The Virus Within: The Unranked (Book 4)

Ch. 28: Welcome To Spokane

I regarded the sparse forest flanking the three-lane highway with approval. It was a welcome relief to finally see real trees instead of stunted shrubs. Ironically enough, the same trees were hindering our attempts to drive in the ditch and bypass the clusters of abandoned vehicles clogging the road.

Long grasses and saplings brushed against the sides of the truck as we slowed down. Three cars blocked our path, with more vehicles blocking this section of the highway. I didn't see any way around it, so we were going to have to do this the hard way. As I jumped out, Daniel's door opened.

"I can move them if you want to drive," he offered.

"That works for me," I said, more than ready to take the easy way out.

I claimed the driver's seat as Daniel tried moving a car out of the way. His first light push did nothing; the vehicle was in park, the two tires I could see were flat, and the grass had mounded around them over the years. Daniel shook his head and simply flipped it on its side and shoved it out of the way.

As I drove past, he jumped into the back of the truck. I returned to the pavement to avoid a fallen tree and zigzagged through the narrow path between vehicles, conveniently losing most of the zombies who wanted to greet us.

I managed to drive almost two minutes before I had to slow down and let Daniel clear another roadblock. This part of the highway wasn't too bad, but I could see the edge of the city behind the vehicle-filled overpasses, and I knew we'd be walking soon enough.

"At least this bridge is still standing," I commented as we got closer. "Is it feasibly possible to get any more vehicles on it?"

Daniel once more jumped out. "If you stack them, yes."

I snorted and idled behind him as he flipped smaller vehicles on top of their neighbors. Glass shattered and metal protested against his heavy-handed method of clearing a path. Slowly but surely, we crossed the bridge above the shallow creek and reached less crowded roads.

"Oh, look. Our first Runner," I said, nodding at the incoming zombie. "I was beginning to wonder where they were. I don't smell anything unusual, nor am I picking up that metallic undertone, but I think I'd have to be fairly close to detect that."

"I was just thinking it was strange that we hadn't seen one yet," Daniel said. "Turn down this off-ramp. There's a few labs and research buildings in this city. Judging by the map, most of them are by the river, so I'm hoping we don't have to go too far. If nothing else, we can check the university's lab rooms. It might have been overrun too fast for looters to grab stuff."

"In a city this big, pandemonium would have hit fast and hard," I said, glancing at the vehicles we passed by. Their contents were stacked haphazardly, as if they had been hastily thrown in before the drivers tried escaping the city.

"That's why I think we stand a decent chance of finding the equipment and parts we're after," Daniel said as we reached another blockade and he jumped out of the back.

He growled at the Runner, which then decided the truck was more interesting. When it reached the open window, I also greeted it with a growl. It actually took heed of my warning and climbed into the back of the truck, trying to locate the source of the human scent.

Daniel finished moving the cars and regarded our new hitchhiker unfavorably. Before the Runner realized what was happening, it was lightly tossed into the middle of a vehicle pileup. I kept driving as the zombie scrambled to its feet and tried to climb over the dusty hoods.

The smaller roads were just as congested as the major highways, and our progress soon slowed to a jogging pace with occasional pauses. Daniel seemed content to act as a bulldozer, and there weren't overly many zombies at the moment, so I kept driving.