Dead Life (Book 2) by D. Harrison Schleicher Page A

Highway 70 and we were hoping one of these would be clear.
                  Gina had joined me in the Hummer and was looking at one of the maps we'd taken from the store trying to find a route that would get us to the highway.  Al was still in front of us and we decided to see if we could reach him on the radio.
                  “Hey up there!  You guys got your ears on?”  Gina asked.
                  “Al says you didn't say over.  Over.”  It was Cindy.
                  “Sorry, what do you think would be the best way to get to the highway?  Over.” 
                  “Just follow us.  We're going to try to find a safe place to pull over.”
                  That didn't look to be an easy proposition.  We were on Jungermann, a four lane road that had a center left hand turn lane down the middle.  There were cars everywhere and roaming in between the cars were zombies.  We were able to travel at about five to ten miles an hour.  Weaving in and out of abandoned cars, we tried to avoid the accidents that were everywhere.  I didn't know what was worse:  running over the zombies that Al had already run down or driving over dead bodies.  Occasionally, a zombie would walk into my path after Al passed by and I'd run him down.  I was thankful for the large wooden bumpers we'd put on the fronts of our vehicles.  There was no way the Hummer would have made it through all the collisions.
                  “That hardware store that went out of business is up ahead.  If the parking lot is empty, let's try and stop there.”  Gina said.
                  “That sounds good.  Call Cindy and let her know.”
                  Gina called and told them her idea.  Al didn't like it but agreed to check it out.  He thought it was too close to the main road.  I think the only reason he said he'd stop was because he wanted to get Rita out of the back of the truck.  She was upset about Josh and every time we talked on the radios, I could hear her sobbing in the background.  He had decided that after stopping, she would ride with us.  Gina was going to try and calm her down.  I hoped she'd be able to help Rita otherwise we were in for a long drive.
                  When we got to the empty hardware store, we were able to stop.  The lot was free of zombies.  There was one car on the parking lot.  All its' doors were flung open and no one was around.  The Meyers parking area was full of zombies.  Why wasn't this one?  I thought maybe it was because the place was empty.  If that was the case, then my theory about the zombies not knowing we were in the store was wrong.  Somehow they'd sensed we were in there.  It was something all of us would have to talk about.
                  We all got out of the vehicles.  Rita went straight from the truck to the Hummer.  I cleared a space for her in the back seat and she got in.  The others had gathered in the middle of the lot away from the truck.  It was smart.  We were getting an unobstructed view of the area.  We wanted to watch and make sure no zombies were creeping up on us.
                  “If we take this road, we'll be able to avoid all this congestion.  If we stay on Jungermann, we'll probably come to an accident we can't get around.”  Gina outlined on the map.
                  “She's right, Al.”  Cindy said.  “We need to get off this main road.”
                  “Plus, we can't go down Mexico Road.  The Rec Plex is down there and the hospital is too.”  I added.  “Both are probably swarming with zombies.”
                  “The Guard were idiots to have these people gather anywhere near that hospital.  Think about it.  People were being attacked, scratched, and bitten.  The natural thing to do was take them to the hospital.  There, they turned, attacked others