Eric S. Brown by Last Stand in a Dead Land Read Free Book Online Page B

only messing with you. Help me look around. There has to be something left we can use.”
    Helena loosed an excited squeal as he lifted a can of baked beans for him to see.
    “ Well at least that’s something,” Jacob said.
    They spent another five minutes searching the place over before Jacob heard Elijah yell for them. In addition to the beans, they found a few loose bottles of water and a handful of unopened candy bars that made Jacob cringe as he remembered his time locked in his office building’s break room. Helena was already chewing on a Snickers as they met Elijah at the Outback. Elijah had pulled it closer to the station once its tank was full. Jacob noticed the bodies of three rotters lying in the parking lot. Elijah was leaning against the Outback’s hood, wiping stale blood from the blade of one of his swords with a dirty cloth.
    “ Company?” Jacob asked. Elijah ignored him. Jacob tossed him a candy bar. Elijah caught it and flung back at him.
    “ What?” Jacob said. “They didn’t have any Oreos, okay? Sorry, mate.”
     
    ***
     
    Thomas sat at the kitchen table, a beer in his hand. He replayed the events of the morning over and over in his head. Try as he might, he couldn’t come up with any rational explanation for what that. . .thing in the woods could have been. Maybe none of it was real. Maybe being alone was already getting to him. If it weren’t for Duke and Hunter, he’d be more than happy to believe he’d imagined it all. The dogs were proof that something had happened, however. They sulked around acting as scared as he was. Thomas gulped down what remained of his beer and crushed the can. He wanted to talk to someone. Old man Hall was the only hope of that. He got up from the table, his heavy boots clomping on the wooden floor as he walked across the kitchen to peer through the window above the sink. It wasn’t quite one o’clock yet. If he hustled, he could easily reach old man Hall’s farm before sundown. The time for making excuses was over. It was time to man up and just go. Thomas pocketed some extra rounds for his rifle from an open box sitting on the kitchen counter near the door. “See you boys tomorrow,” he told the dogs. “Try not to tear the house apart while I’m gone, okay?”
    Duke and Hunter whined at him. “You’ll be fine,” he assured them as he thought and Lord willing so will I.
    There was no safe path to old man Hall’s farm or he would’ve made this trip days ago when the world started becoming a living Hell. The woods were completely out of the question so he took the road. The heat was blistering as he walked. His .30.-06 was slung over his shoulder by its strap and he carried a shovel in his hands. Shovels were surprisingly effective weapons against the rotters. Its edges could chop into a decaying head rather easily and the length of its handle helped as well. Thomas kicked a rock, sending it bouncing along the asphalt ahead of him. His eyes darted from one side of the road to the other. Being so exposed like this would have made him nervous even without the events of the morning. His shovel offered no protection against the thing he’d encountered. He wondered if his rifle would. As fast as the thing appeared to be, he might not be able to get off a shot if it came barreling from the woods at him. There was no certainty a single shot would stop something that large in its tracks either. Deciding he was spooked enough, he tried not to think about the beast or whatever it was, turning his mind instead to old man Hall. If the stubborn old man was still alive as Thomas suspected, what then? Would he offer him a place at his farm? He doubted very much Hall would even consider such an offer but they’d both be a lot safer with someone else around. The old man would likely trade with him though if he could bring himself to make this trip again after today. That alone was worth the journey. Hall’s moonshine was famous all around these parts. Having