This Plague of Days, Season Two (The Zombie Apocalypse Serial) Read Online Free PDF Page B

eyebrows all the way back.
    Beyond Burko’s van, a dozen flatbed trucks sank up to the wheel wells in mud. Around them, piles of blackened bodies still smouldered and stank. The pyres of Kansas City’s dead stretched out to the horizon.
    “You can only throw a body so high,” Theo said. “Then you have to start another pile. They must have been trying to conserve fuel or they would have done a better job of burning bodies.”
    Mrs. Bendham moaned. “Oh…Al. Poor Al.”
    Jack pressed the accelerator as the prevailing wind hit them with the stench of thousands of charred bodies. As one, without discussing it, they all pulled their shirts over their mouths and noses.
    “I didn’t know there were so many birds,” Anna said. “It’s scary how many birds there are. I never thought about it before.”
    “The pyres…well, that was necessary. Grisly, but necessary ,” Jack said. “All those shoes…that bothers me more.”
    “What happened there, do you suppose?”
    “It wasn’t a hockey riot,” Jack said. She’d guessed the cause was marauders with guns, but she didn’t want to say so.
    “I saw the Road Warrior trilogy, Mom,” Anna said. “I can guess.”
    “Look over there, in the field to the right.” Mrs. Bendham gasped. Her hands went to her face.
    When people touch their faces, it’s a gesture to comfort themselves. Jaimie had read that and believed it. He touched his own face, mimicking the old woman. He felt no different, so he followed Mrs. Bendham’s gaze.
    Rows of bodies were lined up, all face down in the mud.
    Prone, Jaimie thought, is face down. Face up is supine. Many people are unclear on that.
    There were more bodies on the ground in short lines. It was as if they had been clutches of fellow travellers taken aside, arranged carefully and shot in the backs of their heads.  
    “That’s a very military thing to do. That’s what war looks like,” Mrs. Bendham said.
    “We aren’t in a war, Marjorie,” Jack said.
    “Aren’t we?”

    * * *  

    Anna whispered a curse. She did not allow herself to cry aloud, but hot tears slipped down her cheeks. She stared at her feet rather than take in the scene of execution.
    “Too bad we can’t fly a plane. We’d be far and away.” Mrs. Bendham wiped tears from her cheeks.  
    “Our neighbor, Mr. Sotherby, was a commercial pilot,” Anna said.
    “We could use him right now couldn’t we, dear?” Mrs. Bendham replied.
    “I hate flying, anyway,” Jack said. “The staff manage to be civil but never graduate to polite.”
    “Yeah, then there’s that whole airport security hassle. Who needs that?” Anna deadpanned.
    Jaimie leaned forward and pointed ahead and to the right at a wooded crossroads.  
    Theo nudged his son in the ribs with an elbow. “What’s up, kid? Speak!”  
    “Truck!” Jaimie yelled.
    Jack stood on the brake. A few seconds later would have been too late. The dump truck blew through the intersection without slowing so it was up to Jack to swerve and slide.  
    The massive gray and black blur flew in front of them. Drag rocked the van sideways like a surprise crosswind about to capsize a sailboat. The big truck was another hundred feet away before they heard its driver angrily blast his air horn. Before it disappeared, Jack caught a glimpse of a pile of bodies in the truck bed.
    Jack’s hands fluttered on the wheel. The shock of the near miss shook through her.  
    “I want to go home, Mom,” Anna said. She was hugging herself, eyes closed. “I know it’s not there anymore, but I want it. I want to be home.”
    “I know,” Jack said. She put a hand out to her daughter. Shock made their hands cold. She looked back at her son. “Thanks, Jaimie. Someone’s looking out for us, after all. Thank God.” she said.
    “Amen,” Mrs. Bendham whispered.
    “Seems like kind of a minor miracle, doesn’t it, though?” Theo said. “Not to sound ungrateful, but if you’re going to credit your invisible friend with saving