“Couldn’t you have waited until we closed the door?”
“Ask them that.” Snake pointed behind them where several things were heading towards them.
Connor quickly turned back to the front. “Drive faster, will you?”
Snake muttered something under his breath.
There was a period of awkward silence.
“Family?” Leah finally asked.
The boy grimaced, and his eyes flickered to his gun.
“Not anymore.”
“Did they…?”
The boy nodded. “The zombies got them. The zombies came into the house somehow, and my parents went to fight them off. A moment later, they came back as zombies and tried to get me.”
“I’m Leah. This is Connor.” Leah said.
The boy nodded slightly.
“Does it really matter? We’re probably all going to die soon. But, my name is Logan.”
Leah grimaced. “That’s a dull view on everything.”
Logan peered at her. “Life isn’t looking very bright right now.”
The car slowed down, and Snake pulled a cigar from his leather jacket. He lit it, and tossed the match out of the car. It hit a zombie emerging from one of the houses, and it went up in flames.
Snake rolled the window back up and started the car again.
“Maybe not. But it certainly is looking colorful.”
Abby coughed. “Get rid of that awful thing! It smell’s terrible!”
Abby glared at snake until he tossed the cigar out the window.
He sighed. “Stupid American. No appreciation for the fine things in life.”
Abby smirked. “Are you kidding? I used to stare in a mirror for an hour every morning.”
Snake snorted. “I’m surprised it didn’t break after the first minute.”
Logan started laughing. It was high pitched, and one could easily compare it to the sound a rodent makes when you tickle its stomach.
There was a brief pause, and they all burst into laughter. Well, almost all. Snake took the moment to pull the cigar he had trapped with the top of the window and the roof of the car out of its spot and take a puff.
Abby snatched the thing out of his hands and rolled her window down. She tossed the cigar out of the car, and it landed on the road. There was an explosion, and a ball of fire rose into the air. They all snapped their heads towards Snake.
He shrugged. “You think I like the taste? No. Ten foot diameter, nice round explosion. Great signal flare and perfectly good to blow something to pieces.”
Logan started grinning again. “Can I see one of those?”
Snake shook his head. “I don’t have many left, and since Abby wasted one of mine, I don’t want to loose another.” He glared at her.
“I might be able to duplicate it.” Logan hinted.
Snake tossed a box back to Logan.
Abby raised her eyebrows. “Only a few?”
Snake nodded. “Few hundred.”
Snake turned into a major road. There were a few cars going down it, all of them speeding.
“Where do I go?” Snake asked.
Abby pointed to their left, and Snake turned the car again.
“In the zombie movies, don’t the zombies usually clog the roads up and tear people out of their cars?” Logan asked.
Snake grunted. “Too early for that. Maybe in a week.”
“Unless someone finds a way to kill or save converted people.” Leah said.
Snake shook his head. “Don’t have false hopes, we don’t have room for that. I know what you’re thinking. I already told you the answer.”
Connor sighed. “Mind If I change the topic? This is a dreary subject on a dreary day.”
Abby shrugged. “Go ahead.”
“Why don’t we introduce ourselves? We might as well know what our skillsets are.” Connor said.
Leah nodded. “I’ll start, I guess. I can shoot a gun OK, and I wrestle.”
Snake made a dismissive noise. “You going to wrestle the nezhit?”
They ignored him.
“I’m pretty much the same as Leah, but I can’t shoot a gun to save my life. I can swing an axe pretty well though.” Connor said.
“I was in the military. Special ops. I can shoot a gun with perfect accuracy, drive pretty much anything, and I know several different types of martial arts.” Abby said.
“Mafia. I know most of the fighting styles there are, and that includes knife fighting. I know how to make hand to hand weapons, and a few types of bombs. I can hack pretty much anything as well.” Snake disecretly reached for another bomb cigar, but Abby slapped his hand away from it.
He sighed, and went back to driving.
“I’m good with computers and stuff. My dad was a doctor, and I picked up some stuff from him.” Logan said.
“How old are you, anyways?” Connor asked Logan.
“I’m twelve.”
“We’re both fifteen.” Leah said.
“I’m thirty two.” Abby said.
They all looked at Snake.
“Does it matter?” He asked.
“Yes.” They all said at the same time.
He sighed. “I’m seventeen.”
Connor snorted. “You’re just two years older than us.”
“And many times more useful.” Snake replied.
“Is your name really Snake?” Logan asked.
“No.”
“What’s your real name?”
“You don’t need to know.”
Leah shook her head. “Don’t bother, we already tried.”
Abby shrugged apologetically. “Sorry. He doesn’t trust you guys yet. He only told me because I saved his sorry arse from a horde of zombies.”
Snake glared at her. “I told you I had it under control.”
Abby snorted. “You set three buildings on fire, blew up nearly two blocks, and you were about to hijack a military transport filled with marines!”
He grunted. “I could have handled them.”
“Not all of them.” Abby replied.
Snake sighed, and went silent.
Chapter Four
Snake sighed, and pounded his hand on the car. “It’s out of fuel.”
Leah peered out the window. “I don’t see any zombies out here. Where are we?”
She pulled the map out of her backpack. “Oh great. We managed to cover about a quarter of the distance. We’re in an area that was supposed to be turned into a bunch of factories. A few miles of flat land.”
“Out of the car.” Snake said.
They all climbed out of the minivan.
“What now?” Logan asked.
“Sleep. Then we walk.” Snake replied.
He promptly laid down on the grassy fields, and closed his eyes.
The rest of them looked at each other uneasily.
Abby shrugged. “He’s right. We need to sleep.”
“We have sheets.” Leah said.
Abby grinned. “Great!”
They pulled the sheets out of their blankets. “Only three.”
They gave Abby and Logan a sheet. “They’re big. We can share one.” Leah said.
Abby shrugged, and rolled herself up in the sheet.
Logan just pulled it over himself.
Leah took one edge of the sheet and pulled it over herself. “This is crazy as hell.” She decided, and fell into a dreamless sleep.
“Nobody move.”
Leah’s eyes snapped open, and she sat straight up. Everyone else had done the same.
The sun was above their heads, and a man was holding a pistol next to Logan’s head.
“Give me your stuff.”
Snake glared at the man. “Why?”
He stared at Snake in disbelief. “I have the kid!” He pressed the pistol harder against Logan’s head.
Snake shrugged. “Sure, you can have it.”
He pulled a cigar from its box, and ruffled around in his leather duster for a match.
&nbs
p; He pulled one out, and lit the cigar before snuffing the match and putting it back in his pocket.
He grinned. “Good stuff. So what do you want?”
The man stared at Snake, one eye twitching. “Everything.”
Snake sighed. “Oh, ok. “Want a cigar?”
He nodded. “I said everything, didn’t I?”
Snake nodded. “That you did.
He reached into a different pocket, and pulled out a large cigar. He tossed it and a match to the guy.
The man nodded. “This is the stuff.”
Keeping the gun to Logan’s head, he put the cigar in his mouth, and rubbed the match on his pants until it lit.
“How the heck did you do that?” Leah asked.
The man smirked. “Trade secret.”
The man lit the match, and blew a smoke ring.
“Good stu-“
There was a sudden blast, and blood flew everywhere.
The headless body swayed for a moment, and fell backward. Snake lunged forward and snatched the pistol from the dead man’s hand before it hit the ground.
Logan ran from the dead man, and jumped behind Abby.
Blood was everywhere. It had gotten all over Snake and Logan, and it soaked into the ground.
Snake nonchalantly wiped some of the blood on his jacket onto the headless corpse.
“Good stuff indeed.”
Connor put his arms around Leah and turned around. “I’m going to have nightmares.” He muttered.
Snake was rummaging around in the corpse’s pockets.
“Oh! A lighter!” He practically squealed, tucking the device into a pocket.
He straightened, and turned back to the others.
“Shall we go?”
Abby stared at him. “That was rather violent. Couldn’t you have just hit him with a knife?”
Snake shrugged. “Bombs are more amusing.”
He looked at Connor and Leah. “Come get a good look. This is your life from now on.” He nudged the dead body with his shoe.
“Ruined my shirt.” He muttered.
He pulled his leather duster off, and shook the excess blood from it. Then he put it back on.
He stretched. “Oh, I know why you’re all acting like this. I forgot to say good morning. You Americans and your strange ways. I said it just now, so stop acting stupid and get up.”
Abby sighed. “He’s right. We have to keep moving. I hope zombies don’t smell blood.”
They picked up their stuff, and started heading towards the hotel again.
After hours of walking, the came to a hill. There were trees off to one side, and the other side was just a pile of trash metal.
Snake grinned. “In Russia, we would slide down hills on metal like those.”
Snake cracked his knuckles. “You Americans play as well, yes?”
“You mean sledding?” Logan ventured.
Snake nodded. “Yes, that.”
He walked over to the pile of scraps and pulled several flat pieces out.
“We can save time.”
“What is your phrase? Oh, that’s it. Last one to the bottom is a rotten unborn spawn of a chicken.”
He jumped onto his piece of metal, and slid down the hill.
Abby rolled her eyes, but she did the same.
Connor grinned, and jumped onto a sled. “Hurry up!” He called to Leah and Logan as he launched down the hill.
Leah and Logan both grabbed the remaining two pieces and followed the others.
They shot down the hill quickly, and they all passed Snake.
“Guess who’s the rotten unborn spawn of a chicken!” Connor yelled as he shot by him.
Snake grinned. “You.”
There was a blast as snake flicked his bomb cigar under his sled and shot himself into the air.
He flew over all of them, and rolled to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Leah could barely see him since he was so far away.
A moment later, Logan blasted into the air as well.
“Thanks for the bomb!” He yelled as he followed Snake’s path.
Leah watched as Snake caught Logan before he slammed into the ground.
“At least he didn’t die.” She muttered.
A few minutes later, the rest of them caught up with Snake and Logan.
“You are a nasty little child.” Snake told Logan.
Abby nodded. “What you did was extremely foolish, Logan. What if Snake didn’t catch you?”
“The mafia would have loved you.” Snake continued, completely ignoring Abby.
Her mouth fell open.
Logan grinned.
They all resumed walking, with Abby muttering about the irresponsibility of the “Younger generation”.
It didn’t take long for the plains to meet up with a highway. When the black road came into view, the party stopped.
“Should we avoid the road, or follow it?” Abby asked.
Snake shrugged. “The zombies will be everywhere soon. Hopefully, we can find a car on the road. We follow it.”
They continued onward, and reached the edge of the road.
“Nothing. I would have thought there would be tons of people trying to escape from the zombies.” Leah noted.
Snake shrugged. “People are foolish. They thought they could kill a zombie-most failed. Not many left to run.”
Logan gulped.
“We’re getting rather close now, It’s only about thirty miles away now. This road should take us to a small town with a harbor. I didn’t bother to remember its name. We just have to follow the large road.”
“What would it take to stop walking for a little? My feet are going to fall off!” Leah sighed.
Snake turned to her. “Be glad they fall of now- zombies will rip them off.”
They walked faster.
There was a sudden moan from behind them.
Behind them, hundreds of zombies began to emerge.
Chapter Five
“How the hell did we not see them?” Connor hissed.
Abby shook her head. “Doesn’t matter! Put your butt in gear!”
They sprinted down the road, moving as fast as they could.
“I feel like I should be tired!” Logan wheezed as they ran.
“You get tired now, you die.” Snake replied.
“I never said I WAS!”
“How long have we been running?” Connor asked between gasps.
“Doesn’t matter. Nezhit cannot catch up to us, or we die.” Snake replied. He barely looked winded.
Abby pointed to her right. “See that rock? It was sixteen miles away from the town!” Abby said.
As they ran, Snake pulled a small ball from his pocket, and bit down on it.
He threw it behind them, and there was a loud hiss.
“Run faster! I am hoping the zombies rely on smell or sight!” Snake said to them.
Leah glanced back quickly to see a large wall of white smoke rise above the road.
“That’s a stink bomb.” Connor noted.
Abby smirked. “I guess you could call it that.”
Logan doubled over. “I can’t...run anymore! Haven’t we...lost them yet?”
Snake snatched the twig of a boy up, and threw him over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.
“Can I have a ride too?” Connor wheezed.
Abby shook her head. “Nope. Too big.”
“Should I take that as a compliment?” Connor asked.
Snake managed to shrug a shoulder. “Big means more for zombies to eat. Feeds family of four.”
Connor paled. “I think small might have been better.”
“If you were small, you would be dead. You have little stamina already, with short legs zombies would have take out with you.”
“He’s small!” Connor replied, nodding his head towards Logan.
“But he is useful.” Snake replied.
Half an hour later, they slowed to a stop.
“The zombies cannot run, I thi
nk we have lost them by now.” Abby said.
Leah nodded her head, too winded to speak.
They stood in a small circle, panting for air.
“Do you think we can get there today?” Leah asked after a while.
“I think we might be able to, if we don’t stop to sleep.”
“Let’s go then.” Logan said.
They wearily began to head back down the road.
“Hey…When we get to the hotel, what will we do there?” Logan asked.
“I guess we’ll plant the grain Abby and Snake got.” Connor replied.
“But where will we plant it? We won’t have electricity, so We’re going to have to do it like the farmers used to.” Logan pointed out.
Leah scratched her head. “Dang, I never thought of that. I don’t assume anyone here happens to know anything about farming?”
They all shook their heads.
“Great. It can’t be too hard, can it? I mean, make a hole in dirt, put a seed in, and cover it.”
“What about seasons? I don’t think grain grows in the winter.” Logan muttered.
“Well, it’s only March, so we have some time.” Leah replied.
“Maybe we’ll run into a farmer on our way to the town?” Connor ventured.
“I doubt it. There isn’t anything in our way that a farmer could use. It’s pretty much all bought up for construction.” Leah sighed.
“How do you know that?” Logan asked.
Leah pulled the map out of her backpack and showed him it.
“Who made this map? It’s so detailed! How did the mapmaker know there was a construction going on here, and even if he did, that means this map wouldn’t be good for more than a year or two…” Logan trailed off.
Leah rolled the map up. “My dad gave it to me. I have no clue who made it or why it’s like this.”
Abby shrugged. “Look up there. I think that’s the town way on our left. That means were next to the ocean. We should angle towards the side of the town, it should cut some time off.”
They stepped off of the road and headed towards the dark outline of the town.
There was a quiet rumble.
Connor reddened. “Sorry! I haven’t eaten like…two days.”
Leah stopped walking. “Holy… I completely forgot about eating these last days. My mind has been sorta occupied…”
Connor stared at her. “You forgot about food?”
Snake turned around. “You have food?”
Connor pulled a box of crackers out of his backpack.
“Ritz!” He crowed.
Snake snatched the box from his hands and popped the top open.
Logan licked his lips. “Why didn’t you bring this out earlier?”
Connor scratched his head. “uh…zombies?”
Logan shrugged. “Zombies are nothing to Ritz.”
Snake tore the bag open, and popped a cracker into his mouth.