The woman eyes them for a moment. It looks like she wants to say something, then apparently decides not to, because she simply shrugs again, as though to say: “Suit yourselves.”
“So, how do we get to Bergen?” William asks.
“Do you have a phone? We can find a map.”
“No, my phone is dead.”
“Oh. Well, we just follow the road then.”
“What road?”
“The highway. Isn’t that where we’re headed?” She points ahead. “It should be coming up right behind those hills.”
William stops, then looks from the hills to Dan. “What do you say? I wanted to stay off the roads because it would be too dangerous, but if we’re going to Bergen, we’ll have to hit a road sooner or later.”
Dan nods. “I agree. Besides, we might find a ride. I mean, walking twenty-five miles would take us at least a day.”
“I was thinking the same,” William says, as he begins walking for the hills. “All right, the highway it is.”
TEN
“Satisfied?”
Iver feels immensely awkward. His cheeks are burning. He doesn’t know where to place his hands.
He’s sitting naked in the backseat. Leif and Linda have switched places, meaning that next to him is Leif, who just reluctantly inspected him at the behest of Linda, who at least has the courtesy not to turn around in the passenger seat—but she’s still eyeing Iver in the mirror.
“I think we’re good,” Leif mutters. “You can put your clothes back on.”
“Thank y—”
“Wait, did you check his back?”
“I did,” Leif says. “I checked him all over, Linda.”
“The soles of his feet?”
“Well, no, but—”
“Check the soles of his feet. I told you, I met that guy who died because he stepped on a nail or something, and it was enough to infect him.”
Leif sighs and looks at Iver in a way that says: “Sorry, dude, but we have to.”
You do anything she tells you to? Iver thinks, but wisely doesn’t say anything. Instead, he lifts up his foot and lets Leif check it. Then the other one.
“See anything?” Linda asks.
“Nope, he’s fine.”
“Okay. But we’ll keep an eye on him. If he begins to spike a fever, we’ll drop him off.”
“Jesus,” Iver says, putting on his boxers. “You know I can understand you, right?”
Linda catches his eye in the mirror. Her sky-blue eyes are narrow and catlike. She would be beautiful if it wasn’t for the ugly look of suspicion. “Then you understand why we can’t bring you if you’re infected.”
“I’m not.”
Leif climbs to the front. He’s so big, he needs to squeeze through the seats sideways, and the car sways as he drops into the driver’s seat.
“Okay, let’s get out of here before these assholes ruin my paint job completely.” He puts the car in drive and heads down the road.
Iver is busy putting his clothes back on.
“That’s the place?” Linda asks, pointing ahead.
Iver looks. “Yeah, that’s where we’re staying.”
“How many of you are there?”
“Four. And a toddler.”
“Have you got provisions? What about weapons?”
“We’ve got some food. We’re not doing too well with guns, that’s why I had to get this …” His hand goes to the seat next to him for the shotgun, but finds nothing. He looks up at Linda.
“I’m holding on to it for now,” she says calmly.
Iver frowns. “So, it wasn’t only to check if I had any scratches … you also wanted to frisk me for weapons?”
Linda doesn’t answer.
Leif brings the car to a stop outside Agnete’s driveway. “Doesn’t look like there are any dead people around. But we’ll probably draw them soon.”
“Let me go in first,” Iver says, hoisting up the bag of ammo.
“Hold on,” Linda says. “I think it’s better if Leif comes with you.”
“It’s okay, I’ll just tell the others you’re coming.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to work,” Linda says, looking at Leif. “You go in and check if everything is all right. Then you call to me.”
Leif glances at Iver then back at her. “Why wouldn’t everything be all right?”
Linda shrugs. “We just can’t take any chances. It could be a trick.”
“A trick?” Iver blurts out.
Linda pays him no attention. “I mean, we just met the guy. For all we know this isn’t even his place.”
“Yeah, but he seems honest,” Leif says. “Besides, we saved him from that roof.”
“Exactly. Wouldn’t you act very honest if you wanted someone to save your life?”
Leif is about to say something, when Linda leans forward. “Look, we went over this already. This is how we do it.”
Leif scratches his chin, then nods. “All right. I’ll go with him.”
“You’re paranoid,” Iver mutters to Linda.
“Paranoid people live longer,” Linda says without looking back at him. “You better get going, before any zombies show up.”
ELEVEN
They reach the road within half an hour.
William was hoping to see a car or two left by the roadside. Instead, what he sees looking down from the hilltop is more like a giant parking lot.
The road is completely packed with vehicles of all kinds, placed bumper-to-bumper, all looking eager to get going.
But the queue isn’t moving, and he can tell from the quiet of the morning that none of the engines are on. Quite a few of the car doors are also open, as though the drivers didn’t bother to close them when they got out. The line of cars stretches for as long as William is able to follow the road before it disappears between the hills.
“Looks like we weren’t the only ones headed for Bergen,” he murmurs.
“Of course not,” Åsaa says. “We all got the message yesterday. About the boats leaving for Finland. It was all over the news and Facebook. It was all anyone was talking about.”
“But they all left,” Dan says, shaking his head slowly. “They all just got out of their cars and left.”
William nods. “Either they got tired of waiting and decided to walk, or something drove them out.”
A few seconds of eerie silence passes between them. William notices his companions dart glances around. Apparently, even Ozzy is picking up on the creepy atmosphere—or maybe he’s just eager to
