good in the first place.'
'That sounds fair. Anyone have a pencil or paper to write down a few car numbers?' Bill asked.
'I think I saw some in the glove box.' Max said.
Ruben pulled out a small notepad and a thick pencil like the kind used for marking wood on a construction site. 'How about you sit here Max and let us know if any zombies get close? The three of us will find us some wheels.'
Max nodded, 'Yeah, sure, okay. The place is empty though….'
'But?' prompted Stewart.
'Well, I couldn't see Aubrey. I'm concerned; maybe there are others who know her trick?'
'We'll be careful. You look with your eyes as well as your mind and we should be fine.'
'Unless they come out of the woods behind the station.' Max had a clear view of the road in both directions, but the forest grew right to the edge of the building in the back.
'Yeah, unless they come from that direction. You just watch your part.'
Ruben had already gathered up the numbers of three of the newer model state patrol vehicles by the time Bill retrieved the pen and paper from the glove box.
'Check this out.' Bill said, showing Max the pen. It looked about half the length of a normal pen. 'I think it got cut in half by a bullet passing through the glove box.'
Stewart snorted, 'Men!'
'Kinda cool.' said Max, examining it, 'Does it still write?'
'Yeah.' Bill said, demonstrating on a piece of scrap paper, 'Stewart you've got to enjoy the little things.'
'I have, I slept with Max.' Stewart quipped.
'Very funny, seriously check it out.' Max said.
'It's a broken pen.'
'No, not just that. It's a pen that was shot. By a bullet. That makes it cool. Especially cause it still writes.' Bill said.
Bill headed to the opposite end of the parking lot from Ruben and inspected the decrepit vehicles parked there. 'I think these are the really shitty ones they were parting out.' He called back to them.
'Then fuck it, come back here with your cool pen and we'll go find the keys for the cars Ruben found.' Stewart called back.
'I'll feel back leaving the truck here, I mean, it got us through a lot. Look how shot up it is and it still works, except for the radiator thing.' said Max.
Stewart shook her head, 'I suppose. We are going to loot the place for any food and hopefully we'll find a fuel tank for topping off the cars over on that side of the building. That looks like the service area.' She was pointing towards the side Ruben had gone.
'Yeah, there's a tank.' Ruben said, catching the end of their conversation. 'I got five numbers, one or two of them ought to be good.'
'Let's go find the keys then.'
Bill caught up with them as they approached the entrance to the building. The doors were glass, with metal frames, one of them was shattered into small green squares on the ground. Inside the building was dark and ominous looking, all three of them pulled out flashlights before entering. Ruben tucked the notepad into his front pocket and pulled up his shotgun.
Without a word Stewart went in first. Looking about she saw the place was a mess. There were dark stains covering much of the front lobby and a rotting corpse in state patrol khaki colored clothing lay in front of the main desk.
'Whew-whee. I'll never get used to the smell.' Stewart said, approaching the bloated corpse.
'What are you doing?' Bill asked, choking on the foul air.
'He probably has the keys to one of the cars that works in his pocket. This is an easy one.' Stewart rolled the body over and jumped back as the maggot ridden corpse disintegrated as it rolled.
The quiet sounds of thousands of maggots wriggling and eating was made more pronounced by Stewart disturbing the corpse they were eating.
'Fuck, this is disgusting!' Stewart pulled out her combat knife and used the tip to poke at the man's belt, where there was a key chain attached. Stewart prodded at it until it unclipped and dropped to the floor by the sprawling filth that had been his stomach. With a sliding motion she shoved the keys through the muck until they were on a clean part of the floor. Stewart looked at the keys, then at the men.
'You know, I think I need a rag or something.'
'A bucket of bleach?' suggested Ruben, holding his nose with the same hand that was holding his gun.
'Just leave them Stewart, we'll find something to clean them up inside and bring it back. And for fuck's sake don't roll any more bodies over! I don't think I could stand the smell again.' said Bill.
Stewart just nodded and moved the keys over closer to the front door.
'Where now?' asked Ruben.
Stewart shrugged, 'I would guess that way. At least that is the way to the garage and the fuel tank, so I would think they would keep the keys closer to that end for doing maintenance.'
They passed three more bodies along the way, but Stewart didn't approach them as she had the first. All were very badly decomposed corpses. Most looked like they had been shot in the head, but with the amount of decomposition it was difficult to tell. The smell, if anything, became worse as they made their way further into the building.
'God. It is bad. I think I am going to puke.' Bill said.
'You'll be okay. Just don't think about it.' replied Ruben.
'If you do hurl, don't do it in the middle of the hallway. I don't want to step in it if we have to run away.' advised Stewart.
'Thanks, Stewart. Your usual compassion is appreciated.'
'It's here.' Stewart said, pointing her light into a darkened recess at one wall that was covered with hooks that had numbers above them.
'Look, a high tech vehicle key solution.' She pointed to the wall.
'It works, why mess with something effective?' Ruben asked.
'You'd think they would have an Apple app or something.' Stewart said.
'A what?' Ruben asked.
'An Apple…never mind old man. Something on the computer.'
'I know what an iPhone is. But why would anyone make a program for state patrol cars?' asked Ruben, genuinely puzzled.
'Really Ruben, I was kind of joking.'
'Oh, I don't think I get your sense of humor.'
'It's the age difference.'
'Cut it out you two, let's just find the keys and get out of here.' Bill said.
Stewart turned the handle of the door and swung it open to step into what was really just a closet sized space. She took the paper Ruben handed her and looked for the numbers on the board and came up with four sets of keys. She kept looking about after that, even rifling through the desk set at the back of the closet.
'I can't find any keys marked for the gas pumps.'
'They are probably in the shop. That's where I would keep them, closer to the pumps.' Ruben said.
'Probably, do we want to go check or see if we can get any of these cars started first?' asked Bill.
'Yeah, let's check the cars first, we can fuck around with the pumps afterward, if the cars are out of fuel.' said Stewart.
The three of them wandered around the garage looking for anything useful, but found nothing they wanted to carry out with them.
'We should check the armory, see if they got anything left.' said Stewart.
'If we can find it.' Bill said, 'Lead the way.'
Stewart took the lead and they walked back across the lobby of the state patrol station into what looked more like an office area. Looking down the hallways at the 'T' intersection beyond, Stewart shrugged and chose to
