The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books.

by Geo Dell

  It was late in the day when they did come, and they were not hers at all. They were the same slow, stupid, infestation that she had found within the town. Malformed, undeveloped. Not hers at all, not able to be made hers. She had let them go, set them free. They were no use to her at all.

  They had wandered away immediately, into the small city, walking into houses, cars, street signs and whatever else was in their way as they stumbled along. She had watched them go. Blind babies, empty vessels that would never be anything more, and then the second bad thing had happened.

  She and the others had been in the basement when the breathers had set it ablaze. She should have known they were there, felt them, sensed them, known, not only that they were there, but what they were about to do. But she had felt, sensed, nothing at all until a second before the house went up in flames. She had barely managed to get herself out through the small basement window that faced the rear of the house. Even then, she had nearly lost her own.

  The breathers had been waiting and opened up on her as she crawled through the window. But they expected the slow, stupid ones, and that was their downfall. Donita had screamed and launched herself at the nearest breather, riding him to the ground where she had ripped his throat out before he or the others could react. That bought time for her own to get out of the basement and the burning house. Three more of the breathers had fallen before the others had fled. The big man had picked her up and carried her back to the woods, and she had lapsed into twilight as the healing began.

  When she had come back to herself, they had set out through the woods. The longer she walked, the stronger she felt. She would not make the same mistake again, she told herself. She looked over at the twin with her now scared face. She would not make the same mistake again, she repeated to herself. And they would pay for this. They would pay. She remembered their scent, would never forget it, and they would pay.

  Bear

  He was up the ladder faster than he would have thought possible. Billy, Mac and Dell were up next, but the firing was over. It had not come from Beth, except at the very end. There were half dozen dead laying in the roadway a hundred yards from the bus. Directly below, as Bear walked to the edge and looked down, two frightened young kids stared up at him. Teens, maybe, he told himself, not much past that, and they were both carrying machine pistols, yet they had somehow allowed the dead to get as close to them as they had - a girl and a boy. The girl had a gash on one side of her face and looked pretty bad off. He glanced back up at the dead in the road, and then let his eyes fall on the other houses on both sides of the road. Nothing and nothing. He looked to Beth

  “Three?”

  “Dead got her... Dragged her off in back of the houses... She was dead already I think... Bitten...” she lowered her voice. “Same with these two.”

  He looked back down at the two.

  “How did you get injured?” he asked the girl.

  Beth stepped up beside him. “Dead girl had her pinned to the ground. She wasn't hurt before that. Had the boy too.”

  “That's a fuckin' lie! A fuckin' lie!” The boy screamed. “They never touched us... never. We got away,” he added in a near normal voice. He turned and looked back down the road at the dead, and when he did, Bear saw the blood leaking from his hairline. He looked back at the girl and her eyes were locked on his, staring up at him.

  “Girl?” Bear asked.

  She frowned and then nodded. “I don't know. I think I cut it on the road... He did,” she turned and pointed at the boy. “They slammed his head into the road,” She tilted her head as she looked up at Bear and then Beth. “It might have been. It was this close,” she held her index finger and thumb barely apart. “Could have been.” She cleared her throat.

  “We've been here, we didn't just get here. They're dumb... They can't even get out of their own way. But we found some this morning that weren’t dumb... somehow,” she seemed confused. “Set them on fire. Some got away,” she shook her head, staggered, and then her eyes cleared. She continued, “Hell, maybe all of them got away. The thing is, they weren't stupid. Not like the ones we've been dealing with,” she shrugged. Her eyes fluttered as she spoke, and she staggered again.

  “Sick,” Beth whispered.

  The boy looked up. “I'm telling you, they never got her at all. Never did.” His own eyes were glazed, no doubt due to the head injury hiding under the hair that was slowly darkening and becoming plastered to his head. The blood was bright red now, flowing down his neck. He held the girl for a second, but it seemed all he could take, and they both sagged to the ground.

  “Goddammit,” Bear muttered. “I guess that explains the fire though.”

  Down the road, three dead staggered into the street from a house where they had seen several others come from. Before Bear could speak, Mac and Billy dropped all four with just a short burst from their weapons. “Getting a lot better,” Bear said. “A lot.” They said nothing. He looked back down at the girl and boy and then walked away and looked over at Beth.

  “I am not for it. I think she's sick... Maybe not the boy, but what the fuck can we do?” Beth asked.

  Bear nodded. When he spoke, his voice was a deep whisper. “Nothing. He's not going to leave her.” He leaned forward and looked down at her where she lay curled in the boy's arms. He was out. Maybe not coming back. The blood was still pumping from his head and flowing down his neck.

  Bear squatted and peered down at the girl and the boy for a few moments before he spoke again. “What do you think of her hand?”

  Beth squatted beside him and looked down at the girl. She stood and shook her head. “I can't tell. It looks like she's turning. Turns black, you know, but just under the skin... like... like a spiderweb flowing out under their skin. Bad description, I know,” she finished.

  “Not really. Pretty close to what I have seen. Looks like the capillaries just under the skin turn black. Takes no time at all... spreads to the rest of the body. Can take the finger, hand, foot... if you're fast enough. Stop it right there. I've seen it done.”

  Beth met his eyes. Her voice was low. “Can't take her head off. She's got the other cut on her face and that seems to be turning black too... around the edges. Can't tell for sure yet.”

  “No. Looks it to me too.” Bear sighed. He rubbed at his eyes and then turned to Billy. “How long do you guys need to finish your project?”

  “Rest of today. Tomorrow to test it and make sure it's okay.”

  “Yeah? All that work and that's it?” Beth asked.

  “Not as complicated as it looks. It's swapping out the body, really. Everything is in the wiring harness, just run it into the van cab... wire up a switch. The big deal is mounting the body. I have a welder, I have a generator, but I'm not so hot with welding.”

  “Really? Well, like I said, I am. Show me what you got, what you need, and as long as you can juice up that welder, I'll get it done for you,” Bear said.

  Billy laughed. “Man. That's good. I was worried about it, but...” He broke off as Bear turned away and looked back over the edge of the bus. “I'll wait for you... get the generator fired up. I have to cut some plate steel and make what I need you to weld. We'll be waiting.”

  Bear turned back and nodded. “Be there in a bit.”

  Billy's eyes slid up to Mac, and a second later they both turned and made their way down the ladder.

  “Dell... we got this, Dell.” Bear turned and looked at Dell. Dell nodded, relief clearly written on his face, turned and made his way carefully down the ladder.

  Bear reached into his pocket, pulled his pouch out and rolled a cigarette.

  “Roll me one,” Beth said.

  “Yeah? This is rough stuff.”

  “Yeah. Roll me one,” Beth repeated.

  Bear rolled a second cigarette, handed it to Beth and then struck a match. Beth leaned in and pulled a deep breath as Bear held the match to her cigarette. He lit his own, looked over the edge, and then tossed the match after he shook it out. His ey
es looked down the street where the three dead had now become four, bumping around parked cars. One had walked into the side of a house. It kept backing up and then walking straight forward again, slamming into the side of the house over and over again.

  One had found the middle of the street and was drunkenly staggering its way toward them. Bear flicked his machine pistol to single shot, raised it, sighted and squeezed the trigger. Half the zombie's head instantly disappeared from its shoulders. The other half seemed to hold together for a moment and then toppled to the left. The zombie dropped in to the street in a heap. Beth coughed beside him. He turned.

  “Jesus, Bear. Rough is not the word.”

  Bear nodded and then looked down at the two teens. The girls face was beginning to darken, her hand was a mass of small spidery black lines. The boys head wound was slowing, but there was a fine mass of black lines running across one cheek. “Guess that answers that,” Bear said quietly.

  Beth took a deep pull off the cigarette and rubbed at her temples with her free hand. “Is this the way it's going to be, do you think?”

  Bear's cigarette dangled from his lower lip, seeming plastered there. “No...” He raised his eyes. “We're gonna find that place and settle down there. No more of this shit.”

  Beth flicked her cigarette off the edge of the roof. “Bullshit. I don't see it. I don't believe it exists, and if it does, I don't think you can settle down.”

  Bear took a deep pull from his own cigarette and then flicked it off the roof too. He said nothing, but leaned forward and looked off the edge of the roof. He looked back up and held her eyes for a moment. Beth stepped forward too, shrugged her machine pistol from her shoulder and into her hands. She raised her eyes to Bear. He nodded, thumbed his pistol to full auto, and sprayed the two where they lay up against the bus below. Beth's pistol hammered away too. They were brief bursts, but they did the job. They both backed away a moment later.

  “Okay?” Bear asked.

  Beth nodded.

  Bear slipped his pistol back into the sheath on his back, walked to the other side of the bus, snagged the ladder and dragged it upward. A moment later he was lowering it on the other side.

  “Got you,” Beth said tightly.

  Bear climbed down the ladder. A few moments later he was pulling the bodies away from the side of the bus, dragging them over behind the nearest house and rolling them down into the ravine that the rains had cut into the hillside there. In less than a minute, he was climbing back up the ladder and then pulling it up behind him.

  Beth watched the street. There were two more dead that were getting closer. The one was still slamming repeatedly into the side of the house down the street.

  “Okay?” Bear asked quietly.

  She turned to him. “Yeah. It is what it is.” She thought for a second, but didn't know what else she could say.

  Bear nodded. “I'll send Dell back.” He waited for a second.

  “Got a pint... Got a couple actually...” Beth said.

  “You offering to buy me a drink?” Bear asked.

  She held his eyes. “I think I'm offering more than that. I don't want to cause problems...”

  Bear nodded, “I'll send Dell. We'll take a little walk. We can talk this out, I think.”

  “Yeah?” She moved closer to him. Bear started to lean toward her and the ladder rattled. Beth stepped back, smoothed her shirt unconsciously and looked toward the ladder.

  Iris's head rose above the ladder level. “Something's wrong with Winston,” she said.

  Bear looked a question at her.

  “I don't know... sick... Cammy said he has pain in his arm.” Iris looked from Beth to Bear and then back and forth again. “You had to kill them kids?”

  Bear sighed. “Mac told you?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  “Yeah... Had to... Okay, I'm coming,” he turned back to Beth, an apology in his eyes. Her own eyes said she understood. “I'll send Dell.” She nodded. Bear turned and followed Iris down the ladder.

  “I can't believe it,” Iris muttered as they walked toward the garage.

  “What?” Bear said, “Winston?”

  “Please... You two are fucking!” She lowered her voice to a hissed whisper.

  Bear was taken aback. “What the hell are you talking about?” He stopped and closed one hand on her shoulder, turning her back to face him.

  She squinted her eyes. “Are you serious? It's obvious.”

  “It's obvious that you see something that isn't happening,” Bear said.

  "”Right... Right... I won't tell. But it's fucked up. You shouldn't be with Cammy if it's Beth you want.”

  “I'm telling you nothing's going on,” Bear said.

  She glanced down at his hand, shrugged it from her shoulder. “No? You will be. It's not fair to Cammy is what I'm saying.” She turned and walked off to the garage, leaving Bear standing for a second before he got his feet moving and followed her.

  The Nation

  “I don't want you to go,” Patty said.

  “I know... I would rather have you go too, but...”

  “I know... And I don't want to go. I don't think I could take the riding. So, let me be clear... you.” She propped herself up on her elbow next to him, the weight of one breast pressing softly against Ronnie’s arm, and poked her finger into Ronnie's chest. “I don't want you to go.”

  “It's not fair to blind me,” Ronnie said.

  Patty looked down at her breasts. “Assets,” she said.

  “Headlights,” Ronnie said.

  Patty smacked his arm with an open hand.

  “Ow,” Ronnie said in a mock hurt voice. “Blind me then beat me.”

  “I don't want you to go.” She punched his arm with a closed fist.

  “Ouch. Now that hurt.” Patty drew back her hand to do it again. “Okay... Okay, I'll stop screwing around... Honey, I can't do anything about it. You know that.”

  Patty dropped her fist and laid her head back on his chest. Her fingers picking at the tight curls of his chest hair. “I know... I just didn't like the way it went down. It was like you guys went to Bob, Bob went to Sandy, Sandy lowered the boom on Candy and me.” She raised her head from his chest and held his eyes with her own.

  “It didn't go that way, exactly.”

  “So, how exactly did it go?”

  “Pats.”

  “No... No fair... No Pats this or that. What did you two do or say? It's important, because if you feel like you can't talk to me... ask me... share with me... If you have to go behind my back...”

  “Nobody went behind anyone’s back. It went like this. Mike me, Bob and Tom were talking. I guess Mike and I brought it up. Bob said Sandy wouldn't let either of you go. I didn't, Mike didn't, Bob didn't, Tom didn't. Nobody said anything else. Sandy had already planned to tell you. And Mike and I had planned to say no, even if it meant that we couldn't solve it with you, if we had to end up not going. Whatever it took, but nobody ganged up, conspired. Honey, you're six months pregnant. You said yourself that you wouldn't go.”

  “I said I don't want you to go.”

  “I know. But you know I'm going. If it was you and Candace, you would go. I know you would. Mike is my friend. It's that simple, and it's my place as part of all of this... this place. Who else would go? Tom? Bob? David maybe? One of the new guys that Mike doesn't even know?”

  “You're making it like I should feel guilty about this, like I'm being greedy... like I want too much,” Patty said.

  Ronnie reached over and pulled her closer to him. “Stop it. It's not about anybody being right or wrong. Guilt... no guilt. It's not about that.” He stroked her hair. “Pats, it's going out because we have to. That's all.”

  “You could get killed,” Patty said quietly.

  Ronnie sighed. “Okay. I can't say that wouldn't happen. I can't. But I can say that I am not interested in being dead. In fact, I have a very healthy interest in staying alive. I intend to pursue that interest. Honey, I can't see the f
uture.”

  “I am just afraid,” Patty said. Her voice choked, and she buried her head further into Ronnie’s chest. Ronnie held her as she began to cry.

  Hazleton: Bear

  “Hey,” Bear said. He knelt down next to Winston where he lay on a cot. Cammy had found the cot and set up in a small side office. He looked in his eyes. “What's going on?”

  Winston nodded. “I think it's just something else, Bear. I know Cammy is worried, thinks it's my heart, but I don't think so.”

  Bear nodded. “What can I do?”

  “Nothing, really. I think it just has to run its course.” He shrugged.

  “Pain in your chest? ... Arm?” Bear asked.

  “Arm aches. Pressure in my chest. I got a bad ticker... I know it. I get that sometimes. I got Nitro... plenty,” Winston said.

  “But you don't think it will get worse?” Bear asked.

  Winston lowered his voice. “It's a bad ticker, Bear. Been bad before; been worse, better. I really think it's going to be okay. I don't have that feeling of doom. I can't explain it better than that. You get this feeling when it's really bad. I don't have that. I think, truthfully, that it will be fine. Maybe I overdid it a little the last few days. I'll be more careful,” Winston finished.

  “We'll probably be here the rest of today and tomorrow. Then we're thinking of pulling out... if you think you feel up to it. So, rest. Let me know... but be honest about it. Let me know how you feel,” Bear shrugged.

  Winston shrugged too. Bear stood. Cammy stayed where she had been, seated on the end of the cot.

  Beth

  Beth walked along silently. Bear walked beside her. He had come back after all and caught her as she was coming down the ladder. He had waited as she made a quick trip to the garage, and then they had walked slowly into the junk yard, watching the rows of cars as they went. Bear told her what Iris had said to him earlier.

  “Iris can be silly sometimes. She gets an idea in her head and she runs with it,” Beth said at last. “Hopefully it doesn't cause you problems.”

  “It can't cause me problems,” Bear said. “I can't believe, though, that Iris would go to Cammy.”

  Beth shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. Either way it can cause you problems, and I hope it doesn't.”