World of Ashes Read Online Free

ashen clouds just enough to make out the highway and a few still-smoldering cars. This was going to be a long walk if they couldn’t find a car.
                  In silence they walked back to the first aid station. The bodies were exactly as they’d left them, much to their relief. They didn’t have time to bury the bodies, the sun was setting and both were already a measure beyond exhausted. Ethan whispered the words to The Lord’s Prayer over Keller before they left.
    Keith, who was a much better mechanic than Ethan, spent some time inspecting the vehicles the theme park had in its parking lot with the hopes someone had abandoned something that could be hotwired. The most promising was a newer model Chevy Impalla that still had the keys on the seat next to blood streaks where the occupant had been dragged out and eaten behind a pile of broken roller coaster cars. Ethan slid in and turned the key. The car started and they breathed a sigh of relief when cold, soot free air blew over them. They loaded all their stuff and slowly pulled out of the parking lot. Deciding to avoid the highway Ethan turned right to travel the back roads. That was perhaps not the brightest idea he ever had, as the ash was already so thick the car couldn’t maintain traction. It slid into a ditch and downed a fence at the top of the hill and sputtered until it died.
    There was a moment of silence in the car while both took a deep breath in frustration, astounded at their bad luck and the sheer idiocy of the situation. Ethan had learned long ago never to ask what else could go wrong. He might get an answer. The men were about to get out when they saw movement in the mists. Ethan raised his M4 and held very, very still, knowing that some of the Undead would completely bypass them if they were as indistinguishable as their surroundings. Zombies aren’t super human after all, they just don’t feel pain or fatigue. The shape grew larger and more defined. In a ghostly scene straight from the Iraqi oil fires of the movie Jarhead , a horse that someone tried to saddle stepped slowly up to what were probably the first living people he’d seen in a while.
    Keith got out of the car and went up to the horse. There were no reports of the virus jumping species, whatever it was seemed to attack only people. A reigning theory was the virus was only attracted to higher brain functions. Zombies would eat an animal, this was true, but only if there was nothing else. Keith petted the mustang and looked it in the eyes. Ethan kept his distance, he liked horses even less people, having been beaten rather severely by one as a child.
                  "Looks thirsty. I'll bet his trough is completely saturated with ash." He reached into the car and pulled out a bottle of water and poured it into a dog bowl half buried nearby. The horse lapped the water up, and just as quickly as it had appeared, the animal disappeared into the ash storm across the hole they’d put in the fence. “Good luck, pal.” Keith whispered as the horse faded from view.
                  "Let's check the house. The people might still be home." Ethan stalked up to the mansion sized ranch house and thoroughly checked the outside before knocking on the front door. Minutes later no one answered and they tried the knob, just in case it was unlocked. There was a notion to kick it in, but in the last moment before Ethan let his foot fly Keith jabbed him and pointed to a window that was unlocked.
    The soot covered men climbed into the house, a beautifully maintained upper income home. The inside was a refreshingly clean space, well taken care of and free of ash. As if they were covered in mud or snow the muddy looking men stood in the foyer for a long while, unwilling to pollute this pristine palace before they wordlessly stripped down to their underwear and cleared the house as silently as possible in socks and skivvies before going through the owner's closets. The man