Read The Farm - 05 for Free Online

slapped at the vehicle as it charged forward, blasting through the crowd that had assembled before it. Biggs fought to keep the vehicle under control as it bounced and shuddered through the dense pack of dead meat, sending some bodies flying, others to the ground where they were crushed beneath the truck’s big tires. Powers sat upright in the passenger seat and grabbed a hold of the handle mounted on the A pillar, struggling to keep himself from being thrashed around as the truck bulled its way through the dead. Biggs kept her eyes forward, watching as the stenches went down, still reaching for her even while several tons of Detroit steel rolled right over them. She spared a glance in the rearview mirror, and saw the frightened kids clinging to each other in the back seat.
    “It’s going to be all right, kids,” she told them. “Hang in there.”
    “Captain, get this thing on the road!” Powers snapped.
    Biggs saw an opening ahead and cranked the wheel to the left, stomping on the accelerator. The Suburban tore across the field, weaving around the dead wherever possible, slamming into them with enough force to send them flying into the next county where it wasn’t. She brought the truck into a wide, skidding turn around the barn they had spent the night in, then saw a slash of concrete in a break between shambling bodies. She steered for it, and the Suburban bounced mightily as it crashed through the gathering stenches.
    And then, the Suburban was on the road. With surer purchase now that the tires were on a paved surface as opposed to grass and dirt, the Suburban handled a bit better, and she was able to weave around the stenches on the road. The SUV was pulling strongly to the left, and she hoped it was just because she’d blown the alignment, and not a tire. She risked another glance in the rearview mirror, and she saw the farm receding in the distance. The girl raised her head just then, and she turned to watch her home fade away.
    “Man, this is some dedication on display here,” Powers said, almost conversationally.
    Biggs glanced over, and she saw a corpse was hanging onto the passenger sideview mirror, the same one with which she had watched Klein die. The zombie out there was being dragged down the road, but it wouldn’t release its grip on the mirror’s frame. It tried to pull itself up, its cloudy eyes rolling wildly in its pockmarked face, dried tongue lolling; and then, the mirror snapped off at its base. The Suburban jounced as the stench went under the rear end. Biggs fought with the vehicle as it danced all over the road, tires screeching for a moment before she brought it back under her control.
    “Well.” Powers leaned back in his seat and let out a heavy sigh. “Well, that wasn’t so bad, I guess. Except for losing Klein, I mean.”
    “And their dad,” Biggs added quietly.
    Powers seemed to consider that for a moment, then he turned back and looked at the two youngsters in the back seat. The boy was still weeping, so terrified that was all he could do. A quick glance in the mirror again told Biggs the girl wasn’t all that far from melting down herself.
    “Yeah, my condolences, kids,” Powers said. “Really. Sorry we couldn’t have helped.”
    “Just shut up,” the girl said.
    Powers nodded and faced forward again. He shifted his rifle between his legs, then pulled off his left glove and rubbed his eyes with a grimy hand.
    “How’re you holding up, Sergeant?” Biggs asked.
    “I probably should’ve slept a bit last night,” he said.
    Biggs only grunted as the Suburban accelerated up a hill. The grunt turned into a near full-on scream when the SUV crested the rise, and she and Powers saw what was on the other side.
    Stenches. Thousands of them—no, tens of thousands, all marching across the landscape, heading up the road right at the speeding SUV as it bore down on them at over eighty miles an hour. Biggs stomped on the brakes, but it was too late. The stenches were too close,