“There’s already monsters here,” I said. “That’s why we’re leaving. To get away from them.”

“No!” Stella pulled away from me, and I tried to hang onto her, but she was squirming like crazy, so I let go.

“Max!” I sighed and stood up. “Tell her she can’t stay here.”

I stepped away from her in frustration. Throwing her over my shoulder while she kicked and screamed wouldn’t have been out of the question, except that it would attract zombies. But I couldn’t very well leave a little girl here to die, either.

Max came over and crouched in front of her. He talked to her in a low voice that I couldn’t quite understand, and I went to help Bishop finish getting the food. We’d gotten about as much as the sheet could handle, so Bishop knotted it twice.

Bishop dropped the food down through the hole and climbed down after it. I stood at the top of the hole, watching Max whisper to Stella, but we really didn’t have much more time to waste. More zombies were probably on their way.

“We have to go, Max,” I said, interrupting their conversation.

“She’ll come,” Max said finally and stood up. “You go down the ladder first and help her.”

I did as Max suggested, and when I got on the ladder, I understood why. The rungs were almost too far apart for her short legs. She would have fallen off the ladder several times if I hadn’t been there to catch her.

Max climbed down with her bag and his. She put the bag on her back, then took Max’s hand. I took the sack of food, while Bishop stayed close to Max and Stella, offering to help them as we walked back to get the others. Stella refused any help, and I knew it was going to be an awfully long walk north.

11.

Boden had smartly suggested that we stay off the main roads and away from any cities. We’d followed the highway to the compound because it was the only way I knew how to get there, but if we were just going north, it didn’t really matter what route we took.

Main roads meant more cities and towns, and more cities and towns meant more people, which meant more zombies.

We met up with Nolita, Teddy, and Daniels at the house, and Ripley was already there, waiting for us. Max had actually been happy to see Daniels, and he even tried to hug him, but I put my hand on Max’s shoulder and wouldn’t let him. I didn’t care if Daniels was trying to save the human race. I’d never forgive him for nearly killing my brother.

We followed an old dirt road out of town and eventually cut through fields. No crops had been planted in them for a very long time, so they were overgrown with weeds, but they still had the patchwork appearance of cornfields.

Stella wanted to hang onto to Max the entire time, even when she started lagging. Eventually she got tired enough that she was willing to let someone carry her, and Teddy toted her on his hip.

Sometime in the afternoon, we came upon a semi-tractor and trailer tipped over onto its side. The cab door was open, and from the ground, I could see the blood splattered across the windows.

The name on the side of the door said it was for a major big-box store, which meant that the trailer could be filled with things we could use.

“Should we see what’s inside?” Bishop asked.

Boden thought it over, then shook his head. “Anything inside it would be spoiled.”

“You don’t know that,” Bishop said, disagreeing with him. “It could have something useful, even if it’s not food. We’re running out guns.”

“I’ll check it out,” Daniels offered and went around to the back of the truck.

Boden shrugged. “Do what you want.”

He set down his gun and duffel bag and went in to inspect the cab. He climbed up the side of it, so he stood next to the door, and peered in.

I followed Daniels around the back. Teddy and Bishop stood off to the side with the two kids, which was probably good since we didn’t know what was in the trailer.

The handles and lock were rusted, and Daniels couldn’t get them by himself so I helped him. It still took a lot of pushing and grunting, but we managed to get the door. As soon as it fell open, we regretted it.

The scent itself was repugnant. It was all rotting flesh, sick and  sweet. The whole trailer echoed with the sound of buzzing flies. Maggots were crawling over everything, covering the patches of brown and green blood like snow.

“Holy shit.” Daniels gagged and stepped back, covering his mouth.

I crouched down, trying to see what had been inside. I pulled my shirt up over my mouth so I wouldn’t have to breathe it in directly.

It was too dark in the trailer to get a good look of anything, but from the mess, I doubt there had been any food or anything useful. At least not for a very long time. This all looked like torn up people, dismembered corpses, with dried blood splattered all over the walls.

Then I heard a low rattle, and the lit glinted off the yellow in its eyes. A zombie was only a few feet from the door, and it started crawling toward me.

“It’s alive!” I yelled and jerked back.

I tried pushing up the door to close it, but the zombie was on it, scrambling much faster than I thought something that emaciated could do. It was literally a skeleton with patches of brownish flesh hanging off it. Its shriveled intestines hung out through holes in its stomach.

It crawled crazy fast though, leaving a trail of greenish slime behind it like a slug. I let go of the door and jumped back away from it, not wanting something that gross touching me.

Daniels had been crouched by the door, gagging, and he fell back onto his ass. He pushed himself back on his butt, but the zombie was on him, gripping Daniels’ leg with its bony fingers.

Then Nolita shot it, its head exploding in a mass of rotten brain and bone fragments, and it fell onto Daniels’ lap. Daniels kicked it off and scooted back from it.

“That thing nearly got me,” Daniels said, his voice shaky. He stood up and tried wiping the blood and slime from his pants.

“What the hell?” I asked and walked over to where the zombie corpse lay. I touched at it with my foot, and it was all bones. “How the fuck was this thing alive? How is this even possible? Why didn’t it starve to death?”

“They can’t starve to death.” Daniels seemed to calm a bit, but he kept wiping at his pants.

I turned around to face him straight on. “What do you mean they can’t starve to death?”

“That’s what I mean,” Daniels said. “At first, we thought they would, and that’s how the virus would kill itself out. But we were comparing it too much to rabies, and this is unlike anything else.”