Roads Less Traveled | Book 5 | End of the Road

by Dulaney, C.

  Gus snorted.

  The others came to a halt close to Michael and gawked at the sprawling community in front of them. The road they were on seemed to be Main Street and cut the place in half. The areas to each side stretched out in a spiderweb of streets, houses, and buildings. It didn’t appear to be very long, but it did fill out the entire valley between the looming hills around them.

  “This isn’t a hole in the wall,” Kasey said.

  “No shit,” Jake replied.

  Mia finally broke her silence. “I’ve been here before.”

  A few of the horses stomped their feet and snorted. Gus was nervous, too. His ears twitched like he was listening for something and he’d stopped smelling the air.

  “When?” Kasey asked. Mia mumbled something so quietly none of the others understood her. “Mia?” Kasey snapped her fingers. Her friend zoned out and stared around at the buildings to their left. “Mia!” she yelled.

  Mia’s head jerked. “I said I’ve been here before.”

  “Yeah, we got that,” Kasey said. “What’d you say after that?”

  Mia drew a long, shaky breath. “This is Riverton. I came this way. Before. On my way to your house.”

  “Why didn’t you say something?” Michael asked. “A little warning would’ve been nice.”

  Mia wasn’t listening anymore. Her eyes clouded over and she thought about a little boy she hadn’t been able to keep safe. How it was so hard for his little legs to pedal his bike up the mountain the group had just come across, but he’d done it anyway with no complaints. Finally, the tears slipped out of Mia’s eyes when she remembered how the dead had overwhelmed them, chased them, and then…

  “Michael,” Kasey warned, her eyes fixed on Mia’s.

  “What? Sure, I know it’s probably not that dangerous anymore, but still. A town this big? All kinds of shit could be waiting for us. Bandits, cannibals, pack of hungry dogs−”

  “Michael,” Kasey said again. “Enough.” She shared a look with Jake, then pulled on her reins and started her horse forward. “We need to find supplies and get some rest. Let’s move.”

  Jake took Mia’s hand and they fell in together behind Kasey. Everyone else pulled rifles from side-sleeves attached to their saddles and spread out over the road. The only noise was the clip-clop of the horses’ hooves against the pavement. Gus’ focus was as sharp as a knife. He turned his head one way, listened for a long time, his ears twitching, then turned his head another way, repeating the same motions. Kasey took note of this but kept the group moving forward.

  She took a deep breath. It was probably unnecessary, but old habits died hard. She was relieved to find there was no dead stink in the air. She found it hard to believe they were in any real danger. But the larger group of scouts had come this way, before most turned back to report their findings to Michael, and they hadn’t said anything about how big this town was. Kasey wondered what else they’d left out of their report.

  “There,” Mia said.

  Kasey glanced back and saw she pointed to a Rite Aid store on their left, about two blocks down a side street. Not needing to ask any questions, Kasey turned her horse and led the group in that direction.

  “Whoa,” Kasey said and pulled on the reins in front of the pharmacy. “Dad? Will you go in with me?”

  “Sure will.” Caleb rode up next to her and slid off his horse.

  “The rest of you, stay out here with the horses.”

  She curled an arm around Gus and dismounted. After setting his feet on the ground, she pointed a finger and told him to stay. The others spread out around Kasey and Caleb’s horses and turned, facing away and keeping a watch, except for Mia. She kept her head down and wiped at her eyes.

  Caleb switched out his rifle for a shotgun, and Kasey drew her pistol. The front door of the Rite Aid was right off the street. The glass was busted out and scattered across the pavement and the tile floor just inside. The pair stopped on either side of the opening and peered in. Daylight streamed through the front, making it pretty easy to see. A magazine rack or some kind of shelf, Kasey wasn’t sure, lay cockeyed on the floor just inside the doorway, as though someone had used it to brace the door. Kasey looked over her shoulder; Mia still stared at her saddle horn, and she rubbed her forehead.

  She tried to make a stand here, Kasey thought.

  Caleb cleared his throat to get her attention.

  “Right.” She stepped inside. Her boots crunched on the broken glass.

  He followed and again they spread out, keeping their guns aimed down their respective aisles. Kasey could hardly believe what she was seeing. The store hadn’t been looted. Her heart thumped hard at the thought that maybe, just maybe, none of the buildings in town had been picked through yet. Not really needing to stay quiet, Kasey called out to her dad.

  “Over here.” He was a couple aisles to her right.

  “Find anything?”

  “Yeah, but animals have been into most of it. There’s some canned stuff, though.”

  She reached the back of the store and cut over in his direction. “Same on my side.”

  He lowered his gun and ran a forearm over his face. “We just got lucky.”

  “I don’t know about that.” Kasey started down the center aisle and her dad followed. “Not everyplace we come across will have been looted, especially the bigger towns. Remember, they used to be popping at the seams with deadheads.”

  “Good point. Not that many people left, either. And what folks there are left haven’t been traveling too far from home.”

  “Just isn’t feasible, with good gas being in short supply these days.”

  “And when they can just trade with people who do have the means to get around.”

  “Yeah,” Kasey said and stopped in front of a stack of bottled water. The cases at the bottom had smashed and burst, but the ones stacked on top looked fine for the most part. Some bottles here and there were empty. Most likely froze and popped during the winter. But not all, not nearly.

  “Damn,” Caleb said. “Think about all the supplies that could be in this town. We really need a truck. If we could go through all the buildings and take back everything we find, the people back home would be very, very happy.”

  “Michael won’t go for that.”

  “We could split up. Half of us work on this, the other half go on and find the scouts.”

  Kasey laughed. “He really won’t go for that.”

  Caleb frowned and looked around at all the things on the shelves beside them. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

  “This stuff isn’t going anywhere. Maybe on the way back we’ll see what we can do about getting it all home.”

  “That’ll have to do.”

  “Let’s take some of this out to them.” Kasey bent to pick up a case of water, but her dad stopped her.

  “Before we do… you know what’s going on with Mia, don’t you. Is she okay?”

  Kasey let out a breath as she straightened. “Said she came this way, back in the beginning, when she was trying to make it to my house. All I’ve ever been able to get out of her was that she was traveling with someone then, and I’m pretty sure whoever it was died, because when she got to my house, she was alone. But she won’t talk about it.”

  “Still?”

  “Still. Judging by her reaction, I’d guess whoever was with her was killed in this town, and it must’ve been pretty bad. Probably right here. But that’s just a guess. I’d ask her, but…”

  “Right.” He nodded. “No sense pushing it. Don’t need the details.”

  “Exactly. She’s got a reason for not talking about it after so long.”

  “Okay. We’ll just watch her then. C’mon.” He grabbed the end of a case of water with one hand and started for the door. Once outside, he called out, “Jackpot.” He handed his shotgun off to Kasey and went around, handing out bottles.

  Kasey laid her dad’s gun on the ground and holstered her own weapon. She kicked the trash around on the sidewalk
and found an old Styrofoam cup. Caleb wound his way back to her and gave her a bottle of water. After she filled the cup, she called Gus over and set it down in front of him.

  “We really need to water the horses,” she said to her dad.

  Jonah overheard and added, “We need to find that crick.”

  “I know where it is.” Mia took the reins of Jake’s horse from him and pulled both horses along behind her. “Just outside town, that way.” She tipped her head toward the opposite end of town.

  “Alright.” Michael considered a moment, then went on. “Jonah, Jake, go with her. We’ll stay here and find a place to get a couple hours’ rest. We’ve only got a mile or so of riding ahead of us before we hit the highway, and we’ve got a lot of day left. Might as well take advantage of the break.” He dug around in his saddle bag and pulled out two walkies. “Here, take one of these. Keep me posted.”

  Mia took the radio and nodded, then she and the two men grabbed up reins and started walking back up the street.

  Michael fastened his radio to his belt and turned in a circle. “We should probably set up some place off the main drag. Find it, check it, then carry some supplies over. We’ll fill the packs after they get back.”

  “That’ll work.” Caleb picked up his shotgun and studied the three-story building across the street. “What about that?”

  Michael shrugged. “Good as any. Least the windows aren’t broken out.”

  Kasey followed them over, Gus staying close to her feet. They stuck their faces up against the storefront windows. Gus stuck his nose against it, sniffed a few times, leaving a mess on the glass. They didn’t see anything but dusty furniture inside. Caleb grabbed the doorknob and pulled. When it didn’t swing open, his hand slipped and he almost fell backwards.

  “You’re kidding,” he mumbled.

  Michael reached out and tried. The door was locked. “Shit. I’ll have to jimmy it.”

  While he kneeled and got to work on the lock, Kasey wandered back out into the street and took another look around. There was an awful lot of trash scattered across the blacktop and on the sidewalks. She didn’t know how long this street was, or how many blocks were on it, but it went so far that things eventually blurred out. Much farther down, there were big lumps on the road. She couldn’t tell what they were, though she guessed piles of trash judging by how much crap was lying around.

  She raised a hand to shade her eyes. That’s a shitload of garbage, she thought. Whatever that was on the ground, there were a lot of them, and they were strewn all over for as far as she could see.

  “We’re in,” Michael said. He threw the door open and he and Caleb went inside.

  “Right behind you,” Kasey mumbled. She snapped her fingers to get Gus’ attention. He’d been staring down the street, too. “Let’s go.” She glanced down the road one more time before she led her dog inside and closed the door behind them.

  ✽✽✽

  Mia led the men off-road as soon as they cleared town limits. It was shorter to cut through the woods than follow the road to a bridge that crossed the creek half a mile away. She was relieved Jake and Jonah weren’t grilling her about it. Both knew she wasn’t from around there, and her earlier statement about passing through this area way back in those first days on her way to Kasey’s had seemed to satisfy everyone.

  This place was something she’d rather forget, along with the dead boy that she’d left on the hill that overlooked town.

  “Almost there,” she said over her shoulder.

  Jake grunted. Leaves dried from the late summer heat crunched underfoot, an almost deafening noise made by three people and six horses.

  I never should’ve risked making a run into a town, Mia thought. She plodded along and let the horses lead her more so than her own eyes. Shouldn’t have put Ashton in danger like that. What the hell was I thinking...

  “Watch it!” Jonah yelled.

  At the same time, the two horses Mia led jerked their heads and jumped violently in opposite directions. The reins tore from her hands and she fell forward onto her stomach, her face six inches away from the snapping teeth of a deadhead.

  She pushed up on her hands and knees the second she heard the first click-clack and felt air whisk across her nose. She heard Jake and Jonah trying to get the horses under control, and felt a hoof kick her outer thigh, but her focus remained solely on the cluster of zombies laid out in front of her. They tried to move and wriggle their bodies, except they were too decomposed to offer much of a threat. Unless they latched onto a passing foot or ankle, because their jaws were working just fine.

  They weren’t making any noise, either. No moans or rasps. Their chest cavities had rotted clean through. They blended in perfectly with the leaves and branches on the ground; what skin or flesh they had left was mottled splashes of greens and browns. Their jerky and stilted movements made them look like puppets.

  “What the hell is this,” Jake hissed.

  He rushed past her and plunged his knife into the top of a skull. It wasn’t long before Jonah joined in to help. Mia sat back on her haunches and wondered the same thing. How was it that these things were even still here? The terminators should have taken care of them on their sweep through town. Mia understood they weren’t in town, they were in the woods, but she’d seen the terminators roll through the countryside like a great red tide. Their “mission” was not reserved for only urban areas.

  “I think that’s all of ‘em,” Jonah said. His eyes swept back and forth across the ground and further out into the trees.

  “I don’t understand,” Jake gasped and sucked in a breath, “what just happened,” another breath, “here.” He panted and braced his hands on his knees.

  Jonah shook his head. “Let’s get to that crick, then get the hell outta here. The others need to know about this.”

  Jake’s head jerked up. “Do ya think there’s some in town?”

  “Could be. No broken windows, remember?”

  “Oh…” Jake’s mouth fell open. “Oh, goddamn.”

  “Mia,” Jonah said. “Crick.”

  She pointed behind them.

  “Let’s move.” Jonah stomped back to the horses where he’d secured them to a dead fall.

  After composing himself, Jake jogged over to help. “Mia, come on,” he said.

  She struggled to her feet and took the reins Jake offered, then led them around the bodies and toward the creek bank. It wasn’t far, maybe forty feet. They were all surprised they couldn’t hear water running, and all were paranoid about stepping on a deadhead they couldn’t see. Once they got to the top of the bank, they saw why it was so quiet.

  The creek was dry.

  “Look for a deeper hole,” Jonah said, and led his horses down the bank and onto the creek bed. “Jake, you and Mia go up that way. I’ll go down here aways.”

  The three split up and searched up and down the creek bed. Jake and Mia went as far as they dared and finally heard a whistle, Jonah calling them back. They walked a hundred or so feet in the other direction before they finally found him. The two horses he led had their heads lowered to a kiddie-pool sized mud hole.

  “That’ll work,” Jake said.

  He and Mia led their horses over and let the reins drop. The three stood back, closer to the creek bank, letting the horses have their fill. Mia pulled the walkie from her back pocket and handed it to Jonah.

  “Better call. They’re probably wondering about us.”

  Jonah keyed the radio. “Michael, this is Jonah, come back.” He pulled a cigarette from his shirt pocket and lit up while they waited.

  “You okay?” Jake whispered to Mia. She nodded.

  “Michael, respond,” Jonah said again.

  Static, then, “This is Michael. What’s your situation?”

  Jonah blew smoke from his lips. “Found the crick. Waterin’ the horses now.”

  “Are you starting back soon?”

  “Roger that.”

  “Any trouble?”

 
; Jonah exchanged a glance with Jake, then said, “Yeah. Keep your eyes open. We found some dead out here.”

  The radio was quiet for several long beats.

  “Copy that. Michael, out.”

  “Yeah, Jonah out.” He fastened the radio to his belt. “Mia, did you get bit?”

  She shook her head.

  “Then what’re you hidin’?”

  Mia’s eyes widened. “Nothing.”

  Jonah’s eyes drilled into hers for a moment, then they flipped to Jake. “The three of you never saw nothin’ like this before?”

  Jake sucked in a breath, but before he could let loose, Mia grabbed his arm and pulled him back. She said, “Believe me, Jonah, if we’d run across a bunch of those dead fucks at any point over the last couple years, you’d have known about it.”

  Jonah set his jaw and blew smoke out his nose. “You noticed those weren’t fresh, right? Damn things’ve been there a long time.”

  “I noticed,” Mia said.

  “That group of terminators we’re followin’, why didn’t they clean up the dead around here?” Jonah said. He dropped his cigarette and crushed it out, then walked over to the horses. “We need to get back.”

  They swung up into their saddles and led the remaining three horses straight out of the woods and back onto the road.

  Jonah pressed the radio to his mouth and kicked his horse into a trot. “Michael, this is Jonah.”

  Michael answered right away. “Go ahead.”

  “We’re on our way back.” His voice thumped from his chest. “Make sure you check whatever building you’re in for deadheads.” Jonah pressed the walkie to his ear so he could hear the reply over the beating of horse hooves on pavement.

  “Repeat that.”

  “Deadheads. Check for ‘em. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  Jonah shoved the walkie into his saddle bag, then kicked his horse into a run, the others keeping pace close behind.

  ✽✽✽

  “A short trip, you said. There and back, no problem, you said.” Kasey had Michael cornered by the front door. “Three solar panels are not worth this trouble.”