Free Fortunes & Failures - 03 by T. W. Brown Page A

replied. He glanced at his daughter. Ronni was leaning on a tree, her backpack already unslung and on the ground beside her. She seemed to be intentionally not looking his way.
    “Let’s go, Chad.” Scott nudged his arm.
    The three men had reduced their load significantly. Chad carried a hand axe with a .357 in a holster at his hip. One pocket bulged with a handful of bullets. Scott held an aluminum baseball bat stained from use, and a Glock. Brett gripped a katana that Chad didn’t remember seeing before. He wore a shoulder holster with a Glock as well.
    Crossing the dirt road was easy, as was the ditch, and even climbing through the fence. However, once they were out on the wide expanse of road, things seemed suddenly much more… frightening was the word that came to Chad’s mind. He looked both ways. Occasional shadows of movements could be seen, but nothing close.
    They skirted the edge of the cluster of burned out vehicles. The smell of cooked flesh still hung in the air despite the fact that this wreckage had cooled long ago. Upon closer inspection, Chad noticed that many of the bodies had been picked clean.
    “Birds,” Chad whispered.
    “What?” Brett glanced over.
    “I don’t see any,” Chad replied. “But those bodies were picked almost clean and I am guessing it was by birds.
    “So?” Brett raised an eyebrow.
    “If those birds ate people who were infected, or worse, those who were already zombies, then maybe those birds are—”
    “Zombies?” Scott finished the thought.
    “You think they can still fly?” Brett began glancing nervously skyward.
    “I doubt it,” Scott said. “I mean, people who turn can barely walk. It wouldn’t seem likely that some sort of zombie bird would be flying.”
    “Sorta like it wouldn’t seem likely that some people who die wouldn’t get up and start eating the living?” Brett quipped.
    “It’s a matter of physics—” Scott shot back.
    “Later,” Chad interrupted. “We can argue all of this stuff around the campfire tonight. For now, let’s just get to that wall and see if we can cut through here.”
    The three men moved in silence. Each of them, including Scott, cast a wary eye to the sky more than once. After they gained the far side of the road, the trio took a good look around. The brush and tall grass on this side could easily hide one of those things that might be missing its lower half. Also, a few figures had stumbled out of the shadows and were moving their direction.
    Chad looked back at the almond tree grove where his daughter and the others were waiting somewhere out of site. It suddenly seemed like a thousand miles away. He didn’t like leaving Ronni behind. Despite the others that were with them, they were all each other had. He wasn’t going to make it a habit of taking on all of the scouting missions.
    “Give me a boost,” Scott said, snapping him out of it. Lacing his fingers, Chad gave Scott a purchase to step into. As he gripped the top of the wall and pulled himself up. Brett stood a few feet away, katana drawn, scanning the area and trying to determine which of the approaching figures might reach them first.
    “Christ on a cracker,” Scott breathed, and lowered himself, stepping out of Chad’s hands and dropping to the ground.
    “What?” Chad asked.
    Scott didn’t say a word. He simply laced his own fingers and indicated with a nod that Chad take a look for himself. He stepped into Scott’s hands and pulled himself up. The hellish nightmare that unscrolled before him took his breath away. Since early on, he, Donna and Ronni had been in one of the few FEMA rescue stations; Modesto High School.
    The streets of the neighborhoods were littered with garbage, body parts, corpses swarming with flies, and wrecked vehicles. Singles and groups of the undead wandered about aimlessly. Houses were burned down, some swarming with clusters of zombies clawing at the walls, windows and doors. Others had been busted into, and all the glass