“You know,” Dan said. “You can just say yes or no.”
“Thank you, Mr. Data,” Drew said in his best Patrick Stewart impression.
Max sat back, grumbling. “I refuse to go through life using a laconic method of answering questions. Details are what make an argument worth listening to. You’ll either get my full two cents’ worth, or a blank stare.”
“We get the stare either way,” Drew said, drawing a crooked smile and head shake from Max.
Dan scanned the country road ahead. Though there were farms and farm houses around, most of them were burned to the ground. Only those that were set back into the woods were still standing, and those were likely still inhabited—maybe. However, none of them had any solar panels on the roof.
“Is that a cow?” Max asked from the back.
Sure enough, off in the distance, there was a single cow in a field. It stood still, grazing one spot, and seemed oblivious to the world around it.
Strange,
Dan thought.
“I wonder if its owner is still alive,” Drew said. “Or if it just survived on its own.”
“If it’s a milk cow,” Max said, “that’s not likely. It would have gotten an infection from the lack of milking. You have to milk them every day, I’ve heard.”
Dan’s only thought was a nice big, juicy steak. He could even picture it searing over an open flame, it’s juices dripping off of it as the fat around the edges blackened and smoked with that sweet—
“Watch out!”
Drew shouted.
A flash of white appeared in front of the truck, blurred and lightning quick. He stomped the brakes just as the pickup impacted it. They ground to a halt, all of them frozen with fear. Dan gripped the steering wheel tightly, waiting for whatever they had hit to stand up and attack. It didn’t.
And that was frightening.
“What was that?” Dan asked.
Drew shook his head, still frozen.
“Max,” Dan said. “Are you alright?”
He looked in the rear-view mirror, seeing Max nod.
Slowly, Dan opened the driver’s side door. Drew grabbed his arm.
“Are you fucking nuts?” Drew asked.
“I just wanna make sure it wasn’t a person or something.”
“So what if it was?” Drew hissed. “They’re dead now. Nothing we can do.”
Drew was right, but Dan still wanted to know. He pulled away and stepped out, carefully moving to the front of the pickup. He stopped, backing up enough to reach in and grab his M4A1, then continued on.
There was a smudge of black and green fluid sprayed out in front of the pickup, some of it running down over the hood. Dan’s heart quickened, knowing that whatever he had hit was going to be something unpleasant.
He was right.
A ghoulish white and gangly creature lay sprawled out in front of the bumper, half under the truck itself. Though its face was smashed, Dan could see the size of its huge maw. It was lined with razor sharp teeth, and a long, sickly grayish-green tongue hung out of it. The creature’s body was tightly knotted and rigid, almost like the pale shell of some deep sea arthropod. The hands were clawed, with fingers at least eight inches long, and tipped with black barbs that looked like they could rip the entrails out of a T-Rex.
“Holy fuck,” Dan whispered.
“What is it?” Drew asked as he stepped out, staying by the door.
“It’s one of those ghoulish things,” he said. “Like the one I shot with the crossbow in the pileup.”
Drew went to the front of the truck, peering down at the splattered abomination. “Jesus,” he muttered. “I wonder what the hell those things are. Were they human?”
Dan leaned in for a closer look, his skin crawling. The thing was definitely human shaped, but wasn’t a shuffler, shambler, or even one of the mutant hunters. He wasn’t really sure what it was.
“Who knows?” Dan said.
“Gentlemen,” Max said from out of the rear window. “I really think we should be continuing on. We’re losing daylight, and I have to piss. I’m sure as hell not doing it here.”
Dan backed away to return to the driver’s seat. He fully expected the creature to leap up and attack, but its stillness remained. It was dead. Satisfied, he got in, slammed the door shut, and rolled over the thing with a stomp on the gas pedal.
“So,” Drew said. “What the fuck now?”
“I still have to urinate,” Max said from the back.
Dan was at a loss. Though the creature was dead, and of no danger to anyone, there was still the question of what the hell it was. No one on the forums, even Jake, had mentioned anything resembling these creatures. For all he knew, it was some variation of the Robert creature. Maybe something not quite as bizarre or powerful, but similar nonetheless.
“All of these new things,” Dan mumbled. “It’s just getting worse.”
Drew sighed. “It’s never going to get better,” he said. “Not until all of these things are gone.”
“What about the walking corpses?” Dan said. “There are probably billions of them, all standing up half rotted and stinking, looking for people to eat.”
“They’re not corpses,” Max said from the back.
“How do you know?” Dan asked, looking at him in the rear-view mirror.
“They’re just diseased,” Max said. “They can’t be dead. Dead people stay dead. This isn’t Hollywood or TV, it’s reality. Maybe Travis can find out something. He is a doctor, after all.”
“They looked pretty dead to me,” Drew said. “We saw a whole horde of them heading to the northeast.”
“There has to be some other explanation,” Max maintained. “In any case, I still have to urinate.”
“You can piss in Nashville,” Dan said. “We’ll be there in ten minutes. We’re not stopping out here.”
“Hot tub suites,” Jake read the sign on his right. “Ooh, let’s get a room.”
Toni chuckled. “I’m pretty sure there’s no room service anymore. I need my free continental breakfast or it ain’t happenin’.”
“Still,” Jake said. “I’m hungry as shit and there might be food there.”
“Alright,” Toni said. “But let’s check out that storage place down the street afterwards.”
They approached the front entrance of the small hotel, both of them impressed with its quaint country styling. Up the hill a ways were several log cabin homes, decrepit and crumbling; some of them showing signs of having been set on fire. Evidently, even a tiny town like Nashville was subject to Gephardt’s antics.
“Looks clear,” Jake said as he peered into the front door. “The lobby is a shit hole, but I don’t see any baddies.”
Toni drew her revolvers anyway. She swiveled around him with her guns akimbo, looking a lot like a black Lara Croft. Granted, her clothing wasn’t form-fitting and impractical like Lara’s, but she still looked damn fucking sexy in it. Tactical gear was always sexy on a chick.
“Open the door,” Toni said.
Jake reached out and slowly pulled the glass door open. Toni stepped inside like a cop, pointing her guns left and right expertly, and then allowed Jake inside. The lobby was definitely a mess. As they crept through the garbage and broken furniture, the smell of rot became apparent. Toni glanced back at him with a hunted look. He grumbled.
“Fucking corpses,” he said.
They identified at least part of the smell when they reached the front desk. The clerk—presumably—was sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall. There was a trail of blood leading up from her body. She was shot up against the wall and slid down as she died, leaving her corpse to rot in a sitting position.
“I guess somebody wasn’t happy with their room,” Jake joked.
Toni shook her head with a crooked grin. “I was thinking the same thing,” she said.
Jake’s eyes caught a decorated white box that sat on the counter. His eyes lit up when he realized it was a box of Twinkies.
“Ooh,” he said, grabbing the remaining two.
Toni gave him a disgusted look. “Are you actually thinking of eating those?”
“Hey,” he said, shouldering his shotgun and ripping one open. “My blood sugar is low. Besides, these things are immortal… so to speak.”
“They’re full of preservatives.”
“Good,” Jake joked. “I’m a big fan of self-preservation.”
Toni rolled her eyes, stepping deeper into the shadowy lobby. Jake followed, stuffing the entire Twinkie in his mouth. It was delicious. He could feel the anxiety of low blood sugar melting away quickly. Now, the fear of the unknown was the only anxiety he felt. He was getting used to that.
“The kitchen is probably through here,” Toni said, peering through the window of a swinging door.
“They should have bottled water,” Jake said. “I’m pretty damn thirsty.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have stuffed that whole Twinkie in your face hole.”
Jake grinned crookedly. “I wasn’t sure where else to stuff it.”
Toni pushed the door open gently, sticking her head inside and listening. She backed away, gave Jake a nod, then pushed through. The kitchen was dark, but there was the glow of dusk in the far corner, coming from a small window with frosted glass.
“No peeksies for these cooks,” Jake said.
There was a glass doored cooler in front of them filled with bottled drinks of all kinds. There was water, sodas, local beers, and even some opened bottles of white wine. Toni reached and grabbed a few bottles of water, pausing to check out the beers.
“I’ve never even heard of half this shit,” she said. “But I wouldn’t mind having one.”
“Go for it,” Jake said, cracking open his water and killing half of it. “Won’t bother me none.”
She took a bottle with the label half torn off—or sweated off. She opened it and took a big guzzle, winking at Jake after she finished.
“That’s good,” she said. “I should have bought this before the shit hit the fan.”
A gurgling moan came from another corner. They turned, pointing their guns into the shadows. A rotted figure slowly stood on wobbling legs, turning its face toward them as it began walking their way.
“I got it,” Toni said.
She holstered her revolvers and pulled out her hunting knife, calmly approaching the thing as it bared its teeth and growled again. With one skilled thrust, she impaled it through the chin, and withdrew just as it collapsed to the floor.
“Well,” Jake said. “That was easy.”
“The dead ones
are
a lot easier, I’ve noticed. Just kill the brain. The other things are tougher. It takes a high-powered gun to bust through their skulls. Even then, sometimes they still keep coming.”
“I just blow them up,” Jake said, remembering the nice grenade launcher he used to have. “Works.”
“It’ll be dark by the time we get into Nashville,” Toni said. “Should we stop for the night, or keep going?”
“I thought you said no room service, no deal.”
“That I did,” Toni said. “Alright, we keep going.”
“Can we skip the storage units?” Jake asked. “They’re probably looted all to shit anyway.”
“Good point,” she said. “Let’s check the parking lot for a car. I’m tired of walking.”
Thankfully, there was one car in the lot with the keys in it. Unfortunately, its driver was still in it, too. Jake dispatched it quickly by dragging it out and stomping its skull. He then wiped the brains off of his boot on the asphalt.
“Nasty fuckers,” he said.
Toni stepped in and sat in the driver’s seat, smiling widely when the car started right up.
“Fuck yeah,” she said. “Get in.”
“Shotgun,” Jake called.
They tore out of the parking lot and headed toward Nashville. Evidently, Toni was an experienced racecar driver; or she drove like one, at least. Jake glanced at her occasionally, genuinely fearing for his life. She ignored him for the most part, but there was a slight smile on her face.
“What’s up here?” Jake asked. “I’ve never been to Nashville. I didn’t even know there
was
a Nashville in Indiana.”
“The first thing we’ll see is a pharmacy on the left,” she said. “It’s at the stop light.”
“Good,” Jake said. “Maybe they’ll have some insulin. But I bet it’s expired.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Toni said. “Even if it’s expired, it’s still better than nothing. And there are other things you can take. There are herbs, minerals, and other things that help keep blood sugar down.”
“Like what?”
“Ginseng, chromium, vitamin B, shit like that.”
Jake grunted. He had never really heard of those things being good for blood sugar, but Toni seemed to know what she was talking about.
“Before my career change,” she said, “I was a CNA.”
“Why did you become a trainer?”
“Somebody said I wouldn’t make a good nurse. So I didn’t even bother going ahead to nursing school.”
“You believed them when they said that?” Jake asked.
Toni nodded, pursing her lips. “That’s what you do when it comes out of your mama’s mouth.”
Shit
, Jake thought. That wasn’t cool at all. He had never listened to anything his mother said; at least not negative bullshit like that. Most moms had negative things to say on occasion, but telling her kid that he or she was no good at something… That was pure and utter bullshit.
“Fuck that,” Jake said. “You’ve been a good nurse so far.”
He could see her smile, and he knew he had cheered her up a little. That was comforting.
“Here we are,” Toni said.
They pulled up to the intersection where the pharmacy was located. It was big and obvious, sticking out like a sore thumb amongst other buildings that were more rustic looking—except for the gas station across the street, of course. Toni pulled into the parking lot and they stopped right in front of the automatic door. It was already busted out and pulled off of its track.
“Looks like somebody else got here first,” Jake said. “I bet all the good shit is gone.”
“We’ll see,” Toni said, shutting off the car.
They cautiously entered the shattered doors, avoiding the glass that was exploded inward. The pharmacy was fairly well-lit, as the front of the store had large windows near the ceiling. Most of the shelves were in disarray, with a majority of their contents either missing, or dumped onto the floor. Jake could see the pharmacy sign in the back corner.
“There it is,” he said. “Shall we go shopping?”
“Look for whatever you can,” Toni said. “If you have any questions, ask me. But I’m sure you know what you’re looking for. I’ll be keeping an eye out and grabbing those herbs and minerals for you.”
“Alright,” Jake said, heading down the aisle.
The pharmacy counter was broken and smashed in. The shelves inside were mostly bare, having been previously robbed, presumably. Jake went around, searching the remainder of the bottles for medication he knew of. Amaryl was first on his list, and it was easy to find. There were three 500 count bottles.
“Sweet,” he said out loud. “This’ll last a while.”
He noticed an open refrigerator along the back wall. There were several vials lying around it, mostly medications he had never heard of. There were a few Humulin vials, too. He grabbed all four of them, stuffing them in his pocket. They may be bad, he realized, but still better than nothing.
Nearby, there were a number of pen injectors; Victoza, Lantus, etc. He grabbed a handful of those as well, and then went back to the shelves to search for Metformin. There was one 500 count bottle left. He grabbed it, and froze as he heard a low hiss coming from behind another shelf.
Toni was there beside him almost immediately, her revolvers drawn. Jake set down his pack and pulled out his shotgun. The two of them waited, searching the shadows for the source of the hiss.
Then, a pair of clawed hands appeared over the top of a nearby shelf, followed by the horrid face of a stalker. It howled at them through its fanged maw. Jake aimed and fired as he backed away. Toni let loose a barrage, sprinting behind another counter. The stalker leaped off of the shelf and gave chase.
Jake cocked his shotgun and fired another round, striking the creature in its hard, pale back. It squealed with pain and turned to face him, vile fluids spilling out of its wound. It charged, opening its maw impossibly wide. Toni slammed into him, knocking him out of the way just as the creature leaped.
Her revolvers sounded one after the other repeatedly as the two of them fell to the ground roughly. The stalker slammed against the broken counter behind them, full of holes and twitching. Toni stood, holding one revolver to its head. She looked back at Jake as he recovered.
“This is one ugly fucker,” she said, blowing its head off.
Jake’s heart was pounding. He thought it was a heart attack at first, but realized there was no pain. It was pleasant, actually. Exhilarating, in fact. He jumped up with a smile, tensing his muscles and lolling his head around.
“That was fuckin’ awesome,” he said.
Toni chuckled, setting her revolvers on the counter and searching her pack for more bullets.
“Damn,” she said. “Two boxes left. I hope the gun stores have magnums.”
“In a town like this?” Jake wondered. “Probably mostly hunting rounds.”
“Indiana has a minimum .357 rule for deer hunting,” Toni said.
“Yeah,” Jake said. “I forgot about that. I don’t do a whole lot of hunting.”
Toni holstered her revolvers, and then came to Jake to look him over. “You alright,” she asked. “Are you hurt?”
Jake looked himself over, seeing nothing but maybe a scuff mark from landing on the rough carpet. “Nope,” he said. “I’m good. Feel pretty nice, actually.”
“Good,” Toni said. “I found some of the herbs. Now I just need something else.”
Jake sat down on the counter as Toni went searching through the meds. After several minutes, and a shitload of cursing, she finally picked up a bottle.
“Bingo,” she said, stuffing the bottle in her pocket.
“What was that?” Jake asked.
“Adderall,” she said. “I feel like gettin’ jacked.”
Jake shook his head.
Just like Dan,
he thought with a chuckle.
After continuing down the main drag, Toni took a left at the next stop sign. Another block later, she turned right, slowing down and gliding along the curb. She and Jake looked to the right, where a half-collapsed house stood. A sign was near the sidewalk, knocked over and facing up to the sky.
“This is one of the gun shops,” Toni said.
“It looks like it used to be a house.”
“Probably,” Toni replied, parking the car. “It looks like it’s been hit already. But there should be something left, at least.”
They stepped out of the car with guns drawn. Jake looked around, noticing the pioneer-style architecture of the houses and small businesses on the block. There were log, sandstone block, and other types. It was rather quaint.