They Walk

Chapter Thirty Four

“So, what do you think we’ll find when we get there?” Sam asks from the front passenger seat, and not for the first time.

No one says anything, and I don’t want to have to repeat what Noah has been saying since we got into the car about twenty minutes ago. I know he’s just nervous and trying to concentrate on what he knows, but still, it’s starting to get to us.

“I’m just not sure Sam. It really could be in any condition, and if where we came from is any sign.” Noah replies from the driver’s seat.

He doesn’t elaborate, and for good reason.

We can all use our imagination here, and I try not to think about it. I’m grateful for the next moment of silence before Sam asks again. Gabe sighs from beside me in the backseat, and I lean closer into him and try to clear my head. As I lay my head on his shoulder, glancing up around my long dark hair I stare at him.

He doesn’t know I’m watching, as he’s glaring out the window. I can see the strong lines of his jaw tightening and loosening in a quick pattern. Even though his head is turned I can still see how the sunlight coming through the window reflects off his light eyes, and it makes them shine. His hair is shorter now than it was a week ago; it was getting in his eyes, so he had me cut it for him. I can’t say I don’t miss it, but his eyes stand out more now. His face loosens suddenly, and I can see the smirk forming on his lips.

And I know I’ve been caught.

His arm that was around my shoulder pulls me closer and I hug him back before sitting back up.

Since he is still glaring out the window, I glance to my left and find that Claire is also watching out hers. I couldn’t help but notice that she has been very subdued since we got into the car. Not that I blame her, because I know what’s running through her mind. We haven’t even hit the main road yet, so we’re still surrounded by trees, and they are so empty that it’s unnerving. It’s such a bright summer morning, that it makes me think that everything is normal. And maybe nothing really happened at all, but as I ring my hands in my lap I can feel the dried blood on them and I know nothing is normal.

When we got in the car, we all placed our weapons and bags on the floorboards. But the closer we get to the city, I can’t help the urge to pick up the ax and grip it tightly. I can feel the muscles in my shoulders tense, and I have to take a deep breath to calm down. I remind myself that we’re relatively safe in the car, but I know it won’t last. It never does. As a headache forms behind my eyes, I think back to the last time I was sitting in the backseat of a car between Gabe and Claire. That was only a week or so ago, but it feels like a lifetime, and someone else’s life at that.

I so wish we were just going to a party and not into the city that is most likely filled with the dead.

“We’re here.” Noah utters.

We all sit up, and take note of our new surroundings, and what I see makes me gasp in dismay. We’ve been following Minot Avenue for a while, and the dark houses disappear and are replaced by stores and businesses on either side of us. Noah has to slow us down to slow crawl, because there are abandoned vehicles lining the road now. Most of the parking lots of the stores are empty, but there is the occasional car with the doors wide open. I can see that the further we go, the dead start to multiply. They are in worse condition than the ones we were fighting last night. One in particular catches my eyes, and he’s a big guy and is missing an arm. But that isn’t what is creepy, it’s that half of his face is missing and most of his chest cavity is showing. As he stumbles between the others, I can see a trail of intestines following in his wake.

I tear my eyes away and try to ignore the way my stomach turns over.

Even as we drive past, their slow stumbling steps pause and turn in our direction. They don’t follow us though, but it doesn’t make me feel any better, there are more of them ahead of us too.

“Holy crab, look at that.” Sam almost yells, as he points out his window.

We are almost to the end of the road, and too our left is a lumber yard. We all turn to look out the window at what he’s pointing at. In the yard near the back, there are at least ten dogs ranging in sizes. They are all nuzzling something, that I think my have been dead for a long time. Not one of them looks in our direction as we pass, and I notice that it’s missing half of his hind courters.

They must be dead too.

“Where is everybody?” Claire whispers.

We all sit back as Noah turns us onto Hotel Road and the sights don’t get any better. There are pharmacies on both sides of us, and I can tell from here that no one living has been there for days. The cars in the parking lot are tipped over or have the doors open with bodies hanging out of them. Some of them are missing their heads, and I wonder where the people are that killed them. The windows of the stores are broken and there is blood covering the pavement going to the entrances. There are bloody footprints going in every direction. I can see shadows of movement inside, and it causes goose bumps to break out all over me.

Gabe reaches over to take one of my hands in his, and I have to unclench them from each other. His palms are slick with sweat and he must be as scared as I am at what we’ll find the further we go. Giving me a tight squeeze, it helps calm me a little bit.

“Hold on guys.” Noah says.

Near the turn we need to take on Rodman Road, there is a garbage truck tipped over on the lawn of a house on our left and blocking half the road. There is trash and debris ling the road and he has to speed up the car for a second, as he steers the car up over the curb and the car gets jostled from the impact. As we clear the street and take the turn we need, I glance back behind me at the house. There is movement on one of the second floor windows, and if I squint my eyes, I can almost make out the form of a woman walking past.

I want to believe that she is alive, but she doesn’t come to the window and I know she must be dead already.

“This is so wrong.” Gabe says as he watches out the window.

Rodman Road used to be a busy street, with at least thirteen businesses and depots. But as we pass at a slow crawl, I can see that half of them have been burned down like so many others we’ve seen. The air over here is still thick with smoke, and the tires of our car leaves tracks in the ash. There are more empty cars everywhere now, and bloody maimed bodies on the ground. Noah has to swerve many times to keep us on the road, to avoid hitting things. There is constant movement on either side of us now, and I have to hold my breath afraid that they will be alerted of our presence.

They only glance in our direction though, and just slowly shuffle along in the abandoned parking lots.

It’s so quiet out there, that when we near the end of the road, a scream pierces around us and causes all to jump in alarm. Noah slows us down even more, and we all pear around us waiting to see if someone is out there. All I can see though is the mindless movements of the dead in the distance. The scream comes again though, and much closer now too, but still we don’t see anything.

“Shouldn’t we go and try to help whoever that is?” Gabe asks, as the car idles in the same spot.

Sam leans around the front seat and fixes Gabe with wide eyes.

“Are you out of your mind? We can’t go out there.”

“We’re not the monsters, Sam.” Gabe retorts.

Sam turns back to sit in his seat and glances nervously at Noah.

“We’re not going out there right?” Sam asks Noah, with a high pitch squeak to his voice.

“Gabe is right we should help anyone that needs it, if we can.” I say as I also look toward Noah.

He is still gripping the steering wheel, and I can see that his knuckles are bone white. I look up and find his reflection in the rearview mirror, and he’s watching Gabe. He looks haunted for a second, before he glances back to the road in front of him.

“Sam is right Gabe, we can’t go out there. The screaming has already stopped, so I’m assuming they might already be dead. Who knows, they might have already been hurt anyways.”

“What if there are more people out there though, we can’t just abandon people if they need help.” Gabe says, but he’s doesn’t sound as adamant as before.

Noah pulls the car back into a steady pace, and we near the end of the road again.

“If there were people alive, I think they would have seen us by now. And if they saw us, I would think that they would come out to the road.

Besides, we would only waste weapons if we went out there. Later after we hit the armory at my base, we can come back alright?” Noah says, and tries to sound convincing.

From my right, Claire snorts in disbelief. None of us really believe him though, it’s hard enough to know what we can do from here on out, let alone make a plan to go backwards.

I just hope that the military base he’s taking us too, has some pretty useful stuff.