Fred continued to stare at the direction in which the zeds had disappeared. “Nope. I haven’t either.” He gestured in that direction. “They’re going to recon that area for us.”
“How?” Nikki asked.
“If they encounter a large group of humans, I imagine we’ll hear a little bit of gunfire. So, Miss Nikki, what do you propose we do next?”
“Nothing to the north of us, the zeds are travelling south. We came from the west, but to the east of us is nothing but water,” she said.
“Good analysis, but you’re not answering the question.”
Nikki frowned, shrugged, and then pointed. “What’s the name of this road?”
“It’s commonly known as the Jefferson Davis Highway,” Fred said. “It roughly follows I-95.”
“Well, we haven’t gone down there. Maybe we should follow it the rest of the day and then head back tomorrow.”
Fred stared at her a moment, gave a small nod, and nudged Aisha. Soon they were heading south at a slow walk, careful to keep their distance from the zeds.
Chapter 31 – Fred & Nikki Find Zeds
“Look,” Nikki said and pointed.
Fred peered in the direction she was pointing.
“Good eye. Cover me,” he whispered and dismounted.
He walked down the street toward the intersection where Nikki had pointed. The ice-covered ground was not clean and pristine. In fact, it was dirty and rough, like a lot of people or things had recently travelled across it. After a moment he straightened and stared toward the west. The stare lasted a long ten seconds before he walked over to Nikki.
“More zeds,” he whispered. “Get down and take a look.”
Nikki dismounted and followed Fred back over to the tracks. He pointed. “This is the trail of the group we were trailing behind.” He then pointed south. “Another group came from there and joined them. They’re now heading west.”
Nikki stared at the ground, trying to understand Fred’s analysis. There were several scrapes in the ice and a lot of dirty stains.
“What is your estimation of the number?” Fred asked.
Nikki scrunched up her wind-burned face. “I don’t know how many, but it has to be a lot.”
“Why do you say that?” he asked.
“There’s a lot of dirt, grime, and scrapes. It looks like a lot of zeds,” she said.
Fred stared. She felt like it was not the answer he was looking for, but he did not rebuke her.
“Alright, if I had not said anything about zeds, would you still believe these are zed tracks?”
She stared again at the disturbed and soiled ice on the road. After a second she met him in the eye. “Yes, I would.”
“Why?”
“I guess I’m not sure. Wait a minute. We were following this one group who we know are zeds, and another group joins them. It’s not like zeds and humans hang out together, so it has to be another group of zeds.”
“Yep,” Fred said. He squatted down again and made another inspection of the road.
“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” she said. “How do some of these zeds still have decent shoes on?”
“Excellent question. I believe these rascals have somehow figured out how to replace their shoes. They must be fifteens.”
Nikki nodded as she looked around. “That makes sense, I guess. They’re starting to think again, so I guess they could figure out shoes.”
“Yeah. So, it would appear we have encountered a large number of fifteens, who we know are a little bit smarter than the old zeds.”
“What are they up to?” Nikki asked.
Fred stood and stared out to the south. “Good question. They’re moving toward Mount Weather, and that’s something they need to know immediately. We’re going to head back to our hideout and radio this in.”
Nikki did not protest. She thought they were going to be out here for at least a week. So far, she’d been continuously cold for several hours, and that was enough for her. But she was growing to like the old man and his unusual style. Despite his gruffness, she enjoyed his company.
“We have a little bit of a problem,” he said. “Do you know what it is?”
She thought a moment. Movement to her left caught her attention, but it was only a couple of squirrels scampering around.
“We’re not supposed to travel back on the same route in which we came,” she said.
“Yep, so why are we breaking our own rule?”
This time she paused for a full minute before answering. “The only thing I can think of is you think this is a situation that is, I don’t know what the word is, scary?”
“Dire would probably be the best word,” he said. “We have to get back to the radio as soon as possible and give them a head’s up, so we’ll have to risk it.”
Chapter 32 – The Chase Is On
They’d been riding back toward their hideout at an easy pace for ten minutes when Fred drew up suddenly. They’d been riding abreast, and when Aisha stopped, Leeroy stopped too.
“What is it?” Nikki asked.
“Those zeds are heading right toward our hideout,” he whispered.
Nikki shrugged. “That shouldn’t be any problem, we can hide and wait for them to leave.”
Fred didn’t respond, which made Nikki wonder if there were something else concerning him that he was not voicing. He sat motionless on Aisha for several seconds before nudging her and they began walking. Nikki pushed Leeroy forward. They continued along the roadway slowly and silently, all the while scanning their surroundings. When they rounded a bend in the road and their building came into sight, the first thing they noticed were the zeds. Hundreds of zeds. And they were all staring directly at them. Fred reacted instantly.
“This way,” Fred said and turned Aisha. She obeyed instantly and increased her pace. They soon had the horses at a trot. He explained as they moved.
“We’re going to try to lead them away from our building. Then we’ll circle back.”
Fred led the way, travelling east on one street for a block, turning north, then back east. He did this for several
