Scott Nicholson - Milepost 291

“The boy told us all about it. We need a new compound since the Zaps took ours.”

DeVontay hoped Kiki had followed his instructions and fled at the sound of the gunshot. But they wouldn’t get far, and they had little chance after that. “I won’t help you unless you take them all with you.”

“Deal.” Rooster yanked DeVontay to his feet and shoved him in the direction that Stephen had fled. “Stay awake, guys,” he called to his underlings. “Zaps might be on the prowl.”

DeVontay was relieved to see Stephen’s head rise up from the weeds, then duck down again. The shot must have missed. And Stephen was smart enough to stay out of sight. DeVontay just hoped the boy would obey the orders he’d given.

He’s just a boy. I can help the others more by staying with Rooster than by dying right now.

Or maybe that was justification imposed by his fear. Sacrificing for others had been thrust upon him, but martyrdom was a choice. And a role he wasn’t ready to accept. He headed up the meadow, Rooster right behind him.

Out in the hazy moonlight, the mist rising and collecting, he could see that Rooster had four others with him, including Angelique. That was a lot of firepower. Angelique whined about the wet and cold but Rooster told her to quit bitching.

“Let’s get there before the Zaps do,” Rooster said, shoving DeVontay forward.

“So how do you know Franklin Wheeler?” Stephen had likely told Rooster about Rachel and her connection to Franklin, but DeVontay hoped she was far away from these maniacs.

“Used to read his Internet posts. I tried to hook up with him, start a branch of the Patriot Party, but he played it like he was hot shit on a silver platter. Like he was too good for the rest of us freedom fighters.”

“I’m not even sure the compound exists. Feels like chasing a mirage to me.”

“Some of my men spotted him in the valley. We were trying to lure him in and take him out, but then the Zaps attacked.”

“With everybody dead, there’s room for all of us,” DeVontay said, peering into the mist. The forest was invisible now, and so was the house behind them. They slogged through the wet, cold smoke of the river valley that seemed to stretch forever in all directions.

“It’s a Zaphead world now, boy,” Rooster said. “But I’m going to get my piece of it. One way or another.”

“Just take care of these kids and I’ll take you to Milepost 291,” DeVontay said, moving faster, worried about Kiki, Stephen, and the others. “We’re all in it together. We’re all that’s left.”

“That’s the spirit,” Rooster said. “Live free or die.”

Oh no. I screwed up bad .

Stephen wasn’t supposed to yell at DeVontay. He was supposed to wait until DeVontay checked out the house, opened the door, and given the “all clear” signal. But waiting outside in the grass, he’d heard noises around him—the sloppy mush of footsteps, the creaking of wood, and the splash of things crawling up from the river. And the mist had thickened until he could barely see the house.

Then DeVontay didn’t open the door and tell him to come in. He’d told him to run. He’d even called Stephen by his name, not “Little Man” like he usually did, so DeVontay must be mad at him. And it sounded like somebody else was inside the house, talking. Then he’d heard the crack and dropped down, because it sounded like a gun.

Who were they shooting at? Zapheads?

He couldn’t see Kiki and James and the rest of the group. All he saw was the fog and the wet grass right in front of him. He might be surrounded by Zapheads right now and not even know it.

All he could do was head back in the direction where the group might be. The moonlight made a big haze overhead, so he could see just well enough to keep running. He was afraid to call out for Kiki because then the Zapheads might hear him.

If only DeVontay could tell him what to do. There must be a reason DeVontay couldn’t call out. He thought he heard people talking, so maybe others had been hiding in the house. Maybe they were scared of Zapheads.

His clothes were wet and he shivered, even though now he was sweating. He heard somebody yelling behind him. Maybe he should slow down and just duck into the grass until they passed. But if Zapheads were all around, they’d get him. He couldn’t stand to be alone. He’d barely made it after getting separated from Rachel—all because he was afraid of a stupid snake—and if he screwed up again because he was scared, DeVontay would probably call him Little Baby instead of Little Man.

“Do you see anything?” a man yelled. It wasn’t DeVontay. That meant DeVontay wasn’t alone right now, which was good news if there were Zapheads around, because DeVontay didn’t carry a gun.

But some of the men at the compound were bad. They were mean to the women and children, and the ones that had found Stephen wandering around in the woods made fun of him and wouldn’t let him eat until they stuck him in that stinky building with the other kids. He’d told Rooster about Milepost 291 because he wanted Rooster to think he was important, not just some stupid kid.

Stephen had to slow down because he couldn’t see well enough to run anymore. He wasn’t even sure he was heading back to the group. Maybe he was walking toward the road that ran alongside the river. DeVontay said Zapheads were more likely to see you if you were out in the open like that, which is why it was better to stick to the woods or else hide inside houses.

But most of the houses had dead people inside them that smelled like rotten old fruit. That was one reason DeVontay wanted to check out the house himself, even though he didn’t say so. DeVontay was trying to protect him.

Stephen remembered being trapped in the hotel room with his dead mom and what it was like to see her turn all pale and bloated and hear creepy gurgling noises come out of her throat. He loved her but was afraid to touch her or even look at her, and he felt ashamed of that. It was his mom, after all.

But DeVontay and Rachel had rescued him, and they’d been good to him. Almost like family. Maybe even better than family. Stephen told them he wanted to go to Mi’ssippi to find his dad, but in truth, he didn’t really want to see his dad. It just seemed like the thing you were supposed to do. Rachel and DeVontay talked about getting to their families, too, and that’s why they were headed to Milepost 291 in the first place.

Right now, both Milepost 291 and Mi’ssippi might as well be a million miles away, because he couldn’t even find Kiki and the others, and they were probably not even a mile away. He didn’t know how far a mile was. Probably as far as he could walk. But the mist sure made a mile seem a lot longer.

“I heard something,” a man hollered from the far end of the mist. “Over here.”

Stephen was almost glad because the man was moving farther away from him. That proved Stephen’s idea of running was better than just ducking down in the weeds and hiding, because they would have found him by now. If he could outsmart them, then DeVontay might not be as mad at him.

So he kept running, or at least jogging, even though he was breathing hard and his side hurt. He headed uphill, where the mist seemed way darker. He guessed the woods were beyond it, with the mist weaving in and out of the trees to make a wall. He could hide there until he figured out what to do. But being alone was too scary. And the group couldn’t be much farther away unless they were already in the woods.

Then he heard James nearby: “I can’t see anything!”

James was too dumb to stay quiet like he was supposed to. A couple of kids were crying. Little babies. They didn’t know that being afraid only made things worse. Kiki and Carole were telling them to hush and stick together, but they sounded scared, too.