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

"about half an hour north of here."  She sighed.  "I'm just gonna get some things from my room...well, my old room...and then we can be on our way."  Daphne nodded, following Shari down the hallway.  They entered a large bedroom  decorated in pale shades of lavender and yellow.  The walls were adorned with posters...Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Tool, Nine Inch Nails. 
         "I can tell this is your room," Daphne said.
         Shari smiled.  "Yeah, it hasn't changed much since I left for college.  But then again, neither have my tastes."  She chuckled.  "Good thing I had impeccable taste to begin with, huh?"
         Daphne smiled, rolling her eyes.  She sat on the edge of the bed while Shari gathered a few sentimental odds and ends. 
         "I wish I got to grow up in a house like this," she told Shari.  "You don't know how lucky you are.  You were a normal girl in a normal house with normal parents...and a very comfy bed."
         "I guess you're right," Shari said, opening a desk drawer and taking out a large, ring-bound photo album. 
         As she opened the album, she noticed a folded note tucked between the pages.  She unfolded the note and held it in front of her face.  The note, written in her mother's handwriting, read,  Dearest Shari, Your father was bitten, so I'm taking him to the hospital in St. Louis.  I know it's a long way to drive in this chaos, but from what I've heard, it's the only place that can cure the infection.  Hopefully this will all blow over by the time you get here, and they can cure your father and life can go back to normal, at least for those of us that made it.  The neighborhood has already had some casualties...Mrs. Morgan from across the street, little Christine and Kyle from the next block over.  I don't know what this God awful plague is, but please, Shari, please be careful.  You're in my thoughts and prayers every second of every day until we're reunited.  All of our love, Mom and Dad. 
         She choked back tears as she took several photographs from the album, tucking them along with the note into a folder in her backpack.  "My dad's gone," she told Daphne softly.  "I don't know about mom, but dad's gone."
         Daphne crossed the room, embracing Shari awkwardly.  "I'm so sorry."
         "Me, too," Shari said, zipping the backpack closed.  "We can probably be on our way.  Depending on how many undead were in the neighborhood, the house might be surrounded if we wait too much longer." 
         They made their way down the hallway, through the dining room and kitchen, and back into the garage.  Shari wiped the moisture from around her eyes and peered out through the window and into the driveway and front yard. 
         "There are a few in the road, in front of the house," she said, "but they don't look very fresh.  We should have no problem out-running them." 
         She waited for Daphne to start her ATV, then opened the overhead door.  After Daphne exited the garage, Shari lowered her kevlar hood, led Eva out into the driveway, then closed the garage door.  She mounted Eva and rode eastward down the street after Daphne. 
         St. Louis.  Great, she thought bitterly . 
         "Yes," Kandi said as she rode alongside Shari, "I fear your mummy and daddy are as good as dead, princess."
         Shari shook her head.  If I knew they were both gone, that might be easier, in a way.  I hope she's okay, but it's the uncertainty that's killing me.  I don't know what happened to mom, and I'll probably never know.  
         She followed Daphne back toward 51, where they headed north alongside the route.  She grimaced as they rode toward Carbondale. 
         Kandi, riding beside her, shrugged her shoulders.  "Ain't uncertainty a bitch?"

     Shari raised her bow, nocked an arrow, and let it fly into the right eye socket of the last of three zombies wandering the parking lot of the motel.  It had about a