Ascension

to them. But Stewart, I guess my logic with Draper and the bomb sort of indicates this may be a one way trip.'

'I don't want it to be.'

'Are you getting cold feet?'

Stewart shook her head, 'No! No, this needs to be done, it just feels right somehow, but Max, you have to promise me something. Okay?'

'That depends on what it is.'

'If it comes down to me dying to make sure you get away, you get away. Can you promise me that? No lamenting about it, no rationalizing it. If push comes to shove, you shove and get back to your kids.'

'Stewart…I…I don't know. I mean how will I know something like that?'

'And not just me, either. If it comes down to all of us dying so you can live, you let us die. Get back to your kids. Bill's kids have Tricia, Ruben is old and Javier's family will know their son died as a hero. But you have to live.'

'Why?' asked Max.

'I kinda like you Max and I want you to be happy and live to raise your kids the way you promised your wife you would.'

They sat in silence for a while, driving down the road at breakneck speed. Max was clearly agitated, fidgeting in his seat and fiddling with the pockets on his jacket. Finally he said, 'Stewart, I don't remember telling you about the promises I made to my wife.'

'Oh, you didn't. But I know you Max, and I know you made her promises when she was dying to take care of the kids and I bet she gave you a list of how to do it too.'

Max laughed, 'Oh thank God, I thought you were crawling around in my head!'

Stewart looked sideways at Max and asked, 'How do you know I am not? It's my job after all, to ferret out the truth. I'm a modern day Sherlock Holmes about this kind of thing.'

'Sure Stewart, and I am your Watson, no problem.'

'So what about Ruben? That guy is creeping me out lately.'

'What do you mean?'

'He has something, some other power and he doesn't seem to want to talk about it.'

'Well, he hasn't confided in me. Maybe I should ask Bill?' Max said.

'Yeah, if he has told anyone it would be Bill.'

'Hey Stewart slow down a bit, there are zombies up ahead.'

'On the road? I don't see them.' said Stewart.

'No, I think they are away from the road, but about a mile ahead of us.' They drove by a sign stating that Jacksonville was two miles ahead.

'We are almost to the point where we turn off to get on highway 1 aren't we?' Stewart asked.

'I think so, Bill said it was through Jacksonville though. Slow down, the zombies are close to the interstate up here, probably by this exit.' The highway slowly rose above the four lane street the exit led to.

'Well we should gun it then and get by them quickly.' Despite her words Stewart did slow down a little. Behind them Bill matched her pace, but stayed within ten car lengths.

'Ah, I guess you're right, they aren't close enough to reach us, even if they had cars. I don't see…Shit!' Max screamed as he saw the yawning abyss in the road ahead. The bridge was missing completely from both lanes of the interstate ahead of them. Stewart swerved into the guardrail using it to slow herself down, but the heavy car bounced off of it and flew into the hole.

Behind them Bill cursed and hit his brakes as he saw Stewart swerve and hit the guardrail, the car fishtailed, with the passenger side door leading the way to the open hole in the road ahead. Ruben, sitting behind Bill, opened the back door, put his hand in the shoulder straps of the back pack bomb and jumped out onto the pavement. The old man grunted as he landed on his stomach hard and started sliding to the brink of the chasm where both of the patrol cars lay in smoking ruin. He stopped with both his legs hanging over the twenty foot drop; the tips of his boots were worn down to their steel toes.

Ruben stood up, dusted himself off and looked at the ragged hole worn through his fatigues by the slid, his body armor was a shambles, and there were holes and blood around both of his knees, but he would live. Grabbing the bomb he spared only a moment to look at the cars in the crushed rubble where the bridges had been before jogging back down the overpass towards some nearby woods.

'I hope you aren't fucking with me.' He mumbled to the voices in his head as he scrambled for cover before the approaching zombies reached the wrecks where his friends were.

Chapter 35 — Katie

'You know I think I am crippled without internet mapping.' Katie said while trying to read the sign on the corner through her rifle scope.

Randy was still with her, he hadn't left her since the incident at the house. 'Well, is that it?'

'No, it's fucking not. Why don't the names go in ascending order or something sensible like that? This is bullshit trying to find an address like this.'

'We just need a map. Walk back to that Wal Mart and find an atlas or better yet a map of Florida.'

'I suppose you're right. I'm just afraid it will be full of zombies.'

'Not like you can't take care of them.' Randy said.

'Sure I can, pop, pop, pop! Then I'll have three hundred of the mother fuckers rain down on me. No, I have to be quieter than that if I am going to crack skulls.'

'Let's go and get this done.'

'See, Randy? This is why we worked well together, you always took care of the maps and knowing where we were and shit. I'm not that good at this sort of thing.'

'True, you are lost without me.'

'Ha-ha. Very funny ghost boy.'

The two of them walked through the morning gloom, keeping to the yards instead of the street and ready to duck into cover if they saw any sign of movement. It took them half an hour to get back to the big box store. Once there Katie insisted that they watch for another half an hour for movement, and then they approached the building from the side, slithering up to the broken front doors cautiously. Once they were inside the foyer, they looked around the store for signs of unlife.

'I think it is empty.' Randy said.

'Looks that way. It's darker than I thought it would be too.'

'You still got a light don't you?'

'Sure.' said Katie taking out the small Maglite she had found in the Jeep. She turned it on and pointed it around the store, it barely illuminated the gloom.

'You stay here and I will go scout for maps, give me the light.'

Katie handed it over and it tumbled to the ground, passing through Randy's hand.

'Asshole.' she said as she picked it up.

'That never gets old.' Randy said with a laugh. Katie could feel him when she touched him, but Randy couldn't pick things up or move things on his own. This was the second time he had convinced Katie to hand him something.

'Well it better get old, 'cause I am tired of it.'

'What are you going to do? Beat me? Ooh I am so scared!' Randy taunted quietly.

'Fuck you, ghost boy. Let's just find a map and blow this joint.'

'Alright, alright. Where do you think they would be? Automotive or books?'

'Shit, I was hoping we'd find one next to the cash registers. You know, for lost tourists and stuff.'

'Oh, yeah, that would make sense.'