Katie sank into Travis’ arms. He kissed her brow, rubbing her shoulders.
She cried as the truck rumbled on.
A few minutes later the word came over the radio. All the vehicles that had left the parking lot were accounted for.
The survivors of Madison Mall, overwhelmed by the morning events, rode into the hills toward their new home.
2. Long Road Through Hell
The sky was gray and low as the convoy wound through the barren hills away from Madison. The country road swerved and dove through the hills, the cracks in the asphalt already thick with gnarled weeds. The juniper and cedar trees stretched twisted limbs up toward the sky.
Staring out the window, watching the bare trees slide by, Katie wondered if the trees were praying for those in the convoy to get back to the fort safely. Her bible school days had instilled a lot of verses in her head and she remembered one about trees praying or dancing or something when no one else had a voice. She certainly felt like she could not utter a word without sobbing. She rubbed her brow and snuggled deeper into Travis’ arms as she watched the landscape slipping past the window.
The convoy had taken a long roundabout way to make sure that any zombies trying to follow from Madison would end up wandering in a direction opposite of the fort. Now the convoy was maneuvering through back roads that led them past long dead farmhouses and ranches.
Occasionally, a zombie struggled toward the convoy from one of the long abandoned structures. They seemed pitiful in their slowness. In the first days they had been so fast but now they were so slow Katie was sure that they could be easily circumvented as long as there weren’t that many.
Of course, the mall had flooded with them.
She closed her eyes and fresh tears slipped down her cheeks.
Travis tenderly wiped a tear away and stroked her hair.
There had been so many zombies it had been overwhelming. Running with Travis’ and Jenni’s hands clutched in her own had been the most terrifying event of her life. The moans and screams of the dead and living had been a mind shattering cacophony. Then the most horrible moment had come. Jenni’s hand had slipped from her own.
As long as she lived, she would never forget the despair that filled her when Jenni’s fingers slid so easily from her grip.
Of course, she would never forget what followed either.
Katie remembered looking down from the stairs and seeing the sea of dead looking up at Jenni. For a crazed second, she thought Jenni could maybe jump into the water and somehow make it to the stairs. But then that fast zombie had barreled up the stairs that led up the side of the waterfall, pushing aside the slower ones. Katie remembered that horrible moment when she had watched Jenni swing the gun at the zombie and it had been empty. She hadn’t breathed as she watched Jenni bash the zombie’s brains out with her gun then fling its brains across the crowd below. Foolishly, Katie had thought Jenni was safe. But as she watched Jenni wash her hands, dread had overwhelmed her. Then Jenni had raised her hand and shown the bloody gash on her hand and Katie had known the terrible truth: Jenni was dead.
All that followed…taking the gun from Kevin…sighting Jenni through the scope…pulling the trigger…was just a ritual for the dead. As Jenni stood there, her hand over her head, smiling, triumphant over the undead growling and moaning below her, Katie had understood as well as Jenni that it was over.
And then she had pulled the trigger… Thankfully, Jenni’s body had fallen where the zombies would never reach her.
Katie wiped another tear away.
Lydia had been right. She had been at the mall for more than just a confrontation with the Senator. She had gone there to lay Jenni to rest.
Katie had thought her destiny was something totally other than what it had turned out to be. Yes, she had stood up against the Senator, but in the end, she had freed Jenni from Lydia’s fate. She had also laid her to rest in a way she never could do for Lydia.
“Fuck!” The driver swore, breaking her out of her dark thoughts.
The driver of their enormous truck pulled hard on the heavy steering wheel, tossing them to the side in the big cab. Katie looked up to see the truck in front of them swerving wildly. Reaching out with her hand, she tried to brace herself as their truck shimmied, then caught the road. It began to pass the truck in distress.
The tarp covering the back of the truck opened and a young boy appeared.
His face covered in blood, his mouth open in a scream, he reached toward them. Then someone inside pulled him back inside.
“They’re infected,” Katie gasped. She wasn’t sure if the boy was already turned or a victim, but her pulse was beating rapidly.
“We didn’t have a chance to check everyone before we left,” Travis said bitterly.
The road was winding around a hill and a sharp incline led down into the tree line. As they watched in horror, the truck swerved off the road into the trees, shattering branches and slender trees before hitting the thick trunk of an enormous oak. People began to pour out of the back, bloodied and screaming. Horribly, it was hard to tell if they were turned or infected.
The truck Katie and Travis was in kept moving.
The sound of gunfire erupted. Katie looked into the side mirror to see the soldiers in a Ford Truck riding behind them opening fire on the people rushing up toward the road.