The drive through North Platte had been uneventful, but slow. There were wrecked vehicles everywhere. Not just crashed, but vehicles that had been shot up and blow over by explosives, the place was a war zone. The bodies were everywhere too. Stewart was going to try and get into the Walmart in town to scavenge some more video game players for the kids and when they turned into the parking lot the plans had to change. It looked like the military had set up a line of vehicles to fire from behind, there was a line of bodies stacked literally five feet high in front of the barricade, the line was a good four hundred feet long and probably forty wide. There were zombies there too, not a whole lot, but a few in military uniform along with a dozen or so more in civilian clothing or undressed. The zombies had reacted to their presence in a strange manner, they looked the humans over, then looked towards the east, then slowly shambled towards the cruiser and minivan. Stewart pulled into a strip mall across the access road from the big box store and Cory yelled out that there was a 'GameStop' there, where they could stop and get the video game players like he had. Max, not thinking, had stopped the van while Stewart continued through the strip mall parking lot and out the other side to go back to the main road.
The pause in the van's momentum had been enough of an incentive to the slow zombies to put on a burst of speed and before Max got his head on straight and started the van forward again the vehicle was surrounded. Mini vans are not made for plowing over human beings. With every gentle thump on the front bumper Max was afraid the air bags would go off. Amelia had looked grim, but kept her window rolled up and gotten on the radio to tell Stewart what had happened.
After running over a couple more zombies they made it to the street, which was still clear down to where Stewart was backing up the police cruiser. She stopped when she saw they had driven clear and then continued on forward, sparing a moment to tell Max not to keep stopping every time he saw something interesting.
The rest of the trip was a blur, they came across a few other areas where the military had made a stand, but none were as bad as the first. It did not look like the military guys had made a last stand, it looked like they had fought for as long as they could and then retreated, there were no military vehicles left around, nor were there many guns or other pieces of equipment laying about.
When they got to the edge of town there was no evidence that anything was wrong, if not for what they had seen earlier, it could have just been another day in a small city. Turning towards Tom's farm had been a relief for Max, he kept checking the rear view mirror, he felt like something was following them, but he never saw anyone behind them. Still his feelings when it came to zombies were something he trusted implicitly.
“We were followed.” he said suddenly.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I didn't see anyone, I can't 'sense' them there, but I know the feeling.”
“You are pretty good at knowing where they are these days. I was going to ask about that earlier, now it seems like a better time. Did you know they were there at the Walmart?”
“Kind of, but not really. There were a lot of zombies in small groups or alone in town, that makes it harder for me to feel where they are at. I guess whatever this is I've got isn't able to pin the things down specifically.”
“It is better than what I have. What do you think happened?”
“Here? I guess the military gave the zombies a fight, killed a bunch and pulled back with only a few losses of their own.”
“I figured that out, I meant with you. Why do you know where the zombies are now? Why does Stewart move so fast when she gets in a fight? Why did that happen?”
Max shrugged his shoulders and smiled when the two girls started laughing together as the tire swing spun around faster. “I don't know. My guess is killing them does it. I mean what else have I done differently over the last few days? So it is killing them or eating really crappy food. One of those two things.” he said alluding to their less than nutritious diet of the past week.
They heard someone walking on the porch behind them and turned to look up at Stewart. She peered down at them and said “We have power, food, water and plenty of room. They left their kids a note too, in case they came by. It said they were evacuated to Lincoln by the Nebraska National Guard, it was mandatory. Most of the men volunteered to be in a militia and support the military, but the women and children headed back east. They said they would be at his brother's house and to meet them there if they could. Tom tried the phone, it works, the land line, but when he dialed his brother's number a message came on that all lines were busy.”
“We were followed.” Max told her.
“Damn. You got a bead on him?”
“Or her, no. I am sure it is a super and I am sure they were behind us and are still over that way somewhere.” Max gestured westward from where they had come.
“So much for crashing here a few days.” Stewart gazed off into the distance at nothing, “Unless….yeah, I think I have a plan, it might work.”
Max scanned the tree line again, he could neither see, nor sense any zombies from that direction. “What is your plan?”
“Has it stopped following us?”
Thinking about it Max said, “Yeah I think it has. I think it is just watching us now. So it is probably at that farm house to the west of us. That is what? A mile away?”
“Probably half a mile. So if we move on, it moves on.”
“Maybe.”
“What if I stay here with the radio and you load up the kids and move on to the next house down the road. The zed would use this place as natural cover, I would be here to ambush it. Or is there more than one?”
“I think there is just one, but it might be bringing friends. I think Tom should stay with you, just have me and Amelia drive out with the kids. You could hide in the basement and wait for it to come in the house, then get it.”
“Yeah, how about you instead of Tom?”
“Okay, Tom did go with you last time. Maybe me and Amelia instead, you guys did the hardware store, we could do this guy.”
“I am good with that plan, we should handle this.” said Amelia.
“Max…” Stewart began, the caught herself before she told him there were not any zombies in the hardware store, instead she shook her head and said, “I don't know, I guess fair is fair, but Amelia you do better with the kids, especially Kenny and Seth. I just want to throttle Seth and let the rest of them live their lives in peace.”
“What? You said my name what are you talking about?” called Seth from near the tire swing and giggling girls.
“I said we need to get you to a place you can live your lives in peace!” said Stewart loudly, then muttered, “Fucking good hearing he has too.”
Max laughed and Amelia asked, “So am I going or staying?”
“Going.” answered Stewart, “Either that or Tom is driving the new boys.”
Tom came out onto the porch carrying a mid-sized cooler and approached them, “I have cold drinks here if anyone is thirsty!” The kids all ran towards him and reached in to grab cans of the various soda pop that he had in the cooler.
Cory held up a light beer and Max snatched it from him, “Thanks buddy, just what I was after!”
He put his hand down into the cooler reaching towards another cold beer and Amelia's voice rang out, “I know you are not reaching for a beer for yourself young man.”
“Aw.”
“Let him have one if he is so keen.” said Stewart.
Amelia gave her an incredulous look and shook her head, “No Cory! Just get a pop and go back to the swing.”
Stewart raised her eyebrows questioningly, “What? It is the best way to turn kids off of beer, let them try and drink one when they are ten and they won't want to try again until they are thirty. No one likes beer, it is an acquired taste.”
“Maybe so, but I don't want him acquiring a taste for it right now, he is stubborn enough to drink the stuff just to prove he can and because he knows I won't approve. You seen how he keeps running around without shoes to bother Seth don't you?”
“I hadn't really noticed. Oh fine! Have it your way, no beer for the twelve and under crowd.” changing the
