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tried to use his shirt to filter it out but with little success; he coughed and his eyes watered, making it hard to drive.
    As he drew closer to downtown, he came upon streets that had been bulldozed clear. The sides of the streets were piled high with corpses. Some looked blown to pieces. Every face he saw was smiling. Several of them were still moving. He saw open eyes, turning heads, feeble attempts at movement. It was probably the creepiest thing he had seen yet in his life.
    He knew with all the shooting that people were probably dying, but the bodies stunned him. On one street all the bodies were bulldozed into piles at least ten feet high on both sides. The thousands of bodies formed walls that ran along several of the streets for blocks. A particularly high wall of corpses encircled several blocks of the downtown area. The massive wall had only a few openings, and at each one was a checkpoint with four soldiers. He could only think that there had to be many people he knew in the piles. He drove through one of the gaps in the large corpse-wall and ran across his first checkpoint.
    He’d heard on the emergency radio that all law enforcement agencies and military personnel across the country were out in force. From small towns to large cities, the country was blanketed with uniforms. A curfew was put into effect and all travel suspended. Noncritical personnel were asked to stay indoors and keep their radios tuned to the emergency broadcast system. Only emergency responders, medical staff, law enforcement, and government officials were allowed to travel to work. They were halted at numerous checkpoints—shot without question if they didn’t stop when and where they were directed. Many people were detained for ignoring the curfew, and several looters were shot.
    But even tight martial law wasn’t enough. The infected continued to fill the streets in large numbers, doing whatever they pleased. Some roadblocks were overrun, as many soldiers couldn’t shoot smiling, laughing people. Others mowed down the smilers in vast numbers. In short, it was insane to be on the streets.
    So when Cooper pulled up to the soldiers at a checkpoint like he was ordering a Big Mac, it made sense they would look at him like he was batshit crazy. The soldiers were wearing heavy-duty breathing apparatuses that covered their head and neck, and there were hoses hooked to devices on their chests and backs. Their faces were clearly visible through the clear plastic. They flagged him down. Two held rifles level at Cooper’s head, one manned the turret in a Humvee, and a fourth approached his car.
    “Where are you going?” the soldier was shouting through the heavy mask.
    “Just riding around,” Cooper said with a smile.
    “Just riding…” The soldier’s eyes could be seen through the mask, and the expression of disbelief completed his half-spoken question.
    “Sir, there’s some serious shit happening… Sir, you need to get home. We are shooting the smilers. The only reason we didn't shoot you is because you don’t have a big, shit-eating grin on your face.”
    “Oh, OK.” Cooper was just staring, thinking.
    “Seriously, go straight home. If someone else were on duty you could have been shot. Technically, I am supposed to detain you.”
    “So there’s no getting out of the city? What about…”
    “No, and you need to leave now, or I will have to detain you. If that happens, you will end up in a federal shelter and believe me, you will be more comfortable at home.”
    “I am just worried about my sister. She’s up north in…”
    “You will never make it through the checkpoints. The roads are blocked by wrecks and massive pileups. Your only option is home.” The soldier was out of patience. “Now drive, or I will drag you from the car.”
    Cooper thanked him and took off but not toward home. He wanted to get out of the city more than ever, but that seemed less likely now, given all the obstacles and roadblocks. Things had