Better off Undead

Chapter 37: Leave it all Behind

They drove on for the rest of the day without talking much to each other. They stayed clear of major highways, sticking more to the farm to market roads and side streets. As they explained to Eli, after the outbreak major highways quickly clogged with traffic from people attempting to flee cities. In many places, zombie attacks forced people to abandon their cars, leaving the vehicles cluttering up the roadways like so much trash. Because of this, most major highways were completely impassable.

The backroads, on the other hand, remained largely clear. As before, on Eli's first journey with this group out to the military base, little more dotted these roadways than the occasional other vehicle. Even the zombies proved every bit as rare and elusive as they had been on that journey.

"In all zombie fiction," Eli explained when the others asked him why this concerned him so much, "the world is always overrun by zombies. It's impossible to go this long without running into at least stragglers or something. And of course, once you run into one there's usually dozens around nearby. That's precisely the danger of zombies: the hoard. But here... we're just not seeing that. Zombies don't have much rational thought. They don't live like normal people. They just wander around aimlessly looking for food. We've all seen that and know it's true. So they should just be here and there doing that. Since there not... well... that really only leaves one explanation. My explanation. Something is controlling them. It pretty much stands as proof regarding my theory about the vampires having control."

"I thought you were already pretty certain of that?" Amber asked, her tone and gaze full of suspicion.

"I was," said Eli, then quickly added, "I-I am. I'm just... I'm concerned about how far the reach of these vampires has extended. It's like they're trying to gather up every single loose zombie everywhere. It's like... it's like they're building armies."

There was silence for a long moment, until Aliyah suddenly spoke up. "How about some music?"

"God yes," Daina groaned. "Please."

Aliyah pulled a CD out of somewhere Nick didn't see and quickly shoved it into the car stereo. Moments later, music blared out of the speakers and led them down the road.

They continued on like this for the rest of the day. Every few hours they stopped to eat or for bathroom breaks, or even just to stand up and stretch for a bit. At night they came across a small motel and, finding it sufficiently clear of zombies, used it to rest up for the night. The next day passed in much the same way. When night came, Aliyah, with a fair amount of coaxing, agreed to give up her control and let Mac drive for a time. The rest did their best to sleep in the car.

As dawn broke on the third day, Mac spotted their first group of roving zombies. He rolled the car to a stop and turned it off so that the engine sound wouldn't attract them. From inside the vehicle, seven pairs of eyes watched the undead creatures slowly cross the street.

"Does this disprove your theory?" Aliyah asked Eli.

"Not necessarily. There could be lots of reasons for them roaming about. First of all, it's daytime. From what I've seen, like most vampires the ones we are dealing with can't go out in the daytime. It's possible they rest or relax or even lose some of their control during the day. Second, we don't know where this group is going. Maybe they're being pulled to a vampire's location somewhere. Third, it makes sense that vampires wouldn't have been able to gather up every single loose zombie everywhere. And lastly, well..." Eli suddenly fell quiet.

"Lastly?" Amber prompted, without taking her gaze off the zombies outside.

"It's nothing, forget it."

Still without looking, Amber reached out and punched him in the kidney.

Eli yelped in pain and doubled over backwards, hissing through clenched teeth against the pain.