Free Aftermath by D. J. Molles

blank spot.
    He turned to find three very grim looks regarding the map.
    Thirty miles was a quick trip two months ago.
    Now it was almost suicidal.
    “ Can it be done safely?” Bus asked.
    Lee shook his head. “I can’t give you a guarantee, Bus. You know that.” He drew a finger along the thick line of Highway 210 coming out of Angier. Their destination was in the center of a triangle formed by I-40, I-95, and I-795. “You guys will know better than I do. How are the road conditions? Is it feasible to take the highways, or should we take the back roads?”
    Harper moved both hands up and down, indicating a similar weight. “If you take the highways you hit roadblocks. You take back roads, you’re more likely to run into infected.”
    Miller looked like he was remembering something distasteful. “I wouldn’t touch the interstates, even if I was driving a tank.”
    “ A tank would be nice, though.” Harper smiled wistfully. “Got any of those up your sleeve, Captain?”
    Lee looked back to the map with a snort. “Wouldn’t that make life easier?”
    Bus stepped forward and indicated the same line of Highway 210. “I came through this way from the other side of I-40. It was pretty clear, as I remember it. Of course, that was a few weeks ago.”
    Lee pointed to a small town nestled on the northwestern side of I-95. If they took the highway, they would be passing through—or at least very close to—that town. “Any information on Smithfield?” While Lee had a general rule about staying away from population centers, a small burg like Smithfield might well be a ghost town. In a situation where more time on the road meant more danger, sometimes it was better to take the more direct route.
    “ Last I saw of Smithfield was a big column of smoke.” Bus said. “You could see it from the road we were on.”
    “ Something bad happened there,” Miller stated with a chilly sort of certainty.
    Lee looked at the younger man. “What do you mean?”
    Miller shrugged it off. “I heard there was an explosion. Or a fire, or something. Just rumors.”
    Smithfield interested Lee only because it was likely to have supplies that could be pilfered. In the off-chance that it wasn’t a ghost town, it might have pockets of survivors that Lee could make contact with. While he didn’t want to bring Harper and Miller into any unnecessary danger, he also had to keep in mind his overall mission, and if he thought he could safely reach another group, he meant to do just that.
    “ Alright,” Lee nodded. “If there’s no objection, we’ll make it a straight shot down 210. We’ll evaluate once we get to Smithfield if we think it’s safe to go through, or better to go around.” He traced a smaller line that branched southeast away from Smithfield. “Once we get on this farm road we can take it almost all the way to our destination. I’ll leave the finer points of navigation for when we get there.”
    “ If all goes well,” Harper said quietly. “Which is a big ‘if.’”
    “ That brings me to the next bit,” Bus sat on the edge of his desk. “Jerry can try to act like he runs things around here, but I’ll be damned if he’s going to control the weapons and supplies. That’s my domain and I aim to get you boys everything you need.” Bus looked each of them in the eye. “I’ll rustle up the best weapons we got and as much ammunition as I can get away with.”
    Lee put a hand on his shoulder. “Thank you, but don’t leave yourself undefended. We will at least be mobile, so if the situation arises, we can always run. Plus, the more supplies we take with us from here, the less we can carry from my cache.”
    Miller broke in. “That reminds me, who’s truck we takin’?”
    “ Biggest one you got,” Lee said.
    Bus scratched at his beard. “Keith Jenkins has a big Dodge Ram. Probably the most cargo space you’re going to get. Nice off-road tires too, if you need to take it around some traffic jams.”
    “ How