Rabid

over driving duty when they had gotten back into the car.

“If I hadn’t just seen that with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have given them credit for it.  They could be walking without knowing where they’re going.  That’s possible.”

“Why would they head east?  There’s nothing in that direction for forever,” Tina said.  “Nothing but small towns until you get to North Platte.  And that‘s not that big.”

“Omaha?” Carl said.

“I doubt it.”

“Just a thought.”

Forty-five miles later, the fog had dispersed.  The sky was overcast with thick gray clouds.

“We’re coming up on Cheyenne,” Carl said.  “Do you want to stay on the highway?  It takes us straight downtown.”

Taylor looked at the I-80.  Abandoned vehicles formed a labyrinth of metal and glass across four lanes and the median.  In some places it looked as though it would be impossible to squeeze the Escort through some of the more congested spaces.  “The interstate isn’t any good.  I don’t see any other choice but to stick to the highway.  Just be on the lookout.”

“After what we saw a little while ago, I doubt there’s anyone left in the city.  That many people came from somewhere.”

“It’s like a traveling caravan.  A group starts off and more join along the way.  Almost like they’re collecting together for something.”

“Now I remember!”  Tina scooted forward on the backseat.  “I thought of this earlier when we were having our discussion about what could have caused this to happen, but I forgot about it.  Why weren’t we infected?  What did we do different?”

Carl said, “Maybe we have a natural immunity.  Isn’t that how they work it in the movies?  Certain people are magically unaffected.”

“Yeah, but in reality it’s not as plausible.  Not to say that it isn’t possible,” Tina said, “but that would be a big coincidence.  You said you heard about it on the radio.  So when it happened, you were driving?”

“I guess so.”

“I was driving, too.  I didn’t hear about it on the radio.  I saw it happening when I got into town.  Then I hid in my dad’s store.”

“You think we didn’t become like those things because we were driving?  That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

“It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that the power went out in so many places around the same time either,” Taylor said.  “Some of the things I’ve noticed make me think whatever is going on isn’t exactly random.  Didn’t happen out of the blue like nature’s wrath or something.”

“You were heading east to get back home.  I was heading west.  None of us got whatever’s going around.”

“Like it’s a cold,” Carl said and smiled.

“One fucked up cold.”

“But look at all the cars on the road.  Plenty of people would have been driving.  How did it miss us but get them?”

“Maybe it did miss them.  Maybe they were stranded out there with no place to go.”

Taylor gave Tina a look that said he wasn’t convinced.

“Okay,” Tina said.  “My theory has a few flaws.”

“You’re a tease,” Carl said.

Carl slowed to thirty, which happened to be the posted speed limit.  Abandoned cars littered the street.  A silver Nissan was parked neatly on the sidewalk, its front grill dented in by the streetlamp it had collided with.

The street became more congested the farther they got into downtown Cheyenne.

“We aren’t going to be able to get around that,” Carl said.

“Go around.”

“How?  There isn’t room.”

“Hang a right at one of these side streets and go around.  We can get back on here a few blocks down.”

Carl turned right and drove a street up.  They came upon more discarded vehicles, but he was able to weave his way around them, taking the nearest left and heading west again.

“It’s like a ghost town,” Tina said. “A really big one.  You can almost feel that there isn’t anybody here anymore.”

Taylor said, “We can’t be the only ones.  I refuse to believe that.  My parents survived it.”

“And Angie,” Carl said.

“Yeah, and Angie.  I’m sure there are others.  They’re just being smart and taking refuge in the safest places they can find.  Probably what we should be doing.”  What we will do once we get to the mountains.”

“It’s blocked up ahead.”

“Do what you did a minute ago.  Find another street.”

Like rats in a maze, Carl thought.

At times it seemed that the number of dead ends was infinite.  Carl navigated the streets and thought it wouldn’t be entirely absurd to leave a trail of bread crumbs behind them.  They had been forced to take over a half a dozen detours.

“I don’t like this,” Carl said.  “They could box us in and we’d be stuck.”

“We’re almost through downtown.”

“You’re always full of wisdom.”

“Wise beyond my years.”

Tina was filled with nervous anticipation, like she was waiting for something big to happen.  The air was filled with it: a tension thicker than the fog they had passed through earlier.

She worried for her father.  Taylor knew something about that.  She was sure of it.  Keeping something from me, she thought whenever she would look at the expression on his face after mentioning her father.  She had purposely brought it up at regular intervals to revisit that reaction.  Each time he appeared on the verge of telling her something but had thought better of it.  It wasn’t good, she knew that.  She let it go.  For now.

“You think they would have found us by now?”

“Most likely.  I get the feeling that the city is empty.  Don’t quote me on this, but I think the big danger is gone.”

“Which is good news for us.”

“It still doesn’t explain where all of them were going,” Taylor said.

“Good fortune in our favor.  Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, bro.  Just be thankful.”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t.”

“So don’t question it either.  At least not out loud.  Not until we get out of the city.  Once we get to the mountains and find Mom, Dad, and Angie you can speculate all you want.  What we saw…it was just plain spooky.  And I can’t figure it out.  I’m not even going to try.  I’m going to thank the Man Upstairs for throwing a little bit of luck our way and go about my business.  You go trying to analyze it and you’re bound to jinx us.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“I’m superstitious.”

“All of a sudden?”

“Pretty much.  Yeah.”  Carl glanced over and saw him roll his eyes.  “Remember, I know all kinds of embarrassing things about you.”

Twenty minutes had lapsed by the time they reached the highway again.

Carl whistled, loosening his grip on the steering wheel.  His palms were sweaty and he wiped them on his jeans.  “I’m glad that’s behind us.”

“Anti-climatic,” Taylor said.

“Dude, I warned you already.  Don’t say shit like that out loud.”