Wormwood Dawn (Episode VI) Read Free Page A

menacingly, and Jake dropped his pack to draw his bow.
    “I got it,” he said. “Watch this.”
    He knocked an arrow and pulled back the bow without much effort. He loosed, and the arrow streaked right into the thing’s chest with a heavy thunk. It kept coming.
    “What the fuck?” he said, scowling.
    “Headshot,” Toni told him. “Trust me.”
    He knocked another arrow, this time aiming for the head. When he released, the arrow struck the forehead dead center. The shuffler went limp, falling straight down, lifeless.
    “Hmm,” Jake said. “That’s weird.”
    “Not really,” Toni said as she went toward the fallen creature. “Look at it.”
    Jake shouldered the bow and followed Toni to the corpse. He looked down, not really seeing anything interesting other than a dead body.
    “What’s different about it?” Toni asked him.
    Jake couldn’t tell. It looked like any other shuffler he had seen before, except for the lack of the usual layers of fungus. Even the eyes looked the same. Though it was aggressive, which shufflers usually weren’t, there was nothing notable. He shrugged.
    “It’s not one of those mutants,” she said. “It’s a dead body.”
    Jake shrugged. “Aren’t they all?”
    Toni shook her head. “This is someone who died several months ago. Its flesh isn’t eaten away by fungus. It’s rot, that’s it. This person died in the initial infection.”
    “Then why is it—or was it—walking around?”
    “Don’t know,” Toni said. “But it’s happening. I noticed it a week ago or so when I was wandering around. There were areas with a bunch of dead all piled up that were empty again. I thought maybe scavengers had gotten them, or maybe the really weird mutants… but, no. They just got up and walked away.”
    Jake grunted. What a strange revelation. Not only were there mutants, but now the actual dead were walking around. What would cause that? The dead can’t just get up and walk around. They were dead. Period.
    Or were they?
    “Maybe they weren’t really dead?” Jake said. Toni gave him a “you got it” look from the corner of her eye.
    “Jesus,” Jake said, raising his palms to the sky.
     
    It was dusk when they reached the edge of the city. They passed an Asian buffet on the right and were headed into curvy, wooded road. It was dark, as was expected, but Jake guessed that even when the power was on, it would still be dark. The street lights were few and far between.
    “The darkness is creepy,” Jake said, munching on a jerky stick. “But I like it.”
    “It makes it a little harder to see anything, though,” Toni replied. “We should probably find some place to chill out until morning.”
    Jake looked around to either side of the road. “One of these houses might be alright,” he said. “Maybe one of them would even have some insulin.”
    “Let’s find out,” Toni said, smiling.
    Just as they picked a house to explore, the faint glow of headlights in the distance caught their attention. They immediately ducked and sprinted across the nearest lawn, hiding behind a row of hedges. The headlights grew brighter, but whatever vehicle they came from was obviously slowing down.
    They heard the low rumble of an engine idling down the street. Then, a rusted, white pickup appeared, rolling slowly along, the beams of several flashlights shining from both sides of the cab. One of the beams moved in their direction, and they ducked as far down as they could. Jake felt nervous. His heart sped up, and the rush of adrenaline warmed him.
    They stayed quiet as the truck passed them. But instead of driving off, the truck stopped. The engine still rumbled, and the flash of the tail lights told them that it had been put in park. They could hear several voices, all of them men, spreading out into the surrounding lots.
    “Shit,” Jake whispered. “If one of them comes this way, we’re screwed.”
    “ If they’re assholes,” Toni said. “But what if they’re not?”
    “We