by Bowman, Dave
His voice trailed off, then he continued.
“Well, you and Mia are welcome to drive out of here with me. I'm headed north as well. It's safer to stick together. There are a lot of bad elements out on the streets right now."
Liz looked him over, still a little unsure about the whole thing.
"I know you have to be cautious, ma'am, being a woman alone and all. But you can rest easy with me. I don't mean any harm," Nick said. "I just buried my wife and son yesterday."
His voice broke a little, and he paused, looking down.
"I sure wouldn't hurt you or that little girl either. You can follow in your truck as long as you'd like. I know you have camping gear, and I can tell you some good areas to camp. Or, if you want, I've got a safe place for you both to stay. It's your choice."
"OK," Liz said, exhaling. "I've heard so many gunshots that I'm worried about being alone. And, well, we could definitely use some company. It's pretty lonely these days."
"Yes ma'am, it is," Nick agreed.
“You have a place to stay up north?” Liz asked.
“I've got a lodge up near Jemez Springs with everything we need. I'm hoping my brother and his wife and kids will be there too. But I don't know if they made it."
He paused, then cleared his throat and continued.
"You and Mia can stay at the lodge if you'd like. You'll have your own room. How does that sound?"
Liz smiled, glancing back at Mia. "That sounds great. I've got camping gear and was planning to sleep out in the woods somewhere tonight, but a room sounds better, if you're sure we won't be in the way."
"Not at all," Nick said.
Liz motioned for Mia to get out of the truck.
"Mia, come say hi to Nick," she said. "We're going to travel with him, OK?"
But Mia stayed where she was, looking shyly at the newcomer.
"That's OK," Nick told Liz. "She's been through a lot. Now, I don't mean to rush, but it's going to be dark soon and we need to hit the road. Are you good on fuel?"
"Yep, we are now. This truck belonged to Mia's parents. Mine's the Honda, and it was running low so we switched to this vehicle."
Nick started to ask something else, but he was interrupted by a loud explosion that made them all jump. It didn't come from all that far away.
"What was that?" Liz asked after she caught her breath, her ears ringing.
"Must be some open gas lines. I heard it in El Paso, too. I wouldn't be surprised if half these cities blow up. Are you ready to leave?"
"Yes! Let's get out of here!" Liz exclaimed, ready to get on the road. "I'll follow you."
They both hopped in their trucks and got back on the access road. They saw smoke in their rear view mirrors in the distance, and they were relieved to put some distance between themselves and the chaos of the center of the city.
Nick was glad to have people with him. He didn't know if his brother and family would be there at the lodge or not. It would be pretty lonesome if they weren't. And he could use more hands. It would be hard work, and having someone else around would make the burden lighter, both physically and mentally.
Right on the edge of town, he passed a supermarket that had been looted. In the parking lot stood a group of rough-looking men with some women standing beside them. He realized there were actually two different groups, and they were facing off. Some of them drew guns. He shook his head and picked up his speed with Liz right behind him.
The virus had wiped out most of the population, and the ones who remained seemed to want to kill each other.
They took the next on-ramp to enter the interstate, and soon they were making good time. They still had about 80 miles to go. He hoped there wouldn't be any more trouble before they reached the woods, but he was ready for anything.
11
Jemez Springs had been left a ghost town. It was late afternoon when Jessa rolled into town, and she heard no cars, saw no one on the street, and found no sign of life. It was a tiny town, and she guessed the population had been completely, or almost, wiped out.
Her destination wasn't too far from here, just south of the small town. It was the area she had always loved – the place her dad had always taken her camping.
Her gas-hungry truck needed to be refueled. There were just a couple of deserted gas stations in town, and she knew the pumps would be off without electricity.
Luckily, her friend Chris had long ago taught her how to siphon gas from a vehicle. Chris had always told her that the infrastructure would one day collapse. He was forever learning skills that would be useful when that day came. Back in the old days, she had mostly thought he was being a little paranoid, but she always had to admit that he had some valid points. Today, she thanked her lucky stars for his foresight.
She remembered the time they were buzzed off some beers, standing in his driveway as he clumsily fumbled with some hoses. They were both laughing, but Jessa had paid enough attention to learn the gist of it. One hose in the gas tank, another, shorter piece of hose to blow into and build the pressure, forcing the gas to flow out the long hose. It was genius, really, he had said, because you didn't have to get a mouthful of gas.
"Take these. Keep them," he had told her, slurring his words a little, pushing the hoses into her hands.
"For the zombie apocalypse, Chris?" she had asked, laughing.
But she had taken the hoses anyway, throwing them in her closet just in case. They now lay on the floorboard of her truck, along with a gas can.
She smiled a little as she grabbed them. She hoped the virus had spared Chris, that he was safe somewhere in the woods. She missed her old friend dearly. She had been in such a panic in Santa Fe that she hadn't thought to stop by his house and see if he had survived.
She was parked near an old Mazda. The driver lay dead, slumped over in the seat. Jessa was relieved that he was facing away so she wouldn't have to see the grotesque smile on his face.
She got to work with the hoses, and soon she had filled the gas can. Thrilled that the trick had worked, she triumphantly slapped the roof of the Mazda a couple of times.
"Hot damn!" she cried, smiling. It was a favorite phrase of Chris's, and it seemed appropriate. She turned back to her truck and was just about to pump the gas into her tank, when she heard some stirring inside the car behind her.
She jumped, nearly dropping the gas can. She grabbed her gun and turned to face the Mazda once more.
The driver was moving, coming to life.
Her eyes went big as she trained the gun on the driver.
"What the hell?" she muttered as the man slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes. She walked around to see his face, and he jumped, startled to see her and the pistol.
"Don't shoot me, lady," he said, jolted fully awake by the gun pointed at him.
"You were dead," she said, realizing how crazy her words sounded.
He blinked a few times. "I don't think so," he said, looking disoriented. "I don't think I died."
Jessa noticed that he didn't have the gray tone to his skin like all the other corpses. Had he really just been asleep? Passed out?
She lowered the gun, but kept it ready. "Were you just asleep? Here in your car?"
He ran his hand over his head and his close-cropped haircut. "I guess so. I feel like I've been asleep a long time. I'm so thirsty, though. Do you have any water?"
She nodded, backing up to her truck without taking her eyes off him. She handed him a bottle and watched as he guzzled it.
Her suspicion faded. Zombies don't speak and drink water, right? She again became aware of the ridiculous place her mind was going. All the same, she kept her gun out. The world was different now, and she wasn't sure yet just how insane things had gotten.
He finished the water. "Thank you, I've never been so thirsty in my life. I guess it's all coming back to me now. When I first woke up I thought it was a nightmare."
"What do you remember?" Jessa asked.
"The virus killing everybody. My family, my friends.
.. I watched them all die in just three days. Worst thing I've ever seen. Just terrible... Still can't believe it happened this way. I spent two days hiding out in my house, too afraid to see what I might find out on the streets."
His eyes flashed down to her gun, and she felt a little guilty, but not guilty enough to put it away.
"But I ran out of food and water, so I came out to this store here," he said, looking around at the empty parking lot. "Thought I'd have to break in and steal something. There was nobody around. But as soon as I pulled up, I just..."
He stopped, groping for the words.
"Passed out?" Jessa asked.
He nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. I just got so sleepy all of a sudden. My body felt real heavy, you know? Like I couldn't even lift my arms. I guess I just fell asleep."
"What time of day was it when you came here?"
"I guess it was about 6 pm or so. Late afternoon, but not dark yet."
Jessa looked up at the sky. "I think it's about 4 pm now, something like that. I'd guess you slept for nearly a day."
He whistled. "Wow, crazy, huh?"
Jessa nodded. "Something similar happened to me yesterday. I suddenly got super exhausted, and just fell asleep for something like 20 hours."
"You think it means we have that virus?" he asked, his brows furrowed.
"I don't know. You saw people die from it. Did it happen to them like that?"
He frowned while he thought. "Well, they all turned gray first..."
He frantically pulled down his rear-view mirror to inspect his face. "I don't look gray to you, do I?"
"Nope, not at all. Your color looks good to me."
He breathed a sigh of relief.
"What happened after they turned gray?"
"They'd get a real high fever. Burning up. Then they fell asleep. They kinda dozed on and off, then came the agony part. Crying out in pain. My mama, my sisters, my dad... Then they were grinning and laughing right before they died. Creepy as hell. I call it the Grinning Death."
He fell silent, then looked at her. "How come you didn't see anyone die from it?"
"I was out working in the woods for five days. Just got back yesterday." She motioned with her head toward her green Forest Service truck.
"You're lucky. Missed the worst of it."
She shrugged. "I guess so. It was still pretty bad coming back and finding everyone dead."
Almost everyone, she thought.
"You reckon we're just immune to it?"
"I hope so."
"And maybe we needed to sleep to fight the bug off?" he asked hopefully.
"Yeah, it's possible," Jessa said. "But I guess we don't really know much about it. Not much of a way to find out either, except just wait and see."
She didn't point out that she hadn't been exposed to it as long as everyone else since she had been away from humans for five days. The worry that she still might come down with the virus nagged her, and she tried to push the thought out of her head for now.
The guy looked at her gun again. "Listen, I want to get out of this car. Feeling a little stove up. You're not gonna shoot me, are you?"
Jessa shook her head, but remembered her vow to be less trusting of new people. "Just don't try anything crazy."
"I never hurt a fly, that's what my mama always said about me. 'Course, she wasn't happy when I wouldn't go shoot the rattlers in the back yard."
Jessa smiled and put her gun away as she watched him get out and stand up, tall and lanky, but wiry. He had a friendly face, with none of the mean look the guys in Santa Fe had. It was nice to talk to someone both alive and without intention of harming her. She held out her hand.
"I'm Jessica Hayward. Most people call me Jessa. I'm from Santa Fe."
He shook her hand and grinned. "Charlie Dunlap. Grew up right over there on Cottonwood Drive."
The human contact was nice, and Jessa felt her shoulders relax.
"It's great to meet you, Charlie. It's pretty lonely out here."
"Man, it's terrible," he agreed. "Say, you wouldn't happen to have any food, would you?"
She showed him the heap in her backseat, and he selected a couple granola bars to eat.
"I'm going into the mountains to camp tonight," she said as he ate. "What are your plans?"
"Don't have any. My only plan was to get some food, and I didn't even make it that far."
"Do you wanna drive out to the mountains and camp? I'm headed up there now. Might be nice to have some company."
"Hell yes, I do," Charlie said. "Can't imagine how bad it must smell in Mama's house by now. No way I can sleep there tonight. I've got some camping gear, too. Just gotta drive over there and get it."
Jessa looked down at the gas can waiting by her truck and the hoses still hanging out of Charlie's gas tank.
His eyes followed hers.
"Were you stealing gas from me?"
"Yeah," she replied sheepishly. "But only because I thought you were dead. Sorry. I'll put it back in your tank."
"No harm done,” he said, laughing. “I can understand the mistake. You need gas? We've got a little gas stored back home."
"Save it for emergencies," Jessa said. "You might need it later. Anyway, I wanna practice my siphoning technique on that old truck over there."
Charlie laughed. "All right, have at it. You know, I think I better get some food from that store, anyway. You've got a good stash, but it'll run out sooner or later. And I know the owners of that store died."
He shook his head sadly.
"Mr. and Mrs. Olsen. Their whole family died about three days ago. They would want me to eat. And survive."
"Good thinking. I'll just be out here fueling up."
Charlie went around to the back door of the little store and was able to kick the rickety old door in. He began hauling boxes of canned food, water and dried goods into his Mazda. Meanwhile, Jessa returned the fuel to his tank and was able to siphon enough gas to fill up her tank and Charlie's, too.
She waited at the store while he drove the half mile to his house to get what he needed. He had said he'd be back in fifteen minutes, but the time just ticked on and on, and still he didn't return.
Jessa had no way to tell time except for the movement of the sun. Her wrist watch was buried in her luggage somewhere – another error she'd made in her panicked state before leaving Santa Fe. She wasn't sure how long he'd been gone, but it felt like forever. The afternoon was slipping away, and she was getting anxious. The town was so silent, and she imagined all the dead people behind the closed doors.
Why was he taking so long?
Finally she decided to drive in the direction he had gone to look for him. She was about to hop in her truck when she heard a vehicle approaching, and she felt relieved.
Until, that is, she realized it was the sound of two vehicles.
12
Liz and Mia had been following Nick for an hour and a half. Liz was shocked to see all the burning buildings and hear so many explosions and gunfire. She didn't know what to expect in the woods, but she hoped that it would be a safe refuge from the crumbling cities.
Mia had been pretty quiet for most of the ride, though Liz tried to talk to her. The girl said she was nine years old and was an only child. She didn't want to talk about her parents, or much of anything else for that matter. Liz could tell that the girl was very smart, but that she had been traumatized. And not just by the virus and being left alone in that house when her parents died. From the faded bruises on her body and the tiny, scared way Mia spoke, Liz knew that the child had had a rough time in her short life.
Liz was relieved to be traveling with Nick. She knew how to camp well enough from having gone with friends in college and with her family as a kid, but that was just for a night or two at a time. She didn't know anything about long-term survival without the trappings of civilization.
Of course, she didn't know if Nick knew much either, but at least he had a lodge the three of them could stay at. She had always been inde
pendent, but the idea of traveling with someone else made her feel much less afraid. Once she saw that he meant no harm, she felt safe around him. His Texas twang and the way he had called her "ma'am" put her at ease.
She was hot, tired, and hungry by the time they rolled into Jemez Springs. She hoped that Nick's lodge wasn't far, and that they would soon be able to stretch their legs, eat, and rest.
Her stomach clenched when she saw someone moving on the side of the road. It was a mixture of fear and happiness every time she saw another person -- happy to see a live human, but afraid they were dangerous.
Liz felt relieved to see it was a woman. Tall and athletic-looking with a blond ponytail, the woman looked to be a few years older than Liz. The woman turned around to the face the approaching vehicles and froze when she saw them.
Nick pulled into the parking lot and stopped his engine. Liz followed suit. The woman's eyes scanned over the two vehicles, and her hand moved to her hip.
"Hey there," Nick called, still sitting in his truck. "Good to see someone alive in these parts."
"Yeah," she said reservedly.
"Listen, I don't mean to intrude on you, but I just wanted to stop and see if you needed any assistance."
"No, I'm fine. I was just about to leave."
Everyone's ears pricked up when they heard another engine and looked in the direction of the sound. They watched as a beat-up sedan emerged from one of the side streets of the little town and drove into the parking lot, stopping next to the woman's truck.
The driver got out, grinning from ear to ear. He was tall and thin, and he was clearly excited to see them. Liz didn't think he looked threatening.
"I never thought I'd see so many living people in Jemez again," he said. "I'm Charlie." He waved at the newcomers. “Charlie Dunlap.”
Nick got out and shook his hand. "Nick Redmond."
"Liz Murphy," she said, still sitting in her truck. “This is Mia.” She glanced at the little girl, who sat tensely in her seat, watching the new people.
