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

South Dakota sky. She’d found a cookbook that featured recipes made from dry storage goods and she’d whipped up a mean canned chicken lasagna while Jessie dug through the garden and found fresh onions and carrots. They had the radio on low, Bastille was fielding ham radio calls from all around the States from the different settlements and there was a feeling of euphoria in the air. A sense that everything was going to be all right. They had air superiority, they’d whooped the snot out of the weirdos from up north and Casey was next on the list. The undead threat wasn’t near as bad as it used to be and even though winter was coming, the settlements were prepared. There wouldn’t be mass starvation or survivors freezing to death, trapped by the zombies.

Scarlet pointed out different constellations and told Jessie the ancient myths of the ones she knew.

Andromeda chained to the rock then rescued by Perseus.

Taurus the bull who was the father of the Minotaur.

Orion the hunter who was killed by his lover with an arrow.

They lay head to head on the blankets with their feet in opposite directions. Nefertiti was purring on her stomach, Bob gnawed on a rawhide bone beside Jessie and they shared time together. A precious thing. Bastille finally wound up his talk show, put on a playlist and music played softly from the speakers. They were both bone tired and drifted off in the late summer evening, cheek to cheek with their animals snuggled in close.

Jessie heard it and deep in his subconscious something jerked him awake. He lay still, alert and listening. The moon had moved across the sky, hours had passed and his senses were on high alert. Something had awoken him. Scarlet still breathed evenly beside him, Bob was still snoring lightly and Nefertiti was gone. Either sleeping in the car or hunting something. He heard it again, faint and broken, and relaxed a little. The music was playing quietly but the ham was on. Somebody was talking on it, that was all. He ought to get up and turn everything off, quit wasting battery power, but he was warm and comfortable with the Mexican blankets pulled over them. He heard it again and sat up, careful not to wake her and scratched Bob behind the ears when he alerted to the movement.

“Shhh.” he whispered. “It’s alright, boy. Just late-night chatter.”

Jessie plopped down in the passenger seat, yawned and reached over to turn the radio off. The voice came through again, mostly static, far away and it sounded panicked. Full of fear. He cocked his head, adjusted the squelch and gain on the radio then waited for the call to come again. He was already starting to doubt what he’d heard, he’d probably imagined it. He rubbed idly at his scar, the long gash on his face that still itched from time to time then heard it again.

“Can anyone hear? Answer please. We are at big heads and we are trapped. Hello? Is anyone hearing?”

It was faint, scratchy and wavered in and out. They’d caught an atmospheric bounce with the signal and it was fading fast.

“I can hear you.” Jessie said. “Where are you? What is your location?”

He waited, adjusted the knobs and hiss filled the speaker.

“Hello? Please, can anyone hear us? Can anyone…”

The signal was lost in the noise. It faded and didn’t come back.

“That sounded like Ting Wei.” Scarlet said and Jessie glanced up at her, saw the concern on her face.

He hailed her a few more times but she didn’t answer. An operator from the Island heard Jessie’s repeated calls and jumped in after his third attempt to raise the wavering voice.

“I’ve been monitoring.” he said. “I haven’t heard anyone except you. The radio’s been quiet most of the night.”

“Roger, thanks.” Jessie said and turned to Scarlet. “You sure, that was her?”

“I am thinking yes.” She said. “It sounded like her. Did she say she was at the heads? Wasn’t that where Charlie Safari was going?”

“Yeah, it was.” Jessie said. “Mount Rushmore. That’s only a few hours south of here, we’ve gotta go.”

It only took them a few minutes to gather up the blankets and grab a few things out of the house. Nefertiti came on the run with a mouse in her jaws when she heard the car fire up and they were rolling out of the gate a minute after that, grabbing gears and racing time.

The few hours sleep and the cold-water splash bath from the well had done them good. They were young, full of life and vitality and were blasting down the long, straight farm roads of the Dakotas with the music blasting. Sometimes it would be fifteen or twenty miles before they came to a curve or turn where he had to tap the brakes. Once the sun crested over the eastern horizon, Jessie let the big engine breathe and wound it up to one twenty. The tires sang as they ate up the miles, chasing the asphalt as it split the green fields gone wild. The music was cranked and for once, Scarlet let it play. The heavy metal drove them both and she only turned it down every once in a while, to try the two-way again. Try to pick up a transmission. Neither had much hope of hearing anything during the day. They had barely picked up the signal at night when everything was clearer without the solar interference. From the weak and tinny sound of her voice, Jessie guessed the battery was just about dead or something was wrong with the antenna.

There was only a single road leading back to the carvings on the mountain face and he flew down 244 well above the posted thirty-five mile an hour speed limit. There was no use in trying stealth unless they wanted to walk for miles. The growl of the Cobra Jet engine carried a long way in the silence of the new world.

Scarlett unpinned the M-60