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They rode their horses to the outside edge of the shoulder and stopped The anih Benny didn’t see any zo the dead machines

Bones, however … There were plenty of those Skeletons--long since picked clean by zoers, and the elements--were scattered everywhere Thousands upon thousands of skulls and rib cages, leg and arm bones, bleached white by the merci-less California sun The cars theether Some had burned, some were skewed sideways or overturned A few had rolled off the highway and lay half hidden in the tall grass beside the road Benny could see that the s of all the cars were broken So to--and soh of a functioning brain to pick up stones There were plenty of stones The roadbed was edged with countless white plue, Benny knew, but used as weapons

Benny nudged a cracked thigh bone with his toe "Tom, how come there are so many bones? Didn’t most people turn into zoms?"

"Most did, sure, but there were still hundreds of thousands,Died in ways that kept the Broken necks, crushed skulls, bullets in the brain Ars torn off It’s not like back in tohere we bury the dead Here … Those that truly die just rot away until bones are all that’s left"

Hundreds of the cars were pocked with bullet holes, and it was clear that at one point the helicopter had fired on the stalled vehicles To, and he pointed out a black shape rising from the side door of the crashed Black Hawk

"They used their un that could fire three thousand rounds per reed

On the far side of the line of vehicles was a vast reen and brown forever Scattered here and there were hundreds of young trees--scrub pines, oaks, poplars, rass The trees made it impossible to tell if the meadoas free of zoms, an assessment further spoiled by the constant breeze thatsway and shift

A bird cawed, and Benny turned to see a threadbare crow perched on the broken vane of the downed helicopter

"Which way do we go?"

"That’s the proble to catch them before they reach their camp God kno many of their cronies they have there If we cut the road here and then cross that big et ahead of theet ahead of the ray "Charlie’s camp is on the other side of that ame trails I’m pretty sure I knohich one they’d take You know, the second tiht over there Halfway up the ether I wanted hiht be related to folks in town We were up on the catwalk of that old ranger station, and I had a big high-powered telescope with , and I left hih the woods I found her, and it took me half the day to first convince her that I didn’t want to hurt her and the rest of the afternoon convincing her that she didn’t want to hurt me"

"You talked with her?"

"I talked She didn’t sayto open up, so spooked her and she vanished God only knohere she went, because I lost her trail"

"You found her twice around here," Benny said "She ht have s first We have to get the horses across this road"

"But how?" Benny walked up and down the row of cars There were soh, and certainly he and Tom could climb over the vehicles … but he did not see one spot where a horse could pass "Can we go around?"

"We’d lose half a day" There was an overturned panel truck ja car that was riddled with bullet holes "Escalade" ritten on the fender in tarnished silver letters

In the cleft forh for the Imura brothers and their horses They dismounted, and Tom looped the reins around the rear axle of the truck "Stay here I’h Keep your eyes and ears open Watch for zoms, but more importantly, watch for Charlie Pink-eye and his crew"

But Toone a dozen steps before he suddenly stopped and crouched

"Benny!" he hissed, and Benny ran over to see what To in the hot sun, was a ser than a dinner plate, but it was clear fro in the heat Toers

"It’s not rainwater Last night’s rain had a bit of a saltwater smell This doesn’t s water"

Benny could see it now--soulp down so the cold liquid splash on his throat and chest and fall to the ground Tom stood and held his own canteen out at about six feet, tilted it, and let a little fall The splash pattern was just about the sa drops fell from the main impact point

"Tallbrothers are both short"

Benny was impressed, and he looked around for other evidence and i that snapped wide his eyes "Toround ten feet away, there was half of a wet footprint, drying quickly under the sun’s glare Not a man’s foot This print was made by a small, delicate foot that wore no shoe

"Nix," Benny said

"Has to be," Tom confirmed, but he looked uneasily fro?"

"Distance is too far If she stepped in the water, there should be a print closer to the puddle" He quickly paced it off, shortening his stride to approxi Even if she stepped in the puddle with only one foot, the distance is too far The wet print should be here" He tapped a spot on the blacktop with his toe

"What’s that rabbed him by the sleeve and pulled him back into the shadows of the overturned truck

"No one else but Charlie and his crew coed to get ahead of us Charlie knows these hills better than me He must have a pass or route that I don’t know about"

"You h these cars We’re falling behind again, and I don’t kno et"

"Breaks? What breaks have we gotten so far?"

"Stay here," To the line of cars until he disappeared around so which Benny was ready to drag Apache and Chief up and over the vehicles To in the opposite direction, heading down the line of cars Benny watched him run, saw hiap, saw his shoulders sag a little h to allow a horse to squeeze through He went almost half a mile, then turned in defeat and ran back His face was set, jaw cla?"

"No We’re going to have to do this the hard way Rig towlines and use the horses to pull one of the cars enough to ap Horses are half dead as it is" He swore under his breath