Z-Town

by Eden Darry

  The sound of the engine grew louder. In the distance, they could see a multicoloured monstrosity of a car hurtling towards them.

  “It’s just Dolores,” Lois said.

  Lane quickly dashed into the road and waved her arms in the hope Dolores might see them and slow down.

  The car swerved to the kerb and braked sharply. The passenger window rolled down with a squeak.

  “Boyd, isn’t it?” came the familiar voice from within.

  Lane bent down by the window. “It is. I’ve got Meg Daltry and Lois with me.”

  “Huh. I wouldn’t have pegged you to be one of the ones who made it,” Dolores said.

  “Thanks a lot,” Lane said.

  “I was up in Wellfleet visiting my sister. The army had this whole place sealed off. I only just got back in.”

  “They just let you back in?” Lane asked. That didn’t sound right.

  “Didn’t have much choice. Got their hands full up and down the Cape,” Dolores said.

  Just then, a handful of jets passed overhead. Lane watched them go.

  “What’s going on, Dolores?” Lane asked, afraid of the answer.

  “Whatever happened here in Provincetown, it got out. It was all over the Cape. People going zombie everywhere you looked. Then the damnedest thing happened.”

  “You’re saying there are more zombies?” Meg had come over and was clutching Lois’s hand tightly.

  “Were. Were more zombies. I was coming back here for my guns and supplies. Thought to head inland. Then those bastards just lay down and died. Right there on the ground. Never seen anything like it in my whole life.” Dolores went silent for a moment, as if remembering. Then she shook herself, and it was as if she was seeing them and the state they were in for the first time. “You want a ride? Might be better than walking. You all look terrible,” Dolores said.

  Lane couldn’t quite believe it. If not for them and the langseax, those zombies—the ones who got out—could be rampaging across North America right now. She felt relief. Huge relief. They’d done the right thing.

  “You want a ride or not? I got to get out of here,” Dolores said.

  “Yes, we want a ride,” Meg said and opened the rear door. She helped Lois inside. “Come on, Lane. We’ve got a bar to buy.”

  Lane climbed in the car. Whatever else happened, they had each other. And the knife. And Lois. Most important of all she had Meg, and together they were going to be okay. Whatever came next, Lane wasn’t letting Meg go a second time.

  Dolores shifted the car into gear and gunned the engine. “Buckle up, kids,” she said. “I don’t drive below forty, and I’m hoping to use a couple of those dead zombies as speed bumps on my way through.”

  Lane put her seat belt on.

  Whatever happened next, she’d face it with Meg at her side, and there was no one in the world she’d rather have there. Meg was the other hero, after all.

  Lane reached back with her good hand, and Meg took it. “I love you,” Lane said.

  Meg squeezed Lane’s hand. “And I love you. Dolores, get us the fuck out of here.”

  About the Author

  Eden Darry is freshly minted resident of Kent, having previously been a lifelong Londoner. She lives with her partner and no pets (yet) and has two novels published with Bold Strokes Books—The House and Vanished.

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