In the Lone and Level Sands (22 page)

“So, what’s the plan?” Dex asked.

“You’re asking me?” Layne said. “I just got
up.”

“We’re heading for that church, right?”
Warren said.

“How do we know it’s even safe there?” Kyle
asked.

“It can’t be much worse than here,” Jessi
said.

Layne walked over to a window and looked
out. The sun was barely up. There were fewer zombies than there had
been when they arrived. Layne could see partially down
12
^th
street, but not far enough to feel secure.

“Maybe we can find a car,” Layne said. The
others looked at him.

“Just hijack some empty car, drive it down
to the church, then get them to let us in before we’re eaten on the
spot?” Katie said.

“Sounds like the best plan we’ve heard yet,”
Warren said.

“Assuming we can find a car that happens to
have the keys inside of it,” Kyle said.

“I’ll check out back,” Layne said. “Maybe
whoever lived here left theirs.”

“We’ll start looking for keys in here,
then,” Katie said.

Layne headed to the back of the house and
looked through the window. The driveway curved around to the back
of the house, and there was a jeep sitting in it. Layne returned to
the others.

“We have a car, but it only seats five.”

“Feel like making trips?” Dex asked.

“Actually, I do. I’ll pull the jeep right up
to the front door, so you guys can get in through the back without
anything getting in. I’ll take a few of us down the street to check
out the church. If it’s safe, I’ll let you guys out, then I’ll come
back for whoever stayed.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Jessi said. “Who’s
going?”

“Well, I’m driving, and I guess I’ll take
you and Kara, to get her to safety first.”

“Take Warren and Lacie too,” Dex said.
Warren looked at him. “Look, I don’t mean to offend, but I’m a lot
younger than you, dude.”

Warren shrugged. “No offense taken.”

“What I mean is, we’ll take those less
likely to be able to defend themselves first,” Dex said. “You know,
just in case.”

“Okay. So it’s me, Jessi, Kara, Warren, and
Lacie, then? And you and Kyle and Katie are staying?”

“Sure,” Kyle said.

“No arguments here,” Katie said.

“Okay. It looks pretty clear right now, so
let’s get moving. Did anyone find the keys?”

“Not yet,” Kyle said.

“I’m going to sneak out back and see if
they’re in the car. If you guys hear the engine, just move and be
ready for me.”

“I’ll go get Kara and Lacie,” Jessi said.
The others continued searching for the keys. Layne headed for the
back.

“Layne, be careful,” Katie said. Layne
nodded, then looked out through the back window. Still just a jeep
out there. Layne slipped outside.

It couldn’t have been later than seven
o’clock. Layne looked all around, but he didn’t see anything. He
got to the jeep and tried the door. It was unlocked. He found the
key in the ignition. He also found blood on the dashboard. He
wondered if whoever had written that message in the bedroom had
gotten as far as getting in and inserting the key before something
ripped them from their salvation. Or maybe they had taken a
different route at the last minute. Layne hoped for the latter.

He stepped into the car, but before he could
lift his other leg into it, something reached out from under the
jeep and grabbed his ankle. Layne tried to break free, but he
couldn’t get any leverage. He could hear the thing shuffling
beneath the car. Layne lifted his leg as much as he could, saw the
hand around his leg and the arm bending up from underneath the
jeep, and slammed the car door on it. It hurt his leg, but it
mashed up the zombie’s fingers even more. The zombie let him free.
Layne shut the door and started the car. He backed up, and the jeep
lifted slightly as he ran over the zombie. He could see it then, it
was a woman, and she was barely moving. She tried to crawl forward,
but Layne put the jeep in drive and aimed for her head. He didn’t
care to look in the rearview after he passed.

Layne went around the house and into the
street, slamming into another zombie and sending it flying forward,
then he stopped. He put the jeep in reverse and backed up to the
front door. There were a few small steps to climb, but it was
nothing the jeep couldn’t handle. Layne looked in the rearview.
Nothing happened. He didn’t want to honk the horn, but he was
beginning to think he might have to.

A few zombies approached from both
directions of the street.

Layne turned and looked over his shoulder,
his hand hovered above the horn. The front door opened, and Layne
popped the trunk.

Jessi climbed in and buckled Kara up in the
middle of the back seat, then climbed into the front. Warren and
Lacie hopped in next to Kara. Dex slammed the trunk, gave Layne a
thumbs-up, then retreated into the house.

“We ready?” Layne asked.

“Yeah, go!” Jessi said. Layne put the car in
drive and pulled away from the porch. Then he slammed on the
brakes.

Another car was approaching from the right.
It was pulling highway speeds and swerving heavily.

“Go,” Jessi said, “go go go go go!”

Layne wanted to, but he had no idea where
the car was headed. It could swerve at any moment, and Layne didn’t
know if he should pull forward or back up. He hit the gas and went
forward as the car swerved to its right, toward where he was
headed.

“Oh shit!” Warren said. The group braced for
impact, but the car swerved left at the last second, barely missing
them. Layne got a look at the driver as the car passed, nearly
taking out the passenger-side mirror. The driver was either not
human, or would not be for long.

Before they could breathe a sigh of relief,
the car went up the steps and crashed through the front of the bed
and breakfast. Layne slammed on the brakes again.

“Son of a bitch!” He looked back. A very
startled Dex crept out through the space between the car and the
remains of the front wall of the house. He looked inside the
vehicle, then at the approaching zombies, many of them drawn by the
commotion.

“Fuck! Go, go! We’ll catch up, just drive!”
Dex said, waving his hands. Layne felt helpless. He put the car in
drive and started moving. He saw Katie and Kyle leave the house,
and the last thing he saw in the rearview before diverting his
attention to the road was the driver of the other car reach out
through the window and grab Katie’s arm.

“We have to help them, they’re sitting ducks
back there!” Warren said. Lacie was covering her mouth. She turned
and looked back.

“I can’t go back,” Layne said. “There’s no
more room, and even if we tried to get everyone in here, we can’t
sit still in the middle of the street. They’re safer moving. For
now, we have to find this church.” He didn’t like what he was
doing, but he didn’t know what else to do. He’d taken Jessi, Kara,
Lacie, and Warren first to get them to safety, not to trap them
inside a car and expose them to the zombies.

“They’re running their asses off,” Lacie
said. Layne couldn’t turn to look.

****

Katie yanked her arm free of the driver and
caught up with Kyle and Dex. The three took off running. They
dodged zombies when they could, but the creatures seemed faster,
smarter than they were the day before. The survivors could see the
car speeding down the street ahead of them.

“Go, go! Keep going, don’t you dare come
back for us!” Dex said. He sounded near tears. They kept
running.

“I sure hope this church is safe,” Kyle
said.

“Guys, quit talking,” Katie said. She knew
they should save their breath; they had no idea how far the church
was. She had a very heavy feeling that she would never see Layne or
the others again.

****

12
^th
street came to a dead end,
but Layne took a left and two rights and found it again.

“There’s the church!” Jessi said. She
pointed to the right. Layne drove across the lawn, then
stopped.

“I don’t see any signs or anything,” Warren
said. The front doors were barricaded, and Layne didn’t see any
people, but he also didn’t see any zombies.

“So… do we just go knock?” Lacie asked.

“There!” Jessi pointed to a window on the
second floor, where a dark-skinned man was waving his arms. Layne
rolled the window down.

“Go around back! Go around to the back!” the
man shouted. Layne put the car in gear and headed for the back of
the church. There was a set of big double doors that had been
reinforced with a few layers of plywood. Layne pulled the car near
it and waited. The doors opened, and the black man from the window
and a small white man came out. They looked around to make sure the
area was clear, then motioned for Layne to pull the car up. He
stopped a few feet from the door, but left the car running.

“You guys get in the church. I’m going back
for our friends.”

Warren, Jessi, and Lacie got out of the car,
and Jessi was helping Kara.

“What are you waiting for, a written
invitation?” the small white man said. “Get in the church!”

“What’s going on, man?” the black man
asked.

“My name’s Layne. We hiked here from the
woods nearby, we were in a plane crash.”

“Christ Almighty.”

“But there are three more of us, and they’re
in trouble back there. I’m going back for them.”

“Are you nuts?” the small man said. “They’re
probably already dead!”

“Frank, shut the hell up,” the black man
said. He turned back to Layne. “Wait here, just one second,
please.” Layne didn’t want to. The man ran back into the
church.

“Not my fault if you want to go and get
killed,” Frank said. He returned to the church. Jessi was leading
the others inside. Lacie turned back to Layne.

“Layne, please, bring Dex… Bring the others
back, okay?”

“Piece of cake,” Layne said. She ran inside.
Layne waited what felt like far too long, then the man returned,
carrying two shotguns. He went to the passenger side and opened the
door.

“I’m coming with you,” he said. “Let’s go
get your friends.”

“Thank you so much,” Layne said. He pulled
the jeep forward and went around the church, then headed back to
12
^th
street.

“I’m Garrett.”

“Garrett, they shouldn’t be too far back. I
just hope they’re all right. How safe is the church?”

“Safe enough, for now. But we won’t be
staying there for very long. I’ll explain later. What’s that?”
Garrett was pointing to a growing cluster of zombies ahead.

****

“Well, I guess this is where we die,” Dex
said. His sides ached, and he could tell that Kyle and Katie felt
the same.

They were surrounded. He looked for a gap
big enough to squeeze through, but couldn’t find one. Just a few
feet away were walls of gnashing, grasping hands and teeth, and
they were quickly encircling.

“I hope the others made it out,” Katie said.
Kyle stepped forward and hooked one of the closer zombies. It fell
back, and then Kyle stepped back from the approaching wall of
zombies.

“There are too many of them,” he said. One
lunged. Katie caught it by the shoulders. It bit at her neck, but
she pulled away, then shoved it back as hard as she could. It fell
into the other zombies, who let it hit the ground. A few seconds
later, it was getting up.

A car horn blared over the moans. The
zombies turned to look. The jeep sailed by, taking out an outer
edge of the circle of zombies. Red splashed out, and while the
circle wasn’t destroyed, Layne had taken out a handful of them.

“Thank God,” Katie said. The three charged
the thinner wall of zombies, knocking them down with ease, and made
it into the open.

The jeep was stopped, and Layne got out.

“Garrett!” Layne said. Garrett tossed Layne
a shotgun, and the two went to work. Blood splattered as heads
dissipated into chunks and fragments.

“Don’t skip out on the shells, we have
plenty back at the church!” Garrett said. “You three, get your
asses in the car!”

Katie climbed into the back of the jeep and
moved to the far seat. Dex and Kyle took the seats next to her.
Layne and Garrett kept the zombies at bay until they were settled,
then fell back and got inside. Layne pulled away from the mob, made
a U-turn, and headed back up 12
^th
street.

“I thought we were going to die,” Katie
said.

“I’m just glad you’re okay,” Layne said. “Is
anyone bitten?”

“No, you showed up just in time,” Dex said.
“And you brought the cavalry!”

“Name’s Garrett.”

“Dex. This is Katie, and Kyle. But we’ll all
introduce ourselves properly when we get to the church.”

“There
is
no proper introduction
anymore,” Garrett said. “This will have to do just fine.”

“There’s the church,” Layne said. He pulled
into the back. They waited for the doors to open. When they did,
Warren and Lacie were waiting for them. Everyone got out.

“My God, you did it!” Warren said. “You
actually pulled it off!”

“I had help,” Layne said, nodding to
Garrett. He shut the car off and got out. A zombie was approaching,
following their tracks. Layne aimed and took it out.

“Let’s get inside,” Katie said. The
survivors filed into the church and closed the reinforced doors
behind them, shutting the zombies and the whole ordeal out.

29

On the Way to Bangor

Ben rested his head against the window of
the minivan. Charlotte looked at him from time to time. Sometimes
he would catch her watching him, then look over and smile, but he
spent most of his time looking through the smudged glass, even
though there wasn’t much to see.

Angus’s collar jingled as he moved around in
the kennel. Fred looked at him in the rearview. “You all right back
there, boy?” He smiled as if the dog had answered.