Alex went to the closet and picked up a box containing two explosive rockets.

"What the hell are you doing?" Joelle snapped. "Don't be stupid. We're driving out of here."

Sarah made it to the door and stepped outside. She shouted at her over her shoulder. "Don't leave us behind again!" She heard Joelle huff just as she closed the door behind Alex.

Once outside, they could see an army of undead shambling their way. The zombies were stretched out like an endless beach of rotting corpses. They reached the front of the Winnebago and bumped and scratched against it.

"Give me a rocket," Sarah ordered.

Alex grabbed one from the box and slid it into the launcher on Sarah's shoulder. He put the box down and began shooting the closest zombies with his sniping rifle. He killed with quick efficiency, sparing none, and making every shot count. Head shots, mostly.

Sarah knelt down, armed the rocket launcher, and fired. The projectile screamed into the undead crowd. There was an intense flash of brilliant light, followed by an explosion that shook the road.

The army of flesh eaters was decimated as the powerful explosion tore apart limbs and scattered bodies, but they were not defeated. There was a large gaping hole in their ranks now but they soon filled it up.

Alex was screaming something to Sarah but she couldn't hear him. The explosion had made her ears ring so much that she was nearly deaf. She loaded up the last rocket and motioned for Alex to head back inside.

He spent the last of his ammunition on the nearest zombies, all head shots, and then did as she wanted.

The zombies soon filled the hole in their army and continued to press forward. Relentless and unforgiving, the zombies groaned hungrily, and honed in on the Winnebago. They were too far away to be a real threat but if Sarah waited another minute they would be upon her.

Just as she was about to launch the second rocket into the dead swarm, a handful of zombies shambled out of the darkness to her left and made her lose control. Instead of hitting the zombie horde, the rocket landed a good twenty feet away into the road, blasting chunks of pavement away, and leaving a giant pothole.

Alex started shooting at the zombies from the door and brought down a few more of them.

Sarah gripped the rocket launcher with both hands and ran back into the Winnebago. Alex shut the door behind her.

"Are you both secure?" Joelle asked from the driver's seat.

"Get us out of here," Sarah said.

Joelle put the vehicle into gear and drove through the zombie horde. She managed to run over a few of them and to avoid the pothole Sarah had created.

"You did a great job," Alex said.

"Of course I did," Sarah smiled. "What else did you expect? By the way, where's Paris?"

Joelle started laughing.

Behind them, hundreds of zombies followed. They would catch up to them eventually, like the Grim Reaper, but not tonight. Tonight the group could relax along the dark country roads, knowing they'd staved off death for another night.

Chapter 22.

On their third day of traveling north it started to snow. They'd made it to Pennsylvania, to a town called Harrisburg. Harrisburg was a small town on the outskirts of Amish country. The roads were mostly devoid of zombies and the forest and surrounding fields were getting a fresh blanket of snow.

After Paris's death, Candy had become more talkative and had taken up the chore of making breakfast and dinner for everyone. Lunch was usually made by Joelle or Alex, or it wasn't eaten at all. Sarah taught Candy how to drive the Winnebago and everything was going fine until the supplies began to dwindle once more.

"How far away are we from the cabin?" Alex asked. He sat on the floor cleaning his rifle and sharpening a knife with a wolf's head on the handle.

"It's in upstate New York," Sarah said. "Don't worry they'll be holed up there for the entire winter."

"Good," Alex replied. He ran his finger along the knife's edge, drawing blood.

Joelle watched him cut himself. She grabbed a napkin off the kitchen table and handed it to him.

Alex wiped the blood off and threw the napkin out the window. It landed near a zombie they passed on the road and it picked up the bloody napkin and stuffed it into its mouth.

"I hate them," Candy said. "Do you think they'll freeze in the wintertime?"

"They didn't last year," Sarah said. "They got slower but that was about it."

"Why do you think they want to kill us so much?" Candy asked.

"The dead hate the living," Alex said. "Maybe they're jealous of our lives or maybe God is punishing us."

Everyone in the Winnebago got quiet.

"Did I say something wrong?" Alex muttered.

"No," Sarah said. "I just don't think we're used to you talking about things like that."

Alex went back to cleaning his rifle.

"You know, you can talk to me every now and then," Sarah said. "Just because we didn't kiss doesn't mean I don't like you."

Candy and Joelle snickered.

"Let's talk about this some other time," Alex said, as he put a long wire brush down the barrel.

"Fine," Sarah said, and slammed on the brakes.

The Winnebago came to a grinding halt.

Candy fell over, landing near the table.

Joelle grabbed the handle of the storage closet to brace herself.

Alex remained seated on the floor. He managed to keep a hold on his rifle but his knife slid toward the front.

Sarah bent over and picked it up.

"Give that back," Alex demanded and reached out.

Sarah slipped the knife blade between the small of her back and her waistband. She opened the door and went outside.

"You'll have to catch me if you want it back," she taunted.

Alex ran outside after her. He looked at the field to his left then at the Amish buggy tipped over on its side a little down the road. In the newly fallen snow he could see Sarah's footprints leading to the toppled cart. He sighed and stopped when he got there.

"I'm not playing any games, Sarah. Give me back the knife," he ordered. When she didn't respond he peered over the buggy expecting to see her hiding and laughing. But he didn't find her, and the tracks ended. "What the hell?"

A finger tapped him on the shoulder.

Alex spun around and saw Sarah dart just out of his reach.

"You'll have to be more cleaver than that," she laughed, and ran around the Winnebago.

Alex growled and ran after her. He spotted her making a circle around and he went the other way. Sarah collided into him a moment later and Alex wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug. She laughed, content in his embrace, but had she looked at his face she would've seen his anger and had tried to escape.

"You got me," she said, and nestled into his chest. "We could be this close all the time if you'd just let me in, Alex."

His anger faded. He loosened his grip on her and placed his hands on either side of her slender waist.

Sarah lifted her head and leaned in for a kiss. When their lips touched she moaned a little and rubbed herself against him, kissing him with more passion.

Alex squeezed her closer.

They laughed and continued to press their lips together until Candy shouted at them from an open window.

"There's a car coming!"

Alex and Sarah slowly broke apart from each other.

A tan Ford truck was barreling toward them. The only person in the truck was the driver.

Sarah dug the knife from her back and handed it over to Alex. He took it and stuffed the weapon back into his Army boot.

She drew her .357 and waited as the truck came to a halt in front of them.

"Get ready to shoot him," Alex said.

A young man in a black cowboy hat, wool lined jacket, and cowboy boots raised his hands after exiting the truck.

"Howdy," he greeted.

"Who are you?" Sarah pressed, and aimed for his head.

"My name is Kermit. I came from down the road a ways," he answered, and kept his hands raised. "I don't mean no harm, missy."

"What are you doing out here?" Alex asked, eyeing the cowboy up and down.

"I live around here with the family. We're holed up in a house back yonder. I was just taking a drive to Beaver Creek to fill up the water jugs. We have a well but I like to make sure we're well stocked." He lowered his arms. "What are you doing way out here?"

"Put your hands back up," Sarah said.

"Why? You're not going to shoot me," Kermit grinned. "If you were, you would've done it already."

He took a cigarette out of his pocket and put it into his mouth.

Sarah moved the barrel a little to the left and pulled the trigger.

The cigarette fell from Kermit's mouth and his hands shot back up as the bullet whined by his head.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"The next one will be a lot closer," Sarah said.

"I didn't do anything wrong," Kermit said.

Alex put his hand on Sarah's gun and made her lower it.

"Empty your pockets and we'll let you come inside for some coffee," he said.

"Well, all right," Kermit said. He withdrew two packs of cigarettes, lighter, pack of playing cards, and a long rope with a chain connected to it.

"What is that?" Alex asked stepping closer.

"That's my zombie shredder. You might recognize it as what people once used to saw down high branches from trees they didn't want to climb."

Alex and Sarah traded confused glances.

"You see, what you do is . . ." He took the rope chain and started to swing it in fast circles.

Sarah pointed the gun at him. "No funny business."

"You've got nothing to worry about, missy," Kermit replied. "Now, all you do is toss the rope on the branch you want to get rid of like so," he advised, and threw the rope over the nearest tree branch, which belonged to an aged oak beside the road. "Once that's done, the weight from the chain comes over to the other side like so," he said, and as he was speaking the chain fell over. He now had the rope over the tree branch. "Next, all I do is line the chainsaw blades with the limb, and then I saw back and forth." Kermit moved his arms up and down on the ropes and the chainsaw blades tore through the tree branch easily. Less than a minute later the branch was sawed off and fell from the oak tree. "And that's how it's done boys and girls. I do the same thing to zombies."

Sarah shook her head. "Unbelievable."

Alex walked up to Kermit and shook his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

Kermit, Alex, Joelle, and Candy sat around the kitchen table drinking hot coffee. Sarah stayed in the front seat, keeping an eye on the road.

"And how many people did you say are living with you?" Candy asked, batting her eyes at the cowboy.

"There's about six of us. We banded together early last year. All of us are from the area, except me, I came from Texas three years ago. But we all know the land like the back of our hand. Even though I'm a little new here it feels like home," Kermit said, and downed more coffee. "How long have ya'll been together?"

"Ten weeks," Candy said.