The Rot: Book 3

Chapter 34

Desmond drove, and Donovan rode shotgun so he could give directions. To say that the van was cramped would be an understatement. Sardines had it better than we did. I was lucky enough to sit all the way in the back with our supplies by myself. Ang, Cyn, Janice, and Wayne sat in one seat. Shawn, Mick, Ruby, and Brynn sat in the second seat. I had the job of looking out for any stenches that might be chasing after the van.

"How ya doin' back there, Reid?" Mick asked about ten minutes into our journey.

"Cramped," I answered.

"Any biters chasing us?"

"I've only counted two so far. They stopped chasing us after a little bit. Like they figured out that they can't get us, and give up. How's the weather up there?"

"A little messy."

"What?"

"Lots of wrecked cars. Abandoned ones, too."

"It's gonna be slow going for a while," Desmond said.

Great. Not exactly like I can stretch out and take a nap. After a few minutes of slow going, Desmond had to bring the van to a halt.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Road's blocked," Des answered.

I sighed, "Shit.

"No way we can get around this."

I couldn't tell because I was in the back, so I didn't say anything.

"Is there any way we can take a detour?" Cyn asked.

"We did pass a few side streets," said Rue.

"Dammit," Desmond said. He put the van in reverse and turned the vehicle around, taking the first left. Des drove away so fast, that I couldn't get a good enough look at the blocked-off road.

"This street better not be blocked too," Des muttered. The road wasn't blocked by any abandoned cars or debris. However, we did have a bit of a problem with the stenches mulling about.

"We've got chompers," Des announced to the rest of us.

I tried to turn and look out the front of the van, but it was too damn cramped for me to do so.

"How many?" I asked.

"Five, maybe six," Des answered.

"Ah, piss."

A biter slammed up against the van's rear windshield.

"Fuck!" I bellowed.

The corpse started pounding on the glass, trying to get at me.

Desmond put the van in reverse again, and floored it, backing over the dead thing.

"Are the other dead bastards chasing us?" I inquired.

"They are," Des answered.

We got back to the main road and Desmond sped away from the other biters. Des weaving around the debris in the street was starting to make me a little nauseous.

"Great, we're heading back from where we came," Ang said.

"Don't have much of a choice," Cynthia told her sister.

I watched the biters chasing after the van. When we made it a few blocks away, the small group of undead stopped their pursuit.

"They gave up," I told Desmond.

"Good," Des replied.

Desmond pulled the van to the side of the road and parked.

"What's up?" Cynthia asked him.

"We obviously can't go back that way, Cyn," Desmond replied. "Do you know of a different route, Donovan?"

"There's the expressway," Donovan replied.

"Oh no, fuck that. Clogged full of cars and biters. no thanks."

"Well, this sucks," I scoffed.

While the rest of the group discussed what to do next, I kept an eye on that little group of dead things that chased us. The undead started to spread out and wander off down the side streets.

I managed to look ahead and I examined the debris and vehicles that were blocking our road ahead.

"Hey, Des?" I asked.

"What's up? More biters?" Desmond inquired.

"No, they all fucked off. But I think you can squeeze the van through the left-hand side of that little roadblock.

"Really? I didn't think the van would fit."

"Yeah. Looks like it."

Cyn turned and tried to look for herself. "Oh, I don't know about that, Reid. We might get stuck. You wanna get out and push if that happens?"

"Not really. It's a tight squeeze for sure, but I think the van will squeeze by" I told Cynthia.

Mick looked. "I think Reid's right. We can make it."

"Well, it's either that or drive around looking for a detour all damn day," said Desmond.

"Who knows how many biters we'll run into doing that," Ang added.

Desmond turned the van back in the direction of the roadblock. "Okay, we're doing this."

We drove back up to the blocked section of the road. Desmond maneuvered the van to the left side. He had to get on the curb, but Des managed to get the van around the wreckage and get past the roadblock.

"Good job, Des," Cynthia said.

"Hey, that was all Reid," Desmond replied. "Good eye."

"Oh shucks," I responded. "I'm just doing my job."

"Let's hope that's the only roadblock," Cyn said.

I almost said, "It won't be," But I didn't want to be a party pooper. "The biters didn't follow us," I told the group.

"Good," Desmond said.

While there was some more wreckage and crap we had to get around, it wasn't too bad, and Des handled it with ease. The occasional biter would dart out and slam up against the van, but the dead things didn't cause any problems. Thankfully, we didn't run into a horde.

Although I was worried about the stenches, I was more concerned with Joshua.

"He's still out there with that shithead Curtis. They could be waiting to ambush us."

I didn't bring up my concerns to the others. Didn't want to worry everyone. I just stayed quiet and kept watch. For the biters, and for Joshua.

We were off the main road and into a residential area after about an hour.

"Damn, these are some nice houses," Rue said. "Way out of my price range."

"Hey, they're free now," I said.

"Yep, just clear out a bunch of biters, and the place would be all to myself."

"Okay, we're here," Donovan said.

Donovan's house was indeed further away from the road. Most of the houses in the area were. The home was large, with a spacious front yard that was closed in by a tall, iron fence. Yeah, I know that I sound like the world's worst real estate agent.

We were all bout to pile out of the van when Donovan stopped us.

"The hell is that?" He said.

I couldn't see what Donovan was talking about due to being stuck in the back.

"What's the problem? What's going on?" I asked. I thought for sure it was Joshua and Curtis waiting for us. But it wasn't.

Cynthia let out a disappointed sigh.

"What's wrong?!?" I wanted to know.

"There's stenches all over the front yard."