Dead Highways (Book 2): Passage Read Online Free

was right beside the Mack truck, just a few yards away. The bad news was we’d likely be seen by at least a few infected once we hopped out.
    Peaches gathered Olivia and came into the front seat, readied herself for departure.
    I unlocked the passenger door, kept my eyes on the side mirror.
    “Anyone coming?” Peaches asked.
    “Yeah. A woman and a small child. Duck down until they pass.”
    I considered going when they were three car lengths back. Neither the woman nor the child looked like they could pose a giant threat to us, even if their infected minds made them believe they had super powers. But still I’d rather take my chances with one person over two. As terrible as it may sound, I was hoping to see a child walking by themselves. That would give us the best odds. What came next, however, was almost as good.
    It was an old man, hunched over, walking slower than my grandma.
    “Now,” I said, and threw open the passenger door.
    Fifteen seconds later, we were in Ted’s Jeep heading back east.
    “I don’t think he even noticed us,” Peaches said.
    “Probably can’t see further than ten feet in front of him.”
    Peaches laughed, even though I wasn’t really joking. Without my glasses, I was basically blind too.
    “I’m just gonna head back the way we came. Let me know if you see this daycare place.”
    It felt great to be out of that stuffy cabin and out in the open air. I wanted to close my eyes and relax, feel the wind whip across my face, but damn if I didn’t have to keep my eyes on the road. The last time I was behind the wheel, I’d crashed my grandma’s Buick, and that was with my eyes open.
    Not long after we left the highway, we came upon the daycare. Peaches had been right about there being a sign in the front yard—white, with dark blue lettering.
    The Baby Brig.
    Whoever thought up that name was probably voted most likely to fail at business in high school. I didn’t remember passing this Baby Brig place at all. Then again, I was a man, which meant I usually had tunnel vision.
    The front door was open, but we knocked anyway, calling out if anybody was home. No one called back. Satisfied, we went inside and explored the daycare.
    What a mess. Dirty, dirty, dirty, would be the best way to describe it. Not the type of place I’d want to drop my kid off, unless I hated them and wanted them to suffer. Maybe The Baby Brig name wasn’t so inappropriate after all.
    Peaches found a supply closet pretty quick, refilled Olivia’s baby bag, and then we were on our way. It felt weird having everything go as planned. How often had that happened over the last few days? We found the stuff without any problem, and didn’t have to kill anybody to get it. Nor did we have to run for our lives. Hell, we practically strolled back to the Jeep—like it was just any other day.
    Two miles down the road, that comfortable carefree feeling came to a screeching halt, in the midst of yesterday’s wreckage. I pulled up next to my grandma’s Buick. It looked just as I’d remembered it—like an ugly car with a busted up face.
    “Why did you stop?” Peaches asked.
    Because I was confused. Dead bodies lay all around.
    Only.
    Not as many as before.
    I opened the door and got out of the Jeep, walked around to the other side.
    Peaches opened the passenger door and leaned out. “Jimmy, what are you doing? I don’t think we should stop until we get to Ted’s.”
    “Don’t you see this?”
    Peaches picked up Olivia and got out. “See what?”
    I slowly crossed to the other side of the road and stood over one of the bodies.
    “Oh God,” Peaches said, as she came up behind me. She turned away, revolted. “What happened to it?”
    The body belonged to one of the two men responsible for strangling Luna to death in the ditch. Robinson had killed him shortly after. Quick shot to the back of the head. The bullet wound was still clearly visible, but the rest of his body had been mangled and eaten nearly down to the bone.