Read Dead Highways: Origins for Free Online Page B

does.”
    “But everybody’s gone now.”
    “Not everybody.” She bowed her head. I sat there staring at her, hoping she wouldn’t start crying. Finally, she raised her head back up and said, “This is not the way I expected to go out.”
    “I know what you mean. I thought the end of the world wasn’t until December.” Peaches bowed her head again, telling me she didn’t think that was funny. “Sorry, I’m just tired of thinking about it. I don’t know what else to do.”
    “There’s got to be others like us.”
    I nodded.
    “We have to find them.”
    “And then what?”
    She shrugged. “I don’t know. Figure something out.”
    On the floor against the wall was my cell phone, right where I had thrown it. I bent down and picked it up, turned it on. Still no service. I turned the phone back off and set it next to Sally on the desk.
    “This might be the wrong time to ask you,” I said. “But do you have any idea what happened to Moses? He vandalized the store a while back and the police never caught him.”
    Peaches sighed. “I know, and I’m sorry. That was my fault.”
    “It’s okay. I just remember the police saying they questioned you about him.”
    “Yeah, I told them I hadn’t seen him in forever. Kinda been running things on my own. Feels good to be free of his control.”
    “I bet.”
    “I’d like to think he’s—”
    “What? One of them. The infected.” Peaches smiled. “Me too.”
    I told Peaches she could sleep in my bed, and that I’d just pile up some extra sheets and make a nest on the floor, but she wasn’t having it. She insisted that there was plenty of room in my double bed for the both of us. The room was getting muggy with no AC, so I cracked open a window to let some fresh air in. The night was soundless except for the calm hum of the wind and the purr of the humvee sitting in the middle of the road. It was too dark to tell if it was the same one I’d seen earlier, but it was definitely of the military variety.
    “Was that there when you got here?”
    Peaches was rolled up under the covers. It was a strange sight, seeing a girl in my bed. She peered over the covers at me looking out the window. “What?”
    “This humvee.”
    “There was no one outside. I was very careful not to be seen or followed. Why . . . what is it doing?”
    “Nothing. It’s just sitting there.”
    “Strange.”
    “You sure you weren’t followed?”
    “Pretty sure, Jimmy.”
    “Hmm. I just don’t trust them.”
    “I’m sure it’s okay. They’re just doing their job, after all. Why don’t you come to bed? You need to rest.”
    “I will in a minute,” I said, and blew out the candle on the nightstand.
    I sat by the window in the dark watching the military humvee for another thirty minutes. I thought I could see the gunner perched in the back but was unsure. It was just too dark to know with any certainty. If they had followed Peaches to the store, wouldn’t they have done something by now, I wondered. And if not, didn’t they have somewhere else to be. It didn’t make any sense. Before long, I was asleep with my head on the windowsill.
    Two hours later, I woke up with a terrible crook in my neck. I quietly sneaked into bed with Peaches, but not before taking another peek outside. The humvee was still sitting there in the road, still running.
    It hadn’t moved one inch.

Chapter 10
     
    I woke up the next morning wishing I hadn’t slept with my clothes on, wishing I hadn’t been so self-conscious because there was a girl in my bed. It wasn’t even hot in the room, but still my body was covered in sweat. I felt like I was gonna have a heat stroke.
    I quietly got out of bed so I wouldn’t wake Peaches.
    Or Jessica.
    Whatever.
    My alarm clock was no good for telling time anymore due to the lack of power, and the fact that I never bothered to put backup batteries in it, but I had a wristwatch that told me it was 6:17. Sunrise was right around the corner.
    I resumed my perch by