In the Lone and Level Sands (54 page)

She looked at Jordan and said, “Tell me
she’s going to be okay.”

“Your mother doesn’t give up easily, and
she’s really good in situations like… Well, in tough situations. I
know she’ll be okay, Ash.” Jordan drove down North Olive Boulevard,
maneuvering cautiously around the common wreck or dead body.

“I hope so,” Ashley said.

The car hit a bump, and Evelyn caught a can
before it fell out of the basket on her lap. “So, after we make
these stops, do any of you have ideas about what we should do?”

“By the time we get to my house,” Jordan
said, “it’ll probably be dark. I’m sure my parents will let you all
stay there for the night. I can also drop you guys off at your
houses if you want.”

“We got no clue how long this shit’ll last,
though,” Christian said. “What, are they just going to revert back
to normal folks, apologize to the families they’ve broken up, and
go about their merry way?”

“We should stay together,” Ashley said.
“We’ll be safer in a group. They’d just pick us off if we split
up.”

“Yeah, I am
not
going to my house all
by myself,” Aiden said. “My parents are still in Italy. Makes me
wonder, do you guys think this has spread all the way over
there?”

“I highly doubt that in four days, something
like this could spread halfway around the globe,” Evelyn said. “It
doesn’t make much sense.”

“Yeah, maybe not.”

“Hey,” Ashley said. “Is that a car?”

“It’s coming down this way,” Evelyn
said.

The car was speeding over the posted limit
by at least twenty miles per hour, in Jordan’s lane. Jordan slowed
and pulled to the side as far as he could.

“The fuck’s that idiot doing?” Christian
said.

“It’s probably just some dumbass taking
advantage of the lack of law enforcement,” Evelyn replied.

“The fucker’s merging back in line with me,”
Jordan said. He released the brake and tapped the gas; the engine
roared, and he moved away from the quickly approaching car. It
merged into Jordan’s path again.

“The bastard’s toying with us,” Christian
said. “Either that, or, he’s trying to hit us.”

****

“Why is this fun for you, Jake?” Alex said.
He clutched his seatbelt with one hand and the overhead grip with
the other. “What the fuck is fun about this? Are you seriously
going to try to sideswipe those people?”

“Alex, lighten the hell up! This will
probably be the only time in our lives we can do whatever we want
with no one to stop us. We’d be stupid not to have a little fun
with it!”

Alex looked at Jake, bewildered. “Jake!
You’ve lost it! You’ve fucking lost your mind! You’re not yourself
anymore.”

“This is better! I’ve changed, just like you
wanted, Alex!”

“You’ve changed, but this isn’t what I
wanted. Slow down and leave those people alone!”

“You’ve always been this way, a
passive-aggressive, worthless piece of shit! The most indecisive
person I’ve ever met! Make up your mind! I’ve made up mine.”

Jake swerved, coming closer to the car
desperately trying to move out of the way. He put more weight on
the pedal.

“Jake! No!”

****

The oncoming car swerved toward Jordan, who
turned to avoid it, but sideswiped a car that had been resting on
its side, long abandoned.

Ashley cried out when she heard the cars
scrape against each other. Those on that side of Jordan’s car
instinctively leaned away from their doors.

Christian cocked his gun. “Jordan, buddy,
stop the car. If he wants to play this way, we’ll have to return
the favor.” Jordan stopped, and Christian opened his door to get
out.

****

“Jake, if you’re not going to stop, just let
me out.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” Jake said. He
made a U-turn.

“Will you just stop the fucking car and let
me out?” Alex said. “Seriously, you’re fucking messed up and I
don’t want anything to do with you!”

Jake hit the brakes and came to a rough
halt. “If that’s what you want, fine. Have a great life! Get the
fuck out!”

Alex got out of the car, nearly losing his
leg as Jake didn’t wait too long for him to get clear. Alex glared
down the road, not caring that Jake couldn’t see it. Jake sped
toward the parked car. Alex saw a biker standing outside, pointing
a gun at Jake’s car.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Alex waved to the
biker, but the man either didn’t see or didn’t care. He fired the
gun. The passenger side of the windshield imploded, Jake lost
control of the car, and it flipped several times. The sounds of
smashing metal and breaking glass rang in the air, glass sprayed
over the pavement in cascades.

Jake hadn’t been wearing his seatbelt and
was tossed around the car like a rag doll. When the vehicle came to
a stop halfway off the road, Jake was hanging partially out of the
windshield. One of his arms had been severed and the other was
broken, the flesh left in ribbons loosely attached to the limb.

Alex began to cry. He dropped to his knees,
and then he saw a group of zombies hobbling toward the source of
the sound, many of them noticing him. Alex drew his gun and fired
at them.

Christian returned to the car, and Jordan
headed over. He pulled right in front of Alex, who shot another
nearby zombie. Jordan leaned toward the passenger-side window.

“Hey, get in!”

Alex shot another zombie. He looked around
him and nodded, with wet eyes. Everyone in the back seat made room.
Before Alex could get in, an elderly zombie grabbed his wrist and
tugged, knocking the gun from his hand. The old woman’s fingernails
dug into his skin. He tried to pull away, but her claws dug in
deeper.

“Someone shoot this thing!”

Christian leaned around Aiden, aimed toward
the open door, and pulled the trigger. The woman’s grip loosened,
and she plummeted to the ground. Alex grabbed his gun as another
zombie grabbed the hem of his Rammstein T-shirt. He pistol-whipped
the zombie, then came back with a shot to the head. Alex climbed
into the car and closed the door.

“Sorry,” Alex said to Aiden, who grunted as
he scooted over. They tried to share a seatbelt, but it was
difficult.

“It’s cool,” Aiden said, giving up on the
seatbelt. “Jordan, just try not to crash.” He grimaced as the image
of the guy hanging out of the car down the road flashed in his
mind.

“Sorry about the cramped car,” Jordan said.
He continued down North Olive.

“Don’t worry about it,” Alex said. “I’m just
glad you were there.”

“Sorry about your friend,” Christian
said.

Alex leaned his head back, and he sighed,
then swallowed. “You don’t have to apologize. He wasn’t taking this
whole situation too well. I hated it, but he was my friend. I
didn’t want to abandon him in this. I really didn’t.”

“I can understand that,” Evelyn said. “I’m
sorry.”

There was silence in the car for a few
minutes, and then Alex spoke again.

“You did the right thing, I guess. He could
have hurt you guys. It’s his own damn fault anyway for not wearing
his seatbelt. Fucking idiot.”

“You don’t mean that, I’m sure,” Ashley
said.

“I guess not. It’s just that we’ve been
drifting for the past few years. I don’t know. Can we change the
subject?” Alex turned to look out the window as the scenery whizzed
by.

“So, you got a name?” Aiden said.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m Alex.” Jordan and the
others introduced themselves, and then there was a short pause.
“So, where did you guys come from?”

“We were staying at the Gladstone
Ferrington,” Jordan said. “From the night of the 22
^nd
to
just today. We left because we couldn’t stay there anymore.”

“You look like you were working that night,”
Alex said, and then he turned to Evelyn. “And you?” She nodded.
“Wow, I bet it was bad for a lot of the people there. I work at a
grocery store too, actually. Thank God I wasn’t there when this
shit started.”

“Yeah, it was pretty bad,” Christian said.
“Luckily, most everyone cleared out that night. The store director
fell off his rocker, though. We had to leave him behind, got a
little homicidal toward Evvy here.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Yeah, that guy was a real prick,” Aiden
said. “I’m glad he didn’t come with us.”

“I feel kind of bad for him,” Evelyn said.
“It’s just too bad. Especially with his family, and all. I hope
he’s doing all right.”

“After what happened, I doubt it,” Jordan
said.

“After what happened, I’m honestly surprised
I’m not teetering toward the deep end myself,” Alex said. “I guess
you never know how you’re really going to react to these sort of
things.”

“Amen,” Aiden said.

The survivors came to the corner of North
Olive and 76
^th
street. Jordan turned the car, avoiding a
crash in the intersection. The neighborhood of Crowler Heights was
just a couple minutes away. Ashley’s house on Benns Avenue would be
only a few minutes beyond that. The streets of Crowler Heights were
maze-like and confusing, but Jordan had been there dozens of times
and knew the neighborhood like the back of his hand. It didn’t take
long for them to reach Benns Avenue.

“I hope she’s okay,” Ashley said. She tried
not to stare at the destruction on her street.

“She’s going to be fine,” Jordan said. He
turned to give Ashley a smile as he weaved around a head-on
collision several houses up the street from Ashley’s. The hoods
were crumpled, both windshields lay in pieces on the cars and the
street. The mostly picked corpse of a man lay across the hood of
one car. It looked like he had been pulled out of the vehicle by at
least one zombie sometime after the crash.

A car had crashed into the house next door
to Ashley’s, and when Jordan and the others pulled up to it, they
all looked. Splintered wood and broken glass lay all over the
ground, where the once-beautiful landscaping had been ripped up by
the wheels of the car. Bricks lay in the yard and cluttered the
living room floor.

“Jesus Christ,” Jordan whispered.

“Hey, look!” Ashley said. She pointed ahead.
“That’s my dad’s car!”

Jordan came to a stop behind a black Taurus
resting halfway on the curb. He killed his engine and everyone
stepped outside. Ashley hurried to the door, ahead of the
others.

“Be careful Ash.”

“I’m fine, Jordan.” Ashley found the door
cracked, and wondered if her dad had just arrived. Her breath
caught in her throat, but it didn’t stop her from going inside.

The door creaked as she pushed it. There
wasn’t a soul, human or zombie, in sight. Everyone entered and
Evelyn, last in line, shut the door. The entryway gave in to a hall
that went into the hearth room ahead. The group walked down it.

“Mom?” Ashley said. “Dad?”

There was nothing.

They made it to the main room, where there
were red splotches on the white carpet. They led through the hearth
room and toward the kitchen. Ashley looked at Jordan and shuddered.
A few feet away, two slender legs lying across the floor
disappeared around the corner. As they drew nearer they could hear
someone rummaging through the kitchen.

“Mom?” Ashley said again. The noise in the
kitchen stopped and footsteps hurried across the wooden floor.
Ashley was about to turn the corner when her father appeared and
ushered her backward.

“Dad!” Ashley said. She hugged him, and he
hugged her back, but kept moving back into the hearth room, then
stopped.

“Ashley, it’s so good to see you! I was so
worried.” He wiped his face, looked back toward the kitchen, then
returned and hugged Ashley again. Jordan noticed that there was
gauze wrapped around his arm, and blood was seeping through.

“Mr. Stant… is that a bite?”

Ashley let go of her father, her eyes full
of tears.

“Ashley,” he said. She began to cry. Mr.
Stant looked over the others, then back to Ashley. “Your mother,
when I got here, she was… She got the jump on me. I’m so sorry,
Ashley.”

“Dad.” Ashley began to weep. The others were
silent. Jordan reached forward, but Ashley pulled away from his
touch. “Let us be alone, please!”

Everyone cleared out into the hall.

“Ashley, I wish things were different.” A
large tear rolled down her father’s cheek.

“If we’d gotten here just a few minutes
sooner…”

“Don’t blame yourself, Ashley. It’s my
fault.”

“It’s no one’s fault, Dad. I just don’t want
you to go.”

“I’m so sorry, honey. You don’t know how
badly I wish I could take this back.” He gave Ashley a big hug.

“I love you, Dad!”

“You mean the world to me. I love you,
Ashley. I just wish we had more time, I wish we could wait this
thing out together, but I guess God had other plans.”

“We can stay here, Dad. I don’t want to
leave you here by yourself. Every second I was at the store, I just
kept worrying about you and Mom. I can’t just leave now that I’m
here!”

“Ashley, I’m not putting you in that danger.
I can’t let you wait here for me to become one of
them.
You
understand that, I’m sure.”

“Yeah,” Ashley finally said.

“You’re in good hands with those people out
there. Jordan’s a good boy, he always cared so much about you. Go
with them.” Tears poured down his cheeks. “We don’t have much
time.”

The two of them hugged again for what seemed
like a long time, though Ashley wished it would never end.

“I love you, and don’t you forget that, all
right?”

“I know. I love you, Dad.”

“Good.” He smiled. “Now, you really should
leave. It could happen any time.”

“Okay.”

Ashley backed away, looking at her dad for a
moment, waiting for the change. She blinked, and nothing was
different. Ashley forced a smile, then headed back to the
others.