Read Online Only The Dead Don't Die by A.D. Popovich - Free Book Online Page A

alas, she had found a use for them. She kept an eye on her surroundings as she spooned bites of tuna with the crackers, surprised that not a single car had passed by since she’d been here—another ominous sign.
    By 6:30 in the evening, she was starting to get worried, more like paranoid. It was all she could do to control her already rattled nerves and her restless thoughts. She should probably just leave, but she needed that gas. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to steal it. So she sat in the car reasoning out the best plan of action.
    A thunderous boom quaked the parking lot, startling her from her ceaseless anxious thoughts. “What was that?” She slipped out of the car, automatically grabbing the bat this time and stood in the middle of the road to investigate. Off in the field across from the deli, a billowing cloud of black smoke began to plume. Something had just exploded. She waited to hear the sirens—expecting to hear them—needing to hear them—not hearing them.
    A movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Far off in the distance, she could barely make out a myriad of small black specs. She stood in the middle of the road watching as the specs appeared from all directions and awkwardly scurried towards the burning building, which looked to be a food processing plant next to a row of tall silos. Must be a granary , she thought. What remained of the granary was now a humongous fireball mushrooming in the sky, and Scarlett couldn’t take her eyes off its mesmerizing flames.
    A familiar, unnerving sound startled her, and she reeled around to see hundreds of little black specs growing in size right before her eyes. Creepers! They were everywhere, all heading towards the explosion en masse. Soon they’d be close enough to see her. On impulse, she ran back into the deli and stole one of the gas cans, leaving two behind for the owner. She skidded off in the Kia, sliding on the gravel shoulder and had to swerve the car to avoid slamming into a pack of them that had appeared from out of nowhere, nearly sideswiping a utility pole when the car fishtailed by.
    Had they been here all along, hiding in the golden fields of wheat that had never been harvested? How could so many creepers suddenly be—everywhere? It didn’t make sense. Where had they all come from?
    She continued down Baseline Road trying to calm her racing heart. “It’s OK. It’s OK. It’s OK,” she uttered, trying to convince herself. She was shocked to see packs and packs of creepers making their way towards the explosion for about a mile as she drove towards Sacramento. “Does that mean they have super-hearing abilities?” Of course, it had been a loud explosion. But, they even seemed to know in which direction the explosion had come from. Must be an instinctual thing.
    When she had finally passed the droves of migrating creepers heading towards the explosion, she pulled over and emptied the entire can of gasoline into the gas tank. “There, that ought to do until I find a gas station,” she said it reassuringly enough, but the thought worried her.
    Scarlett’s drive to Sacramento seemed surreal; she hadn’t seen a single person (normal person) the entire trip. She finally ran into CA-99 and headed south. Once again, she found it to be clogged with ownerless vehicles but not nearly as congested as in Roseville, and she managed to squeeze the small KIA between the mass of vehicles like some idiotic motorcyclist with a death wish. She had long since given up on not hitting anything. By the time she exited CA-99, her poor car was riddled with dents and scratches; even the front bumper was hanging on for dear life as it scraped the pavement. She couldn’t help but think: Hope my insurance covers this.
    Scarlett finally reached the small community of Natomas, but the freeway was absurdly jammed. It seemed impossible. The Arena Boulevard off-ramp was one huge parking lot of abandoned vehicles. She ended up turning around on