The Dead Divide Us (Book 1) by Vincent S. Tobia Page B

side of the road behind them.
    “Hey, no worries. Turn around. We’ll take a back road,” Jan said, spitting into his cup again.
    Robert looked in the direction in which Jan was looking. About twenty yards back, there was a small side road leading into the forest.
    “Seriously? Robert, that road will ride us out a little bit then bring us back on Route 9 probably a mile an’ a half up from here,” Jan said, mildly confused over Robert’s quizzical look.
    “Oh jeez, I totally forgot about that,” Robert muttered and put the truck into reverse.
    As they approached the dimly lit back road, Robert noticed how unused and dark it looked.
    “At least all the tree cover will slow down some of the falling snow in there,” Robert said. Jan nodded his head in agreement.
    “You’ve got this son of a bitch in 4-wheel right? Jan asked.
    “Yep,” Robert replied and entered the rough back road.
    The light changed around them from the brightness of a white snowy day to a cold darkness provided by a lush shadowy forest.
    “You got anymore of that chew?” Robert asked.
     
    3
     
    Robert mused that taking the back road was like traveling on a long left turn detour. He hoped it wouldn’t be long before he could see a clearing through the massive amounts of large pine trees and then eventually get back to Route 9. Robert was getting more and more worried about his parents by the minute. He also desperately wanted to call his brother Paul, but he decided to wait until he reached his parents’ farm. With Paul all the way across the country, it didn’t seem right to call him until Robert could assure him first hand that their parents were indeed safe and sound.
    He tried to focus on the chewing tobacco while he drove. It had been a long while since Robert had “dipped," and had only spit out of his window a few times before he started to feel light headed. Robert couldn’t take it anymore, so he flung his entire chew wad out of the window and onto the snow dusted floor of the forest.
    “Guess dippin ain’t for you either then, huh?” Jan said with a hearty laugh.
    “No, I guess not. Hey you remember hanging out playing Mario Kart back in the day?” Robert asked, searching for another distraction -a more pleasant one this time.
    “Yep, as a matter of fact didn’t we play the shit out of that one during that huge blizzard we had in '93?” Jan asked recalling a nearly forgotten memory.
    “It was that year, yeah. We didn’t have school for an entire week!” Robert added.
    “I know; I basically stayed at your house that week too. My dad was so pissed at me,” Jan said with another good laugh and Robert couldn’t help but to laugh along with him. There was a brief moment of silence before Jan asked,
    “So you say Paul's doing good?”
    “They’re scared, but yeah he’s safe.”
    “No, I mean are things working out for him?”
    “Oh yeah, absolutely. His place is real nice, big house in a great community. His kids are great too.”
    “A proud uncle then, huh?”
    “That’s correct, my friend,” Robert said with the first sincere smile he’d had all day.
    Robert picked up on Jan’s more than normal concern for Paul. Paul and Jan had always been great friends, but when high school was finished, they had to go their separate ways. Not because they didn’t want to be friends anymore; simply because their intelligence levels were polar opposites. To put it mildly, it is a divine miracle that Jan was able to get passing grades through high school... "passing grades" meaning a D minus in every class except P.E.
    As Paul went off to college, Jan went right to work on his father’s farm. Frank Goodman’s farm was a legendary piece of property in the Colton area. The farm, handed down four generations produced just about everything from corn to cattle. It had both dairy and meat production. When Frank passed away three years prior, Jan had become the sole owner of Goodman’s farm. Last Robert had heard, Jan employed