Jason Campagna - White Ash on Bone - A Zombie Novel

Donna looked down and saw that the window stood over the back porch roof.

“I’ll lower you and Naomi down, don’t fall,” Jack said.

Donna adjusted the cat bag to her back and eased out the window. Jack took her hands and lowered her an extra few feet until she found purchase on the roof.

Jack lowered both guns to her.

“If you won’t let us up, we are going to burn the place down,” a man screamed from inside the house.

Jack dropped down beside her on the roof and produced keys to his car from inside his pocket. He unlocked the car doors with the remote.

“Jack,” Donna whispered, “We have to go now.”

A number of zombies were shuffling up the alley in their direction.

Donna moved to the side of the roof to lower herself and slipped.

Jack fell to his stomach and grabbed Donna by the arm slowing her fall.

She landed on her feet and fell to the side, Naomi let out a disapproving hiss from inside her bag.

“Get in the car and start it,” Jack yelled from the roof as he lowered the guns to her.

Donna raced to the vehicle in full view of the zombies coming down the alley.

She opened the door and put the cat carrier in the back seat and threw herself into the driver’s seat.

Jack dropped to the ground at the same time a man came out the back door of Jack’s house.

The man was pointing a gun at Donna in the car. “You’re not goanna fucking leave me, girl,” the man said. “Get outta the car,” he shouted.

A bullet ripped through the man’s chest from behind. Jack lowered his shotgun and picked himself off the ground from behind the man. Stepping over the intruder, Jack put another round through the man’s head.

Jack ran to the passenger door and pulled it open. He paused there and fired a couple of shots at the approaching zombies. Two fell over when rounds hit them in the head; the rest moved forward. Jack got in the car, and Donna pushed the vehicle onto the road.

Donna saw a woman emerge from Jack's house with a zombie clawing at her from behind. The zombies in the alley rushed to join in on the kill.

"Head straight down the street to the blast area," Jack said. "Hansen Avenue might be blocked off, so we can cut through the shopping plaza behind the gas depot. The plaza should be clear enough to get us to the Pickle Gate Crossing Bridge."

Donna drove the car down the street; the tires sang and rumbled on the brick lined road. The smoke from burning houses cut across the path in front of her, and she was forced to slow down so that she could see.

A zombie stepped into her path from out of the smoke and she cut the wheel hard to the left to avoid it. The car smacked into the side of the creature and sent it spinning to the ground.

"Keep going, you’re doing fine," Jack encouraged beside her.

At the intersection where the depot had been, nothing of the former structure remained. Donna drove the vehicle around a downed power line and cleared the blast zone. The shopping plaza was in fact empty and provided safe passage to the bridge. They drove past the empty stores and then by a number of buildings intended to be an industrial park.

The whole plaza they were driving through used to be the site of Pullman Standard. The factory had built rail cars during its day. Many old timers remembered eating in the Pullman dining car on passenger trains. The city had pulled down the factory in stages with the shopping center being Phase One.

"I jog through here every day," Jack said. "There is a service road straight past that building that goes underneath the bridge. We should be able to drive up the ramp the wrong way and cross the bridge."

Donna moved the car up the road and onto the ramp. She could see that Hansen Avenue had been blocked and the detour was worth it. The bridge to her left had a number of stopped cars on it but seemed passable down the opposing traffic lane.

Donna turned the car on to the bridge and slammed straight into a ghoul as it came out from behind a car. It rolled up on to the hood and fell off the vehicle on Jack’s side. Donna kept driving while other zombies on the bridge tried to close in on the vehicle from ahead.

She pushed the vehicle into the left lane and hit the accelerator to get past the growing crowd. The car squeaked past the group, but one of them managed to reach out as they passed.

Its hand smacked into Jack’s window and smashed the glass out. Jack brushed glass from his shirt and pants on to the floor of the vehicle.

Donna swerved to the left and the car scraped against the concrete barrier of the bridge taking out the driver's side mirror. She pulled to the right and the sound of screeching metal abated.

At the end of the bridge, the intersection was partially blocked by an SUV that had wrecked into a compact car. The vehicles sat like burnt out corpses smoldering from the fire that had consumed them. A zombie standing to the side of the road turned to face the approaching car.

"Jack watch out, I have to slow down."

The zombie stepped on to the road only feet away from Jack's side of the car. Its hands reached out to claw its way into the glassless window and get to the passengers inside.

Jack raised his gun and fired a round at the creature nearly point blank. The round penetrated into the zombie's jaw and sent it flying over backwards.

Donna hit the gas once again as they cleared around the side of the wreck. The road ahead looked clear.

"Don’t go too fast," Jack said, "We might round a bend and come across another accident."

Donna eased up on the gas slowing the vehicle down to around 35 miles-per-hour. She breathed out and felt her fingers aching from how hard she squeezed the steering wheel. She let the blood flow back into them by relaxing her grip.

The road ahead was covered in a thick blanket of smoke.

"Jack, I bet the shopping plaza by the sewage plant is on fire."

"It could also be the gas station or hotel," he replied.

A figure emerged out of the smoke; the man's clothes and flesh had been burned off, yet he still walked.

Donna drove the vehicle by him and into the wall of smoke. The thick cloud poured into the vehicle. Her visibility cut down to around ten feet, and she was forced to slow the vehicle.

She covered her mouth and coughed when smoke hit her lungs and her eyes burned. She tensed waiting for the dead to emerge from the smoke and attack them.

The vehicle punched through the ash to clear air.

Donna reached out and hit the window button on her side of the car to help clear out the lingering smoke in the car.

To the right they drove past a Burger King; an SUV sat half inserted into the front glass of the building. A body hung inert out of the driver's side window.

Halfway up the hill heading south on Route 8, things got interesting.

They came across the first dead body lying on the road.

"Hold up," Jack told Donna.

She slowed the vehicle to a stop to the left of the body. Jack opened the door and stood up halfway out of the vehicle.

"Been shot", Jack stated.

Donna looked around the area, scanning for zombies. Up off the road, and underneath a billboard, a zombie moved in their direction. "Look by the billboard, Jack."

"I see them," Jack said. "The rest of the area looks good. In fact, this is as good an opportunity as any we could hope for."

"Opportunity for what?” Donna said.

"Grab your .22; it’s time for you to be blooded."

Donna pulled the latch and pushed on her car door; it took a bit of effort with the added weight of the hill pressing down. She brought the gun up in her hands and examined the wood-stocked, bolt-action rifle.

"Do you need some help?" Jack said.

"No it's exactly like one of my Dad's guns."

Jack continued to examine the body on the highway while Donna loaded ammunition into the gun.