Free Plague of the Undead by Joe McKinney

Parts of it are, yeah, but most of it is actually kind of beautiful. The fish have made a tremendous comeback, for example. There are streams so thick with trout you could almost walk on their backs to cross to the other side. Plus”—he drew an imaginary circle on the map with his index finger—“this part in through here is all a known element. We’ve been exploring it for years, so I’m not planning on any huge surprises.”
    “What about this area here?” asked Andy, his finger on the open country north of Sikeston.
    Frank nodded thoughtfully, as though considering how to answer. He stroked his beard and heaved his broad shoulders. “Well, that’s kind of the point of this whole expedition, isn’t it? This is Highway 60,” he said, and drew a line across the map. “Once we get out beyond that point, we’re in undiscovered country. Nobody I know has been beyond there.”
    They all regarded the map with a newfound respect.
    Jacob looked around the table and realized the full measure of what they were about to do was finally sinking in. “But we’re ready for that,” he said. “Everybody at this table has been trained to take care of themselves, and each other. That’s our Code. Everybody works, everybody watches the other guy’s back. Just remember that, and we’re gonna make this expedition as big a success as Arbella herself.”
    Frank Hartwell nodded.
    Max and Eli traded huge grins.
    Even Bree seemed to relax a little.
    “Well, I want another drink,” said Barry. “Anybody else want some?”
    A few held out their glasses, including Jacob. Barry rose to collect them, but before he could leave the table, Owen Webb spoke for the first time.
    “I have a question,” he said.
    He seemed intensely serious, his frown in marked contrast to the rest of the room. Those few who were standing sat back down and listened. Owen was coming along as the expedition’s anthropologist. He had been a brand new anthropology professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock when the First Days happened, but since coming to Arbella he’d settled into teaching reading and candle making to the children over at the school. Out of the entire group he was the only one Jacob had not personally recruited. In fact, he came to Jacob, and over the course of one long discussion while he helped Jacob mop the floors in the constabulary’s jail cells he made a convincing case that he could offer a unique perspective on the world they were likely to find. Only two other members of the group, he reminded Jacob, were old enough to remember the world before the First Days. The younger members would undoubtedly have questions about the ruins they saw. Who better to answer those questions than a professor who taught about the way people used to live?
    It was a convincing argument, and it had grabbed Jacob the same way Owen had grabbed the group at the table.
    Once he had everyone’s attention Owen said, “What about first contact?”
    “What do you mean, first contact?” asked Max. He looked around the table. “What’s that mean?”
    “You know,” Owen said, “with other people. We can’t be the only Arbella out there. Surely others have survived, and thrived, just as we have. What happens when we make first contact with them?”
    Jacob looked around the table. “That’s a good question,” he said. “Any thoughts?”
    “Well,” said Frank, “we’ve never run into anybody, and my crews and I have spent a lot of time out there.”
    “But it is possible,” Owen said. “Even likely. It’s like looking up at the stars and wondering if there’s someone else out there. It’s just not statistically possible that we are the only pocket of civilization to have survived. I think we need a plan for if, and when, we make that contact.”
    “I think we should probably try to avoid any settlements, don’t you think?” Kelly said.
    “Absolutely,” Barry said.
    “Yeah, me, too. I think that’s a good policy in