Generation Dead (Book 3): Beyond The Gates Read Online Free Page B

so he could see.
    Jake perked up. “Really?  Let me see.”  I handed them over, and he looked at them quickly.  “Huh.  These are the same numbers that were on the piece of paper the girls found on the dead guy.”
    It was my turn to perk up. “I’ll be damned.  Wonder what they mean?”  I said.
    “Not sure.  But you know what dad says, ‘ Once a coincidence …’”
    I finished the sentence. “‘ Twice a pattern .’ Yeah, something is weird, but we can’t figure it out unless we know what the numbers mean.”
    “Let’s get back to the van,” Jake said.
    “I’m glad you’re here,” I replied.
    Jake looked at me funny.  I had never expressed any sort of sentiment like that before. “Why?” he asked cautiously.
    “You can help me carry the gas cans,” I said.

Chapter 7
     
     
    Back at the van the girls were waiting outside, taking in the sun and enjoying the air.  The two of them had their heads turned to the sky, and the gentle breeze blew back their long blonde hair in slow, easy caresses.  If I had a camera I would have taken a picture, but these two had the models I had seen in old books beat by a mile.
    I lashed the cans to the top of the van and rummaged around until I found our kerosene sprayer.  I gave my tomahawk the once over and set it alight, getting a curious look from my wife.
    “Who’d you kill?” she asked.
    “Couple that were taking a bath in the car wash,” I said.
    “Really?  How’d it go?” Kayla asked.
    “Not so well.  They needed more soap.” I burned off the residual virus and put away the sprayer. “But I found something interesting.”
    Jake took the cue and handed over the bit of cloth.  Kayla and Julia put their heads together and Kayla promptly yelled.
    “Oh my god!  It’s the same as from the dead guy! What do you think it means?  Did you get it off a woman?  Was she dressed the same way?  Maybe it’s a combination.  Let me see again.”  Kayla looked at the numbers while the rest of us tried to recover from the question tornado.
    Jake smiled and shook his head, getting into the van and starting it up.  I went inside and was followed by the girls.  I looked over Jake’s shoulder and told him to go to the gas station, since I had left our hose and siphon there.  We could fill the tank on the van before we continued our journey. 
    As I filled the van, Julia looked over the maps I had found and plotted our next leg of the trip.  When I had secured the siphon and the hose, we headed west on 20 towards Casper, Wyoming.
    While the miles rolled past and the sun climbed over its zenith, Julia and I looked over the maps and figured out where the heck we were going.  Jake and I wanted to see the mountains, and the president of the New United States had asked for an update on the country outside of the capital back in Illinois. We’d mapped out a good portion of the middle states, took stock of the condition of the people living where they were, and whether or not there were any credible threats to the country.  So far we hadn’t seen much of anything that was a threat, outside of a measles problem in Missouri, but that was winding itself down. There were the odd zombies that wandered off the city reservations we had kept them in, but nothing in any sort of numbers. By and large, people were getting themselves back on track to living normal lives before the zombies had come.  They would always be a threat, to be sure, and just a little extra caution was needed when travelling or going near areas known to be infested, but apart from that, a person could take comfort in being able to move about with relative safety.
    By the time we reached I-26 the sun was well past evening, and the mountains helped hide the dwindling rays.  Jake was starting to keep his eyes on the lookout for some place to spend the night that wasn’t the van, and Julia helped out a little.
    “Turn south at 319!” she called from behind a map.
    “Any good reason?”