Read Among the Roaring Dead for Free Online

couldn’t catch him in time before he collided with the ground. He tried to prop him up against the front wheel but the young man’s head kept lulling forward. He laid him down on the ground and closed his eyes, noticing a line of bubbled flesh around his neck. Some of the boils had broken open with a small trail of white puss fizzing on top of his skin.
    Jess wondered what kind of catastrophe would result in such a result. A terrorist attack? Biological? Nuclear? Alien?
    His knee was aching and his heart was pounding. Was this the sign that whatever it was that had killed everyone was now affecting me , he thought?
    His sons were constantly watching these bizarre movies with action superstars, who would fight off extraterrestrial invaders who were looking to take over the earth for unknown but malicious purposes.
    He slid into the car and saw that a smartcard was attached to the dashboard. It had been running for who knows how long. The fuel was gone and the battery was dead. It didn’t really matter how it happened at this point. He had to keep moving. To reach the place where he was most likely to find his children was a walk of several hours – less if he could find a working car or bicycle.
     

Chapter 5
    Broken glass crunched under his shoes as he walked up the main street toward the apartment. He had better boots at home, and a warmer jacket too, but his place was on the other side of town. There was no time.
    He eventually had to train his eyes to concentrate on the ground a few feet in front of him, because when he looked up, he saw more and more bodies behind the wheel of their cars, their necks arched upwards or down in some unnatural fashion, indicating that they were no longer alive. Some were outside; resting against park benches as if the whole world had gone on some terrible drinking bender in the middle of the night. It was a much more pleasant thought than what was gleamed by looking around at all the carnage.
    The traffic lights were all out. Paper boxes framed the headline story from yesterday: the silhouette form of a teenager who claims that the mayor forced himself on her in a city hall boardroom.
    Then, the silence of Jess’s march was shattered rudely. There was rustling up ahead and then animal-like sounds, like a pack of dogs had cornered a racoon in some unseen alleyway. He moved forward quietly, shuffling his black shoes through the dirty snow-covered streets. His knee throbbed the way it did when the temperature cooled quickly. He made an effort to concentrate on his breathing, trying to move quickly but quietly. There came into view a group of people standing around surveying something, leaning in like a group of pedestrians at the scene of an accident.
    Survivors, he thought.
    Jess was elated. Though he was hardly the most social of men, he was thankful to see that there were others around after all. When his football career ended, he mostly wanted to be left alone. He stood silently in corners of rooms at parties drinking rye out of chilled glasses. He shut the door to his driving quarters on subways, whereas he knew that some of his colleagues liked to keep it open to chat with the passengers. He hadn’t been this happy to see strangers in ages and it oddly put him on guard, despite the initial euphoria of the find. His mind was telling him to look at it as being proof that his family could still be alive. He moved more quickly towards the group, squinting his eyes to try and figure out just what it was he was looking at.
    He was only about 50 feet away when they saw him. Each of them turned, almost in unison, exposing grotesque faces covered in red. A low growl came from the people, maybe six in total, and one took a step forward. It was an uncertain step, like a drunk on uneven ground. The man’s arms came up in a plea and the mouth opened. A low moan could be heard as he moved towards Jess. The others followed as if this was their captain in rough seas. They all looked horrible, and