Interstate Blues

Chapter Five: Song of Solomon

December 3rd, 2019
Briarwood, Colorado

"Guys," Will pleaded later that night, "tell me this is all just an elaborate joke..." The three of them crouched in the bushes on a hill overlooking the farmhouse that Ash had mentioned earlier, each holding a pair of binoculars. But squinting through the dark, it was hard to tell if what they were seeing was real. It certainly looked real.

"It's not," Ash intoned gravely.

"What are they doing?" Jack questioned curiously, looking through the binoculars again.

Ash shook his head. "It looks like they're... protecting the house...?" he answered slowly, sounding almost as confused as his brothers.

From their position hidden in the foliage, Jack counted four creepy-looking people wandering around just outside the front door of the farmhouse. They moved lethargically around the house, lunging at anything that moved. One of the guys had a knife sticking out of his back, and another had an arm that twisted around awkwardly at the elbow, but neither appeared bothered in any way.

Jack shuddered, pulling the binoculars away from his eyes. "So... headshots?" He wracked his brain for everything he knew about zombies.

Will shot him a bemused glare. "How are you not losing your shit?" he demanded in a whisper, afraid to raise his voice too loud, while Jack just shrugged in response.

Ash shook his head. "This isn't like the movies. We gotta get into that house."

"What?"

"You want to go in there?" Will snorted with disbelief. "Are you fucking goddamn nuts? Have you never seen a scary movie in your life?" Jack held back a smirk at his older brother's outburst, it wasn't often that he spoke more than a few sentences a day, usually, but ever since they'd kidnapped him, he'd hardly stopped scolding them.

"Calm down, man, or they'll hear you," Ash snapped, his voice low. "We have to get in there if we want to stop these fuckers. They're not just regular zombies."

"What the fuck does that mean?" Steel coated Will's every word.

"Someone's controlling them," Jack answered before Ash could even open his mouth.

"How do you know?" Ash and Will demanded in unison.

Ash scratched the back of his head thoughtfully as a cold wind tore through their coats and nipped at their skin. "I mean, you're right. But... how did you-"

"I told you. I dreamt about them." Jack shuddered, thinking about the similarities between their current situation and the nightmare he'd had not three and a half hours earlier.

"Oh yeah? And did your dream happen to mention how to get passed volatile zombies?" Ash hissed, his eyes glued to the lenses of his binoculars.

Jack thought about it for a minute. "Actually, it did."

"Alright, Denbo, what's the plan then?" Ash conceded, putting the binoculars down and glancing back at him.

Jack shot him a flat look. "Maybe we should get outta here first. You said we were just gonna scope it out, right? And come back tomorrow?" He started to get up, wanting to get back to Keala who was stuck in the truck. No matter how much he insisted that she'd stay right by him, the guys forced him to leave her behind.

Ash shook his head, pulling Jack back into a crouch. "No. We gotta take him out now. Before anyone else can get hurt," he responded stonily.

"But wouldn't it make more sense-"