Jeff’s skin rose up in almost painful goose bumps as if the tongue were licking and caressing him instead of the window. He resisted the urge to flip on the windshield wipers and spray the freak with wiper fluid.
Fortunately, the ghoulish man was weak and began to slide down the hood almost immediately. Its mouth remained attached to the glass like some sort of leech, leaving a slug trail of bile behind it, until the body fell and slipped under the front wheel, where the last of its life force was squished out of its mangled entrails.
Jeff hit the gas and weaved between more bodies and other obstacles as they moved down the road. Megan was still holding onto the dashboard as she stared at the floor, gulping down the recirculated air that held only a taint of corruption from outside.
“That was fun,” she mumbled under her breath, her head still firmly planted between her outstretched arms.
They were coming to another intersection. The military vehicles had begun to thin out, and there were none up ahead. The road was actually clear for a small stretch. There were two gas stations situated across from one another, both with fast food joints connected to them. One was a McDonald’s, the other a popular local chili joint. Megan’s stomach growled, and she gagged. Her hand slammed over her mouth and she fought the urge to vomit once again.
Jeff reached out but retracted his hand before he could rub her back in comfort. He wasn’t sure how Megan would react to his touch, and he watched helplessly as she fought to keep the small amount of food she had eaten down. He relaxed slightly when she seemed to gain control, though she was still breathing hard and staring at the floor.
Jeff looked back outside and studied the area into which they were moving. Paying little attention to the buildings, he instead focused on the strands of concertina wire that ran from the front edge of one of the gas stations to the other across the road. A few Jersey barriers ran the gap, and wire was pinned to each, running for several feet between each concrete roadblock. It ran the entire width of the road and into the parking lots. Some of the wire had fallen, either cut or smashed. The gaps created were big enough to drive a car through. In other places, it still held, and several of the infected had cut themselves to ribbons trying to get through it. Various spots ran red with blood, and chunks of flesh hung like streamers from the razor wire. As the minivan got closer, the engine seemed to agitate the ghouls near the wall, and they began to move as one toward the vehicle. Several shambled through the open gaps while others became tangled in the wire. They fought against it, ignorant of their predicament as they only entangled themselves further. Jeff had to look away rather than watch the razor wire cut deeply into their flesh. The rest of his view was equally unpleasant, as he saw more dead bodies scattered throughout the area. Some were sprawled on the ground, while others dangled over the concrete barriers.
“Which way are we going?” Megan mumbled in a faint voice.
Jeff pressed harder on the gas. Steering the wheel to the right, he turned onto Gallatin Road, the town’s main street.
“The local schools are down this way. That’s probably where any emergency shelters were set up,” he said, glancing over at his passenger. Some normal color had returned to her face, and she no longer looked like she was going to barf on the floorboards. “I figured we should check them out.”
Megan nodded and looked out the window. The houses on both sides of the street showed signs of severe damage. That captured her attention more than the abundance of infected roaming the area. She furrowed her brow and looked from house to house. Back in Milfield, the damage had been random, chaotic. Not so in Gallatin. Every home here was in bad shape.
Clots of stiff-legged figures spilled from doors and windows to take random swipes at them. Jeff almost laughed as one of the figures toppled over on a driveway from its efforts to grab them even though it was nowhere near close enough.
Megan looked away from the houses and their occupants and stared at the street. There was plenty of shattered glass and blood splashed on…everything. Bones were strewn and piled everywhere, and the cars that lined the road looked as bad as the houses.
“I think…I think maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
Jeff focused on the road, and kept them moving at a slow and steady pace, not fully catching Megan’s hesitant words. Megan twisted around in her seat for a better view of the infected following them. There was no consistency to their movement, no efficiency. Still, there was a form of symmetry to it. All eyes were locked on the van like it was a homing beacon. Their arms were elevated as they reached out toward their prize. She was amazed at how quickly they fell into a line behind the van. More came from the sides of the road when the vehicle passed, crawling over one another, desperate to get close. The minivan continued to roll down the road, and the crowd behind grew larger.
Jeff pressed the gas a bit harder, and the crowd fell back. The van rolled over a small hill, and the squalid mass dipped out of sight, though there were still more joining it as they drove on.
The road ahead was fairly clear for as far as they could see. It was straight, but the gradual slope made it impossible to see more than a few hundred feet ahead. Jeff guessed that if it were true that the Gallatin high school and middle schools were set up as emergency shelters, the National Guard had kept the road clear of civilian vehicles. The machine gun positions in the front yards of several houses and detour signs on the side streets they passed seemed to confirm his theory.
“Almost there.”
When Jeff looked over at Megan, he saw terror etched on her face. His grin of confidence went slack, and he slowed down.
“Megan? What is it?”
She did not respond immediately. Instead, she kept looking ahead, toward the schools. A water tower stood nearby, its rusted struts climbing skyward, the fat metal belly painted with wording letting them know they were in Clermont County. Beyond it she could see the outlines of several large brick buildings on both sides of the road.
A church was to the left, partially blocking the view of another, larger building behind it. The only real indication that it was a house of worship and not a large home, at least from Megan’s angle, was the steeple that shot like an arrow straight to heaven. Several ground floor windows were boarded up, but otherwise it looked to be in good shape. Some windows were shattered, but the boards were still in place behind them.
Past the church were several squat buildings that were obviously schools. Plain and drab with large windows that peered into classrooms, they fit the mold of most modern educational facilities. Squared off and bland, two elementary schools and a junior high shared the same parking lot.
On the other side of the road, past the chain link fence surrounding the water tower, was the high school. It was larger than the other schools and looked more modern. A small parking lot was wedged between the tower and the school, and a much bigger one ran around the back of the building all the way to the far side. The high school was closer to them than the church but stretched far down the road so that it was also across from the elementary schools.
Megan was surprised to see how far the entire campus went. She could not see anywhere near the edge of the property lines of the schools; they were simply too far away. On both the road and the wide expanse of grass in front of the high school were more abandoned military vehicles and gun emplacements. There was plenty of room to maneuver and allow the van to glide by the remnants of the equipment that had been abandoned there.
It was quiet. Megan squinted as she looked around. There were no bodies slumped over as there had been up the street, and none up and walking around. She could see no movement in the shadows.