Page 1

"This should be the turn coming up" Kurt nodded and doublechecked one more time.  "Yep, the GPS and map both agree."  He always confirmed with paper maps whenever possible.  In the almost two years since the world went to Hell the satellites had so far continued to send down the radio signals the high tech devices needed but there were fewer now.  Some had either broken down or just quietly ran out of power.  And it certainly didn’t look like anyone would be sending any more up anytime soon.  With most of humanity presumably dead, and most of those up and walking around trying to finish the rest, your priorities tended to get shifted a little.

Like now for instance, he thought to himself, what we need is to find some gas, hopefully some food, and even more hopefully a place where they could stop for at least a few hours.  He picked up the CB radio mike and informed the convoy he wanted to stop and check visually from long range first.  As Lisa slowed their Avalanche to a stop, no need to pull over he thought, it wasn’t as if there would be any traffic coming soon, or ever, he watched the five assorted trucks behind them stop as well.  Doors opening on each one, he nodded as they more or less followed the established routine for stops.

Exiting the vehicles and either climbing into the beds or onto hoods of the SUV’s a lookout with binoculars was scanning the horizon in all directions. He himself hopped out and climbed through the bed of their truck and onto the roof.  His own powerful binocs about to be focused on what he hoped was to be their next stop. Before he did though, he glanced at each truck in sequence and watched as the lookouts caught his eye then raised a hand, holding a number of fingers aloft for how many of the undead they had spotted then pointing in the direction of the sightings.  None showed more than three  fingers and he relaxed slightly even as his eyes followed the pointing gestures of each one to make sure none were close enough to be an immediate danger.

Finally he turned his glasses on their objective, even from this distance the powerful optics let him read the sign "Rooster’s Corner Gas and Go"  He swept his gaze back and forth across the isolated cluster of buildings and gas pumps.  There were only a few vehicles in the lot, a promising sign that perhaps no one had made their final stand here.  He noted a couple of staggering undead near what had to have been a car wash at one time.  It currently was a half demolished pile of bricks and rubble with a couple of pickups nearly upside down mixed in.  The gas pumps appeared to be intact.  He didn’t expect them to work of course but it was still a decent sign.  Lowering the binocs, he turned and made a "let’s go" gesture before hopping down from his perch.  Sliding into the passenger seat he nodded to Lisa and she moved the truck forward.  All five vehicles pulled slowly away as the rotting corpse of a teenage boy, still wearing his torn school football jersey lurched up onto the roadway.  Moaning in frustration and need, the former athlete turned slowly and followed in the direction the vehicles had taken.

A few minutes later the vehicles pulled into the parking lot of the Truck Stop.  Just as before they stopped as a unit and each lookout made his sweeps.  Then at his signal, two moved off again to circle the perimeter of the property slowly.  Kurt jumped down from his Truck and prepared to lead the sweep team as usual.  He kissed Lisa quickly and watched her climb back in to the truck to monitor communications from the whole team.  Darrell and Jay moved up and the three man sweep team approached the convenience store portion of the truckstop.  They cleared each of the six vehicles in the lot as they passed them, even the upside owndown trucks smashed into the carwash but none contained people, living, dead, or undead.  Several showed deep rust colored stains and smashed windows that told of the fate of the unfortunate passengers.

As they passed the gas pumps and moved toward the front of the building, a body lurched into view from what appeared to be a garage on the side.  His name had once been ‘Chuck’ if you could believe what his torn and bloody shirt said.  Chuck, if that was his name, would never change anyone’s oil again, all he wanted to do now was attack them and eat their live flesh if he could.  Jay stepped toward him as Darrell circled around behind to make sure no other ghouls were emerging.  As what had once been Chuck stretched his arms and started to move slightly faster toward Jay, Darrell stepped behind and swung the mini sledge he carried.  The back of the zombies head caved in with a wet thunk and he slipped to the pavement with remarkably little sound.  "That’s what takes the most getting used to" Kurt thought to himself for probably the thousandth time.  "Everything is so quiet now"

[ Continue to page 2 ]