Contents
Title page
Copyright
Dedication
In the beginning
Strong Place
Sanctuary
Seal of God
Covenant
Dark Times
Embrace
Afflicted
Rusty Cage
Kneel Before the Lord
Preacher Man
Cell Block Six
Low Man
Heal Your Wounds
Snake in the Garden
Charlie's Law
Testify
Faithless
Gateway
Stricken
Confession
Truth
Forbidden Fruit
The Message
And the Lord Said
Scales from My Eyes
Eighteen and Life to Go
Falsehood
Escaping Sin
The Way
Runaway Train
Reap
In the Garden
Exodus
Reverant
The Good Book
Purgatory
Ministry
Forsaken
Saviour
Heaven Light a Way
Remnants
Lost Soul
The Good News
Witness
Schism
Victorious
The God that Failed
God's Mercy
Alpha and Omega
Author Notes
About
Copyright © 2017 by 6K Press
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Printed in the United States of America
www.6kpress.com
Thanks to my wife for all her help with the Real Life stuff so I could have more time to pursue this writing thing.
Thomas of course for pushing me along and pouncing ideas back and forth. And to all of you, the readers.
Robert
"You gotta hit every gosh darn bump and pothole in the county?" Gus wheezed out from the bed of the truck. Another coughing fit took hold of him. When it was done he moaned and held his side. He grimaced, his face a mask of pain.
Gus was stretched out in the back of the pickup, on a bed of sleeping bags. Hannah was beside him, one hand gripped on the side of the truck, the other holding a washcloth to Gus's head.
"Hey old timer," JT called through the open glass pane. "This isn't exactly a smooth NASCAR track where I'm only making left turns."
They were traveling down some old gravel back road as I-70 had become impassable. This was on the outskirts of Topeka. They had run into an impassable snarl, all of the wreckage left from people trying to get away. A couple of turns here and there after the exit they took and now they found themselves off the pavement. Dust flew up behind the truck in an obscuring cloud. JT pushed the truck's speed to the edge of his comfort level. It wouldn't do any of them any good to wipe out or roll the truck in the middle of fucking nowhere.
It had been a couple of days since they had left Harold's cabin. What was left of the place was a pile of charred remains and ash. They stayed long enough to pick and prod through the cooling embers to try and find anything salvageable, but everything useful had pretty much went up in the fire. Thinking about Harold or his cabin always made JT automatically think about how he found Ashley. Looking like a wax statue, dressed for her wedding to the sicko. JT knew he would never think of wedding dresses the same way again.
Harold's other victims were down there as well. JT and Tyrone had dug graves for the bodies in the dirt floor of the cellar under the boathouse. Only then, after cleaning up any trace of what Harold had done, JT burned the boathouse down to the ground as well. He came back to Hannah, who had stayed with the hurt Gus. Thankfully she didn’t ask any questions about what they had found.
Before moving Gus into the truck, they had to do something about him bleeding to death. Not knowing what else to do, JT did something he had only seen in movies. He found a piece of flatish metal, stuck it into the dying fire, and seared Gus’s gut and shoulder wounds. They didn't have anything to numb the pain. Gus ended up passing out after the first few seconds, to everyone's relief.
With Gus temporarily patched up, JT knew staying put would have done them no good. Gus needed more help than an ex college football player turned bouncer, a college cheerleader, and a High School kid could provide. So they took Harold's old, worn down pick up truck, laid Gus in the back, and picked a direction. Harold wouldn't mind if they took it, considering he was dead.
They were left in a sad shape when it came to weapons as well. JT had a shotgun they had found along the way, left in a crashed police car back along the interstate. It sat across Tyrone's lap right now. In the back of the truck with Hannah was a crowbar they found in the bottom of Harold’s boathouse of horrors. That was about the extent of their artillery for now. To be fair, that hadn't been the focus of their searches since leaving the cabin.
Their last search was earlier that morning. Before the interstate got bad, they had gotten off on a hunch JT had. When he saw the sign, he thought it was going to be a town right there off the exit. Instead they had to follow a two lane highway for miles before coming to the town itself. The sign proclaimed this was the town of Tonganoxie
JT found one of those small town pharmacies and stopped out front. He and Tyrone checked it out while Hannah stayed with Gus. They left the shotgun with her.
After everything they had gone through at Harold's cabin, Tyrone had pretty much become his right hand man. His happy go lucky attitude had been replaced by a sullen one ever since leaving the nightmarish cabin behind. It was understandable but sad. The kid, who believed it was only a matter of time until they were saved and everything would go back to normal, seemed to be gone.
They walked towards the pharmacy slowly. JT wished he had a weapon better than the beat up crowbar he was gripping tightly. It might do them good to look for some guns too while they were stopped. This was the heartland; he figured every other house here should have a gun. Could they spare the time was the thought he always came back to. If they did hit a pack of the undead, Tyrone could run back to the truck in a flash. With his bum right knee, JT knew it was going to be more fight than flight for him.
The doors to the building were wide open. JT and Tyrone stepped inside, eyes everywhere at once. The place was so small you could see the back wall where you picked up prescriptions easily from the front. There were only four aisles. The place looked pretty ransacked. Boxes and bottles were all over the floor. The area under the front counter where you usually would find all the candy and goodies was stripped bare. JT looked at Tyrone and shrugged.
"We're already stopped, might as well still check it out." He had been avoiding the big cities, after his previous experiences, so this would be the best chance they would have for awhile.
They stepped over a large, dried red stain on the linoleum floor at the end of an aisle. They didn't come across any dead bodies though. Neither the really dead variety nor the walking around kind. It was a relief to JT. On the way back to the pharmacy part of the store, Tyrone started singing.
"We're on a road to nowhere, come on inside. Taking that ride to nowhere, we'll take that ride. I'm feeling okay this morning and you know, we're on the road to paradise. Here we go, here we go."
Him singing was more like the fun and carefree Tyrone JT first met i
n what seemed like years ago. The song though, sounded a lot creepier than the upbeat stuff Tyrone usually sang.
"Tyrone, why that song?"
"Places like this usually have muzak or easy listening music playing and I don't know, that was the first song that popped into my head."
It was an answer JT guessed. He looked up and saw the distorted vision of he and Tyrone in one of those round security mirror on the wall. He had kept himself clean shaven but his hair was shoulder length and with his big stocky frame he looked like he was robbing the place. They got to the back of the store and tried the pharmacy door. It was still locked.
"Let's jump the counter," Tyrone offered. "I bet that’s what the other people did."
"My ass ain't fitting through there buddy," JT said, eyeing the small space between the bottom of the counter and the glass coming down. "I'm knocking the door down."
It took three running starts but the lock eventually broke under JT's assault. It did look as if someone had been back here, but the mess wasn't nearly as bad. They split up, rummaging through the bins. They were able to find some bandages and what JT knew for sure were some painkillers. There was other prescription medication but they had no clue what it was. They had exotic names like Bystolic, Coreg, and Oleptro. It wasn't like they could whip out their phones and Google the information anymore to find out.
JT decided to take the drugs anyway. Back out in the main store, he also found some Neosporin and some hydrogen peroxide. Looking under shelves, he also found two boxes of bandages and one big roll. Maybe this would at least keep infection away. JT's slim hope now was to come across some professional medical help. Maybe by now there might be something like a Red Cross or FEMA camp set up somewhere. He wanted, no needed, to find it before it was too late for Gus.
They both were filling up plastic bags when the horn of the truck started beeping. Tyrone beat him outside. When he got there, he saw a group of ten, meandering down the middle of the road.
"Undead," Tyrone’s voice was a whisper.
Since leaving the cabin, JT had seen no signs of any living people or any zombies. Unless they were getting close to a big city. He did occasionally see roaming cats and dogs at the few stops before this one. What were once beloved pets looked to have gone wild, left to fend for themselves. Like the zombies that roamed the streets, they also traveled in packs.
So much for looking for more weapons. Time to get out.
That was fine with JT. He had lost most of the fire he had to go after zombies. Most days, he felt so beaten down, it was a chore to keep motivated and focus on moving ahead. Even if he had a rocket launcher and a flamethrower right now, he still would have made the same decision, to get in the truck and drive on.
“Here they come, let’s go.”
The zombies were always attracted by sound and Hannah’s horn was a beacon in the silence. He got in the truck, leaving the undead behind. If there were any living people left in Tonganoxie, it was their problem. He wasn't going to save them. He was no hero.
Now here they were, driving down dirt roads. Possibilities of real help becoming a fleeting hope. A fools dream. Yet he didn't wholeheartedly regret his decision to leave the interstate. The day after day, long drive to nowhere of their plodding made the realization sink in this was like some kind of doomsday end of the world shit. He felt like he was driving through that old miniseries The Stand, except instead of a super flu, it was man eating monsters killing everyone.
I probably think this at least once a day but I can't believe all that has gone down the past few months. No only did I have to deal with flesh eating zombies, but the first person who took us in and seemed helpful was a crazed psychopathic killer.
"Maybe I should start driving to Nebraska," JT chuckled to himself.
"What did you say?" Tyrone asked. He looked at JT with glazed over eyes.
Again JT noticed except for a burst here or there, like at the pharmacy, Tyrone was a much quieter person now. After burying Ashley was when he noticed Tyrone withdrawing. He spent more and more time staring silently out the window, or going off by himself when they stopped for the night. JT thought it was probably just the shock of it all. He couldn't blame the kid. Not when dead people are trying to eat you while running from a homicidal maniac who also tried to kill you, after he murdered your new friends.
"Nothing Tyrone, just mumbling to myself."
Hannah shouted up to him. "You think you can stop in a few minutes. I need to change Gus's bandages out."
"Sure thing little lady," He shouted back.
Hannah was holding up well. Heroically well considering she was the object of a deranged killer who was going to stuff her and add her to his collection like some safari hunter. Which he had done to her best friend. On top of that she had to play nursemaid to Gus, who had a slim chance of making it out of this alive if they couldn't figure something out soon.
JT was even more worried about Hannah than Tyrone, in spite of how she was acting. It was like she put up a stone wall between her and everyone else since they had left the cabin. Once in awhile, he would see a crack in it, like last night when he could hear her sobbing after she thought everyone else had gone to sleep. Any advance from him to help was violently rejected.
Back in what he now started to think of as the old days, his temper would have flared up. He would have thrown down and a blow up argument would have commenced. Now, after what his unchecked temper did to that young girl... Some nights he could still see her face, her big eyes, like doll eyes, looking up at him in shock right before going lifeless as her body collided with the ground. She had shot at him, almost killed him. At the time, not knowing it was a girl of ten up in the building shooting at them. He had charged in on her in blind rage. He had kicked open the door and knocked her out the window without a word. The excuse of her shooting at them first still sounded weak to him.
With those thoughts still fresh, he was more able to calmly brush off Hannah's rejections. Like the fire to kill zombies, the old, quick to anger JT seemed to have cooled. He decided to give her the space she needed.
It was all sad. Even what had seemed like something between them had died. A spark that almost burst into a flame at the cabin. It was more than physical attraction, even though she was a beautiful blonde hair woman. He was probably foolish to believe in the first place that anything could even develop between them in this world.
Well, maybe there really isn’t anything I can do to help her. He didn't know about coping with the kind of loss she was feeling now. The closest was his parents but he was young when that happened. It was the hardest thing for him to accept. Powerlessness. It was a hard thing to also deny his feelings for her, even now.
Clearing out all of these competing thoughts in his head, JT went back to concentrating on the road, after feeling the back tires slid a bit. JT spotted a track, barely more than tire ruts, leading off of the dirt road. His eyes followed it and as he squinted, he was sure he saw a farmhouse in the distance.
"Alright Hannah, looks like I've found a house. Sit tight for a few more minutes and we'll stop there."
He parked in front of the wide porch steps leading up to the farmhouse. Without a word Tyrone hopped out, shotgun in hand, and went up the stairs.
"Hey, where do you think you are going?" JT said in a hushed shout.
"Making sure it's safe." Tyrone didn't even look back. He peered in through the front window for what seemed like several minutes, went to the front door, opened it, and walked in, gun at the ready. JT stood there torn, then decided to go to the back of the truck.
"Can you believe that kid, taking off like that?"
"Shit, don't tell me we have another Alan on our hands?" Gus said. He coughed several times. A spittle of blood stood out on his pale lips.
Hannah shot a worried look at JT and JT returned it. Here again, was there anything he could do to help Gus? God he hated that feeling.
"If it's clear, we will get you inside Gus. We can pretend it's a fo
ur star bed and breakfast." JT gently patted Gus on the shoulder.
Instead of his usual witty reply, Gus laid there, looking up at the blue sky.
"Gus?" Hannah said. Her voice wavered.
"Yeah little lady, I'm still here. What you waiting for, grab my bags and show me to my room. Or am I going to have to complain to the management."
Tyrone banged out the front door and shuffled down the steps.
"Looks all clear. Living room, bathroom, and kitchen downstairs. Three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. No zombies, no dead bodies and no live ones either. I didn't see any looting. Looks like the people just left and nobody has touched this place since."
"Some good news for a change," JT said, clamping Tyrone on the back. "Help me get Gus inside."
"Are you sure it's a good idea to move him?" Hannah asked.
"You heard the man Hannah," JT said. "You don't want to get in trouble with management do you?"
Hannah thought taking Gus upstairs would be a bad idea. It was hard enough to hear his stifled cries of pain while going up the porch steps. The fact he wasn't crying out more made her figure he was trying to put on a brave front. It was just like Gus to keep trying to shield her from what was an obvious truth to her, he was dying and she wasn't going to be able to prevent it.
"Let's lay him out on the couch there," she said, point to the right of the door. "JT, can you go see if you can find some pillows and blankets. Let's try to make him as comfortable as we can."
Gus laid there continuing to moan in pain. Even though it was a visible struggle he had to make a smart ass remark. "No tip for you two. You two are by far the worst bellhops I have ever met."
"Take it easy now Gus. You need rest old man," Tyrone said with a smirk.
"You're lucky it's my nap time. You guys are dismissed. If I need anything, I'll call room service."
JT had to kneel down close to be able to make it out. After a look of sympathy to her, he and Tyrone went off to look around.
Hannah looked down at him, on the verge of losing it again. He was gasping, reminding her of a goldfish out of water. She didn't think she could take someone else close to her dying. Not after all those they left behind back at the cabin.
The Outbreak Series (Book 2): Purgatory Page 1
