A map of the area that Jake has been in the story so far:

The Green Dictates the path going.
The Blue Represents the path coming back

Chapter 9

Day began to give way to night.  The sky was crowded with shades of orange, blue and purple as dusk made its presence known.  Jake rammed the gear shifter through the first three gears, pausing between shifts only long enough to let the needle move past 4,000 and creep into the red.  As they traveled the two lane southbound side of the small highway, Jake would routinely have to swerve around little bands of the undead scattered near still smoking wreckage of car wrecks.

“Did Illinois have any roadblocks?” Kate half turned her face towards Jake as she yelled.

“Only around Chicago and a few along state borders.”

“Did they work?  Is there a safe zone?”

“Sorry Kate, the safe zones fell over a week ago.  Last word I got from the radio said all non-infected civilians and military were evacuated to some kind of remote stronghold.  They were ‘regrouping’…But I wouldn’t count on any help soon, if ever.”

Suddenly, the passenger door flew open.  The loud exhaust did little to muffle the sound of Chuck vomiting.  Jake slowed the vehicle down to a creep.

“Jesus, Chuck are you okay?” Kate leaned away from Chuck, as she empathetically asked.
Chuck wiped his mouth on the shirt sleeve of his good arm.  “I’m fine lady.  My medication is losing its affect.”

“Jake, he is really pale.  I think he’s dying.  He needs a doctor!”

Nearing the next mass of cars, Jake had no time to answer before the back half of a mid-nineties police cruiser pulled quickly in front of them.  Jake slammed on the brakes and found the business end of a rifle pointed directly at his head almost instantly.

“Roll down the window!” Boomed the voice on the other end of the rifle.

Jake grabbed for the gear shifter, but watched as another vehicle pulled in behind him, completely blocking any exit.  He complied with the demand and rolled the window down partially.  He had the sense that someone else was watching, but he couldn’t see any additional people.

“This road is now the Stein tollway.  You pay the toll, and we will let you pass, safe and sound.”

“Yeah, what exactly is the toll?” Jake asked.

“Food, ammunition.  We aren’t trying to rob you blind, but if we are to maintain such a tollway as this,” the skinny and somewhat dirty looking man removed his forward hand from the rifle, and gestured to the expanse of the roadway. “Well, we’re gonna need certain provisions to do so.”

“How wonderful of you to concern yourself with the conditions of the roadways in a time such as this, but unfortunately I have nothing to spare.” Jake mimicked the sarcasm present in the highway robbers voice.

“Well, then I’m going to tell you very nicely to get out of the vehicle so I can verify that.  If you have nothing to pay with, it wouldn’t be very Christian like of me to not let you pass.”

Jake turned his head towards his companions just in time to see Kate raise the pistol, just inches from his face.  As she fired the weapon, it didn’t make the familiar coughing sound of the suppressor.  This time it sounded louder than any pistol Jake had fired.  Metal fragments sprayed throughout the confines of the truck cab, and Jake screamed as hundreds of pieces of his homemade device found their way into his face and neck.  Jake threw both hands to cover his face as a reaction to the blast.   His ears were ringing but he could hear someone screaming.

Kate immediately dropped the pistol to the floorboard of the car after the suppressor exploded.  The round that had been fired still hit its intended mark, as was evidenced from the jagged hole in the driver’s side window, and the sudden disappearance of the ‘toll booth operator’.  She grabbed Jake’s head and shoved him hard into the door of the truck.  She threw the truck into reverse, and while barely able to reach the pedals from her position, sent the vehicle careening into the car behind them.  She immediately put the truck into its first gear, and slammed her foot onto the accelerator.
The sound of bullets hitting the truck sounded like raindrops falling on a  tin roof.  The additional people Jake had sensed were now running towards the truck from several different directions.  Ricocheting projectiles were making holes in every surface of the vehicle, as Kate ran directly over the body of the would be toll-man.

“Jake are you alive?”

“Yeah, I think I’m fine.  I don’t think anything hit that deep.  What the hell were you  thinking?”

“I-I don’t know, I just knew we had to get out of there.”

“Let me have the wheel.  I didn’t get anything in my eyes, thank God.” Jake turned onto a lesser known side street, and went the roundabout way to his house.  He kept an eye on the rearview the entire time to make sure they weren’t   being followed.

“We’re almost there.” Jake leaned forward and looked across Kate at Chuck.  “Chuck, hold on buddy.  We’re almost there.  Look guys,” Jake’s voice changed to a serious tone. “We can’t take this truck all the way to my house.  It’s just too loud, and they might be following us.  We’re gonna have to ditch it somewhere quiet and walk the last half mile.  It doesn’t matter if we get there with a horde or two following us.  Can you guys do this?”

“Yeah, I think I can make it.”

“Kate, I need you to know you can make it.” Jake demanded of the girl.

“I’ll make it Jake.”

“Hold on guys!” Jake suddenly made a sharp turn off of the road.  Hard on the brakes, Jake gripped the steering wheel tightly as the vehicle dropped quickly into a ditch.  As soon as the vehicle had fallen it began to lurch up a small hill.  The truck kicked up dirt as it spun through the knee high corn stalks.  Once the truck was far enough away from the road for comfort, Jake killed the engine and let the truck coast for another twenty yards.

“Let’s move.  Follow me close, and stay quiet!”  Jake was already out of the truck as he spoke.  He threw his bag on and checked to ensure that a round was chambered in the rifle.  He paused to wife away some of the blood that caking in his eyebrows.

Kate embraced the pistol with both hands.  Chuck had difficulty getting to his feet, but managed to follow closely behind Kate.  Jake led the way through the same clearing he had traversed earlier that day.  At this point it seemed like years had come to pass.  Noting that they wouldn’t be able to follow his exact path from earlier, Jake began to look for an unfenced yard or chain link fence.

“Keep up guys, I see a fence we can jump.  It’ll take us out about a half block from my house.  No sweat.  My neighborhood has been quiet.”

Jake posted at the fence and scanned the yard, and immediate area.  With nothing to report he held out his hand to Kate to help her over.  As soon as her toes had flattened on the other side, he dropped his rifle allowing the sling to hold it just behind his leg.  With his left hand grasping Chuck’s only arm, Jake grabbed the back of Chuck’s pants and with a groan pushed him to the top of the waist high chain link fence.  Kate grabbed for him on the other side but did little more than slow down his fall.

“Ahhhhh.” Chuck let out a pain filled cry as he landed on the amputated remains of his arm.  As Kate was helping Chuck to his feet Jake quickly barreled over the fence.

They made their way through the backyard, but as they neared a corner of the house something came at Kate from
around the bend.  She shoved an undead gentleman away, and he hit Chuck as he was falling.  The two men, only one of whom was alive, landed on the ground and began to immediately wrestle for control.  As Jake ran to help, something even worse caught his attention several yards away.

They weren’t just facing one zombie…