They left the house the next morning, with their new weapons. Climbing into the glider, they proceeded down the ruined interstate, which was full of abandoned vehicles. Almost all of these vehicles were pointed east; tens of thousands of people had been attempting to leave Lon Halos after the initial outbreak, apparently, but hadn't quite managed to make it out. He saw corpses in some of the cars and trucks, and his Zombie Radar went off once or twice as well, although he never actually saw any of the zombies it was picking up.
The weather, at least, was beautiful -- the sky was blue and the sun was brilliant. There was no smog or air pollution; when the tall, gleaming buildings of Lon Halos finally came into view, all was perfectly clear.
The city itself was situated in a sort of valley, beneath a set of high hills which led into some low, lightly forested mountains. It was enormously spread out; even from their high vantage point, coming out of the hills, they could see neither the northern nor southern reaches of the city. Beyond the city, further west, was the ocean, a gleaming, sunlit sheet that disappeared into the golden-blue distance.
Lucky was impressed. "It's as big as Meku City," he said. "And prettier, too."
"From a distance, maybe," Luna said. She was frowning thoughtfully.
"Something wrong?" Stu asked.
"I'm just wondering which route we should take," she said. "There could be people watching the roads, or robots with cameras, like in Heart's Glow. I don't want to drive into an ambush."
"We could circle around from the north," Stu suggested.
"We're going to have to find some water, too," Millie pointed out. "We're almost out."
"She's right," Lucky said. "I'm thirsty."
Luna's frown deepened. "There's no lakes or rivers around here," she said, "and it doesn't look like it's going to rain anytime soon, either."
"Bottled water?" Stu offered. They had found several untouched, unopened bottles of water in some of the ruined grocery and convenience stores they had come across, but they were fairly rare; it had been ten years since the outbreak, after all, and most such places had been looted long ago. Moreover, many of the bottles they had found had had broken seals, or had been contaminated in some way. Stu worried about the plastic from the bottles leaching into the water as well, after ten years of sitting on a shelf, but he was more worried about dehydration than he was about microplastics.
"Probably our best bet," Luna said. "Let's look for a store."
"What about this Dr. Snowe?" Millie asked. "How are we going to find him?"
"One thing at a time," she sighed, and she stepped on the gas, maneuvering the glider down into the hot, sun-drenched valley. The entire region seemed to have been covered in asphalt, fortunately, which improved the glider's handling.
Stu's Zombie Radar started going off more and more as they entered the city, and he soon began to catch glimpses of zombies as well, stumbling through parking lots or wandering up and down streets -- here a Level 1, there a Level 5. At one point he saw a sizable horde mulling around beneath an overpass -- at least fifty zombies, the most he had seen in one place since Meku City. Some of zombies looked up at them, with bloody, weeping eyes, and bared their teeth, but the glider's speed was such that they had no trouble outdistancing them.
"This place rots," Lucky muttered. "It's rots bad." He was clearly on edge.
The city was enormous, and it was totally infested with the undead. Doubts began creeping into Stu's mind -- how were they going to find Dr. Snowe? Was the man even alive? He had obviously been in great danger when he had spoken to Virge and Wayman over the radio. He might have been killed by the Dread months ago.
And if that was the case...what did that mean for Stu? He had been desperately clinging to the hope that Dr. Snowe would be able to send him home, and that this horrifying excursion into zombie-hell was only temporary. What if wasn't, though? What if he was trapped here, doomed to spend the rest of his life here? He didn't like to think about it. He had made friends here, to be sure, but the thought that he might never see his parents again, that he might never eat a real cheeseburger again, and that he might never sleep in his own bed again, in a world where he didn't have to worry about a zombie eating his brains in the middle of the night...that was pretty hard to take.
They eventually discovered a large department store which seemed to be in relatively good condition, and which seemed to be a good prospect for looting. They parked the glider in the parking lot, in front of the main entrance, and, with their weapons held at the ready, entered the building. Stu led the way with Excalibur.
It was a bright, sunny day, but the building had no natural lighting, and so was very dark; Lucky was obliged to get out a flashlight. The store was gigantic, of course, the equivalent of a Walmart, which made it impossible to see to the other end of it, and it smelled pretty bad, too; the grocery items had rotted away long ago and it seemed likely that some animals had taken up residence in it. Stu's Sniffer ability picked up a musty odor that made him think of rats and raccoons.
The shelves were almost bare, and several of them had toppled over, spilling their contents all over the floor -- the store had clearly been looted at some point -- but some aisles were more or less intact. One aisle that was basically untouched was the toy aisle. Millie lingered here for a few moments, her cybernetic fingers brushing over the colorful boxes and packaging. At one point she stopped and picked up a small keychain plush toy, of a miniature robot, turning it over in her hands. "I used to have one like this," she said, before returning it to the shelf.
They were on their way to the grocery section of the store when Stu's Zombie Radar suddenly started pinging. He immediately brought the others to a halt and whispered a warning.
"How many?" Luna whispered back.
"I can't tell," he said. "Let's get out of--"
He was interrupted by a sudden, piercing scream, coming from somewhere up ahead, which made all of them jump. It was followed by the sound of snarling, agitated zombies.
"What the hell?" Lucky blurted.
"Help! Anyone!" The word "anyone" devolved into another long scream.
"Sounds like someone's in trouble," Stu said. He activated his Night Vision skill, in order to get a better view of his surroundings, and without waiting for Lucky, Luna, or Millie to follow, he ran to the source of the scream.
Rounding a corner, he found himself looking at a small, balding man wearing a huge and hevay-looking backpack, who was being accosted by three zombies -- two female Level 1's and a large male Level 6. All four of them turned to look at Stu when he came skidding around the corner.
Stu didn't give the zombies time to react -- he attacked immediately. He started with the Level 6, using Excalibur to buffalo him away from the balding man before delivering a single, massive blow to his head, cracking his skull and sending him flying into the shelves. Level 6 Zombie defeated!Critical Bonus! Gained 1 SP!
One of the female zombies, oblivious to how easily Stu had dispatched the larger zombie, quickly lunged for him, but he was able to spin around and uppercut her with the baseball bat before she could grab him. She was lifted off her bare feet and landed flat on her back -- the oblique blow hadn't been quite enough to kill her, but he had probably broken her neck or something. She lay there, twitching.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Meanwhile the other female zombie was still trying to bite the balding man, and he was flailing away at her, slapping at her, trying to get her off. Stu grabbed the zombie by the back of her rotten shirt and pulled her off the man, throwing her to the floor and pinning her down by placing his boot on her back. Then, as though he were teeing off with a golf club, he used the bat to batter her brains.
By this time Luna, and Lucky, and Millie had come around the corner as well. Lucky raised his revolver, preparing to blast the still-twitching zombie, but Millie stopped him. "Don't waste it," she said. And she drew her own weapon, a long knife, which she plunged deep into the zombie's eye socket.
It was all rather grisly, and even the balding man, whom they had just saved, looked appalled. He did remember his manners, though in the end: "T-thank you," he said. "Whoever you are."
Stu studied the man. He was short, but with very broad shoulders and almost no neck. These features, combined with his bald head and heavy, padded coat and large backpack, gave him a vaguely turtle-like appearance. He brushed himself off and proceeded to take a handkerchief out of his pocket, which he used to dab at his sweaty forehead.
Stu's Zombie Radar had gone quiet, but it only had a range of fifty feet; it was entirely possible that there were more zombies lurking about. "Are you all right?" he asked the man. "We should probably get out of here."
"Give me a minute," he said. He was out of breath, and sweating profusely; the encounter with the zombies had obviously left him shaken.
"I'll look around for some water," Lucky volunteered.
"I'll go with you," Millie said, and together the two of them ran off, headed for the beverage aisle, leaving Stu and Luna alone with the man.
"What's your name?" Luna asked him.
"Sundance," he replied. "That's what I've been calling myself, anyway."
"How'd you end up here?"
"I might ask you the same question."
"We're out of water. We thought we might find some here." Stu glanced at Luna, then added, "We're new in town."
"You have my sympathies," he said, chuckling in a sad sort of way. "I thought there might be something of value here, too. I'm a trader. I make my living searching through old stores like these." His gaze fell on the zombies Stu had killed. "I've usually got a sixth sense about these things. Didn't expect to run into this bunch. Thank you again."
"No problem."
Lucky and Millie soon returned with a couple of cans of water, which they drank down greedily. The water was lukewarm, and it had an odd flavor, but Stu didn't mind; he was damn thirsty. They gave a can to Sundance as well, who guzzled down the whole thing in just a few seconds, wiping his mouth with his sleeve afterward.
"So who are you people?" the man asked them. "You come down out of Raleigh?"
"Raleigh?"
"The zombies have taken over pretty much everything north of here," he said. "I figured maybe you were refugees from one of the settlements. You're the first people I've seen in two days." He shook his head sadly. "I'm planning on leaving town myself. Not much point in hanging around, what with the Dread getting ready to attack."
"What do you know about the Dread?" Stu asked. "Like I said, we're new in town. We don't really know the situation here."
"Well, I don't know what reason you could possibly have to come to Lon Halos--"
"We're looking for someone."
"--but you've picked a bad time. The Dread's finally making his move. His zombies broke into the Akiva Air Base a couple months ago. There's thousands of 'em up there now, maybe tens of thousands. They attacked Raleigh and the Flamingo Club a few days ago, and now, I imagine, they'll be moving on to Georgetown, to finish off Dr. Snowe. That electric shell of his won't last forever."
Stu started. "Dr. Snowe?"
"You know him?"
"He's the man I'm looking for," he said excitedly. "Where can I find him? What can you tell me about him?"
He shrugged. "Never met the man myself. He's some kind of scientist, I guess. After the outbreak he and his people hunkered down in Akiva Air Base, a few miles up the coast -- they used some kind of force field to keep the zombies out of the place; they called it an electric shell. It fried anything that got near it." He shrugged again. "I went up there to trade with them a few times, but they wouldn't lower the barrier for me. Anyway, the Dread must have figured out a way to crack that electric shell, because his zombies overran the place a couple months ago, like I said. Dr. Snowe and his people fled to Georgetown and set up shop in a mall just south of there. It's protected by another electric shell, but if the Dread was able to break the first one down, there can't be anything stopping him from breaking down the second one. It's just a matter of time."
All this tracked pretty well with what Stu already knew -- Dr. Snowe had told Virge and Wayman that he was under attack by the Dread, and that he was going to have to flee their base due to the failure of this "electric shell." Up to now, though, Stu had had no idea if Dr. Snowe had managed to escape from that situation. Apparently he had, and he had constructed a new electric barrier near this place called Georgetown. This was fantastic news.
"Can you tell us how to get to Georgetown?" Stu asked.
"I suppose," he said doubtfully, "but are you sure you want to go there? That's where the Dread is headed. And if Dr. Snowe is the man you're looking for..." He shook his head. "The Dread has it out for Dr. Snowe. He's been after him for years. The closer you get to Snowe, the more danger you'll be putting yourself in." He wiped his forehead; he was still sweating profusely.
"Why is the Dread trying to kill Dr. Snowe?" Lucky asked.
"Beats me. All I know is the Dread is bad news."
"We heard he was a brainy," Millie offered.
"He is, but he's something more than that. He can control zombies."
"With grub modules?"
Sundance blinked at her -- noticing, for the first time, her flashing red eye. "What's a grub module?"
"It's a device for controlling zombies. You put it in their brains."
"I don't know anything about that," he said warily. "But the Dread doesn't need any kind of tech to control his zombies. He's like a general, and they're the soldiers. They follow his orders. I've heard that he can see through their eyes, too."
"You believe that?" Lucky asked, skeptical.
"It's just what I've heard. I've seen some mighty strange shit these past ten years, though. Saw a man electrocuted by an eel-mutate on Warbler's Beach. Saw Santa Frett go up in flames after a bomber blew up next to a couple of glowies. I barely got out of that one alive. A brainy who can mind-control other zombies? It's not that weird."
"Most brainies can't do that," Millie objected.
"Well, the Dread is special. He's been around a long time, you know. He might've been one of the first." He spread his hands. "That's all I know."
"Thanks for the info," Stu said. "How do we get to Georgetown?"
"I'll draw you a map." He found a roll of paper towels, tore off a section, and removed an ink pen from his backpack, which he used to sketch out a crude map. "These are Hell's Hills," he said, pointing to a part of the map. "You'll have to go through there to get to Georgetown. The problem is, this area is full of zombies, and there's not much cover -- the whole neighborhood burned down right after the outbreak, so it's just ruins now."
"We have a glider," Luna pointed out.
"The roads are a little rough, too. Fortunately there's no gangs down there anymore. The Groupies, the 10th Streeters, the Pale Riders -- the zombies took care of them."
And over the next couple of hours Sundance proceeded to tell them all about the various dangers they might encounter in Hell's Hills, and in Lon Halos generally. He warned them, specifically, against going into the mountains, which were full of mutates.
By the time he had finished, it was getting late, and Stu thought it might be a good idea to bed down for the night. Stu invited Sundance to share their camp, which Luna didn't like -- she didn't completely trust the man, and was always suspicious of strangers -- but she put up with it.
Stu was too excited to sleep, and so agreed to take the first watch. Lucky and Luna fell asleep almost immediately, of course, while Millie closed her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. Sundance took off his huge backpack and hunkered down within his huge coat, but he was pale and sweating and looked very uncomfortable; he was constantly tossing and turning. It was warm in the store, and he was probably pretty hot in that heavy coat; Stu wondered why he didn't take it off.
Millie, who had volunteered to take the second watch, woke up by herself a couple of hours later, and got up to relieve Stu. When she saw Sundance tossing and turning, however, she frowned. "This is bad," she said flatly.
"What do you mean?"
"I didn't notice it before, but..." She sighed. "He's infected. One of those zombies must have bit him."
"He didn't say anything."
"Maybe he didn't know it. Maybe he didn't want to believe it."
"Are you sure he's infected? Could be he's just sick."
"I don't think we can take that chance." She retrieved her long knife.
"You're going to kill him?" Stu blurted, alarmed at this sudden escalation. "Right now?"
"It's too late for him. We should have killed him hours ago, before he started to turn."
She started for him, but Stu caught her wrist and held her back. "I don't think you should..." But he trailed off, because he was beginning to feel a faint tickling sensation in his brain. It was his Zombie Radar.
And as he watched, an ICON designation suddenly sprang to life above Sundance's head: Level 1 Zombie.
Millie was right. Sighing, he released her. She turned her flickering red eye in his direction, and started for him again, knife in hand, but Sundance, snapping awake, suddenly shook his head and looked at them. He gave no indication that he recognized them; there was nothing in his eyes -- which were now tinted silver -- but unthinking rage.
He quickly climbed to his feet and scrambled towards them. Stu put his arm out and clotheslined the zombie, knocking him to the floor, then took the knife from Millie and did as she had done earlier, stabbing him through the eye socket and driving the knife deep into his brain. He shuddered and went still.
Level 1 Zombie defeated!Critical bonus! Gained 1 SP!
Disgusted, he shook the blood off the knife and handed it back to Millie. He was tired of this kind of killing. The sooner he found Dr. Snowe, and returned to his own world, the better.