Roads Less Traveled | Book 5 | End of the Road

by Dulaney, C.

  “Kasey, go. Just run,” Jonah said.

  He held Gus with one arm and used the other to push Kasey along. It took only seconds, but in the time it took for Jonah to get her moving, Kasey saw terminators roll over the barricade. They threw themselves, jumped over each other, climbed over each other, and even shoved each other out of the way. If any of Bill’s people were still out there, they were gut piles now.

  “Jake! Dad!” Kasey screamed. Jonah kept pushing from behind.

  Halfway down the street, Michael ran towards her, motioning wildly with one arm. Rabbit and his men poured out of the mechanic’s garage, loaded for bear. They formed up across the street, from one sidewalk to the other. Gunfire chattered from the rooftops.

  Michael grabbed Kasey. “We have to get inside, now!” he said. They looked back and there was Caleb and Jake, just yards ahead of hundreds of terminators.

  “No, no, no,” Kasey whispered. She took a few steps in their direction but Michael and Jonah stopped her.

  “Jake!” Michael yelled and used both hands to motion toward the courthouse. Caleb and Jake swerved off in that direction, and Jonah got Kasey moving again.

  “Move, girl. Don’t look, just move,” he said.

  The three of them were closer to the courthouse than anyone and ran up the stone steps just as Rabbit’s men opened fire. The shots from the rooftops above still clattered away.

  They’ll run out soon, Kasey thought. There isn’t enough.

  She looked over her shoulder before Jonah shoved her through the door. Jake wasn’t going to make it and he knew it. He pointed as he ran to the alley next to the courthouse. Her dad was nowhere to be seen. She looked over her other shoulder. No Dad. When she looked back for Jake, she saw him dart around the corner between buildings and disappear. Right away, dozens of terminators piled into the space behind him.

  “He can work his way around to us if he hurries,” Jonah said into her ear.

  “But Dad?” she whispered.

  Jonah shook his head. “Don’t think right now. Just move.”

  Michael pushed them both inside and used an old flagpole gathering dust in the corner to hold the double doors shut.

  Along the sides of the buildings, the terminators climbed. They made a ladder of their own bodies, desperate to reach the people on the roofs shooting at them. Terminators burst through the window of Marlo’s store, filling it in seconds. Terminators shot out from between the buildings. There were so many of them, they easily overtook the chain-link zombies that guarded each alley.

  The noise was unreal. Between the Guardsmen mowing down the terminators, the fifty-cal vomiting round after round from the roof, and the terminators outside beating on windows, doors, screaming, and screeching, Kasey could hardly hear anything. Her hands went to her ears and she looked around the lobby.

  The double doors swayed in violently with each shove from the mass pushing up against them outside.

  Jonah set Gus on the floor and moved closer to Michael. “This place is lost. There’s no way we can fight that. There’s too many and they hit us too fast,” he said, voice kept low so only Michael could hear him.

  “Jake and Caleb are still out there,” Michael said.

  Jonah’s only reply to that was a grunt.

  Michael looked around the lobby and rubbed his face. “They had to have broken off from the main force,” he said.

  “What?” Kasey spoke up. She gestured to Gus, and the dog hurried over to the base of the stairs and waited. She stepped closer to the men and continued, “What are you talking about?”

  “They flanked us again,” Jonah said, disgusted, and turned away from them.

  Michael nodded. “This isn’t the bulk of the horde, Kasey. It’s still coming.”

  “This isn’t the bulk of the…” Kasey stepped back and her legs began to fold. She would’ve gone down on her ass had Jonah not swung around and caught her. “What about all those people out there?” Kasey dropped her voice into a rushed whisper. “What about Dad? And Jake?”

  The front doors banged and swayed dangerously, to the point of bending the flagpole. But it held.

  Glass shattered somewhere on the second floor.

  Michael straightened. “We need to get upstairs and behind a locked door.” He took Jonah by the shoulder. “Those things ignore you. Lead us up.” He glanced over his shoulder. The front doors swayed apart so far that terminators were squeezed halfway through.

  The gunfire from the rooftops stopped.

  Jonah hesitated. He turned to Kasey, eyes questioning. She sucked up her tears, bent down for Gus, and when she turned back, her face wore the look he knew well.

  “Alright then,” Jonah said.

  He led the way up the steps, with Kasey following and Michael bringing up the rear. They stayed so close together they nearly tripped each other going up. Once they reached the landing, Jonah pulled them to the right, away from the sound of breaking glass earlier. There were several doors on either side down the length of the hallway, and he tried them all as they passed. Midways down, a door opened for him and he herded them all inside.

  Feet pounded the old wooden floor in the opposite direction.

  “Hold up!” Jake yelled. He tore ass around the corner and ran for Jonah.

  Jonah’s mouth flew open and he stepped back out into the hall. He grabbed Jake and threw him into the room, then caught Kasey’s eye.

  Inside, Jake wrapped his arms around her just as Jonah pulled the door shut.

  With him on the other side.

  ✽✽✽

  Kasey sucked in a breath to yell for Jonah, and she fought against Jake. Michael smacked a hand across her mouth to keep her quiet and Jake squeezed with all he had.

  “Shh, shh, be quiet, damn ya. They’ll hear ya,” Jake whispered. Kasey’s wide eyes met his and she settled down. He nodded. “That’s it. Just be still.”

  Michael pulled his hand away and held a finger to his lips. The three huddled together and waited. Gus, having been around this block more than a time or two, kept his doggie mouth shut.

  Outside, screaming and crying from the rooftops began to fade from steady to intermittent. Gunfire from below continued. Kasey’s eyes darted in that direction. The windows of the room they were in faced the street. Out in the hall, terminators ran past their room. Jonah’s silhouette hadn’t moved from in front of the fogged-glass window of the door. The terminators didn’t slow or even stop. After the pounding of feet faded, Jake let go of Kasey and moved to the window.

  Michael stayed close to Kasey in case she decided to bolt, and whispered to Jake, “How the hell did you get up here?”

  Kasey noticed Jake’s hands were bloodied.

  “I fuckin’ climbed,” he answered. His voice was muffled against the glass of the window, and his shoulders rose and fell like he still hadn’t caught his breath.

  Kasey glanced at the office door, saw Jonah was still on the other side, and eased closer to Jake.

  “You climbed up a stone wall?” Michael whispered.

  Jake snorted. “You’d be surprised what you can do when you’re scared shitless.”

  Screaming in the street below rose up to meet them, and the steady firing of automatic weapons ceased.

  Kasey closed the last few steps to the window before Jake could turn and stop her.

  “No, you don’t wanna—” he began, but she shoved him out of the way.

  All but a few of Rabbit’s men were ripped to pieces in minutes. Rabbit, Caleb, and three others fought with fists and knives.

  “Dad!” Kasey screamed and pounded both fists against the glass.

  Jake reached around from behind her and tried to pull her back, one hand fumbling to cover her mouth, but she kicked and struggled against him. He gave up and just slid both hands up and over her mouth. She screamed for her dad over and over, muffled now by Jake.

  Michael hurried to the window. “Jesus…” He pressed a fist to his mouth.

  They tore Caleb’s right arm
off first. It swung around and hit Rabbit on its way to the ground. A hand gripped Rabbit’s throat and ripped out larynx and all. Blood sprayed over Caleb’s face. It seemed to take a long time for him to realize what was happening, because he kept trying to use his right arm to fight. All he was able to do was shrug that side of his torso. The arm, and his knife, lay on the pavement a few feet away. Rabbit gurgled for a split second, then he was on the ground and covered by terminators. Red and brown chunks tossed up into the air.

  Caleb jerked to the left, then to the right, and a long length of intestines flew up in front of his face. Then the terminators engulfed him, and he disappeared.

  Across the street, the terminators covered the buildings and houses like ants. Up and over, slaughtering everyone in sight. Some people tried to jump, and some succeeded, but if the ground didn’t kill them, the terminators did.

  “We gotta get away from the windows,” Jake finally spit out. Kasey’s hands slid from the glass as he pulled her away.

  She tried to talk, tried to say something, anything, but the only thing that came out of her was a sound too similar to the old, rotten deadheads they’d had strung up around town.

  “I’m sorry, Kase, I’m sorry,” Jake softly cried. “I’m sorry.”

  He and Michael pulled Kasey, and a whining Gus, into the far corner of the room. They collapsed there, huddled together in the dark, sobbing as quietly as they could.

  Chapter Eleven

  Michael watched Kasey for a long time, or what felt like a long time. She kept her face buried in Gus’ neck and breathed as though she were asleep. Finally, he turned to Jake. “Home, then.”

  Jake nodded. “Home. We can get there.”

  Jonah slipped through the office door and eased it shut. He flipped the deadbolt and snuck over to the window. It was full dark by this time. His eyes moved over the street below. The only evidence of Rabbit and his men were pieces of uniform and boots strewn about. Caleb, however…for some reason they’d left him more or less intact. His innards were gone, leaving a gaping hole in his midsection. Half of his face hung to the side, stuck to his head by an ear. The terminators were gone, though. They’d moved on as soon as those men were dead.

  Jonah squeezed his eyes shut. Wish I couldn’t see, he thought.

  He sucked in a wet breath and looked up at the rooftops across the way. All was quiet, no movement there, either. He couldn’t see the bodies he knew were there, because of the foot-high ledge around most of the roofs.

  He swallowed. His throat was dry, and he was sure the others were thirsty, as well. They kept a store of food and water downstairs in the county clerk’s office. If it was up to him, they’d stay where they were for another day, so he shoved away from the window and made for the door.

  Michael looked up from where he and Jake talked in hushed voices next to Kasey.

  Jonah made a drinking gesture and pointed down. Michael nodded.

  After the door clicked shut again, Jake said, “When he gets back, we’ll go over it with him.” He wiped absentmindedly at the blood on his hands. “They don’t know we’re around if he’s close enough to us.”

  “Yeah.” Michael took a deep breath. “I doubt we can stay up on the mountain for long, but he can keep us safe long enough to resupply.” He ticked things off his fingers. “Food, water, weapons, ammo.”

  Jake nodded along. “Right. We brought the damn satellite phone with us, though. Who the fuck knows where that thing is now.”

  “There’s one over in Marlo’s store.”

  “Yeah. We can send Jonah over for it, or all go together when we leave.”

  Michael glanced at Kasey, but said to Jake, “And when we get to the house, we call Blueville. If they’re still standing, we try to make it to them.”

  “Okay,” Jake whispered.

  The door clicked open and Jonah appeared with an armful of water bottles and cans of beans. Jake went over to take some of it off his hands, then came back and handed Michael a bottle. He sat back down and opened his own. Jonah kneeled a few feet away and dumped a can of beans onto the floor for Gus, who eased himself out of Kasey’s arms and trotted over.

  Jake made a face. “I don’t think ya oughta be feedin’ him beans.”

  Jonah shrugged. “It’ll do for now.”

  The corner of Michael’s mouth quirked up. It’d been so long since they’d lived this way, and it was unsettling how easily they fell right back into it.

  Jonah looked up. Kasey was in the corner with her back to the wall, knees drawn up and her face hidden. Michael and Jake sat in front of her, off to the side.

  She ain’t asleep, he thought.

  Jonah clenched his jaw, patted Gus once, and edged around them until he stood in front of her. His knees cracked when he squatted down.

  “Kasey,” he whispered. She didn’t move. “Kasey, look at me.” Jonah reached out and touched her cheek with his fingers.

  Jake and Michael busied themselves with their water bottles and purposely kept their eyes on Gus.

  Jonah twisted around until he was on his knees. He cupped her jaw with his hand and rubbed her cheek with his thumb. “Please,” he said quietly. “We both know you ain’t sleepin’.”

  Kasey sighed and kept her eyes closed. “What.”

  He opened a bottle of water and pushed it into her hands. “Drink this.”

  She held the water and waited, and when she realized he wasn’t going to leave her alone until she did what he asked, she opened her eyes and took a long drink.

  “Okay,” Jonah said. He smiled and looked around. “You boys got a plan?”

  Michael and Jake glanced at each other, and Jake said, “Yeah, sorta.”

  “Good.” Jonah stood and went back to the window facing the street. He eyes slid down the road, toward the building where they kept the horses. “Good.” He crossed his arms and settled in for his turn at keeping watch.

  ✽✽✽

  “This is a bad idea. You know it, he knows it, I know it. Go on, ask me if this is a bad idea,” Adams said. He was hunkered down behind a big maple tree with Mort, watching as Brad rode up to the busted and broken-down gate of the gated community they’d happened upon.

  Mort shot the younger man a look. “I did already. He decided to ignore you and it’s not like we can just fucking leave him. Now, just stick to the plan.”

  Adams huffed. “Plan. Right. ‘Oh, I’m just gonna waltz right out there and draw their attention. I’ll see trouble before it hits. Spidey-sense, remember?’ Yeah, Mort. That’s a fuckin’ brilliant plan. Wish I’d thought of it.”

  Brad had been quieter than usual that morning while they broke camp. Mort asked about his dream, asked him what he’d seen, but Brad had waved it away. He mumbled something about the Fort and bad dreams. Mort and Adams didn’t believe him, but let it go for the time being and decided they’d try again later in the day when the terror of it wasn’t as fresh.

  But after a few hours of riding, Brad had caught blips on his danger-radar. Except they weren’t the standard blips; these made his radar glitch and jump, the exact same way zombies messed with his mojo. Mort had tried to get a read on the place, to feel if there were any people in the area, but his empathy had been met with feedback. So, they’d asked Adams, and Adams had been adamant that yes, there were bad dudes in there. But then Brad asked if the bad dudes would kill them, and Adams had answered no. That was all the excuse Brad needed to keep riding toward the source. The other two had no choice but to follow.

  The community before them had seen better days. The gate didn’t look like it’d been knocked down by the gabs. The metal bars were twisted where the two halves met, and the entire thing looked pulled and stretched outward. Drag marks dug deep into the pavement, ending where the gate now lay twenty or so feet away from the entrance.

  In Mort’s right hand was his pistol, but in his other was his trusty pen. He rubbed it like a man possessed, but whatever dead there were inside seriously interfered with his empathy. Colors j
umped and blurred together, cutting out altogether and causing a feedback. Mort growled and finally gave up. He shoved his pen back into his pocket.

  Adams leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “What’s he doing?”

  Brad had stopped his horse just inside the entrance and had his left hand raised. Mort couldn’t see much beyond, besides bodies strewn about on the ground. From this distance, he couldn’t tell if they were dead gabs, zombies, or people. He also couldn’t see who the hell Brad was waving at.

  Mort frowned and double-checked his pistol. “He’s waving at someone.”

  Up ahead, Brad kicked his horse into motion and rode out of sight, his hand still in the air.

  “Shit,” Mort hissed. “Let’s move.”

  Adams eyeballed the older man. “Ooh, but what about the plan?”

  Mort lowered his bushy eyebrows. “Fuck the plan. C’mon.”

  Adams shot him a grin and pulled his sidearm.

  “I wouldn’t if I were you.”

  Mort and Adams spun around. A man stepped out from behind a tree and aimed a shotgun at them. He was younger than Mort, but not by much. Taller for sure, and broad across the shoulders.

  “Guns on the ground,” he said and motioned with his head.

  Mort and Adams looked at each other, then back at the man. Mort tried to get a read, but it was difficult without his pen. The most he could pick up was the man felt neutral. Cold. Hungry.

  “Will he fire?” Mort mumbled to Adams.

  “Yes.”

  Mort nodded once, then to the man he said, “Alright. Just take it easy.” Slowly, he bent forward and laid his pistol on the ground. Adams copied his movements and did the same.

  “Turn around.”

  “Okay.” Mort began to turn his back on the man. “There doesn’t need to be any trouble here.”

  Adams followed the older man’s lead. “We’re not here to hurt you people. Just be cool.”

  “Sure, you’re not.”

  The two heard leaves crunching. The man walked closer to them. They traded a glance and tensed up.