The vehicles started up in unison as the first fist slammed into the side of Jack’s door.
“Go! Go! Go!” John cried, and the vehicle jumped forward, knocking several forms down.
The driveway was mercifully clear of zombies, and the two Humvees moved out in single file. However, they were met by a crowd of zombies when they got to the road.
“You’ll have to plow through!” John yelled at Mike.
The older soldier nodded and frowned in concentration as he moved the Humvee through the mob of former humanity. The vehicle rocked on its wheels and shook side to side as it ran over body parts and was assaulted from all sides. Several seconds later they were through the crowd and on the clear road. They moved slowly, anxiously looking behind them to see if BB had made it through.
Jack released his breath as he saw the other vehicle break through. The next thing he heard was the sound of the engine revving as the Humvee sped away from the nightmare at Jeffersons Organics.
It wasn’t until several minutes later that the vehicle slowed down somewhat, and its crew began to relax. The radio chirped, and Abi picked up the receiver.
Bill’s voice came through on the radio: “That was damn close, y’all. Let’s not do that again. Michelle back here told me to tell y’all that that was some fine driving. Mike is gonna get a big kiss when we get back. Uh—from Michelle, not me...” They could almost sense Bill glowing with embarrassment.
They all laughed. Partially at the humor but mostly to relieve the tension.
Mike signaled for Abi to hand over the receiver. Jack watched from the back seat as the cable coils straightened from tight coils to a tiny wave.
“Hey, Bill, I saw your shooting skills back there. You’re going to get a big kiss from me too!” Mike said with a big grin.
The group laughed again. Jack could only imagine the color on the face of the reserved man thirty yards behind them.
They settled into an uncomfortable silence once the laughter had died down. Every occupant of the Humvee was stuck deep in their own thoughts.
Abi was the first to break the silence after they had travelled about a mile. The Humvee was just about to turn on to the main highway.
“The thing that I don’t get, is how did all those zombies know to come to that farmhouse, in the middle of nowhere? How did they track us down?” she asked.
Mike nodded in the front seat beside her. “It’s almost like they have a way of signaling each other. Or maybe they sense us somehow.” He swung the vehicle onto the highway.
“Bill was the first to discover the approaching horde. He had the last watch and was tracking movement from several directions. He woke me up and we watched them together for about half an hour. They moved intermittently, but most of the time it was towards us,” John said from the back seat. His hands were busy as he was speaking, checking his weapon, and preparing fresh magazines. He stopped for a moment and looked up. “I don’t know what to tell you.”
Seeing John work on his rifle reminded Jack to check and reload his own sidearm. Once he was done, he leaned forward. “Thanks Mike. For what you did back there.”
“Oh, it’s nothing, son.” The old soldier dismissed Jack’s comment with a wave. “It’s easy to get excited and start shooting, but you’ve got to remember the capabilities of your weapon.”
Jack nodded at the valuable lesson.
“But you sure are a good shot, Jack. I had to settle for shooting one in the legs, because I kept missing the head,” Mike added.
Trying not to let the pride show, Jack leaned back in his seat. A pat on the back from John triggered a smile.
They drove in silence for a while.
Mike had come that way before. “This side of the highway is blocked off up ahead,” he said as he exited the highway and turned under the overpass. “Going to use the other direction for a bit.” He entered the exit lane, leading back up to the highway.
Driving up that ramp felt so wrong to Jack that he couldn’t keep himself from saying, “Now I know that the world is different.”
They reached the top, the high concrete median to their right. John nodded beside him. Abi and Mike were quiet in the front seat but must have felt it as well.
Several miles later they passed a massive pile-up on the other side of the median. They looked to their right and watched the newly manmade structure of melted rubber and metal. Next came a line-up of hundreds of vehicles facing the monstrous sculpture. Most of the cars had their doors ajar.
Jack wondered where these people had all gone. He figured they had probably tried to return to their homes, then wondered how many of those hundreds of people were still alive today.
Eventually, Mike took another overpass to swing back onto the right side of the highway. He didn’t really need to do it, but it just felt better.
The city appeared in the distance, growing as they sped towards it. Plumes of smoke rose from several areas as fires raged out of control. Luckily for them, none of the fires were near their part of the city.
“OK, folks, let’s be alert,” John said as they passed the city limit. Abi relayed the warning to Bill and his crew in the other car, receiving a “Roger that” in reply.
They entered the city, first passing along large acreages with their million-dollar mansions hidden in the rolling hills. Jack saw movement here and there but could not be sure if those were living people or zombies. He guessed they were the latter.
In sharp contrast to the first area, the next area of the city was filled with
