The Dead Road: The Complete Collection by Robert Paine Read Free Book Online Page A

worked as a lifeguard on Long Island.
     
    I was wrapping the bandage around my foot when Roger came back around from behind the building. He held a shotgun in his right hand. “Where did you get that?”
     
    “I found Big Earl’s last stand. His tow truck is in the back, and one of those things had its head blown off next to it. This was in the front seat. Found some spare shells in the glove compartment too.”
     
    “Good,” I said, “Eli’s inside scrounging for anything useful.”
     
    Roger came over to sit beside me. “How bad is it? Your foot, I mean.”
     
    “Not terrible. I cleaned it out. It’s a deep cut, probably deep enough to need stitches, but I’m not exactly a doctor.”
     
    Roger smirked, “Find me a needle and thread and I’ll sew you up.”
     
    I chuckled, “Not a chance. You’re less of a doctor than I am. At least I know CPR.”
     
    “Oh good. If one of us has a heart attack, you’re our guy.”
     
    “Yeah, and if one of us needs a witty ad campaign worked up to convince the monsters to eat something other than people you can handle that.”
     
    “Hey, marketing will be a valuable tool as we rebuild society. Who will tell the rest of the people what to think?”
     
    We both laughed a bit. It felt good to laugh.
     
    Eli came back out carrying a cardboard box, Big Earl’s boots resting on top. “Road flares, a six pack of beer, some tools from the garage, and your new shoes. I wouldn’t touch those socks with a pair of pliers though.”
     
    I smiled and grabbed the boots, carefully pushing my injured foot inside. It was at least a size too big, but that was more manageable than a size too small.
     
    Roger showed him the shotgun, “Found this in the tow truck out back.”
     
    I pulled the boot laces tight, trying to compensate for size. “Ok guys, time for a plan.” They both looked at me. I looked between them, taking a breath. They were both attentive and focused. “We’re going to have to head into town. Someone set that message to broadcast, and that means people are alive in there. We also need supplies. Food, water, guns, ammo, spare clothes, anything we can make use of. I don’t know if there’s a military perimeter out there or what, but we have to plan for the worst. It may only be a few days, or it may be weeks before we find safety.”
     
    Roger said “So where do we go from here?”
     
    “We look for the other survivors. We’re better off in a bigger group. Harder for one of us to get bitten if we’re watching each other’s backs. After that, we start heading south.”
     
    Eli shifted on his feet, “Back to the city, man? You wanna deal with ten million of these things?”
     
    I sighed, shaking my head slightly. “I don’t, but, right now it’s the only thing we got. North from here is more mountains all the way up into Canada, and I don’t know the lay of the land up here at all. We need a steady supply chain, and that means we need stores, truck stops, and towns. I don’t want to head deeper into the woods until we know we can live out there for a few months.” I thought of my Manhattan apartment, my Egyptian cotton sheets and my memory foam mattress. I thought of Katie. “But if things aren’t as bad as all that, yeah, back to the city.”
     
    Eli rubbed his jaw and nodded. “More guns, then. We gotta be armed.”
     
    Roger said “You know, there’s a store outside of Stockton called Stapleton’s. It’s a combination liquor store, deli, grocery store and gun store. It’s an odd place, but exactly the kind of thing we need.”
     
    “But that’s back towards Stockton, man. You heard the radio, we don’t wanna go there.”
     
    I held my hand up, “First things first, we should find the radio signal. More guns won't matter if there's only three of us to shoot them.” I slid down off of the hood and limped towards the back door of the car. Even though the boots didn't fit right, it was markedly better than walking on