Chapter 93: The Long Way Home

Chapter 93: Chapter 93: The Long Way Home

The thought of the newborn immediately made Penelope wonder whether she had been difficult while they were gone.

Hopefully, she had slept through most of it.

Knowing their luck, Aurora had probably screamed the entire time.

Penelope smiled faintly at the thought.

She could already imagine Aunt Mary walking around the apartment with Aurora in her arms while complaining that nobody had warned her she would be raising another baby at her age.

Aunt Lucy would probably be hovering nearby with a bottle.

The image was strangely comforting.

It was normal.

Or at least as close to normal as anything in Penelope’s life could currently be considered.

’Host.’

Penelope resisted the urge to groan.

’What?’

Oddy’s voice sounded exceptionally pleased.

’We have treasure.’

Penelope closed her eyes.

Of course that was what Oddy was thinking about.

’Yes.’

’A lot of treasure.’

’Yes, Oddy.’

’We should count it.’

Penelope opened her eyes.

’Absolutely not.’

Oddy became silent for several seconds.

Then it asked, ’Why?’

’Because I would like to sleep sometime this century.’

’Oddy can count.’

That caught her attention.

’You can?’

’Of course.’

Penelope narrowed her eyes.

’Then why were you screaming at me about individual stacks of gold if you can manage the inventory yourself?’

Oddy became suspiciously quiet.

Penelope waited.

’Oddy.’

Nothing.

Her eyes narrowed.

’You got excited.’

Still nothing.

A smile slowly appeared on Penelope’s face.

’You got excited about the gold.’

Oddy finally responded.

’Host should rest.’

Penelope almost laughed aloud.

Kai glanced toward her.

"What?" Kai asked.

"Nothing," Penelope replied.

Kai studied her expression for another second.

Penelope looked innocently out the window.

Kai apparently decided he didn’t need to know and turned away.

The truck continued through another intersection before Killian began slowing.

"Left is blocked," Erik observed from the passenger seat.

A delivery truck had jackknifed across the intersection, completely blocking two lanes. Several vehicles had crashed behind it, creating a tangled barricade of metal and shattered glass.

Killian had already noticed.

"There’s another route east," Killian said.

Erik looked toward the street signs and immediately understood which road he meant.

"That’ll keep us away from the main avenue," Erik replied.

"That’s the idea."

Erik nodded.

Killian turned.

The exchange lasted only seconds.

Penelope noticed it from the back seat.

Killian and Erik barely knew each other, yet they worked surprisingly well together.

Neither man appeared interested in proving that his idea was better.

They assessed the situation, reached a conclusion and moved on.

It was efficient.

Penelope suspected both men were accustomed to being the person others looked toward when something went wrong.

What surprised her was how naturally they seemed to recognize that quality in each other.

Kai noticed her staring toward the front.

"What are you looking at?" Kai asked.

"Nothing," Penelope answered.

Kai raised an eyebrow.

"You’re doing a lot of nothing tonight."

Penelope pushed his shoulder.

"Look out your window."

"I was."

"Then continue."

Kai smiled but obeyed.

The truck turned onto another residential street.

Almost immediately, Penelope realized something was wrong.

Cars filled the road ahead.

Not abandoned ones.

Moving ones.

Dozens of vehicles were attempting to travel in both directions despite the fact that neither side had enough room to move properly.

People were trying to leave the city.

Others appeared to be trying to return home.

Nobody knew where they were supposed to go.

A man leaned continuously on his horn as though enough anger could somehow force the traffic ahead of him to disappear.

Several other drivers responded with their own horns.

Penelope stared.

"Idiots," she whispered.

As if summoned by the noise, movement appeared between two buildings.

One zombie stumbled onto the street.

Then another.

A woman screamed from inside a nearby vehicle.

That scream attracted more.

"Reverse," Erik said immediately.

Killian was already doing it.

The truck backed away before the chaos could spread toward them.

Behind the windshield, they watched people begin abandoning their cars.

Some ran.

Others remained inside and locked their doors, apparently believing the vehicles would protect them.

One man got out and started shouting at everyone to calm down.

Nobody listened.

The first zombie reached the traffic.

Killian turned the truck around.

Ben twisted in his seat to keep watching.

"They don’t know," Ben said quietly.

"No," Erik replied. "They don’t."

Nobody added anything else.

There was nothing they could do.

Stopping to warn everyone would only create more noise, and even if they somehow convinced dozens of terrified strangers to listen, the infected were already converging on the street.

Killian chose another route.

The farther they traveled, the stranger the city became.

Some streets were completely empty.

Others remained filled with confused civilians.

They passed a gas station where nearly twenty cars crowded around the pumps. ℯ

People argued over fuel.

One man was filling several plastic containers while another shouted that he was taking too much.

The gas station lights illuminated the entire area like a beacon.

Kai stared through the window.

"That’s going to end badly."

Nobody disagreed.

Two blocks later, they passed a family loading suitcases into an SUV.

The father repeatedly carried bags from the house while a woman stood near the vehicle holding a crying child.

They were leaving.

Where they intended to go, Penelope had no idea.

Maybe relatives.

Maybe another city.

Maybe anywhere that felt safer than home.

Penelope watched them disappear behind the truck.

"They still think they can drive away from it," she said.

"Most people don’t know what they’re running from yet," Erik replied.

That was the problem.

Nobody had information.

Phones weren’t working properly.

Emergency services were overwhelmed.

News reports had become inconsistent before communication systems began failing altogether.

People were making decisions based on fear, rumors and whatever they had personally witnessed.

Some probably still believed the violence was caused by a disease.

Others might think it was temporary.

Very few understood that being bitten or scratched meant infection.

Even fewer understood that the zombies followed sound and vibrations.

Penelope looked ahead.

"They’re going to learn."

Killian’s expression remained grim.

"Yes."

The single word carried enough meaning that nobody continued the conversation.

They drove another several blocks before approaching a small convenience store.

A crowd had gathered outside.

People pushed against the entrance while someone inside desperately tried to keep the doors closed.

"Open the damn door!" a man shouted.

"My kids need food!"

Someone else slammed both hands against the glass.

Another person screamed that they needed water.

The store owner appeared behind the locked doors, shouting something Penelope couldn’t hear.

Ben frowned.

"There’s still food everywhere."

"For now," Erik replied.

"But it’s only been a few days."

"Fear doesn’t wait for supplies to disappear."

Penelope understood what Erik meant.

People weren’t fighting because the city had already run out of food.

They were fighting because they were afraid it would.

The difference mattered.

Panic could create shortages faster than the apocalypse itself.

Killian slowed just enough to navigate around several vehicles before continuing.

Nobody inside the crowd noticed them.

They were too busy fighting one another.

Kai leaned back against his seat.

"The zombies might not even have to kill everyone."

Penelope looked at him.

Kai’s expression had lost its usual humor.

"We’re perfectly capable of doing half the work ourselves."

Nobody argued.

Several minutes later, distant gunshots echoed through the city.

One.

Then three more.

Ben instinctively tightened his grip around his machete.

"That sounded close."

"Not close enough to matter," Killian replied.

Another series followed from a different direction.

Penelope looked through the window.

Every sound traveled farther now that traffic had begun disappearing from some streets.

Gunshots.

Screams.

Car alarms.

Occasional sirens.

Each one became another signal to the infected.

The city was calling them from every direction.

Killian turned onto another road.

Then he slowed.

A police cruiser sat sideways across part of the intersection.

Its emergency lights continued flashing.

Two officers stood beside it.

One was speaking urgently to several civilians while the other held his weapon and repeatedly looked toward the surrounding streets.