The Zombie Virus (Book 2): The Children of the Damned Read Online Free

boy had the GPS unit he had taken from the truck, which
was programmed with the fastest route to the farm. It would guide
the boy there via the roads, not by rail. However, they had talked
about it before, about getting out of dodge in an emergency and how
much safer railroad lines were when on foot compared to highways.
Would Jeremy have remembered that and decided to take the safer
routes? The GPS unit would still guide him correctly if he did make
that choice, if it could still retain a charge for that long.
    Steven scanned the highway once more with the
binoculars, confirming that there was still no Looney activity
among the scattered and abandoned vehicles that dotted the road in
both directions. He turned to Kera, who had finished dressing and
was wolfing down some packaged peanut butter crackers.
    “We’ll stick to the highway. I think Jeremy
will be following it instead of the tracks.” He made the hard
decision and put it aside. “I would like to make it to the
foothills of the Blue Ridge by nightfall.”
    “I thought the tracks were safer?” Kera
asked, standing next to him at the window.
    Steven nodded. “They are. Nevertheless, I’m
betting on Jeremy sticking to the road as much as possible.” He
kissed her gently on the forehead, then turned and picked up his
Colt short-barreled rifle, briefly turned on the EoTech to check
the battery, and then slid it into the sling, cinching it tightly
to his chest. He checked his Sig P220 .45 to make sure that the
magazine was topped off and that a round was chambered before
stuffing it into his drop leg holster. He then patted his cargo
pants pocket to make sure the two extra magazines were still there.
“Let’s go. Time’s-a-wasting.”
    Kera slung her shotgun across her shoulder.
She had chosen to stick with her Saiga 12-gauge shotgun instead of
Holly’s short-barreled Colt M4 rifle that Steven had offered to her
weeks back, even though the shotgun only had five round mags
instead of the 30 rounder’s that Steven carried for the AR. She had
told him that she liked the effects the double-ought loads had on
the Loonies compared to the smaller 5.56 mm rifle round, plus
shotgun shells were much easier to come by. He picked up his
military-style patrol pack in ACU digital camo and slipped into the
straps, clipping the pack clasps under his rifle. Steven still
carried Holly’s rifle stuffed in the backpack, despite the added
weight. He gave a myriad of good reasons to keep it, although he
knew in his heart that it was really because he was loathe to give
up anything linked to his beloved wife. Sticking out of the pack
next to Holly’s rifle barrel was his grandfather’s old katana
sword. He had learned he could swiftly reach back and grasp the
handle and extricate the sword from its sheath, which would stay in
the backpack.
    Within an hour they had cautiously picked
their way down the slope of the hill to the steep berm that led up
to the four-lane highway. They scrambled up the weed choked slope
and emerged onto the wide expanse of pavement. Only a few abandoned
cars were scattered about the long stretch of what made up the
westbound lanes. Steven searched both directions with the
binoculars for several minutes trying to detect any movement.
    “I don’t see anything,” he muttered to Kera,
who stood beside him shading her eyes from the rising sun as she
looked back along the highway.
    “Always a good way to start the day,” she
stated matter-of-factly.
    Steven had started noticing several weeks ago
that the Loonies had begun swarming together in groups like flocks
of birds or insects. It was becoming rarer to find them wandering
around alone anymore. Like a ravaging swarm of insects, they were
becoming more coordinated in their attacks. In his mind this made
them even more dangerous. He hadn’t mentioned the observation to
Kera yet. He wasn’t sure if they were isolated incidences, and
didn’t want to frighten her any more than needed.
    They were only a