by Gary Chesla
“I guess it’s tough wearing a fur coat in this heat,” Fran said.
Snoop didn’t look up at Fran but his tail started wagging letting Fran know he knew she was talking to him.
“I know you would rather just stay here, honestly so would I, but we better get moving buddy,” Fran said. “We’re not getting any closer to John and Flash by sitting here. We still have a long way to go.”
Snoop rolled over and got to his feet, looked at Fran and wagged his tail.
“You don’t have to be so anxious,” Fran smiled. “You could at least whine a little, it would make me feel better.”
Fran laughed when Snoop whined and licked at her arm.
“That’s more like it,” Fran grinned. “Let go.”
Fran led Snoop and dragged the bookbag out from under the trailer.
She sighed as she looked at the endless line of cars in the southbound lane of the interstate, then slowly began walking again.
Every quarter of a mile, Fran spotted another white post and noted the slow progress that she was making.
Her shirt was soaked with sweat and the sleeves were discolored from her using them to constantly wipe the perspiration out of her eyes so that she could see.
She was thirsty and she knew little Snoop had to be thirsty too, but she had to ration her water for the trip.
She found it hard to resist the urge to open another bottle of water as the voice inside her head tried to convince her that she could still make the trip if she drank three bottles a day instead of the two she had planned to drink.
As Fran spotted the number 180 on the next post, she just knew that she wasn’t going to reach Stone in just two days.
Snoop was still being a trooper and was keeping up with Fran, but his wagging tail had stopped wagging about two miles back.
Fran and Snoop pushed on for another two hours.
At least the number of cars scattered across the highway was starting to thin out as they got further away from Twin Falls.
Apparently the people that had tried to escape the city didn’t make it too far.
Obviously those that had escaped the mayhem closer to Twin Falls didn’t find things out this way to be much better.
Snoop looked so pathetic, that Fran picked him up and carried him at mile marker 186.
The sun was getting low in the sky when they reached mile marker 192.
Snoop was enjoying the ride, but Fran was beat.
“How about we keep our eyes open for a place where we can spend the night,” Fran said sounding exhausted. “I’m not sleeping in any of these rolling coffins, I would have nightmares all night and I’m not sleeping on the interstate, that would be worse than sleeping in the bathtub.”
Fran looked down at Snoop, “I know, you can sleep anywhere!”
Fran walked on for another mile and stopped when she saw a large sign next to the highway that said, “Camp Andersen RV Park, one mile.”
“That sounds good, don’t you think Snoop,” Fran said. “At least I hope so because I don’t think I can go much further than another mile.”
Snoop just panted, slobber running down Fran’s arm.
Fran plowed forward, the bookbag felt like she was dragging an anchor behind her now.
The sweat running down her arm kept making her lose her grip on the bookbag handle.
Fran staggered the last mile but felt she was making better time now that there were fewer cars to maneuver around.
Fran stopped for a break when she spotted an exit up ahead.
She stopped and began to look off to the right and left of the interstate that they had been following.
Off to her right she spotted the RV park.
The exit went off to the right.
At the bottom of the exit a small road veered off and paralleled the interstate back to the RV park.
It was a fairly small park with maybe forty RVs parked on either side of the two short dirt roads in the park.
The scene looked peaceful and quiet.
Fran had never seen an RV park before and she wondered why people would drive all the way out here to stay.
There wasn’t anything around here, at least there wasn’t anything she had seen along the interstate today, maybe there was something to attract people out here further down the road.
“Maybe they just got tired driving and decided this place was as good as any to stop and take a break,” Fran said. “Whatever the reason, I’m glad it is here. Snoop, we might be in luck, this place looks like a good place for us to spend the night.”
Fran didn’t walk towards the exit but decided to take a short cut instead and began to walk down over the embankment, through the grass and towards the RV park.
The bookbag kept getting stuck in ruts and on stones hidden in the grass, but it was better than walking all the way around on the road.
As she got closer to the park, what she began to see told her a different story than what she had seen of the RV park from up on the interstate.
Most of the RV’s doors were hanging open, the windows were broken and the familiar red color of dried blood became clearly visible.
Black rotting corpses were scattered on the grass and roads throughout the park.
Were they the park’s residents or were they bodies of the zombies that had wandered into the park?
Fran had no way of knowing, all she knew was the RV park hadn’t escaped the death and horror that she had seen all day today.
Fran walked through the park, her mind imagining what had taken place at each RV as she surveyed the damage and the bodies at each site.
Bodies or partial bodies hung from many of the RV windows, a sight too horrible to warrant any further inspection of that RV.
The sights in the RV park were just like what she had been walking through up on the interstate.
Fran had just about given up any hope of finding a place where she was willing to spend the night as she approached the last few RVs in the park.
She didn’t want to have to remove any gross dead bodies out of an RV in order to spend the night inside.
Besides, the broken windows and smashed doors, the RVs offered little protection from the weather or anything else that might come around in the middle of the night.
Her old house, even with only tarps to cover the windows and doorways was a fortress compared to what she saw here.
When she came to the last RV in the park she stopped and stared.
A little silver egg-shaped trailer, the size of a van, sat with a For Sale sign in the side window.
The little silver egg’s door was closed and none of the windows appeared to be broken.
“Maybe since this thing was for sale the zombies didn’t bother it since maybe no one was here, Snoop,” Fran whispered. “It’s ugly and it’s not very big, but hey, we’ve practically been living in a bathtub for the last week.”
Fran walked over to the little silver egg, put Snoop down and reached for the door handle.
When she turned the handle, Fran was surprised to see the door open.
Fran cautiously looked inside.
The silver egg was small, with nowhere for anything to hide.
To the left Fran saw a small couch that turned into a bed when pulled out.
To the right was a counter with a small sink and a single, one burner stove.
In front of her was one stuffed chair and a coffee table.
Best of all there weren’t any bodies or dried blood.
“We lucked out, Snoop,” Fran whispered. “I think we’ll stay here.”
Fran ushered Snoop up the single step and into the trailer and dropped his leash on the floor.
While Snoop was occupied with smelling everything inside, Fran stepped back outside and grabbed the bookbag and dragged it up the step and into the trailer.
When Fran turned to close the door, she spotted something sitting out behind the bloody RV next door.
She saw that Snoop was still busy snooping around in his new s
urroundings, so Fran quietly stepped outside and closed the door behind her.
She walked cautiously over to the back of the RV.
After making sure there wasn’t anything moving around, she reached out and squeezed the front tire on the bicycle, then she squeezed the back tire.
“I’ll be damned,” Fran smiled as she grabbed the handlebars on the shiny blue bike and looked it over.
It had a basket on the front of the bike, the chain was in place, and the seat was one of those big cushy gel seats.
Fran quickly wheeled the bike over to the silver egg, opened the door and took it inside.
“Look what I found Snoop,” Fran smiled. “Tomorrow we will be riding in style!”
Fran closed and locked the door behind her.
Snoop spent the next ten minutes smelling the bike, finally giving it his seal of approval.
Fran smiled, house training Snoop had just moved up one notch on her list of things to do when she had the time.
As the light began to fade into darkness, Fran set up her CB on the small coffee table.
She attached the final wire and the radio began to glow.
The light from the CB lit up the interior of the small trailer with a soft glow.
The soft light cast by the CB made the trailer feel warm and cozy, which made Fran yawn.
She laughed when she looked down and saw Snoop yawn too as he snuggled up next to her leg.
“It was a tough day wasn’t it Snoop? Fran said.
Snoop’s tail wagged slowly but the rest of the puppy remained motionless, stretched out on the floor.
“Yeah, I’m beat too,” Fran added. “I’ve never walked that far in one day before. In fact I doubt if you add up how far I’ve walked in the last year it wouldn’t add up to what we walked today. With how short your legs are, I can only imagine how tired your legs are.”
Snoop raised his head to look at Fran as she opened the bag of pretzels she had found in the cupboard above the little stove.
“You’re not too tired to eat I see,” Fran grinned as she reached in the bag, grabbed a pretzel and gave it to the pup.
Fran laughed at Snoop as he sort of just opened his mouth and let Fran put the pretzel in his mouth.
Normally he would be dancing around impatiently begging.
Fran pulled a few more pretzels out of the bag and shoved them in her mouth and started to chew.
“Not bad,” Fran said, “These are almost fresh.”
She gave Snoop another pretzel.
Snoop chewed lazily, swallowed, then closed his eyes.
In a few seconds he began to snore.
Fran smiled as she scratched Snoop’s side.
“This is Batman, is there anyone out there?” the radio sprang to life.
“Hey Batman,” Fran replied as she picked up the mic and pressed the broadcast button.
“Hey Newb,” Batman answered, “how was your day? How many miles did you go today?”
“I’m not sure,” Fran replied. “Snoop and I made it to mile marker 192, but it feels like we walked a hundred miles today. By any chance do you know what the mile marker at Stone says. It would be really great if you said it was mile post 193.”
Batman laughed, “You wish.”
“Yeah, I do,” Fran laughed. “But seriously, any idea how far I still have to go?”
“Let me look at my map,” Batman said. “Did you have any problems today?”
“No, not really,” Fran replied. “But Route 84 was a mess. I’ve never seen so many cars before. There had to be thousands of abandoned cars today. I couldn’t believe what I saw. But I’m glad we were out there today and not when the zombies were out here attacking everyone.”
“It was really bad a few weeks ago,” Batman said. “Just be happy you were up in the mountains when it happened.”
“Believe me I am,” Fran added.
“Did you eat today?” Batman asked.
“Snoop and I ate like kings today,” Fran laughed. “We had two Slim Jim’s for breakfast, A banana and a cherry pie for lunch and now I’m eating pretzels.”
“I’m happy to see your back on a balanced diet again,” Batman chuckled. “I’m surprised you had any time to walk.”
“Did you find out how far I have to go yet?” Fran asked.
“Not yet, I’m still looking,” Batman replied. “It’s hard to read my map without much light. Everything is in small print too. Where are you staying tonight? Are you staying in a car on the interstate?”
“No, Snoop and I found a really nice place to sleep,” Fran replied. “We found an RV park right off an exit. Most of the RVs are a mess, but we found one that wasn’t touched. It still has all its windows and doors. It even has a bed. It had a For Sale sign in the window, I was thinking of buying it.”
Batman laughed.
“It sounds like you found a good place. I found a van that wasn’t in too bad of shape, it will do for one night.” he said. “Your RV must have been sitting empty when the zombies went through the area. Zombies aren’t interested in trailers or anything else unless they know there are people inside.”
“Thank God,” Fran said. “It would have been really creepy to stay in an RV that was busted up and bloody. I think I would rather sleep outside than in one of the other RVs.”
“Don’t even think about doing that,” Batman said. “Make sure you find a safe place tomorrow night too. If you have to, sleep in a tree, do that, but don’t just sleep on the ground where something can sneak up on you.”
“Why not?” Fran asked. “I thought you said all the zombies had died? I thought it was safe now.”
“I thought so too,” Batman replied. “But things were different today for some reason. I don’t know why, but I started to see zombies again today. There isn’t as many of them as there was before, but they are still out there staggering around. It just felt different today. I wasn’t paying attention and I almost walked right into a few today in Blue Creek, so watch yourself.”
“How close is Blue Creek to Stone?” Fran asked.
“It’s only about twenty miles from Stone,” Batman answered. “I should make it to Stone tomorrow late afternoon.”
“So what time should I make it to Stone tomorrow?” Fran asked.
“You’re not going to make it to Stone tomorrow,” Batman replied quietly.
“Why not,” Fran asked. “You said I would only have to walk fifty miles. Surely I should be getting close by tomorrow.”
“I’m afraid it is a little further than I thought,” Batman replied.
“How much further?” Fran asked sounding frustrated.
“Maybe a few more days,” Batman replied.
“A few more days!” Fran shouted into the mic. “It can’t be another few days. I’ll die out here in this heat. Are you serious? What mile marker do I need to get to?”
“Mile post 263,” Batman replied.
“That’s seventy more miles,” Fran replied then added, “Shit!”
“You can do it, just be careful,” Batman said. “I think you traveled over twenty miles today. It will only be another three or four days. Just take your time and do tomorrow what you did today. It’s only a few more days.”
Fran sighed.
“OK, I’ll try not to panic yet,” Fran said. “I guess there isn’t anything I can do about it now, I don’t want to go back home. But maybe if I try I can still make it tomorrow.”
“Don’t be crazy,” Batman said. “Just take your time and do what you did today, the time will go by quicker than you know. Besides, you don’t want to hurt yourself or have a heat stroke.”
“I found a bicycle today,” Fran said. “If I get up early and ride all day I think I can do it.”
“A bicycle?” Batman laughed.
“Yeah, it’s in good shape too,” Fran replied.
“I still don’t know about you riding seventy miles,” Batman added.
“I don’t like it out here,” Fran said. “If I ride seven miles an
hour I can make it in ten hours.”
“I don’t know, Newb,” Batman replied. “But from what I know about you, you just might do it. But I’ll tell you what. When I get to Stone, I’ll start going north on Route 84. Stop riding and get on the CB tomorrow about two hours before dark. We’ll see how close we are to each other and then decide what you should try to do. Just don’t push yourself too much in this heat. I don’t want anything to happen to you. Since you now have a bicycle, at worst we should be able to meet up in a day and a half max. Will you do that for me?”
After a few minutes of silence, Fran spoke again.
“OK, I guess we can try that,” Fran said. “If it takes me two days, I guess that will only be one more day than I thought it would be.”
“That’s my girl,” Batman said softly.
“Do you think Flash is listening like she always does?” Fran laughed. “I would expect here to say the conversation is getting sappy again.”
Batman laughed.
“That’s Flash,” Batman said. “But no, I haven’t talked to her today. Maybe she is out dragging back all that food she told us about. I’m sure if we don’t talk to her tonight, she’ll be back on the air tomorrow night.”
“I hope so,” Fran replied.
“It was nice talking to you tonight, Fran,” John said in a hushed voice. “But I have to go, I think I hear something moving around outside and I need to stay quiet for a while. I’m really looking forward to meeting you in person. Just be careful tomorrow and take care of yourself. Either way, it won’t be long before we meet up.”
“I can’t wait to meet you too,” Fran replied. “John, do you think the sounds you are hearing could be something dangerous?”
“I don’t know, it’s probably just some animals walking around in the brush, but I better be quiet just to be safe,” John whispered. “I need to catch some sleep anyhow, so I’m going to sign off for tonight. See you soon.”
“See you soon,” Fran replied.
“I can’t wait,” John added, then the CB fell silent.
After waiting a few minutes to be sure John was off the air and to see if Flash would finally sign on, Fran disconnected the wires from the CB.
