The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. (78 page)

They collected fresh leaves from a few
nearby maple trees, and dug for some more fresh leeks and radish.
They added some clover leaves and used one of Bob's stone knives to
chop it all up fine along with two hot peppers they had bought from
their own garden. They mixed it with butter and cooked it all
together over the fire in a heavy cast iron skillet, then used the
mixture to baste the crayfish and mollusks as they were skewered
onto sharp sticks. They added chunks of wild carrots and potatoes,
pieces of sliced up peppers, and cooked it all on the skewers held
over the fire.

They took several more of the crayfish
and mollusks, smothered them in the mixture and then wrapped them
in the Maple leaves and placed them at the edge of the fire to
cook.

“
How do you know all of
this,” Cindy asked Bob and Arlene.

Bob looked embarrassed. “I read... This
stuff is available to anyone who wants to read about it. Some my
mother and my mother's mother taught to me.” He looked at the lake.
“There are probably clams, eels, pike here as well, also good to
eat.” He looked around. “The normal man, or woman,” he added,
“would look at this and never see all that is here. Would not
realize how much there is to eat. The woods? Herbs, mushrooms,
ferns, bark, some leaves, woodchucks, rabbits.” He looked over
towards the mountains in the near distance.

“
Closer over to the
mountains, goats, I mean mountain goats... People don't realize we
still have them here. They watch television, or did, and think it's
all in some other country, but they are here too. Bear will be
there this time of year as well. Getting ready for their long
sleep... Fattening up. Probably has a cave there somewhere.
Moose... Nutria... More.”

“
What's a nutria,” Sharon
asked.

Bob smiled. “It's a rat,
really, except they are all over in the south... Probably here as
well. I've never eaten one but they're supposed to be good. Beaver,
Raccoon, wild pigs... You might as well say, what
isn't
here. Truly
everything we could ever use is right here,” Bob
concluded.

The conversation died down
as everyone began to eat. Several comments of
This is good
, or
I've never tasted anything like this
before
, punctuated dinner.

“
So that's crayfish,” Cindy
said. “Sort of like a salty shrimp.”

“
Don't get me started on
shrimp or we'll be hiking for the coast,” Arlene said with a laugh.
“What did you think of the mollusks?”

“
I liked them, and I think
I was wrong. I did have them once before at a seafood place,” Cindy
told her. “They came with something called a seafood platter. A
little of this. A little of that. Huge piece of fish and a mound of
fries big enough to feed ten people. Fried rice as well. What I
remember tasted like that. The same as that,” Cindy
finished.

“
There are several kinds.
The ones on the Gulf are huge. I used to love to go down to the
Gulf. The seafood was unbelievable. A salt water mollusk is twice
as big... and these were big for fresh water mollusks. I used to
like to go down to the docks, Galveston to Mobile, I've been all
through there. There are so many places to go. You could buy five
gallon buckets of seafood. I mean huge five gallon buckets of all
sorts of stuff.
Live...
You prepare it and cook it what ever way you want
to. You never knew what would be in it. Fish, mollusks, crabs,
shrimp, you name it,” Arlene said.

“
You've been on the coast a
lot,” Cindy asked. “Are the beaches really nice?”

“
Some places were, some
places weren't. I liked the out-of-the-way places. The commercial
places were not my speed, but there are so many little places run
by local people. Always good meals... Good seafood, even so what I
really liked was the boats. I did a lot of day work on charter
boats. Scuba diving. I didn't care, as long as I was on the ocean I
was happy. Now? I'll bet the entire Gulf Coast is nice... I want to
go there again some day.” She turned wistful.

The conversation went back and forth as
the sun sank from the sky. The called the Cave on the radio and got
an update from them and promised they would be bringing back enough
crayfish, mollusks and crabs for everyone, even those coming. They
had enough to feed an army of people, Bob assured Janet. He told
her they would be heading back about mid day the next day so they
would be back in time for dinner with them.

~

The dogs alerted them before they had
even realized anyone was nearby.

Candace, Patty, Lilly and Janet had
been standing by the low rock wall that ran along the edge of the
ledge, watching the light bleed from the surrounding sky. The sun
itself was already setting below the mountains behind them. The Dog
and Angel both appeared to be fixed on the lower end of the
valley.

They were too far away to be certain,
but it appeared there were four of them. They had somehow entered
the valley and were following the stream as it meandered across the
valley floor.

“
Candy,” Janet said
quietly. “I think we have visitors.”

The Dog huffed, Angel growled low in
her throat. Candace squinted into the fading light. This was not
someone returning from the fishing expedition. They would have told
them to expect them. They were four. They were still too far away
to tell much more with any certainty. They looked to be carrying
packs. One larger figure bought up the rear. His pack seemed larger
than the others.

The sun, what was left of it, would be
in their eyes, Candace thought. “They probably can't see us,” she
said aloud. She patted her side but she was carrying no weapon. All
four women ducked back inside the cave and came back out moments
later with their weapons. They let Susan, Sandy and a few of the
others inside know there were people coming. They came back out,
checked their weapons and clips and then settled back in the fading
light to wait.

On The Road

The three trucks came to an immediate
halt when Mike stepped from the circle of trucks into view. It may
have seemed a risky move to those in the trucks, but every gun from
Mike's party was aimed at the trucks. If anyone seemed about to
shoot, or a window so much as rolled down they would be on
it.

Ronnie stepped out into view, then Bear
about fifteen feet further away. Tim and Richard stepped out
another twenty feet along like ghosts materializing from a mist.
Josh stepped around the end of one of the big trucks, about ten
feet from Ronnie. Chloe stepped out into full view last, her
machine pistol raised and aimed at the windshield of the lead
truck.

Everyone held their machine pistols
ready. Trying not to be overly aggressive but taking absolutely no
chances at all. Two young women sat in the front seat of the lead
truck. They both looked frightened.

Chloe shifted to the side of the lead
truck and looked back at the other two trucks. With Tim and Richard
on the opposite side they had a complete view of all three vehicles
between them. The second truck held three men and two women. The
last truck three men and a young woman. As she came up alongside
the lead truck, Chloe noticed there were two men in the back seat
of the extended cab.

The woman in the drivers seat of the
lead truck, raised both hands into the air, turned them over and
then upright once more. Her dark face wore a neutral expression.
Chloe nodded at her.

The hum of the electric motor came to
them all clearly as she rolled down her side window. The young,
dark skinned woman leaned out. She looked from person to person...
“We don't want any problems. We didn't know anyone was here... We
can simply turn around and leave... We really don't want any
problems.” She looked from Chloe to Mike to Ronnie to Bear, and
then allowed her eyes to drift further over to Tim and
Richard.

“
We're not looking for any
trouble either,” Chloe told her.

“
Just being careful,” Mike
told her.

“
I can see that,” The woman
answered.

The silence held for a short space.
Ronnie and Bear stepped forward. “Feel free to stay if you want,”
Ronnie said. He and Bear both lowered their machine pistols. Chloe
and Mike followed suit. Richard, surprised he had even been handed
one lowered his own and looked over to Josh. Josh nodded. His own
weapon at his side, but still in his hands.

The young woman opened her door and
stepped down onto the asphalt. The others in the trucks behind her
followed suit. They were all heavily armed too, but their weapons
were slung over their shoulders or holstered. The five from the
second truck were all dressed in military fatigues.

“
Who's in charge,” The
woman asked.

“
I am,” Mike said as he
appraised her. “Mike.”

“
Debbie...
Deb,”
she said and stuck
out her hand.

Mike released his machine pistol and
shook her hand. She allowed a small smile to creep onto her
face.

“
I meant what I said about
leaving,” she said. “The last thing we want is trouble.”

“
No... No,” Mike said.
“We've just been through some trouble of our own the last little
bit,” He told her.

“
We've seen some
ourselves,” she agreed.

“
Come on,” Chloe said.
“We'll make some coffee.” She looked around. “We'll make lots of
coffee,” she amended.

It turned out that they had been
traveling all night as well. Coffee turned into breakfast.
Breakfast turned into conversation. Both groups telling each other
exactly what they had been through the last few days.

“
My God,” Debbie said.
“Where did the guy come from?”

“
We don't know... Some
crazy,” Ronnie said. “There was a guy we had passed earlier in the
day, but there was a woman with him. There was no woman with this
man. And we had a little run in with them, but it makes no sense
that he would come after us. What for?”

“
We had passed them by on
the highway... Camped right out in the middle of the road,” Chloe
said.

Debbie was nodding. “Okay. Saw that. At
least I think so. About eighty miles back... Yesterday. Camped
right out in the road. Big old Harley...”

“
Tipped over onto a couch,”
Ronnie supplied?

Debbie nodded once more. “Skinny woman?
Tube top?”

“
That's her,” Mike
agreed.

“
Dead,” Debbie said. “Her
and a couple of others.”

“
There was only her and the
boyfriend when we were there,” Bear said.

“
These were
dead
... Dead for a while
too. Hanging around. We stopped and they came from the woods.
Desperate, I suppose. Six all together. Took them all down, but we
lost one of our own too... Got bit,” she cleared her throat.
“Thought one was done... Wasn't... They aren't stupid... They were
at first, or seemed to be, but they aren't now.” She thought for a
second. “Anyway... That might have been your woman. Sounds like
her. But there was no guy there. If it was your guy he was gone,
and she was dead.”

“
Sounds like the same
place,” Ronnie shook his head.

“
Hey. Even if it was, who
chases someone for knocking over a bike,” Mike said. He could see
the wheels turning in Ronnie's head.

“
Besides,” Chloe
said.
“I
knocked
over the bike. I hit it with the mirror of the truck. It went right
over.”

“
That's because it wasn't
all the way up on the stand,” Ronnie said.

“
Ronnie, maybe it was that
guy, maybe it wasn't. Nobody chases somebody down for knocking over
a bike. They're free now for Christ's sake,” Bear said.

“
It's probably something
else. We looked around. There was a lot of blood on the road. Big
pool of it. The woman was covered in blood too. Stuck to her
clothes, hair, plastered to the side of her face. She couldn't have
been dead long at all. But there was no guy and she was already
dead, so unless your guy killed her, it probably wasn't the same
people at all. Probably your people moved on. These people came
along... This woman maybe... Gets herself killed, maybe the zombies
got her. Then we come along and chased them off. All the blood
though, maybe someone else got killed there. Maybe your guy and he
just didn't come out of the woods.” She shrugged.

Mike nodded. “That I can see. I mean
the guy wouldn't even get up for us to pass... Maybe she shot him.
He shot her. They killed each other. Or maybe they took off and
these are other people. I just can't believe the guy would have any
reason to come after us.” He turned to Ronnie and Chloe.

“
You guys are trying to
take blame that doesn't belong to you. I'm sure it wasn't the same
guy, but even if it was, you can't control someone else.” He paused
again. “I think it was some crazy that came along... Hell, for all
we know he thought
we
were dead... Whatever it was, it wasn't your fault. That's
something I'm not going to stand for. Not after what we've been
through. The world out here is crazy. We came here and bad shit
happened, but we’re going back where it's sane, and both of you are
going too. There's no blame of any kind going back with
you.”