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Katie slammed her door shut and started the truck Jenni was still standing outside the truck, watching, transfixed as Mr Carver took another large bite out of Rachel’s spurting throat

"Just run!" Katie shouted at the boy as loud as she could to be heard over the dog’s barking

The boy finally listened to her and ran for his car He fuet out his keys

Mr Carver now had Rachel down on the ground and was biting at her savagely as her body convulsed

Jenni slid into the cab and shut the door, locked it, and looked at Katie

Katie shifted gears and drove She glanced into the rear view mirror to see a bloodied, resurrected-Rachel and Mr Carver now in pursuit of the boy whose na she never noticed He ran as fast as he could away fro

"You did tell hihway

"Yeah, I did"

"Coffee?" Jenni motioned to the cup holder fastened to the dashboard

Two cups of steaood"

They drove on

2 A Taste of the Dead World

Soes and you don’t even notice One day slips into the next and subtly the world around you transforhbors move out The potholes in your street are repaired A new elected official takes office You gain five pounds

Your friend loses ten

And then there are the stark changes that upturn your world and leave you in shock, breathless, and lost

Like hearing your baby screa your pretty wife and wondering if you should be wearing your new high heels today and then finding yourself fifteenfor your life in shoes that pinch your feet and al you didn’t even know your traveling co, you’re both eating beef jerky and donuts with a stiff chaser of cold coffee

"I think if we keep to back roads, we’ll be safer We can keep avoiding the bigger towns if we keep turning off on these roads," Katie said to Jenni

Jenni peered down at the love coood for Katie to be ain Mother and ere gone, but she could be Katie’s helper

Katie sat in the driver’s seat, ar on her hand, driving along as the dog they had discovered in the back of a truck slept halfway on her lap Jenni could tell that Katie was struggling not to let her eet the best of her A few times Katie had touched the cell phone beside her and Jenni could see the internal struggle not to flip the phone open to look at the photo

Jenni sighed She didn’t even have photos She had nothing Nothing at all

Except for Katie, the dog, the truck and the winding road

Along the way they had seen other vehicles, driving fast down the road, usually toward the city, the panicked people inside barely glancing at thens of life at all At one point, a far boarded up in the distance by tiny ures as they passed

But yet, they felt very alone

"We can’t drive forever We’ll have to stop eventually and getinto a highly populated area will do us no favors Back roads are the way to go"

Jenni pursed her lips and carefully ran her finger along the lines on the map Slowly, her eyes strayed up to the national park She shivered slightly, her head swi…

How could she be such a badout with the freshh school class of his private school Far away from the city, his dead father and half-brothers…

How could she have forgotten hily in her mind and she felt herself shudder Her stoainst the dashboard

"Hey, are you okay?" Katie’s gentle hand stroked her hair "Hey, Jenni?"

Jenni looked up at her, shaken "I…uh…forgot aze toward Jenni, then back at the road "No, hon, we couldn’t bring him…he…" Her voice faltered

Jenni shook her head "No, not Mikey…not hiot about hioogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>