Notes from the Edge 06-31-24

 Notes from the Edge 06-31-24

AMERICA the DEAD: BOOK ONE

Based on the series by W. G. Sweet

Episode 8

PUBLISHED BY

writerz.net Publishing

AMERICA the DEAD: BOOK ONE

Copyright © 2019 by writerz.net All Rights Reserved

Writers: W.W. Watson, Geo Dell, W.G. Sweet, G.D. Smitty

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AMERICA the DEAD: EPISODE EIGHT

Joel And Haley

Mannsville New York

They were pinned down in the remains of a pole
barn, in a field just a few miles outside of Watertown off route 11 south. The
rains had been so hard, and so frequent, that the fields and roads were
completely flooded. They had been forced to stop after twice driving into water
far too deep for the trucks.

The field they were in was higher ground that
most of the others. They shared one wall and the partial metal roof of the
collapsed pole barn with a few wild cows they eyed them suspiciously.

Their corner was reasonably dry, but several days
of rain and boredom had blighted their spirits and they worked hard to keep off
each others nerves.

“I learned to sew as a girl,” Pearl said now. She
held Haley’s hand and guided the needle as she repaired the hem of her jacket.

She had caught it on the ragged edge of one wall
as she had run over into another part of the pole barn that had no ceiling. In
her haste to get out of the rain she had caught the edge of the jacket and
ripped out the seam. The seam also formed the bottom of the pocket on that
side. Without it she had found herself slipping items into that pocket that
then fell to the ground, or the concrete floor of the pole barn, or down
between the seats in the truck. She focused and tried to keep her line
straight. It wasn’t so hard once you got the needle threaded.

“Just like that, good girl,” Pearl encouraged.

Haley smiled. “So,” she raised her eyes from the
seam, “Where were you back there?.”

The smile that had been on Pearl’s face fled. “I
was held… Held by mad men…” She seemed to consider a moment. “A mad man,
perhaps. The rest were not quite so rabid.” She rubbed at her eyes and then
raised them from the floor where they had sunk of their own volition.

“One of his own men let me go… I suspect, of
course, that he let me go to make a way for himself to escape…” She shook her
head. “He was not a virtuous man. No, he let me go and if I made it he knew
that his chances would be likewise as good or better. Why, he could even say he
was out looking for me if he got caught, could he not? Right.” She looked back
down and then out at the falling rain.

“Sorry,” Haley said. “I didn’t mean to make you
relive it. It doesn’t matter.” She looked back down at the hem, nearly half
done, and took up another stitch.

“It’s all right. It’s not so bad. The bad part is
this,” she raised her hand to indicate the world. “Who knew all of this was…
Gone… Who knew?”

“I suspect your mad man must have,” Haley said
quietly.

Pearl nodded. “I suspect, no, I know he had
something to do with this. Played some part in all of it. His man, Pierce, near
as well told me as much.”

“You mean, something to do with the whole world
being messed up?” Haley asked surprised.

“I believe so… There is a base there, you
know.”

“I knew that. My boyfriend worked there until he
was transferred overseas,” Haley agreed.

“No,” Pearl said quietly. “Another… One far
below the city itself.

Haley raised her eyebrows. “Below the city?”

“Sounds crazy, I know. But believe me it is
there. That is where they held me. My mad man, Weston, Major Weston is all I
know him by, commands it with an iron fist. It is sealed, or it was until I
broke out… Supplies to last a very long time. I suppose he could grow to be
an old man, if he isn’t already, and die there hiding from… Well, whatever it
is that he is hiding from there… Or waiting out.” She met Haley’s eyes and
they were dark, contemplative, sad.

Haley stayed quiet, she had questions she wanted
to ask, but she held them back. She had the feeling if she pried that Pearl
would close up again as she had been the first few days she had traveled with
them. “Are you… Are you okay from it? … I mean did they hurt you? I know it’s
not my business. I know I shouldn’t pry. Forgive me.”

“More than once. I really had no hope of making
it out of there alive. I knew, you see. I knew it was there. Sort of like that
old joke where the man says, ‘Yes, I can tell you, but then I would have to
kill you.’ Only, it was no joke.” She focused on her hands were they clutched
one another and battled in her lap. She raised her eyes and tears threatened at
the corners. “It’s alright. I’m alright, or I will be alright. I just… I just
need some time before I talk about it. Just…”

“Hey,” Scott said. “Is this a private party or
can anyone come?” He and Joel had been across the road checking a small
shopping complex that was mostly collapsed. They both had boxes in their arms.

“Yeah. We’ve been toiling away in the rain, but
we bought you some good stuff.” He smiled, a lopsided grin that lit up his
face. His hair was plastered to his head, and his skin was overly white from
the cool air and the constant rain.

Pearl smiled widely, sat up straight and tried to
peer into Scott’s box. “So what have you brought us then?” She asked. Her eyes
were red, but no more so than Scott’s own eyes from the rain and wet.

“Wow, she turned on that English accent hardcore.
I think she wants what you have in that box, Scott,” Joel laughed.

Haley took a deep breath to clear her own head.
Joel leaned close. “Okay?” He asked. His eyes were still smiling but had a hint
of worry in them. Haley was pretty sure he had realized how he felt about her
and was having a hard time dealing with the emotions that had come with it. She
would have liked nothing more than to lean forward and kiss him hello. See how
that smoothed out the worry lines embedded in his forehead. But, they weren’t
at that place yet. She offered him a huge smile instead. “I’m fine, I really am
okay, just bored.  How’s that leg? Don’t
over do it,” She cautioned.

He smiled widely. “Oh, it’s nothing. It’s good.”

“Good? You nearly got that leg shot off. I’ll
take a look at it later on. Now, what gives? What’s in the boxes?”

“Yes,  what
is in the boxes?” Pearl added.

Scott tipped his box forward and Joel followed
suit. Jugs of sports drinks, candy bars, and several cans of canned meat.

“Get out,” Haley said as she grabbed a candy bar
and a can of the meat. “I love this stuff!”

“The candy?” Pearl asked? She had pulled out a
candy bar for herself.

“The meat,” she laughed. “I know we all say we
hate it, but fry this stuff up and it’s golden.” She looked at the candy bar.
“This too, although it will give me about seven hundred pimples probably.” They
both laughed.

“Why is it so unfair?” Pearl asked. “A few ounces
of sweetness and days of paying for it?”

“Proof that God was a man. A woman would have
taken care of that!” They both laughed again and Haley saw a real smile surface
and settle onto Pearl’s mouth.

“Hey,” Scott said. He held up a box of pancake
mix and a jar of peanut butter.

Beside him Joel lifted another box of pancake mix
and a jar of grape jelly. “We got both,” He said reverently.

“Oh my God,” Haley said. Her eyes rolled
comically. “Okay, Pearl, we best get the frying pan and get dinner going. The
mighty hunters have returned with provisions.” She looked down at the cows that
were watching them. Mistrustful of the sudden outburst and the laughter. “Hmm,
do you think one of you could get us some milk? That one cow is nursing and if
she is nursing that means she can give us a little.”

“I tried to get close the other day and she was
none too interested,” Joel said. He looked over at the cow and she shifted her
weight and stared him down as though she had understood what Haley had asked
him.

“See that?” Scott asked. “She knows. That is no
dumb cow, right there. No dumb cow at all. She’ll kick your ass right back to
Watertown.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Joel agreed.
“Well, you get a rope and I’ll get a pail and let’s see if we can convince
her.”

“Well… Be careful, of course,” Pearl said.

“Yeah… It was a suggestion, but don’t end up
getting hurt,” Haley added as they walked away. She turned to Pearl.

“I am sorry… I hope you can be okay.”

“I will be,” Pearl said. She turned back to Scott
and Joel. “Those two will surely get themselves kicked about.”

“Think so?” Haley asked. “I hope that they would
be smart enough to call it off if it looks dangerous.” She broke off as Joel
and Scott walked over to a sack of grain that had probably been in the barn for
a while, Haley judged, by all the dust that rose when they picked it up. The
two of them carried it over to the cows who still watched them carefully and
stopped about twenty feet away.

“Here cow,” Scott called. He ripped open the top
and spilled some grain onto a reasonably clean space of concrete.

Haley sniggered and Pearl raised one hand to her
mouth to stifle her own giggles. “God,” Haley said.

Scott looked over and made a face.

“Come on cows… Come on girls,” Joel encouraged.
He picked up a handful of the grain and walked slowly to the cows with it. One
cow lifted her head and then wagged it up and down. Joel stopped. “What’s that
mean?” He asked.

“Um, I think it means, hey, bring that shit a
little closer, Man,” Scott said.

The cow tossed her head and then trotted the few
feet to Joel. She looked at him warily, extended her neck far longer than Joel
had thought was possible, and then lipped the grain from his hand. Two other
cows, too curious to stay still, trotted over, and a second later they were
licking Joel’s hands with their rough tongues. A second after that they hurried
past him as though he didn’t exist and began to eat from the pile on the floor.
Joel looked up at Scott amazed. “Get the pail and the rope, Man,” Joel told
him.

Scott came over with the pail and the rope.
“Well, which one you want to do?” Joel asked him.

“Um, I’ll hold the rope… Yeah, I’ll hold the
rope,” Scott decided.

Haley watched as Scott slipped the rope over the
cow’s head and Joel carefully reached under her and grasped her udder. The cow
did nothing: Intent on eating the grain. Joel’s head popped back up a second later.
“Uh, how do you get the milk to come out?”

Pearl laughed, jumped to her feet and dusted off
her jeans. “Let’s go show them,” she told Haley.

Haley laughed. “How about you show them, because
I don’t have a clue… Doesn’t it just come right out?”

Pearl laughed. “Nearly.” She reached Joel, slipped by him and fastened one
hand around a teet and pulled down as she squeezed lightly. “Not hard. Slow and
easy.” The milk made a load noise as it squirted into the plastic bucket. A few
seconds later Haley and Pearl had retreated to start dinner while Joel and
Scott took turns milking the cow.

Joel, Haley, Pearl and Scott

Joel sat across the fire and listened as Dale
Johnson talked. They had met up with his party earlier in the day. Six total,
they had been heavily armed, and the meeting had been tense, a standoff in the
shattered doorway of a grocery store on the outskirts of Syracuse. Pearl had
broken the tension by lowering her rifle and offering her hand. Sink or swim,
she had said later, and they had all managed a laugh about it. She had a way
with words, or at least a humor in her words.

Dale, Bonny, Sammy, Ariel, Liv and max. Max and
Liv looked like characters straight out of 
an end of the world sci-fi novel. Leather pants, ribbed sleeveless
t-shirts, crossed holsters slung low, hair cut short on the sides, spiked on
top, and they had a way of looking through the person they were talking to, as
if they really didn’t matter at all. Max rolled a never ending supply of wooden
toothpicks from one corner of his mouth to the other. They were both restless,
watching the sky, the roads in and out of the parking lot they had camped out
in.

The others were more laid back. Followers, but
they followed Dale rather than the other two, and that made Joel wonder at the
strangeness of that. Two type A personalities that no one was following, and
Dale, a take it as it comes sort of guy, that everyone including the type A’s
were following.

“This place is over in Kentucky, maybe Tennessee.
We overheard others talking about the place a few times now, guiding others in.
It’s small now, but it’ll grow. It will have to grow, I mean, they have got a
set up there they say… Plans, you know.”

Scott cleared his throat. “But you haven’t talked
to them at all, right?”

“Well, no. But we have talked to people that have
talked to them,” Bonny said. Dale nodded.

“They have a place that has existed for as long
as this country has existed. They just had someone who knew how to get to it.”
Max this time.

Joel nodded. “But it’s still a maybe… I can’t
go on a maybe… We’re headed to the city… A large group there we’ve talked
to. Probably south from there.”

“How do you know that is real? I mean, couldn’t
that be as much of a pipe dream as what we’re following?” Dale asked.

Haley nodded. “Well, you’re welcome to stay here
tonight, but in the morning we’re heading down along the thruway and following
that into Manhattan… You’re welcome to come with us… Strength in numbers, “
she smiled.

“Can’t do it,” Dale said. He turned to Pearl.
“You’re welcome… Plenty of room.”

Pearl had been quiet, listening to the
conversation go back and forth. She was not interested in New York. Her
personal belief was that Manhattan would be nothing but death and destruction
on a larger scale. The people that Joel and Scott had talked to had pretty much
confirmed that. And there was sickness there, something strange, something new.
She got the idea they were heading there because there was a group of survivors
there, nothing more. And she didn’t feel they would stay there long, Joel had
talked about heading south as soon as they got they chance, Manhattan was not
going to be his final destination. She sighed.” I don’t know.” She looked at
Haley. They had become close over the last few days, but she would go wherever
Joel went. Joel might not realize that yet, but he would. As far as herself,
she just wanted to be out of the fight. She wanted somewhere to start over.
Someplace safe.

“You have to do what you have to do for you,”
Haley said. “Who knows, maybe we’ll all end up in the same place. I mean, if it
turns out to really be a large gathering place, we probably will all be there
eventually.”

Dale rose from the fire. “Actually we can make a
few miles before full dark,” He frowned. “I don’t want you to think we’re
refusing your hospitality, but I want to get there. It sounds good, not too
good to be true, but really good. They’ll need people to run it… Set things
up. I guess I’d want to see that, have a hand in it,” he sighed. “It would be
so nice to put this behind us. Turn a corner, start over,” he shrugged.

“I get you,” Joel said. He rose from the fire and
took the hand Dale offered. Scott and Haley both offered hands. Pearl said
nothing at first, but then turned to Haley and hugged her fiercely. She offered
her hand to Joel and Scott, both of whom hugged her instead.

A few minutes later Dale and his small group,
plus one, pulled out of the parking lot back onto the feeder road. Joel and the
others sat quietly by the fire for a few moments until the sound of the motors
died away.

“I wouldn’t have thought that,” Scott said at
last.

“Surprised me,” Haley agreed. “But, she went
through something back there in Watertown. She didn’t talk about it, but
whatever it was haunted her.”

“We’re going to stop hooking up with people. We
can’t afford it. We’ll be down to nothing at all soon,” Joel joked.

Haley and Scott both laughed, but it was a short-lived laugh, silence settled back in.

“Hope it is real,” Haley said at last.”

Scott nodded.

“Who knows,” Joel said after a brief pause.
“Maybe we will all end up there: If it’s there: If it’s all they say it is…
Maybe.”

The silence held for a short while. Haley cleared
her throat.

“Talked to Billy today. About forty people there
now,” she said.

“Yeah?” Scott asked.

“Yeah. They have a nice little place there, but
they’re thinking about heading south soon.”

“South is the place, I think,” Joel agreed.

The conversation went back and forth as they talked about the camp outside
of Manhattan and leaving the outskirts of Syracuse in the morning to start for
the east coast.

The Camp: Billy and
Beth

Mid June

Billy sat sipping coffee by the fire talking with
Joel Morrison, when a truck dropped down off the road and into the far end of
the field. Conversation died away as the two of them watched the truck coast to
a stop. A few more trucks left the field, passing the truck where it sat. Billy
rose to his feet with Joel, poured the dregs of his coffee into the fire and
looked down toward the truck.

“I’m on my way,” Joel told him. Behind him Beth
and Haley were talking in low tones. A few feet away Scott was talking to Mac
and Iris. Joel offered his hand and Billy took it.

“Wish you were staying,” Billy told him. Joel,
Haley and Scott had made up their minds to head south to whatever might be left
of Alabama. There were three others going with them.

“Wish us luck instead,” Haley said with a laugh
as she walked up.

“I think there is land out there,” Beth said.
“Who knows how far though.”

“We will,” Scott said. He laughed and Billy
walked with them to their truck. The truck behind them held more gear and the
other three that had decided to go with them, some newcomers from the city that
Billy had not gotten to know well. He waved once at the truck in back and then
leaned in the window as Joel closed the door.

“Just stay in touch,” Billy said. “As long as you
can.”

“Will do,” Joel said.

Billy and Beth watched them drive away before Billy turned his attention
back to the truck  at the end of the
field.

Joel and Haley

West of Manhattan

September 3rd

“Nobody,” Scott remarked as he clicked off the CB
and stepped down from the truck.

“It may be the weather,” Alice said as she took
his hand.

“May be,” Scott agreed with a smile. He bent
forward and kissed her softly.

“You do that so well,” Alice told him. She had that
secret little smile on her face, the one that turned up the corner of her lips.
The one that had made him say yes when she had asked to join them.

They had met her and the small party she had been
traveling with the day after they had left Billy’s camp and started on their
way. Scott thought back on it now. That had been more than two months before.
They had spent those two months just trying to get out of the city, past all
the stalled traffic that went on forever, and into a place where they could actually
have trucks, drive, make time. That day they had still been driving or trying
to. They had come around a curve on a barely held together state route that
paralleled the thruway and there they had been: A truck parked in the middle of
the road. Joel had locked the brakes up; the curve had not given much warning.
Alice had been standing at the front of the truck and she had never even
flinched.

Joel had stopped a good fifteen feet away. When
he and Scott had stepped from the truck she had hit Scott with the smile. He
had fallen right then. No arguments.

“Could’a killed us,” Toby Black had said. He was
the leader of the six party group. “Shouldn’t ought to drive so goddamn fast.”

Joel was speechless, it was Scott that had fired
back.

“That may be,” Scott had allowed,” But maybe you
should give a little thought to parking in the middle of the road too.”

“On a goddamn curve,” Haley added, barely
cracking a smile.

“Yeah, well,” Toby said. He seemed to consider a
few moments, tugged at his graying beard, and must have decided to say nothing.
He had just nodded, dusted one hand against his jeans and extended it to Scott.
“Toby,” He had glanced from Scott to Joel to Haley, nodding as he did. “This is
Andy,” he had nodded at a skinny man who stood a few feet away. “Galloway over
there, Flint at the back of the truck, Lucy siting inside there, and Alice
right here.” He had tried to slip one arm over Alice’s shoulders, but she had
smiled and shrugged it off.

“And who are you,” she had asked Scott. Behind
him Haley had chuckled.

“Scott,” he had said.

She had taken his hand and held on, her eyes on
his own.

“Listen, you can stay to dinner with us if you
like. Fresh venison, killed a deer a few hours back.” Toby had pointed at a
fire where what looked like both haunches of a small deer had been spitted: Fat
dripping and sizzling.

“Yeah,” Haley had agreed. “We’d be glad to.”

“Yeah,” Joel had added. His stomach had been
growling so loudly he had been sure that everyone could hear it. He had reached
in, shut down the truck, and then shifted his rifle to his opposite shoulder as
he shook hands with the others including Alice who had finally let go of
Scott’s hand.

A little work had secured some late corn from an
overgrown nearby field, that and the venison had made an excellent dinner.

“So where you folks going to,” Toby had asked.

“Alabama,” Joel had answered around a mouthful of
corn. “Dammit this is good.”

Toby had laughed.

“There are, I think, more deer than there are
people. Could have had a cow, in fact, but it would have been a waste of meat,”
Alice had said.

They had traded small talk as they ate, sharing
road information. Toby was bound for Manhattan, even after he had talked to
them. Joel had shaken his head. The man was stubborn, there was no changing his
mind. Joel had offered them to join with them and continue on to Alabama.

“Maybe,” Toby had agreed. “I might come back and
look you up, but I got to know for myself.” They had been getting ready to
leave a few minutes later, having refused politely the offer of spending the
night, when Alice had asked if they would accept only her since the others
didn’t want to go.

“Yeah,” Scott had said, nearly immediately. Toby
had not seemed surprised although more than a little let down. He had, had a
hard time hiding his frown. Scott smiled now thinking about it.

“What,” Alice asked.

“Thinking about how I like the way your mouth
turns up at the corner the way it does,” Scott said. He reached forward and
pulled her to him, at the same time walking back to the fire and Haley and Joel.
Alice laughed.

“Dead,” Scott repeated to Joel and Haley.

“Kind of weird,” Haley said. “I mean, it’s been
chatter, chatter, chatter the last few days and now it’s dead. Doesn’t make
sense.”

“Is strange,” Alice agreed. “But we’re also
further away from the city. Maybe all that chatter was the city… Or most of
it.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Joel agreed. “We need to
find a map and see what is near. Maybe the largest cities close by were
destroyed.”

“I imagine they were: When we came this way it
was the same. The few times we got close to a city it was bad. Destruction, the
smell was horrible, and the sick ones too,” Alice said.

“Sick?” Joel asked.

“You haven’t seen them yet?” Alice asked.

“I don’t think we saw as much of the really bad
stuff I have heard on the radio…” Haley paused for a second. “Back there,
Manhattan, when we were with Billy, we heard some bad stuff out of the city. I
mean like horror movie stuff. People looking dead but still walking around…
Going without food for days, but not dying; attacking other people,” She
shrugged. “Had to kill them, the ones that told us said so: Had to kill them
because they were just gone. Come right at you and try to kill you if you
didn’t… Some kind of bad sickness,” Haley finished.

“Zombies,” Alice said with a small nervous
laugh.” She held her hands up when Joel and Scott shook their heads almost in
unison. “I know, I know. They are not zombies, living dead, whatever, but I’m
telling you I’ve seen them, and they are bad shit. Bad shit. They may as well be
zombies. No real thoughts seem to be going on in there.” She tapped her head
with one finger. “They will attack you. They will try to kill you, eat you” She
shrugged. “Not zombies, some sort of disease, but it is some very bad shit.”

“Like… Like plague of some sort,” Haley said.

“Yeah… Yeah, but they keep moving. I mean they
should be dead, right? Their necks are swollen, faces black and blue, skin all
messed up, running sores, this mass of black lines, like infection, running all
through them, under their skin; but they don’t die. It’s like they are rotting
on the bone, but they keep moving somehow. I don’t get it, but I have seen it a
dozen times. Crazy too, not rational, I mean they are attacking and trying to
eat other living people, how is that rational? Head shot, yeah, maybe you could
kill them some other way too, but you don’t want to be screwing around, because
maybe they’ll bite you. I have seen what happens to those who get bitten, they
get sick pretty fast… A day or two tops. And in just a few hours they got
those little black lines running off under their skin. Like I said, bad shit.”

“Jesus,” Joel said. “Billy told us about some
that were camped near them. They didn’t even know it. They live like animals,
nests in the woods, darkness, got one of their women, never found her, never
found them, but the smell in the clearing was bad… Like death. And a few from
the city told other stories. Central Park is overrun with them. Thousands of
sick and dying, only they aren’t dying for some reason, like… I don’t know,
like they can somehow stay alive when they shouldn’t be able to stay alive.” He
shivered involuntarily. “Little spooky… I can see why some are calling them
zombies.”

Alice nodded. “Difference is these are real. I
think zombies are a made-up thing, these are something goddamn close to that,
but they’re real. And there are some who seem sane, or… Calculating. I know
that sounds even crazier, it’s like they evolve into something else… Some
higher form of insanity that is so far gone they’re almost, well, sane again.”

Silence held for a few moments; Scott broke it.

“But a shot to the head does it, huh?”

“Yeah. Works every time. I mean, it sort of makes
sense. Whatever the hell it is keeping them alive it requires them to have a
brain so they can at least function on that… Well, on that animal level, I
guess. No brain, no functioning at all.” Alice nodded once she finished, and the
silence held again for quite some time. This time Haley broke it.

“Well,” She squared her shoulders, “I guess if
they look suspicious it has got to be a shoot first ask questions later sort of
deal then, right?”

“Yeah,” Joel agreed.

“Yeah,” both Scott and Alice chimed in.

Haley leaned forward and threw a few heavy chunks
of wood onto the fire. Night was not far away, and the shadows were closing in
fast.

“There were stories about that shit the planes
sprayed on us,” Scott said after a long pause.

“Like?” Haley asked.

“Billy said he heard about it more than once.
Almost all of us have stories about planes spraying stuff on us. I saw it back
in Watertown, I… I think it was the next day… March 2nd, maybe March 3rd.
We were up there in the Southern Tier… Raining all goddamn day, remember?
Planes flying overhead. I remember seeing them. Blue shit… You guys?”

“I don’t remember the blue shit… Seems I
remember the planes, but I thought, I don’t know, military transport planes. I
really didn’t think about it until we got back to Watertown and there were no
troops there at all. I expected them to be,” Joel said.

“I remember planes,” Alice said. I was in
Schenectady… Planes, I remember thinking the Army had arrived, but they just
flew over real slow, cargo doors open, that was weird, I half expected
paratroopers to jump out… No blue stuff though, not that I remember… Why?
What was it about?”

“I remember the blue shit,” Haley added, as Alice
finished. “What was it about. What did Billy say?”

“Some government shit designed to strengthen us,”
He held his hands up as everyone spoke at once. “I didn’t say I believed it.
Hell, Billy said every time he tried to nail someone down about what they heard
and who they heard it from, they would get all sketchy. Oh, it was a soldier I
met on the road, told me he knew because the planes flew out of the base he was
assigned to. But no name of the base. No facts about it, just like a… You
know what it reminded me of? Like an urban legend. They get going the same way.
Always sketchy details, low on facts.”

“Yeah, well, that’s one hell of an urban legend,”
Haley said.

“Yeah, but the thing is there is always, they
say, some seed of truth there,” Scott said thoughtfully.

“Maybe is,” Joel agreed.

“All I know is those things are real. We’ll have
to be careful,” Alice said. The silence fell and held this time.

“Well,” Joel said at last. “Sleep beckons.” He
looked over at the tents they had been using. “Maybe tomorrow, take some time,
pick up bigger trucks… Maybe taking a chance sleeping outside isn’t smart.”

“I was going to mention that,” Alice said. “They
might not bother us… Seem to hate fire, bright light. But if they did,” she
shook her head. “I don’t want to go that way.”

“Me either,” Haley agreed.

Joel sighed. “Why don’t you two girl’s sleep…
Scott, you too. I’ll take four hours and then wake you for the next four.”

“Done deal,” Scott agreed. They all rose from the
fire, Haley stretched up and kissed Joel.

“Be, okay?” She asked.

“Perfect.” he kissed her again. “Listen… Why
don’t you and Alice sleep in the truck, you know, just to be safe.”

“I second that,” Scott agreed. “I’ll take the
tent. You guys can do most of the driving tomorrow, let us nap a little to
catch up.”

“After we get better trucks, we can sleep in,”
Alice added.

“After,” Joel agreed. Haley stretched up on her
tip toes and kissed him once more. She left without another word.

“Sure, you want first?” Scott asked.

“I’m good,” Joel agreed. He watched Scott walk away and then turned toward
the black landscape and the trees that surrounded them, wishing he had not
parked so close to the woods.

Joel and Haley

Pennsylvania: I 81

September 18th

The sign read, Tremont 3, Pottersville 15.

“Hard to tell which way it used to point,” Haley
said.

They had found the sign protruding from the
vegetation at the side of the road. The metal rails that once held it had been
snapped off, pulled apart, the sign was twisted, the lettering barely legible.

“I think we can take for granted we are near
those places though,” Scott said. He glanced at Alice who was bent over the
hood of their truck examining a map of Pennsylvania. She raised her head and
looked around.

“That overpass up there is route 209… Goes into
Tremont, Pottersville further on. Small places. Guys, we’ve been following
route 81 for miles now. We don’t have to find it we’re on it.”

They had been looking for route 81 to follow it
across Pennsylvania, through Washington and then into Virginia. From there they
intended to pick up whatever routes they could find that would take them toward
the coast. They had been following I 81 for the last several hours without
knowing it was I 81. There were no signs. The traffic was bumper to bumper in
places, nonexistent in others. Most of the congestion was around the
interchanges, and they had only come onto I 81 from an interchange. They had
found no more since then until they had come up on this one.

“A compass that was worth a damn would be nice,”
Scott said. He shoved the small compass he held back into his pocket.

Joel nodded. “Sun rises in the southwest: If we
keep that in sight that should keep us generally on the right track.”

Haley nodded this time. “So, stay on it?”

“I think so,” Joel agreed. “But maybe a quick
look around… Stock up, wouldn’t hurt us before we start really laying down
the miles.”

“Go up to 209,” Alice said, motioning up at the
overpass, and go left… That will take us to Tremont… Small town or city, I
can’t tell, it looks small.”

“Left, that would be,” Scott pulled the compass
from his pocket once more and watched the dial dip and quiver. He sighed and
then threw the small compass up into the sun. “Should have done that long ago,”
He said. “East, I guess. That would be east. What used to be east.”

“Still is east,” Haley said. “Compass doesn’t
know where true north is anymore, so it hardly matters. For now, it’s east.”

Scott nodded. “Don’t know why it matters to me anyway,”
he admitted.

“Because it keeps things normal,” Alice said
quietly.

“Maybe,” Scott admitted.

“The doctor’s office is closed,” Haley said and
laughed. “We’re all fucked up. No doubt about it. Let’s get some supplies and
get on the road.” Silence held for a split second and then Scott laughed. Alice
joined in and Joel chuckled right along with them.

“Let’s go,” Scott agreed. A few seconds later he
was gunning the motor slipping through the high grass, fighting his way up to
the overpass.

Tremont PA.

The streets seemed deserted, the buildings dusty
and empty. Most of the main street was gone, what buildings remained perched on
the edge of a yawning chasm. They approached carefully and looked down to see a
small stream flowing across the floor of the cut some forty feet below:
Emerging from a dark smudge on one side and flowing under a huge rock overhang
on the other. Moss grew on some rocks near the stream. It had an air of
permanence. The imagery below looked like something out of a wilderness camping
guide.

“Looks like one of those forever wild things…
Hike the Appalachian trail or something,” Alice said. She let her eyes wander
upward where the buildings perched on the edge of the abyss, as though waiting
to plunge down into the small, peaceful stream far below. “And then you have
this,” she raised her arms to encompass the buildings where they sat.
“Surreal.”

Scott nodded his head. He stood from his crouch
and looked around at the buildings. “Deserted, I guess.” He had no sooner
spoken the words than gunfire erupted and shattered the quiet afternoon air. He
dove for the ground, remembered where he was, but too late. He hit the slope to
the bottom of the gully and rolled toward the bottom. Halfway down his head
struck a small rock outcropping and he stopped wondering about the gunfire and
where it had come from.

Alice lunged for the gully, but Joel grabbed her
just as quickly and pulled her toward one of the buildings Haley had run for.
Already she had made the doorway and stood beckoning to them. Joel pushed Alice
forward toward the building and then leapt the short distance to the cover of
the corner of the building. The leap was too much for his still healing leg and
he collapsed in agony just within the shadow of the building.

“Joel!” Haley from the shadowy interior of the
building, Alice crouched next to her.

Behind him he heard running footsteps
approaching, he motioned for Haley to go before he pushed himself over onto his
back to face who ever this was. The pain flared bright in his leg as he used it
to turn himself over, and he almost passed out. He got his gun up and pushed
himself up on one elbow ready to fire. A second later a figure ran around the
edge of the building and into his line of fire. He hesitated only the briefest
of seconds, but it was long enough for the young girl to bring up her own
weapon and fire. Joel’s pistol roared as he felt a stinging sensation on his
neck, and he watched the young girl twist backwards and slam off the brick
buildings inside corner as his bullet found her. As quickly as the noise had
begun the afternoon turned deadly quiet. No bird calls, the vague gurgle of the
stream as it flowed far below in the gully, nothing else. Joel put one hand to
the side of his neck and bought it away bloodied. “Great,” he muttered to
himself. He turned slowly, used one hand to get his good leg under him and
stood from the sidewalk he had fallen on. Haley spoke from behind him and he
nearly jumped before he could calm his staggering heartbeat down and respond.

“Baby… Baby, come on,” Haley whispered again.

“I told you to go,” Joel said tightly as he
limped toward the darkened doorway of the building.

“And I didn’t,” Haley said every bit as tightly.

Joel made the doorway and looked around at the
darkened interior. “Where did Alice go?”

“Ran back toward the pit when you went down. I…
I couldn’t stop her, Joel,” Haley told him.

“Of course, not… Wouldn’t have stopped me if it
was you down there either.” He sighed.

“Jesus, you’re bleeding bad, Joel, really bad,”
Haley told him. She pulled her t-shirt over her head, wadded it up and pressed
it against the side of her neck.

“Feel funny,” he said, “Sleepy… Hey, no bra,
that’s…” The lights dimmed down suddenly; winked out completely, and he
spiraled down into darkness.

Tremont PA

Full dark

“I wanted… I wanted you to know it… I wanted
you to know… Know it,” Joel said. His words were garbled and barely
intelligible. His eyes snapped open in the darkness, his breath caught in his
throat, and he began to sit up. Haley placed a hand against his chest, leaned
close and whispered into his ear.

“Lay still, Babe. Lay still… Be quiet…
Something is out there… Someone… Quiet.” Her hand kept firm and steady
pressure against his chest and he sank back down to the floor. It seemed he was
barley holding onto consciousness, his eyes kept rolling up into his head.

“Goddammit,” Haley exploded. A second later her
machine pistol began to chatter. Joel sank back down into unconsciousness.

The Gully

Scott’s eyes flew open in the darkness. Something…
Something had awakened him… He had been asleep and something… Close by a
woman screamed and the sound of a semi-automatic weapon firing fast came to
him. The scream tore off abruptly, reduced to a series of gagging, pleading
sounds, and then nothing. He tried to move and nearly grayed out from the pain
that flared in his left arm. Something, he thought, was broken or badly
injured. He tried again and this time it responded better. Dislocated, he told
himself, as he grimaced to bite back the cry that wanted to slip past his
clenched jaw. He whimpered slightly from reaction and the expenditure of energy and grasped his left wrist firmly with his right hand. A second later
he was pulling and twisting slightly. A sharp pull, a sharper twist. Once, twice
and he was on the edge of passing out. He drew several deep breaths and tried a
third time and the shoulder slipped back into place. He fell back against the
moist earth and closed his eyes, intending only to gather his strength for a
moment, but his eyes betrayed him, and he spiraled away down into the dark.

The Vacant building

Haley made her feet and duck walked forward to
where the two figures had crumpled to the ground. The one, a woman, half her
lower jaw missing, one leg hanging by a thread and blood pumping out of her at
an alarming rate, was snarling softly and crawling toward the road where a
second woman lay breathing hard. She reached her and rose on one elbow before
lowering her face and beginning to bite with what was left of her shattered jaw.
The woman lying in the street began to scream, Haley switched to single shot,
stood and walked up behind them and shot them both. The one on top still
whimpered and snarled, almost sounding as though she were pleading, before
Haley shot her one more time and she collapsed: Silent at last. Haley faded
back into the shadows, listening, but the night was silent.

She returned to Joel who had slipped back down
into a deep sleep once more. She had given him morphine, a small shot. They
carried it. She had debated doing it, but he needed it. He had opened up a
large section of his neck and the bleeding was heavy. She had to stitch it and
she couldn’t have him waking up halfway through that. She had looked with
dismay at the dirt grimed into her hands and under her fingernails. Infection
was a real possibility in this world. She had drenched the whole area with a
full bottle of peroxide, something else they carried, stitched the wound with
dental floss, and then sprayed it down with a once popular spray antibiotic.
She had managed to force three penicillin pills into him and got him to swallow
them down, out of it as he was. There was nothing else to do but wait it out.
He had lost a great deal of blood, but she had not been able to get him to
swallow again, the water just poured out the sides of his mouth when she gave
it to him.

She took his head into her lap now and held him. Watching the black and
silent night, her machine pistol across her lower legs. Safety off and ready.

Tremont

September 20th

Her eyes blinked rapidly, she drew a deep gasping
breath and then came fully awake. Alice stared around the ravine at the gray
light that was beginning to paint color back into the world. Rock, sand and
water. Moss on some rocks. She puzzled the information over and over again in
her head. Rocks and water… Rocks, water, moss, sand, rocks… Moss, water…
The realization of where she was had come to her as she remembered the events of
the day before. She rose to her scraped and blood crusted elbows and then to a
sitting position. Her back felt sprung, maybe it would hurt more later, but for
now she could deal with it. Her heartbeat seemed a little odd. Too slow,
something, but it wasn’t skipping beats or anything, so she dismissed that too.
She sat, shaky, and let her mind come more fully back to herself before she
raised her head and took in her surroundings more fully.

Hypothermia, her mind said, and she was cold,
very cold, there was no heat in the ground down here. That could explain the
heartbeat seeming to be too slow, hypothermia did that. Her mind seemed
determined to keep up a dialogue with her as she studied first one side and
then the other side of the ravine.

Her eyes slipped over a dirty bundle of rags
where they lay half in half out of the water and continued on before she
realized they were no bundle of rags, got to her feet and stumbled the thirty
feet or so to where Scott lay, half in, half out of the water.

Her fingers, stiff though they were, felt at his
neck for a pulse. He moved as she jabbed her stiff fingers into his neck.

“Jesus… Jesus, Alice… That hurts. That
hurts,” Scott said. His words started out mumbled but grew a little stronger as
he spoke. “So damn cold,” Scott finished. His lips were blue tinged, and he was
cold to the touch.

“I know, baby, I know. I have to get you out of
this water. Going to move you,” she told him as she made her own feet, fought
the dizziness that threatened to down her, and bent once more, wrapping her
arms around his upper chest and dragged him backwards. Scott called out a
second later and then lapsed back into unconsciousness once more. Alice
struggled to pull him back farther away from the water and then let him go,
sinking to the ground herself and breathing hard. A few minutes later she had
caught her own breath and was checking herself over for injuries. Obviously,
she told herself, they had both tumbled down the ravine. Him first, her as she
tried to follow.

One side of her face was a ruin of scrapes and
crusted blood. Her mouth was numb on that side, but that had been the side
against the ground so that was no real surprise. She flexed her jaw
experimentally and it seemed to work fine. One knee ached but did not seem to
be swollen. Her tailbone hurt, no way to check it now, but she assumed it was
most likely black and blue. Right ankle hurt a little: Could have been the way
she slept on it too. No way to know, but it was also not swollen: She was
bruised, a little battered, but no big deal. She needed warmth and she would be
fine. She turned her attention to Scott.

Bruising on his jawline and temple on the right
side of his face and scraped up skin in the same place. What wasn’t scraped up
was deeply bruised. Probably where his head collided with something on the way
down to the bottom. His shoulder felt larger on one side, but she was able to
move his arm with no problem.

“Hey,” softly from above, but she nearly jumped
out of her skin.

“Oh my God you scared the shit out of me,” Alice
whispered.

Haley only nodded. “He okay too?”

“No,” Alice said softly. “Too cold… Have to get
him out of here… Warmed up.”

Haley nodded and then disappeared for a few
seconds. “Okay… Listen, I’m going to get the truck. The one you and Scott
were driving had a winch. We should be able to get you up with that.”

Alice felt at her pocket for the keys, but as she
looked down at her pants the pocket was gone, ripped from the fabric of the
cargo pants. “Keys are gone,” she called up. Haley swore lightly under her
breath.

“Plan B,” Haley called down after a few minutes.
“Our truck is gone, don’t know if that was why they attacked us, but they took
the truck. I don’t know how to hot-wire a truck or a car… Joel is out, so I’m
going to go look for something that will run, get a rope and come back here and
get you out that way. Hang on.” Her face disappeared from the top of the
embankment and then was back a few moments later. “Water,” she called down.
“Don’t try to catch it.” She took her time, aimed, and then tossed first one
and then two more bottles down. They landed with a hard thud not far from where
Alice sat with Scott’s head pulled into her lap. “Drink… You don’t want to
get dehydrated too,” Haley told her with a tight smile. “I’ll be back as soon
as I can.” She disappeared before Alice could speak.

“Come on, baby, come on,” Alice said as she
slapped at the side of Scott’s face. She finally got him to open one eye,
pulled his head slightly higher and got him to drink half of one bottle before
his head sank once more into her lap.

Afternoon

They were all huddled around the fire Haley had
built inside the small sidewalk area under the overhang of the doorway. There
was very little room, but there was a building at their backs and a wide view
of the downtown area and the edge of the ravine a few hundred feet away.

“We have got to get out of here,” Haley said. The
day was slipping away. She had no doubt that whatever it was that had attacked
them last night, plague victims, would be back tonight once the sun went down.
She had only a dozen bullets for her machine pistol. Joel’s pistol had a loaded
magazine, nine, and Scott and Alice had both lost their weapons on their fall
into the ravine. Haley had smashed the window on their truck, but all the
ammunition had been in their own truck, and that was long gone.

“Bad straights,” Alice said.

“Very,” Haley agreed. She eased her lap out from
under Joel’s head and rose to her feet. She had found an old minivan that she
had used to get Alice and Scott out of the ravine. It ran well enough and had
nearly a half tank of gas. It would have to do. She had already transferred
what foodstuffs there had been and supplies they could use from the second
truck into the minivan and packed it carefully along the sides of the rear
windows. The rear seat had folded down, and there was space to lay both Joel and
Scott out in the back. The problem was that neither of them were conscious and
they were both big men. Not an easy task. Alice had been banged up too. One
side of her face was going to be covered with spectacular scars. Haley had dug
the small pebbles out of it, washed the dirt away and disinfected it. There was
nothing more she could do. She didn’t know if Alice was up to the work or not.

“Think you’re up to it,” she asked now. She
looked up at the sky. “The longer we wait the worse it will be. The day’s
getting away from us.”

Alice nodded. “No, but I will have to be. Let’s
do it.” She rose to her own feet, steady now, where just a short time earlier
she had been shaky. She had warmed up nicely, and she saw that Scott had as
well. His breathing had become something closer to normal, even, no rattle in
his chest or gasping that she was afraid she would hear. He slept deeply.

Haley had pulled the small van close to the
building earlier. She went to it now, opened the rear hatch and returned to
where Alice waited. They decided on Joel first. Joel was the heaviest and it
might be better to get the heaviest out-of-the-way first.

It took more than twenty minutes before they
managed to get Joel securely into the back of the van. They had both collapsed
to the pavement breathing hard, not wanting to do anything else, but after only
a short break they had forced themselves to their feet once more. The longer
they sat, the deeper the weariness had moved into them: Settling into their
bodies.

Scott had been no trouble at all. Maybe it had
been the first tugging and fighting to get Joel into the van, or maybe he was
just that much lighter, but he was easily positioned into the back of the van.
They both collapsed to the pavement once more. Breath ragged, lungs aching and
burning, sharpness resting just below their rib cages, a feeling Haley had
always acquainted with running too fast, too hard. She took her time, slowed
her breathing, dragged Alice to her feet and walked back and forth in front of
the building until her heartbeat resumed its former slower beat, and the sweat
began to dry on her skin. Only then did she slow and rest against the hood with
Alice.

“This is so hard,” Haley said. She burst into tears but fought them back just as quickly.

Alice lowered her head into her own hands and a
few sobs slipped past her hands before she got herself under control. “Better
go,” she said aloud as she raised her tear-streaked face.

Haley nodded, moved around the truck and opened the driver’s door with a
rusty screech. A few moments later the broken pavement of downtown
Tremont was shrinking in their mirror as they made their way west once more,
heading back to I 81 to continue their trip south…

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