The Reanimates (Book 2): The Highway by J. Rudolph Page A

bites that had been taken out of both arms. Behind him were a few more of the undead shuffling just feet behind him, with absolutely horrible injuries. One was missing an arm at the shoulder, its face ripped to shreds. Another was missing a large section of the abdomen, rib bones were jutting out through the wound. It struck me how chewed they were.
    I pulled my gun out of my waist band as a precaution as I said, "Guys, let's not fire if we don't have to. Each car is armed I trust?" Everyone nodded. "Alright, stay close to each other, we'll stop in Vegas." We all got into our respective vehicles and left.
    As we drove through the rest of Stateline I watched the zombies mill about the streets. They heard the sounds of our little convoy on the freeway and all turned to watch the cars go past. Some were ambitious little things, trying to stumble towards the freeway while the rest looked like a puppy that got kicked as their meal drove away.
    The desert stretched on as we left the town. Large, picturesque clouds, white and silver lined, hung in the sky over the desert landscape. Green desert plants dotted the tan sand, the mountains that held Vegas in a bowl were deep shades of greens and browns. The degrading gray asphalt stretched on in front of us, a ribbon through the scene. It looked like how I remembered it, just with less people. For a moment I could imagine that none of this happened, that we were just on a family road trip. I cautioned myself about being swept up in that fantasy. It wouldn't help anything. I think Trent was working at the same thing. Drew, on the other hand, hadn't been through Vegas since he was three. All of this was new to him. "Mom. Wow this is really pretty here. It looks different than the desert in California. I don't know how it's different, but it is." His eyes shone with the excitement of seeing a new world in front of him. It hit me that while trips to Disney were over there was no reason we couldn't see nature. The Grand Canyon and Mt. Rushmore were still there. A flicker of hope trickled from the corner of my mind. It wasn't all lost, was it?
    The closer we got to Las Vegas the more we had to dodge the abandoned cars. It slapped us back into reality, this isn't a road trip. It's a mission. None of the other traffic clusters that we had run across had held a candle to what we saw when we went over the 215. The 215 took people to the airport. It was totally blocked, each lane, bumper to bumper. My heart sped up as I imagined the frantic, frightened people thinking maybe they could make it on a plane to somewhere. The dead wandered through the lanes aimlessly. They sniffed the air, searching for some sign of food in the area. We continued to drive on. We snaked slowly through the freeway until we could go no further. We should have gotten off the freeway at the last exit because we were now hopelessly stuck. We were spoiled driving through the desert because the freeway shoulders were wide and ample. Driving through a popular tourist location we didn't have that luxury. We had no choice other than to stop and begin pushing the cars off the next ramp.
    Lucas was driving the last car in the convoy. He was looking thoughtful. "So, Matt and I were planning on coming here to settle in. I'm thinking we should do a scout. Hit up the casinos and see what they have in the food department. They used to do all these buffets here not to mention that there was room service in all these mega hotels. I bet there are a ton of supplies out there for the taking."
    Trent raised an eyebrow. "You really think that any of those hotels are going to have anything that is usable? Those buffets were usually perishable items. Not to mention the zombies. Casinos were designed to disorient the normal person to keep them inside. The zombies that are trapped inside are going to be very hungry. The ones in the street are going to be the regular hungry. I wouldn't if I were you."
    "But it's worth a shot. There is a chance that