Together they shoved open the store’s heavy doors and stepped into the dark interior. “I’ll just be a minute,” Wade said, reaching for a buggy. “You stay here. Only shoot the fuckers if they get too close and you have to, okay?” Wade cocked his head to the right. “And keep the damn jeep running,” he added as he went inside.
About seven or eight of the creatures now occupied the lot, but they hung back, almost as if they were waiting for something. It was really creeping Jeremy out.
Finally Wade returned with a buggy full of circuit boards he must have ripped out of PCs; Jeremy couldn’t even begin to guess what the other odds and ends were for.
Wade tossed everything into the back of the jeep and hopped in. “Let’s get the hell out of here before they decide they’re hungry.”
“No argument here,” Jeremy said, switching the jeep into drive. He peeled out and tried to steer clear of the creatures.
As the jeep neared the exit to the interstate, a second pack of monsters came bounding out of the woods and made straight for them. Wade cursed and snatched up Jeremy’s Uzi. He opened fire out of his window, and several attackers fell, but now the creatures from the lot were charging at them too, advancing from the other side as if trying to block them in.
“Fuck—hold on!” Jeremy thrust the gas pedal all the way down. The jeep struck the curb and bounced out of the lot onto the road.
Wade looked back at the shrinking figures still giving chase. “That was too fucking close,” he muttered. “Way too fucking close.” Then he clapped Jeremy on the shoulder and grinned. “Good driving, new kid. Glad I brought you along.”
13
Amy opened her eyes. She didn’t feel completely rested, but some sleep was better than none. Eighteen hours had passed since her flight from the docks. She sat up in the backseat of the Toyota, which she’d finally found after a nasty encounter with a creature on the interstate. She had used the car to flee the city proper and had driven for hours, out into what seemed like the middle of nowhere, nothing around but the road and the trees, the safest place she could find for a nap. So she had locked the car doors and had stretched out on her seat, hoping that if any creatures stumbled across her and tried to get in, the noise would wake her up in time to deal with them.
It had been worth the risk. She felt much better physically, but she was still haunted by the horror of her situation. She was alone. The car was nearly out of fuel and she was down to only five rounds left in her .45. She missed Katherine. Hell, she missed the world. But worse, she still had no long-term plan, no idea how she was going to survive, no clue where she was headed. She had fled south, but she didn’t know how far. Virginia maybe? She wasn’t sure. Amy figured it didn’t matter. One state was just as dead as the next.
She needed to find others like herself who’d made it through the wave without going crazy, though she wondered if she were the last sane woman on Earth. The thought terrified her. And the creatures… If the cops who’d almost killed her were any indication, some of those things out there were getting smart. Not normal, but intelligent, and that made them a hundred times more dangerous. It was one thing to outrun or hide from a pack of mindless monsters and another thing altogether when they started shooting back and driving cars. What else were the things capable of now? Amy shuddered and pushed the thought from her mind.
Tenderly, she reached up to touch the wound on her forehead. It wasn’t serious, but she was worried about infection. She had no water or food, much less medical supplies, and trying to locate some in a city or town was out of the question. Even if she had been well armed, she wouldn’t have tried it on her own. So the big question was, what did she do now?
Using the car was dangerous. It attracted the mindless creatures and made her more noticeable to the intelligent ones as well. Going at it on foot seemed like an equally bad idea; she would have no way to outrun the creatures and she certainly couldn’t stand her ground and fight. What the hell was she going to do?
Finally she made a decision: Amy unlocked one of the car doors and got out, leaving the vehicle behind.
Water had been the deciding factor in her choice. In the car, she would have driven right past the supplies she required so badly to stay alive, unless she stopped at a gas station or something of the sort, and then she would have to deal with the hordes of monsters she attracted. The way she reasoned it, on foot she might be able to find a stream or some kind of berries in the woods. So she walked off the road and headed into the trees, feeling her way carefully through the newly fallen night.
14
Geoff met Jeremy and Wade on the road home about two miles outside the complex. “You done good, kid,” he told Jeremy when he saw the parts they had gone after. He ushered them on towards the base, but stayed behind to take care of any creatures that might have followed them back. He promised to meet up with them later in the mess, and then he disappeared into the trees, becoming a part of the woods themselves.
The inhabitants of Def-Con all sat in the meeting room. Sheena was allowed her rant on the importance of determining the various trajectories of the wave’s fragments—not that they could change those trajectories should a piece be aimed for the sun—and when she finished, Wade stood up and informed everyone that the base’s air system was fully repaired; he also updated the group on the life expectancy of the power core before giving the floor to the communications officer Toni.
Jeremy had not formally met her yet, so he watched the woman intently. She was tall and thin, in her late twenties or maybe early thirties. Her eyes were a bright green, and brown hair touched the tops of her shoulders. She spoke softly in a controlled, though almost shy, voice. Her efforts to reach anyone else in the government or military, or anyone on civilian channels and the small band frequencies, continued to meet with failure. Toni had no clue whether that meant they were alone in the world, or if the aftereffects of the wave simply hadn’t cleared enough to get out a good signal.
Geoff was the last member of the staff to speak, and despite the bleakness of the other reports, his was the most unsettling. The number of infected wandering close to the base was increasing at an alarming rate. Geoff hadn’t realized how much until today. No one blamed Jeremy’s arrival or Wade’s shopping trip, yet Geoff clearly thought these factors contributed to the problem. He wasn’t concerned about running out of ammo in the near future or worried about the creatures penetrating the complex; he was afraid the army of infected would grow so large there would be no way out of Def Con without a bloody fight. Geoff did not suggest abandoning the complex, as no one knew of somewhere remotely safe to set out for, yet he made sure everyone understood the threat of being trapped here for the rest of their lives.
When the meeting was over, people broke up into their own little clusters to continue private arguments over what should be done. Geoff and Troy pulled Jeremy out of the room and led him outside toward the garage. The night sky was clear and sparkling with stars. Two creatures were straining against the fence, and when they spotted the trio, they howled and slashed their flesh on the barbwire in their attempts to get in.
“Didn’t you just tell everyone to limit their trips up here?” Jeremy whispered.
“Yeah, but there are times and there are times,” Geoff said, walking to the fence as he drew his pistol.
“Come on.” Troy slid the heavy garage door open and led Jeremy inside. “Forget about them. They’re not why we’re up here.”
Jeremy heard two faint popping noises in the darkness behind him. When Geoff caught up again, Troy closed the door and hit the interior lights. He waved his arm around like a game show hostess showing off a prize. “Welcome to paradise.”
“The garage?”
Geoff tried to rub something red and wet off the front of his uniform. “It’s not the place but what’s in it, kid.”
