The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (131 page)

East of Phoenix

Northland Cemetery

The moon rode high in the sky.
Moonlight gleamed from the gravel of the road that lead into the
cemetery. Silence held, and then a scraping came from the ground,
muffled, deep.

At the edge of the woods, eyes flashed
dully in the over-bright moonlight. Shapes shifted among the trees
and then emerged from the shadows onto the gravel roadway. One
dragged a leg as he walked, clothes already rotted and hanging in
tatters. A second seemed almost untouched, a young woman, maybe a
little too pale in the wash of moonlight. She walked as easily as
any woman, stepping lightly as she went. The third and fourth moved
slower, purposefully, as they made their way to the freshly turned
soil. They stopped beside the grave, and silence once again took
the night, no sounds of breathing, no puffs of steam on the cold
desert air.

“
Do you think...?” The
young woman asked in a whisper.

“
Shut up,” the one with the
dragging leg rasped. His words were almost unintelligible. His
vocal cords rotted and stringy, no air in his lungs to move his
words. The noises came once again from the earth and the four fell
silent... waiting...

A hand broke through into the
moonlight. A few minutes later a young woman's head pushed up, and
then she levered her arms upward and began to strain to pull
herself up and out of the hole. She noticed the four and stopped,
her pale skin nearly translucent, her blond hair tangled and matted
against her face and neck. Her lips parted, a question seeming to
ride on them.

“
It's okay,”
the young woman whispered,
“it's okay.”
She and one of the older
ones moved forward, fell to their knees and began to scoop the dirt
away from her with their hands.

“
It'll be okay,”
the young woman mumbled in agreement through her
too cold lips.

“
It will. It will,”
the other woman repeated.

March 18th

Billy and Beth

She awoke with a gasp and sat upright.
The movement caused pain to flare inside her head and her hands
flew to either side of it as if to hold the pain inside.

“
Here,” Billy said from
beside her. “Drink this... Coffee.” He handed her the paper
cup.

“
Oh my God... Billy, my
head is killing me,” Beth moaned. She sat carefully for a few
seconds longer, holding her head steady, before edging open one eye
and looking around her. The blanket that had been covering her
slipped down and she reached for it unconsciously, catching it
before it could slip off and onto the floor.

She was laying on a table, soft
blankets beneath her, her top had been stripped off. Her bra was
stiff with dried blood. “Jesus,” she said softly.

“
Come on, Beth. Drink the
coffee, and,” He held out his other hand. “Aspirin... At least I
think it's aspirin. Some off brand, but it'll help that
headache.”

Beth tried a small smile on her face,
took the aspirin and the coffee and managed to get the aspirin
down.

“
Billy, that really is
coffee. Bad coffee, but real coffee.” Beth said. Her eyes were
traveling around the room. Vending machines, including a coffee
machine with the front pried off.

There was the powder that it's made
from inside... I just liberated it and made it over a fire.” He
turned and pointed back through the glass into a garage are where
she could see he had dragged a stove of some kind and hooked it up
to some bottle propane. The small cook surface looked funny with
the giant propane cylinder next to it. Billy laughed. “Yeah... Not
exactly made for each other, but it's good enough.”

Beth looked Billy up and down. He was
dressed in clean clothes. “Where did you go shopping,” she asked as
she sipped at the coffee. She swung her legs off the table and a
wave of dizziness swept over her. Her stomach clenched and for a
moment she was sure the coffee and aspirin was on its way back up,
after a short battle it decided to stay. For how long she didn't
know, but she did know she had to take it slower.

“
Slow, Beth,” Billy said as
if he had looked into her mind and stolen her words.

“
Got you... Got you,” Beth
agreed.

“
Clothes in the back, Beth.
Lockers. I'm guessing this was some sort of ranchers place... Maybe
a big operation... Cattle? Crops? I don't know. Bags of fertilizer,
fencing, overalls, gloves, trucks, and about thirty lockers back
there, most with clothes still in them.”

Her fingers crept up her head and felt
carefully under her hairline. “Are those stitches I feel?” She
asked.

“
Yeah,” Billy agreed. “Had
to. Used dental floss and a needle. You never budged, scared me,
Beth.”

“
Well if I had moved I
would probably have kicked you right in the sac...” She sighed,
“Thanks, Billy... What happened... We were somewhere,” Her face
clouded but she could not bring the memory.

“
That housing project?”
Billy prompted.

“
Nope,” Beth
said.

“
Nicer homes... Back toward
Phoenix?”

“
Nope,” Beth said
again.

“
We were running at
night...”

“
That I remember,” Beth
agreed.

“
Okay, so we stopped to
check out this housing project. Like upscale houses out in the
desert. It looked empty but it was full of zombies. One got you
through the window...”

Beth's hand went to her throat. It was
bruised and yellowed in the bright light inside the room. Beth
looked around and then up. The ceiling lights were on.

“
Yeah... So you do
remember,” Billy said.

“
Yeah... Fuckers.” Her eyes
went to the lights and then back to Billy's face. “So we got
away.”

“
Barely,” Billy agreed.” He
followed her eyes up to the lights. “Generator.” He stopped talking
so she could hear it.

“
Okay... So that's that
sound,” Beth said. She cleared her throat, drank some more of the
coffee and then cleared her throat again. “I didn't get bitten did
I? You?”

“
No... I would have done it
if I had to, but no. They didn't get us.” Billy said.

“
Would have killed me?”
Beth asked.

Billy nodded.

“
Billy, it's okay to say
you would have... It wouldn't be me... It would be one of those
things and I don't want to be one of those things,
Billy.”

“
I know... I would have
killed it. No way would I have let you become that.” Billy
swallowed hard and the silence fell, just the generator chugging
away.

Beth eased her feet slowly to the floor
and tested her weight. Better than earlier, but she decided to sit
awhile longer. She drained the cup and Billy took it.

“
You want more?” He
asked.

“
I need water, just plain
old water.” She looked around hopefully.

“
Got that. A water cooler.
You can even have it cold with the power on.” He was back just a
few moments later with a new cardboard cup, this one filled with
cold water.

“
God. Cold water in the
desert. I would not have believed that,” Beth said.

“
Yeah,” Billy agreed. “Not
much longer though. There isn't much fuel oil. That's what it runs
on. It was meant for short power outages. It's been on two days
now.”

Beth choked on the water. Coughing
bought the headache back, slamming into her forehead hard. She
nearly passed out. Billy was right there, an arm around her,
holding her. She took a breath, another, and she was alright again.
She would just have to wait on the headache to retreat once
more.

“
Come on, Beth. Let me get
you in a chair.” Before she could argue he picked her up and
carried her to a nearby chair. Not one of the plastic ones
scattered around, a leather one. Beat up but comfortable. She sank
back into the chair and immediately began to feel better. “Jesus,
two days here?”

“
No. Three. It took a day
to get the generator going . It wasn't designed to run after the
initial time allotted. It would come on, run awhile and shut right
back off. I had to wire it direct. Maybe some safety feature so it
wouldn't completely run out. I had to fill the tank from fifty five
gallon drums, that was a bitch, but once I cut out the safety,
filled her up, she started and stayed running. We're down to a
quarter tank though... No more fuel oil... So I'm glad you're
back.”

Beth upended the cup and drained it. It
was amazing how good the water could make her feel. Like new life
and strength being poured into her. Billy bought her another and
then another before she sat back into the chair. Her eyes fell on a
vending machine with crackers, cookies and bagged chips. The door
was ajar. Billy followed her eyes.

He laughed. “Cookies, crackers, chips?”
He asked.

“
Yeah,” Beth said. Hunger
had suddenly leapt up in her stomach. She was starved. Billy came
back with a couple of packs of each and she ate greedily as he
talked.

“
Maps out in the garage. I
can't tell exactly where we are though. Somewhere to the southwest
of Gold Canyon is my guess. I didn't see anything here with an
address on it, letterhead, no signs on the trucks. Nice trucks
though, so it made money, whatever it was.”

“
I'm going by where I think
we are. I know we crossed over water before we got here, a bridge
across a viaduct, at least it looked that way in the dark. But we
didn't cross a highway, and 60 is right there, couldn't have missed
it. Of course we could be a little farther north or a little more
south. But even so we have to hit 60 it's right there, so I'm
pretty sure the next thing up is going to be 60.”

Beth said nothing, the food was like
heaven, but the crackers were a little dry so Billy left and came
back with a cup of water and a Coke. The Coke was also cold. She
nearly drained it in one pull. It was like her body was bent on a
mission of replenishing itself in one setting. She made herself
stop. “Good, but I don't want to get sick.” She said to Billy's
raised eyebrows.

He nodded.

“
Any dead... At night? In
here when you got here?”

“
One dude... Took himself
out in the office.” He motioned through the glass. “Put him
outside. Turned black in the sun in a day or so.” He stopped and
cleared his throat, left and came back with a Coke for each of
them. “None of the others. Not one. Nights are quiet... Truck runs
good. I gassed it up, swapped better tires onto it too from the
rack in the garage. Pretty easy to do. Extra gas cans, oil, a shit
load of those blankets.” He paused for a second.

“
What,” Beth
asked.

“
The nights... Days... It's
been a blur,” he looked up toward the ceiling, confused. “I don't
know, it seemed like there was no day when there should have
been... Like the night lasted a long time... Some earthquakes to, I
think they were earthquakes at least. Sick... My stomach felt like
it came unglued it was so bad.”He took a breath and smiled. “Rained
like crazy and then I swear it snowed... It was like a blur,” He
shrugged. “Like I said.”

Beth just looked at him. “You were
tired.”

Billy smiled. “That's what I said... I
said...” He looked at the ceiling again. “I said it was being
tired... confused,” Billy agreed.

“
You look...
Clean.
” She had looked
down a few seconds before at her gore stained bra and jeans. She'd
been in these clothes for far too long.

“
Shower in the back. Hot
water too once I got the electric on.”

“
Christ, and I'm sitting
here talking?” She stood from the chair, found her stomach did not
intend to give her a hard time and turned to Billy.
“Clothes?”

“
Sure... I... I don't know
if...” He turned red.

“
Yeah,” Beth said. She
laughed. “No bra, panties?”

“
Right,” Billy
agreed.

“
Well I don't care if it's
boxers, a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Clean clothes, Billy” She
looked around her... Soap... A towel... That's it. Where is
it?”

“
Um. Right here,” Billy
said as he stepped to the door and pushed it open for
her.

Billy returned to the lunch room a few
moments later and cleaned up the blankets and empty cups while he
waited.

Billy and Beth

March 28th

Billy angled the truck off into a
grassy median they had been traveling along Arizona 188, and
followed a dirt road into the forested park area. About a half mile
in they came to a wide calm lake. The area was completely deserted.
No cars, no trucks, and only a few rustic buildings close by the
water. A quick search confirmed the buildings were empty. They
worked together to gather some dead-fall to build a small
fire.

Beth piled the dry wood next to a large
stone fireplace, and Billy carefully arranged some wood inside the
fireplace, over some smaller twigs and crumpled pieces of paper,
while Beth opened the rear of the truck and pulled out the sleeping
bags, as well as some metal camp utensils they had picked up
earlier when they had passed through a small town. They debated on
leaving the tent, but decided to set it up instead, close to the
fireplace. The buildings were dark and deserted-looking, and not
the least bit inviting to either of them. The tent would not offer
anywhere near as much protection as the empty buildings, but to
them it was much more appealing.