There were very few trade routes with trucks delivering goods between cities. The only vehicles were ancient, ran on ethanol and were hard to obtain. Even if you had one, you either made your own fuel or traded at the outposts and if you weren’t one of the locals, chances are you’d lose your car and your life. Most people rode horses or never went more than a few miles from where they were born and most strong holds became self-sufficient.
She knew he lived, knew she was in the right place and time because even in the outermost villages they knew of the Road Angel. He was a folk tale, a legend too big to be true, a fairy story told to children. She came across Bastilles book and kept searching, kept wandering the land and asking everyone she came across. She found his long-abandoned lodge in the mountains of Idaho. She came across a cult that worshipped the Queen of the Cats in the far north, an enclave in the desert that claimed to be his descendants and many people who had an uncle or grandfather who had met the man with the scar.
“Descendants?” Jessie asked.
“Yes.” she replied. “There is a large, desert dwelling community that lives near a mountain filled with tunnels and ancient wonders. Some of them are like you, they are more than human.”
“But I never had any kids.” Jessie said.
“They claimed they were the children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of another man called Jessie. He was a mighty warrior and a benevolent chief. They say his mother was called Sandy and she knew you when the world was still in the grips of the undead.”
Jessie pondered that for a moment, let it sink in. He had a son.
“How is he?” he asked. “Did you meet him?”
“I visited his grave.” Maddy said. “He was killed in battle.”
Jessie sighed and after a time she continued her story.
She followed false leads and hunted for him deep into Mexico. There were rumors he’d been seen in the swamps of Louisiana, the plains of Kansas and even in New York City. She followed every one, walking everywhere she went. She met a band of warriors who rode wild animals and had their own legends about him. She met a caravan of gypsy traders who told her of an ageless hermit living on an island somewhere in the Bahamas and she started walking to the tip of Florida. The tales became fresher the farther south she went. They weren’t handed down stories, she met people who claimed to have seen him, people he had helped or traded with.
“And so I have arrived.” She finished. “I have found you.”
“I’m glad.” Jessie said. “I’ve missed you. I wish things could have been different but I’m on deaths’ doorstep now. I think you found me just in time to bury me.”
“Perhaps not.” She said and pulled his bracelet out of the rucksack at her feet.
He stared at it for a long time, fuzzy and indistinct with his aged eyes but he knew what it was.
“I don’t want to go back.” He said. “I don’t want to die on an asteroid, I’d rather die here on the beach.”
“It has been modified.” She said. “It has been encoded with your backup. It will restore your body to the last time you jumped. The last time I saw you leave. It is the same as a rejuvenation bracelet, the same as if you were in a cabinet at one of the centers. You can keep your memories or delete them with a complete reset. There are no time disrupters on this planet or even in this solar system so there is no danger of being obliterated.”
Jessie considered it, wondered if he wanted to start over. Did he want to be young and hungry, itching for action and adventure? Did he want to live another hundred and fifty years? Or longer?
Maybe. He would have liked to meet his son, maybe do things a little differently.
“There is more you should know before you make your decision.” Maddy said and touched his deeply tanned and gnarled hand with her own.
“I have assimilated Scarlets’ DNA, it was how I was able to make the jump. I am closer to being human than I have ever been.”
“If I choose, I can age.”
“If I choose, I can cease to exist.”
“If I choose, I can die.”
Jessie nodded, understood and felt her warmth, the smoothness of her skin against his. She might look like Scarlet but she wasn’t. She had her own personality, her own life that she had lived, her own stories to tell.
He was glad.
Ever since he’d left the locket at the foot of the Mona Lisa, he’d let the other Jessie have Scarlet. He tried to shut the door on those memories, she was the girl who got away but she was happy so he was happy for her. Late at night when his mistakes haunted him and wouldn’t let him sleep, abandoning Maddy loomed huge in those remembrances.
“And if I decide I’m finished? I don’t want to go on?” Jessie asked
“Then I will join you.” She said. “I no longer have a duty; I have fulfilled my purpose. I have waited many thousands of years, crossed the galaxy and searched for decades. Now that I have found you, I will not be leaving again.”
They leaned back in their chairs, watched the sun as it dipped into the ocean and painted the world in an amazing palette of colors. He would think on it. He had time. For now, he wanted to enjoy the simple pleasure of an ocean breeze, a contented heart and being close to someone he had missed.
He reached for her hand and held it as the oranges faded to blues.
Afterword
Man, what a journey.
This concludes the main Zombie Road series of books. There will be other tales to tell but like the Feral Children spinoff’s, the stories will be standalone books set somewhere in the long timeline the story encompasses. Zombie Road started with Jessie remembering things, some that happened and some that didn’t, and ended with him an old man who had lived an interesting life. It may be over, it may not. It’s up to him to make that decision.
I doubt Maddy will tell him some of the things she learned during the centuries he was gone. If she told him that the Queen of the Outer Reaches had been alive for as long, maybe longer, than her, it might influence his decision. If she told him she was one of the Anunnaki pilots that had waged war against the galaxy and had killed hundreds of billions he may decide to try to do something about it. He certainly would if he found out she had been sending her ships through time portals to get back to his solar system to repair the jump gate. Like his jumps, they were hit or miss. They’d been coming since shortly after his visit with her and she learned that planet earth still abides. The gold was still there and she still needed it to repair her home planets damaged atmosphere. The Anunnaki and the Reptilians had enslaved mankind before, they could do it again.
Her ships, the ones that survived the perilous jump, first started showing up in the earth timeline in the late 1940’s and were scattered through the decades. The first one crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. Some of them left warnings and instructions for others in the vast fields of crops. Sharaal told her that so far, they hadn’t been successful in repairing the jump gate, they didn’t know how, but they were relentlessly trying to figure it out.
She had brought all the knowledge they needed to build a space worthy craft but he had saved his world once. I don’t think she would pressure him to do it again. I think she will keep her secrets until he makes his decision.
In other Zombie Road news that actually deals with zombies and not ancient aliens, Wesley Norris is writing a series of books based on his character Rye that we met in the Feral Children’s tale. It’s set in the heyday of the Zombie Road world when retrievers are retrieving, Hell Drivers are driving and although Horowitz had a tragic accident and fell off the roof, he still has his devotees.
For all the latest info, join the David Simpson Fan Club on Facebook. I’m on there all the time.
Thanks for reading and leave a review if you have time. They really help us out.
Have fun, be safe and don’t get hit by a bus!
David A. Simpson
March 10, 2021
Also by David A. Simpson
Zombie Road: Convoy of Carnage
Zombie Road II: Bloodbath on the Blacktop
Zombie Road III: Rage on the Rails
Zombie Road IV: Road to Redemption
Zombie Road V: Terror on the Two-Lane
Zombie Road VI: Highway to Heartache
Zombie Road VII: Tragedies in Time
Zombie Road VIII: Crossroads of Chaos
By David A. Simpson and Wesley R. Norris
The Feral Children: Animals
The Feral Children 2: Savages
The Feral Children 3: Nomads
Coloring Book
Zombie Road: The Road Kill Coloring Book
Anthologies
Tales from the Zombie Road: The Long Haul Anthology
The Zombie Road Fan Fiction Collection
Undead Worlds: A Reanimated Writers Anthology
Undead Worlds 3: A Reanimated Writers Anthology
Treasured Chests: A Zombie Anthology
Trick or Treat Thrillers: Best Paranormal 2018
Trick or Treat Thrillers: Best Horror 2018
Zombie Road | Book 8 | Crossroads of Chaos Page 34
