11

Remy

I did manage to catch a few minutes here and there, but I was the first one up at dawn. The grass was still covered in a thick dew by the time we were all awake and on the move.

We met up with the highway that ran along the Staulo River, and according to the map, that would lead us straight to the waterfall below Emberwood. Walking on the road was much easier than hiking through dense forests, even with it being cracked and overgrown with grass and weeds.

Boden wasn't wrong about it being a long day, but we took frequent breaks for Stella, so I made the most of those.

Near dark, we found a rusty old school bus on the side of the road. Ripley chased away a few raccoons, and then it was safe for camping.

Stella seemed oddly excited about cleaning raccoon shit and trash out of the bus. It did make more sense to me, though, after we settled in, and she pulled out a battered copy of the first Boxcar Kids book. It was a series of children's books about four orphaned siblings who solve mysteries and briefly live self-sufficiently in a boxcar. There had been dozens of them back at the lakehouse, and she read them so often, they were practically falling apart.

Most of our new travelling companions hadn't even heard of the books before, and Castor and Polly asked so many questions that eventually she just started reading it aloud.

I stayed at the back of the bus, near the broken-out windows. Ripley was sleeping underneath the bus, and I caught glimpses of her through small rusted out holes in the floor.

Most of the old bench seats had been ripped out long before we discovered it and its vermin inhabitants, but Max found one of the few remaining seats and tilted it around the firepit that Serg and Garrison made out of rocks and broken metal. Lillian had set up her bedroll near the front, and Samara was lying down next to her. Garrison, Polly, Castor, Serg, and Max were all sitting around the fire, listening in rapt attention as Stella red aloud to them.

Boden had been sitting nearby, watching and listening, but as darkness fell, he came over to join me in the back. The bus wasn't that large, so I could still hear Stella reading, but they likely wouldn't hear us if we whispered.

"How are you doing?" he asked softly as he sat down beside me.

"Fine." I turned and looked out the window at the trees around us and the sky above. "How about you?"

"Good enough." His voice was a rumble in my ear, he was so close, and his arm snaked around my waist. "Why don't you get some sleep? We're safe here, and I'll stay awake."

"All night?" I asked, as if I wasn't exhausted and hadn't been fighting to keep my eyes open by digging my fingernails into my skin.

"No, not all night, because I am not a stubborn masochist with a superhero complex," he replied with a wry smirk, and he pulled me closer to him. "But I will have Serg take over for me when I'm too tired, and then he will trade with Max, and all of us can get some rest. "

"Max needs his sleep. Have Serg wake me up instead. I only need a few hours." I relented and curled up into Boden, using his body for a pillow.

"If you insist," he agreed with a sigh, and he kissed the top of my head. "Now rest, so you can outrun zombies tomorrow."

Then I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, it was light out. Boden and Max were already awake, and I cursed them both out for letting me sleep so late. I wanted to get some hunting done with Ripley before Stella and the others were ready to go. We had plenty of travel safe protein, but it was always beneficial to have top on meat, especially since our party had grown so large.

For the next two days, we walked along the river, but mid-morning on the third, the road veered away when we reached an incline. The water cut a sharp bluff through the hillside, and the road curved up and around it. At the top of the cliff, the river was about five meters to the right, and to our left, there was a huge piece of property surrounded by a chain link fence.

We walked on the road between the fence and the river for a few kilometers until we finally reached the open gate, and we stopped to read the sign out front. Over the top, the words Eat the Dead had been spray-painted in neon green. Beneath that, the official title was visible in big block lettering Tarik Copper Mine, and below that, in slightly smaller letters, A Weiland-Uylee Corporation.

"Tarik Copper Mine, huh?" Garrison squinted up at the sign. "I didn't know there was anything like that around here."

"This is one of the largest mines in North America," Lillian said, and her words were tinged with loathing. "Open pit mines like this one have some of the worst environmental impacts, with extensive habitat destruction, land disturbances, and an abundance of pollution."

"Wow." Stella looked impressed. "You know an awful lot about the mine."

"I got my PhD in Earth and Environmental Engineering from Columbia University," Lillian explained, and her expression straddled the line between proud and embarrassed. "Back when those things used to matter, when I thought there was still time to save the world, it was my job to know about things like mining and fracking and water contamination."

"On the bright side, they've finally stopped mining, so the environment was saved," Samara said sarcastically.

"That is the silver lining, I suppose, even if it comes at the cost of everything else," Lillian agreed.

"So you know so much about these places," Boden said to Lillian. "Is it worth a look through for supplies?"

"It was a working mine employing hundreds of people, so I am sure there were a great deal of supplies at one time, but I don't know that it would be a worthwhile use of our time to crawl through so many buildings when we have such a long journey ahead," Lillian said.

"Well, we're here. Why don't we make a pass through to see if we can find anything useful while the others rest?" I suggested, and Stella and Max were already sitting down to eat. They were actually the reason I suggested it, because the longer we were wandering around looking for junk, the longer Stella could rest.

Boden shrugged. "Sure, why not? Anyone else want to explore with us?"

"I wouldn't mind seeing what this place looks like now that nature is reclaiming it," Lillian said .

"I'd like to see a mine," Castor volunteered, and his sister looked at him in surprise. "It sounds interesting. You can stay back if you want."

So Polly did, along with the others. Serg stayed back with them, too, and I figured between him and the lion, Max and Stella should be safe. Boden, Lillian, Castor, and I headed through the open gate, following the gravel roads that gave way to grass and dandelions.

"It's so quiet," Castor commented as we walked through buildings made of rust and vines.

It wasn't until he said it that I realized there were no birds calling, no squirrels chittering, and no sounds of wildlife. But it wasn't silent. There was an eerie deep humming at such a low frequency it was almost inaudible. It was closer to the sensation of a rumbling than a true sound.

"What is that?" Lillian asked, so I knew I wasn't the only one hearing it.

Boden pointed up ahead. "I think it's coming from over there."

We weaved through the buildings, following the humming sound. It grew slightly louder until we finally reached the spot past the buildings were the earth opened up before us. Nearing the edge of the pit, the gravel on the road actually vibrated and bounced from the reverberation.

The mine was a vast crater carved into the ground, where the deepest part was at least 100 meters below. The walls had a stepped appearance, but they were massive steps. About a kilometer wide and at least fifteen meters tall, like a staircase built for Paul Bunyan.

And all throughout the enormous open-pit mine below us were zombies. On every level, in every state of decay. Hundreds of them, thousands of them, milling together, and the humming was coming from them.