The Swamp Read Free

making his way to the swamp after getting that text. He had been avoiding the larger roads in favor of the small two lane county roads that gave you a better opportunity to avoid people. At that point he hadn’t decided if it was the ones with pulses or those without had been worse after the fall. Most of the roads, even the back lanes and by ways, were dotted by obstructions, and even in a few areas, manned roadblocks. There were two basic types of road blocks. The first was simply the “do not past” type, this kind was normally staffed by soldiers or police, and occasionally civilians, and the point was to stop people from traveling in and out of “safe” areas. The other type was far more dangerous. Sam thought of them as the “Its going to cost you type”, These were where you had to either pay something to get through, or they just took everything up to and including your car and sent you packing, if you were that lucky. He had even heard talk about some checkpoints being used for “forced resettlement” where you were actually taken into custody and forced into a secure zone. These had been common the first few days, but now almost months later, the “going to cost you” variety ruled the day. His basic principle had become to u turn if he say a road obstruction with people standing around and it had served him well, but it also added days to his trip.
                  The road he was traveling meandered through the countryside side, and had been pretty clear so far. At one point he rounded a corner, and elevated to his left was the interstate. The road he travelled did not have an on ramp, it just ran side by side for a few miles. Ahead he could see a large number of cars that appeared to have been driven or pushed off the freeway, and had slid down the embankment.
                  He was low on supplies, so he decided to check a few cars. Vehicle looting had served him well in the past. It was also one of the most dangerous methods. He thought back to his slow learning curve and tried to recall the things he had learned. When the dead reanimated, there was nothing left of their minds but the need to eat. They would go after anything, Cows, Chickens, Horse and even cats and dogs, but what they seemed to want the most was other people. This one desire was so singular that when foods weren’t around, they would eventually stop moving and just go motionless until something, or someone, wandered by. They lost the ability to reason, so even simple things like seatbelts and door handles were far beyond their intelligence. This made parking lots and traffic jams very bad places to be. Anyone who died in a car would stay there, locked into their seat waiting for someone to walk by.
                  Sam had learned this the hard way when he was looking around just outside Tallahassee, he had walked to close to a car and a dead women dressed in a business suit who had taken for truly dead reached out and made a grab for him. Her chewed fingers caught and dug into the back of his shirt, narrowly missing gouging his skin. The other advantage the infected had was strength and determination, once they got hold of you they didn’t let go.
                  Sam had had to use all his strength to wrench her arm against the window frame until her arm snapped. Once he was free he spun around, she was still extending towards him, unaware that her arm dangled down at a sick angle, the fingers still grasping until he had shot her.
                  He forced his mind back to the now and stepped out of the car. He had parked close in case a quick getaway was needed. ‘No time like the present’ he thought to himself and approached the first car. It was a newer sedan, and like most of the vehicles on the road at the end, was packed with what people had once thought of as important, clothes, electronics and odds and ends filled the back seat, but nothing useful. He was amazed