The Dead Road: The Complete Collection Read Online Free PDF Page A

infection starting in the sole of my right foot. Every step was like touching a hot frying pan. Eli helped me walk as I limped towards the road.
     
    "We gotta get you to a doctor, man."
     
    I shrugged. I didn't want to say that I didn't think there were any doctors left to get to. I didn't say that the first places that probably got overrun were hospitals. "Just some bandages and antibiotics. A pharmacy will do."
     
    The road was much easier to walk than the woods. Stepping up onto the flat, even pavement was a welcome relief. Even though it was still painful, the pavement was cool under my feet and I could plant each step more confidently, unafraid of stepping onto something that will tear my foot open even more. Up ahead was a road sign, "Camping Ahead - 1/2 mile." In the distance I could see the faint glow of the single street light that illuminated the parking lot. Eli nudged my side with his elbow. "See that man? We're almost there."
     
    My thoughts drifted as we walked. With Eli's help I didn't need to think about where we were going, I just put one foot in front of the other, limping just enough that I didn't slow Eli down. I thought about Roger. I wondered if he had made it down here first, or if he was behind us still, or if he made it at all. I let my eyes drift closed as I walked. I felt exhausted. The act of walking became a mechanical thing, something that a process in my mind was making happen without any sort of thought. I let Eli guide us, and forced myself to stop thinking for a while. I imagined that none of this was real. It was all just an extension of the dreams. The running, the pain, that desperate, clawing feeling of rising panic, it was all just in my head.
     
    "Oh shit."
     
    Eli's whisper broke me out of my reverie. I opened my eyes. They were blurry and gummed with sweat and the remnants of sleep, but I could see what made Eli swear. In the glow of the single light I could see a mass of shapes, milling about the parking lot like a pride of lions.  There were a dozen or so cars, and between all of the shuffled a pack of the things, over twenty of them, shifting and moving aimlessly.
     
    Eli ushered me to the side of the road and we ducked down behind a clutch of trees. I rubbed my eyes, trying to clear the sleep from them. Eli brought my rifle up to peer through the scope.
     
    "Oh god, Alex. There's a shit-ton of them. Gotta be twenty or thirty."
     
    I groaned and leaned heavily against the tree. "Probably the group from up top."
     
    "But, how man?"
     
    I sighed, "They followed the road. Probably followed Roger. Is your car there?"
     
    He scanned back and forth through the scope, frantic as he tried to peer through the foilage and crowd of monsters. "Uh, I don't see it. I don't think so, man."
     
    I nodded. "Alright Give me the rifle, let me see."
     
    He handed it to me and I lifted it up, closing one eye to look through the scope. I could see the throng of creatures as they walked, shambling back and forth around the parking lot. They seemed to move in a circular pattern, each of them shambling around one empty corner of the lot. Even the ones further away seemed to move back and forth to keep that spot in sight. It reminded me of dogs trying to catch a scent, but in slow motion.
     
    "Did you park in the far corner, Eli?"
     
    "Uh.. I don't... I'm not sure. It's been a long week, man."
     
    "Think, Eli!" I glared at him. "My car's two away from that spot. Were you that close?"
     
    "Uh, yeah, yeah I think so. You helped me carry the beer from my trunk, right? I pulled up on the other side of Roger's truck from where you were."
     
    I nodded. "Right, yes, that's it. So they're circling your spot. They followed Roger's scent, and lost it when he got into the car and drove off. They're hovering around where he got away."
     
    Eli slammed his fist into the tree. "What the hell do we do now, man? There's twenty of those things between us and your car! We'll never get all of them!"
     
    I