused on surviving rather than what had happened to the pets.

Pausing only to collect a good sized rock before she entered the yard, Jessica used it to break the glass on one of the back doors by throwing it from the edge of the patio.  Most of the glass fell out in a shattering tinkle of fragments, but she had to use the barrel of the Shield to poke a few stubborn ones free so they fell clear before she could enter.

The house had the same musty smell she’d grown accustomed to; no one had been in it for a long time.  Jessica didn’t bother to clear the house, though she kept her pistol in hand as she ransacked the living room very quickly looking for a rack or a bowl or something that might hold keys.

She didn’t turn anything up, but as she went to leave, she noticed a case of cheap generic bottled sodas on the linoleum next to the kitchen counters.  Bending down, she picked the whole thing up and carried it outside with her.  At the edge of the yard, she set it down and waved at Austin and Candice to get their attention, then pointed at it.  Austin gave her a raised thumbs-up in return.  She nodded back exaggeratedly, then knelt and tore two bottles out of the plastic rings holding them in place.

One she stuffed into her back pocket, the other she held away from herself and twisted open.  The soda foamed up immediately, but she just let the cascade dribble away until it subsided so she could start downing it.  The sugary liquid was warm and really not very pleasant, but it
was
liquid.  She gulped at what was left of the bottle greedily, then dropped it as she jogged for the next house.  The drink gave her hope that things were starting to look up.

She didn’t spot another rock as she walked; but the house had some tube framed lawn chairs placed around an umbrella-stand table that had seen better days about a decade earlier.  Now the set was just pathetic; weathered, dirty, chipped, and in desperate need of replacing.  But one of the chairs served to let her break through the glass back door just as well as a rock would’ve.

Entering, she found the living room held a shock – the long dead body of a woman who’d been shot twice in the head, judging by the dried and crusty gore splattered on the wall and floor around her – but there was a little wire rack next to the front door that had two sets of keys hanging from it.  Keys!  Jessica dropped the chair and had to remind herself to be careful.

She double checked that the body was really twice dead, and not just an unobservant or tired zombie.  It didn’t move, and the rest of the room was empty of anything humanoid shaped or hungry.  Well, except her.  She was hungry, but that was a problem for later.  Right now, she was only concerned with the keys.  Holding the Taurus at the ready, she darted across the room and grabbed the keys before retracing her steps toward back door.

Outside, she took a wide berth around the house.  She had drawn some zombie attention with her glass breaking, but she had most of a minute before any got near enough to her to cause problems.  A car was also out front, which hopefully she now had the keys to.  It was a battered little Toyota with rust streaks and paint that had not fared any better under the Florida sun than the picnic table out back; but one of the rings had a key that fit the door lock.

Dropping into the driver’s seat, Jessica closed the door and then briefly closed her eyes as she fit the ignition key into place. 
“Please God, please oh please oh please.”
she prayed before twisting the key.  The engine made a sort of chugging sound, then a longer one, then finally started turning over.  Jessica held her breath as the starter worked, looking over her shoulder to check on the zombies.  She still had time.  The engine kept cranking.  Then, with a surge that spiked through her like a breath of icy artic air, the engine caught and whined to life.

“Thank you.”
she said, looking skyward feelingly.  The engine was idling a little roughly, and she heard a faint pinging that told of some sort of fuel problem, but she’d worry about any of that later.  Right now, it was running. 
“Please, please, keep running.”
she thought. 
“Come on, give us this break.  Just this break and we’ll have a shot.” 
Shifting into reverse, she twisted and looked over her shoulder again.  There were a few zombies getting somewhat close.  All three were out in the street.

Stepping on the accelerator, Jessica backed rapidly out of the driveway and right into the first two.  They were lined up neatly enough for her to hit one after the other, and they went down without anything more than a few thumps and bumps as the bumper, then wheels, drove over them.  She went several car lengths past the third one before stopping and putting the transmission into drive and running that one down too.  It stuck to the hood for a few moments before falling beneath the wheels.  The car rocked as she drove over it, but other than the body swaying back and forth some, the car held up under the ramming just fine.  She parked in the driveway again and looked around quickly.  Now she had a much bigger zombie-free space to work with.

Lowering the window – using a manual handle that she hadn’t seen in a vehicle in quite a while – she set the brake and left the car running with the transmission in park before getting out.  Jessica was almost around to the back yard between the houses before she spotted Austin and Candice coming toward her.  Austin had the cardboard flat of sodas propped up on his right shoulder – his good side – and was starting to visibly limp a little.

But he kept coming.  The set expression on the big man’s face told her he was in pain, but she could tell it was under control by how he kept moving and didn’t falter.  He didn’t say anything as he went past her toward the Toyota.  Candice, however, threw her hands up like she was signaling a touchdown.  “Mom!  You found a car!”

“I did.  Get in sweetie.” Jessica said, looking around again.

“Yay!” the girl cheered.  She had soda dripping from her chin, and more spilled across her shirt, but Jessica didn’t care.  What mattered was Candice was safe.  Watered, somewhat sticky, in need of a meal and a shower; but safe.

Austin eased himself into the passenger side as Candice piled into the back seat excitedly.  Jessica got in and took the drinks from Austin, half throwing them into the back seat next to Candice.  Then she got the car moving again; following the streets toward the main road that was visible between the houses in the rundown little neighborhood.  She wove around zombies at need, twice changed routes for one that was less hungry, then headed west when she made the six lane expanse that was obviously a major artery for the Ocala outskirts.