Zombie Road: The Second Omnibus | Books 4-6 | Jessie+Scarlet Simpson, A. (pride and prejudice read txt) 📖

away from most of the buildings. There was nothing to burn on the outside but the corpses and they went up quick. Flashfires that melted eyes and brains and scorched flaking skin but died out quickly. The kids were out of the tower and running with the stacks of buckets to where the bodies were piled the highest, where flaming corpses fell over the wall and tried to rise. Some of the roofs had small fires licking at them but they were quickly beat out with sweat soaked shirts. Men who’d been on the verge of despair moments before quickly formed a line and the started dowsing the flames burning brightly from the fallen dead before they could spread.

Eustice was on top of the gathered army of black uniformed men before they realized what had just happened. Dani opened up with the chain guns mounted on either wing and raked along the convoy that was neatly lined up on the road. The people tried to run and scream but a blanket of diesel flames covered them and they died sucking in lungfulls of fire. Eustice flew all the way down the line and didn’t stop spraying until the last truck was engulfed. Exploding gas tanks sent debris flying and he pulled up to circle overhead, looking for survivors like a vengeful eagle. His napalm formula wasn’t quite as good as what he’d seen over in the Nam but it did the job. It killed everything in its path.

“There.” Dani said and pointed out some black-clad figures darting through the scrub, trying to make it to the cover of a stand of trees by a creek.

Eustice didn’t see them but went into a dive where the kid had pointed. His old eyes weren’t what they used to be but once they were down below three thousand feet, he spotted them.

“Fire at will, Lieutenant. I’ll get us in close.”

Dani took aim through the home-made sights and rested his finger on the trigger. It was a flight stick from a video game Carl had helped him rewire. He waited until they were coming up behind them at two hundred feet and eighty miles an hour before he applied the pressure. The twin Gatling guns cycled to life and spit lead that found their targets almost instantly. Two of the bodies exploded into pieces, churned to meat and mist by dozens of rounds blowing through them. The other figure cut hard to the right, faster than anything they’d ever seen and was gone by the time Eustice circled back around.

He buzzed the tree line one more time but they’d never find a lone survivor from the air. The battle was over. One man wasn’t going to change that and they flew back over the burning caravan, watching for movement. They were either all dead or smart enough to play dead.

“We used about half our payload, we’ve got almost four hundred gallons left. Enough for one more fight.” Dani said, flipping the gun safeties and checking the gauges on the tanks that were normally used to put fires out, not start them. “Anselmo evacuated but the Island is still in the fight. Going there next?”

“Next stop.” Eustice agreed and banked off towards North Dakota. “Right after we refuel at that airport we cleared up near Valentine.”

116

Mount Rushmore

“There.” Scarlet said, pointing to a long, dirt drive that branched off of the unpaved road they were on.

He’d learned not to question her house selection, she had an uncanny knack of picking ones that were empty of the undead and usually perfectly fine, if a little musty. The driveway had a little shed at the end, a shelter for school kids to get out of the weather while waiting for the bus. Two bicycles were laying in the weeds next to it. Crop lands were growing wild on both sides of the drive and there was a tractor near the barn. She was good at reading little clues like that. To her it meant a farm family with school age kids. They had already caught the bus when the virus came through. The bikes were still there and the gate was open. Chances were good they hadn’t eaten the infected meats for breakfast if the kids were at the bus stop. Scarlet was pretty sure they’d find the place intact, unbothered and with food in the cupboards. The open gate meant no one was there to fortify the farm, one or both of the parents had probably gone to work in town. If bugs hadn’t infested the kitchen, there was a better than average chance of finding chocolate of some kind.

She was right, as usual.

It had been a long day of driving and they’d hit it pretty hard, covering some seven hundred miles. By tomorrow night, they should be at the Anubis headquarters but this evening, they were celebrating along with everyone else who’d heard the news. Blackfoot had been overrun but the survivors had regained the town. The Anubis cult had been defeated, every last warrior killed and their bodies dumped over the wall. Food for the scavengers. The stars and stripes still flew.

Tombstone had completely annihilated the cult’s armies, both living and dead. The Island had managed to hold off the swarms of undead until Eustice strafed them with homemade napalm then eliminated the black clad warriors with bullets and fire. The Cult only had one battle plan and it hadn’t taken into consideration death from above. They were a one trick army and their defeat was so decisive and swift, they didn’t have time to regroup or rethink strategies.

Jessie and Scarlet had a routine to clear a house and set up security and with Bob’s help, they had never been surprised or caught off guard. They unpacked what they needed before it got too dark to see and by the time the moon was up and the stars were out, they were lying on a blanket, enjoying the immensity of the