Free Generation Dead (Book 3): Beyond The Gates by Joseph Talluto Page A

Kayla asked, turning in her seat.
    Jake pulled out his own maps. 
    “We have enough here to figure out where those people were coming from and how to backtrack to where they are,” he said.
    Julia and Kayla starting talking at once, but I interrupted.
    “Let’s get out of this town first and make our way west a bit towards Casper.  I’d rather spend the night in some place other than this van.  We can search for answers after dinner,”  I said.
    I didn’t have to hear the grunts of assent, but I knew they were there.

Chapter 16
     
     
    On the ride to Casper, I rolled around the numbers in my head.  My mother held Jake and me to a pretty high standard when it came to our education, and there wasn’t a book within twenty miles that we hadn’t read.  The local schools, the safe ones anyway, were raided with regularity for materials and supplies.  Jake tried to argue out of going to school once, but our father ended that quickly by reminding Jake the he was the son of not only a seriously effective zombie killer, but also a former school principal. And said principal would be dammed if any son if his was lacking in the finer points of academia. Dad backed up his argument with a look that froze lava, and Jake’s argument wilted.
    I knew the general lines of latitude that ran across North America, and backing that up with what I thought I knew about longitude, I had a general notion of where we thought we wanted to go.  I wasn’t completely certain, but if I was right, we’d bitten off a chunk taking this on.
    “Casper coming up,” Jake said.  “What did Dad tell us about these people?”
    I stretched. “They’re slightly nuts, but they take their way of life seriously.  They decided to roll back to the Old West, whatever the heck that means.”
    Julia spoke up.  “If I remember my dad right, he said they all still wear their guns out in the open, old west style, and have been known to have gunfights to settle their differences.”
    I didn’t need to hear that.  I was about to protest going around, but Jake killed that notion.
    “We’re here,” he said simply, “and you aren’t going to believe it.”
    I looked through the windshield.  “You gotta be kidding me.”
    After everything I had seen in my life, I figured I couldn’t be surprised.  What stared back at me from the outside sure surprised the hell out of me. Jake pulled the van over to what looked like a purpose built parking lot that held about forty vehicles.  We gathered our gear and packs and stepped out into the past.
    A small trail led the way towards the town, and when I say town, I mean it in every sense of the western word. Out on the plain on what may have been someone’s pasture was a full blown, fully functional western town.  There was a main street that ran along for nearly a quarter mile, and two rows of streets fronted dozens of houses.  The buildings on the main drag were equipped with boardwalks,  false fronts, and horse rails.  As we made our way through town, more than one man on horseback looked us over before tipping his hat to the ladies. 
    Stores had goods in them, and the music from several saloons spilled into the dusty street.  The sun was tilting past the mountains, and dusk was not far behind.  I counted four saloons, a doctor’s office, a dentist’s office, three law firms, and two banks.  At the far end of the street I could make out what looked like a church, and there were two other buildings whose purpose I could not discern.
    “Here we go.  Hotel,”  Jake said, bumping my arm.
    I looked up at a massive two story building.  It had to be all of a hundred feet wide, and who knew how deep.  A balcony ran the entire length of the place on the second floor, and there were a few people lounging in the evening air taking in the sights and sounds of the town.
    “Looks like the perfect place,” Kayla said. “I hope they have good food.”
    “Amen to that, sister,” Julia said, taking my