Free Revenence: Dead of Winter: A Zombie Novel by M.E. Betts Page A

single human life, then...."
         "Then what's the point of any of this?" Daphne concluded, waving her hand in a broad arc.  "Survival, what's the point if we don't care anymore?"
         "That's the thing of it," Shari concurred.  "No matter how many we lose, each one is still important.  Each one still matters.  Remembering that helps keep me crazy and holds me together at the same time."
         Daphne nodded.  "I think I can get that," she said, starting her ATV and beginning down the driveway.
         Shari looked back toward the young man as she rode away.  I hope you're with your mother somewhere, she thought.  And thank you for having the foresight to be sure that you wouldn't walk again to do to somebody else what your dad did to you.

     It was going on eleven a.m. when they reached the outskirts of Carbondale.  Shari rode faster until she was beside Daphne, who let up off of the gas pedal, slowing enough to hear Shari's voice over the engine.
         "We're getting close," Shari said.  "I should probably get in front now."  Daphne nodded, falling back behind Eva.
         She rode away from 51, heading west toward her parents' subdivision.  She was amazed at how unfamiliar the place looked when it was overgrown.  What had once been a tidy neighborhood of well-maintained mid-20th century homes with conscientiously landscaped yards was now virtually a jungle.  Some of the homes had succumbed to fires, and had burned away completely when there were no fire fighters to extinguish the blazes.  The house next door to her parents was one of the ones which had burnt down, but she was relieved to see her childhood hom e still intact.  The sprawling, single-story construction was partially obscured by tall grass and weeds, some of them more than six feet tall.  As she turned into the short concrete driveway, she heard the sounds of dragging, undead footsteps from down the block.
         "Looks like we got someone's attention," she told Daphne, jumping down from her horse and opening the garage door.  Not a good sign, she thought.  If they were here, and okay, this door would be locked.   She led Eva into the garage and motioned to Daphne to bring her ATV in.  Once they were all safely inside, she lowered the door, locking it in place.  She drew her bow, steeled herself, and opened the door that led from the garage into the kitchen.
         The first thing she noticed was a distinct lack of odor in the house, apart from the stale, musty smell that comes from a house sitting unoccupied for a long period of time.  Good, I shouldn't find them dead, she thought.
         "Or undead," Kandi chimed in.
         She walked through the kitchen and into the dining room, noting that the table was still set for the Easter dinner that had never happened.  The fine crystal and china had accumulated a thick layer of dust, and Shari knew at once that no one had been in the house since the beginning of the outbreak.  She continued through the house, looking for some clue as to her parents' fate.  She looked through each room, noting that everything was tidy and in order, but very dusty.  Even their beloved golden retriever was nowhere to be found.  As she surveyed her parents' room, she noticed that the closet was open, and some of the luggage was missing.  She walked back out into the hallway and realized that some of the family photos that had hung on the wall for as long as she could remember were also absent.
         "Well," she said, "they definitely went somewhere."
         "Any idea where they might have gone?" Daphne asked.
         Shari shrugged.  "I don't know.  They might have gone to my grandparents' farm, I guess.  They're both dead, but dad never sold the house...he couldn't bring himself to, since it's been in the family for so long.  Maybe they figured they'd be safer there." 
         "Where's the farm at?" Daphne asked.
         "Outside of town," Shari said,