This Would Be Paradise (Book 2)-A Zombie Novel

Chapter 15

I rolled up the window and started back towards the interstate. The added protection of the automatic rifles they had given us made me feel incrementally better. At least we could use them if we got really swamped in infected, which was probable the closer we got to New Orleans.

We were waved on by the new guards stationed at the town exit ramp. We no longer had to worry about on-coming traffic, so we could drive the wrong way. I waved back as we hit the long stretch of highway. I had the map out on the dash with my roughly estimated route. I was going off of memory of the map John had marked.

We didn't want the main bridge that crossed the Mississippi River, but the one on the outskirts that lead to the area where we found that first grocery store. To do this, we would have to get off the interstate and take some back roads. I just hoped that I would recognize something to help instill confidence. It felt kind of like a crapshoot.

An hour later, the honk of Roy's truck had me hitting the brakes. We had decided before we left, that a honk would signal stopping. I peered in the rearview mirror to see that Roy had stalled, smoke seeping out from under the hood of his truck.

"What's he doin'?" Chloe asked as she squinted to see in her side mirror.

I gave the area a panoramic view as best as I could from inside the car. There were no immediate threats that I could see. The highway was still a testament to the lack of life.

"I'm going to guess his old truck is hooped," I sighed. Nothing ever went smoothly. Was it too much to ask for safe passage?

I grabbed my handgun before I left Chloe in the car with the instructions to stay put and that I would signal for her to come out when I was sure it was clear. I hurried over to the truck, waving the smoke and steam from my impeded view.

"What's wrong?" I asked Roy. He was already out front with the hood propped up.

"Not sure, but I think there's a leak in the radiator. The temperature's too high and the engine is struggling. I just need like ten minutes to tinker with it." Roy hunched over the front, a wrench in hand.

Amanda waved at me from the front seat.

"I'm going to give the immediate area a once over, make sure nothings right by us," I informed Roy.

He looked up from the guts of the truck, "Stay close and don't try to be a hero. Yell if you get into trouble."

"I have no intention of playing hero, that only gets you dead." I left him with those words as I started with the area behind the truck.

We had just come from that road and it had been clear, but that all could change in an instant. I made sure I was still in sight of the vehicle as I made my way down the interstate. I checked up and down the ditches and when nothing even so much as moved I headed back.

"Is everything okay?" Amanda stuck her head out the passenger window.

"Everything looks good so far. And it seems like your dad knows what he's doing."

Roy had now crawled under the truck, his feet sticking out like he had been run over.

"Yeah, Dad used to be a mechanic. You should have seen all the tools he had!" Amanda said in a rush.

"Good th-" I was cut off by the sound of the car's horn.

Chloe.

I took off like a marathoner towards the car. She knew what noise would draw in and wouldn't have dared to do that unless there was danger. As I approached the car I could see the outline of a body against the passenger side of the car. Once I got closer, I could tell it wasn't the groping hand of an infected but the intent hands of a live person jingling the door handle. Chloe must have hit the lock button before the man got in. Thank god.