Chapter 5
“At the end, the bottom, the very worst of it, with the world afire and hell’s flamewinged zombies calling him by name, Elliott Bradbury blamed himself.”
California was the longest state in the entire world. Jake had been driving for hours and the GPS told him he hadn’t even made it halfway to Oregon.
Maybe it was just his perception. It was an unpleasant drive, and it had nothing to do with the scenery. Max was snoozing in the back so not only was she not the best road companion, she was also talking in her sleep. Well, growling and snarling in her sleep anyway.
He drove north, but he couldn’t drive fast enough to outrun whatever was happening to his world. Cities and towns rushed by on every side, and everywhere along the side of the road he was seeing smoke rising on the distance, abandoned cars… and a lot of people acting like Max.
They were everywhere; Jake couldn’t believe how fast this was happening. Max’s behavior was confusing; the others he’d seen were almost pure animal, including the ones in the hospital. Max seemed able to come to herself, speaking in clear English and not trying to eat anyone. So far she hadn’t come at him at all; he wondered what the difference was, but he was no doctor. Or voodoo priest. Or Scientologist, or whoever would deal with something like this.
The sun was just coming up, and he pulled his sunglasses out of the glove compartment. The day previous had been scorching hot and he expected the same today. He passed a sign indicating that Oakland was coming up; he tapped the map function on the GPS to confirm.
“Huh,” he muttered. “I guess it is the longest state.”
Jake turned the radio back on eagerly. Between the major cities the radio was nothing but static though sometimes as he drew closer he could get a signal; that was becoming infrequent. Even near the big cities it wasn’t coming through as well as it had even a couple hours previous, but he was desperate for news. In the back of the news van, he thought he heard Max groan something about a spleen that he chose to ignore.
Jake hit the scan button on the stereo over and over, getting nothing but static on FM. He switched to AM and flipped stations for a minute before he finally heard an intelligible human voice that continued to cut in and out before getting a steady signal.
“… scattered reports… north… Governor Hopkins… CDC is maintaining a presence in Oregon, trying to cut through the red tape… director reportedly wants to blow up the bridges into Washington state to try to set up a… is quoted as saying, ‘Stubborn, ill-tempered, bureaucrat of a governor won’t’… but so far the CDC has been silent on whether or not a cure is being sought at this time, or if they’ve even identified the cause of the epidemic that is swiftly becoming a pandemic. Reports are now coming in from the east coast as well. It appears to be spreading at a terrifying pace… “
The static took back over, but Jake had heard enough.
What he didn’t hear was Max’s sleepy mumbling. He glanced in the rearview mirror and nearly jumped out of his seat.
Max was standing right behind him, her red rimmed eyes staring at the back of his head. Her curly hair was a mess, something that she would never have tolerated another human being seeing if she were in her right mind.
“Hi Max,” he said, tentatively.
Her eyes snapped up to him, alert and aware; she immediately began fussing with her hair and Jake felt a wave of relief; this was the shallow, obsessive ladder climber he knew and loved.
“Hi Jake,” she said; her voice was a little distant.
There was an awkward silence; off to the side of the road was a business area. Jake’s stomach grumbled and he latched on to the first thing he could think to say with the stimulus of a rumbling belly and a strip mall:
“You hungry?” he asked, and immediately regretted the question. Her eyes glazed again.
“Yes.”
Not being one to learn quickly when there was the potential to make even greater mistakes in his life, Jake asked, “What sounds good?”
“You.”
The truck swerved off the road.