The journey to the Rumour Mill was far less bumpy than I had thought. Sure I had run form some zombies but compared to the amount I expected to come across it was next to nothing. I lost a couple of bullets to some close calls but nothing worth mentioning or remembering had really happened. Even around the Ravine there had been little activity. That wasn’t surprising though as every once in awhile the zombies would move around from their regular gathering places. There was a lot of space in LA for them to travel too. Perhaps luck was shining on me today. Well and yesterday. A day had passed during my travels and the sun had returned to its regular position. I had decided against sleeping to speed up the trip and because I didn’t know of any safe areas to stay for a bit. Instead I could just sleep in one of the pods near the Rumour Mill. He was stationed in a mall where there were a group of pods in the middle so I could rest there after I spoke with him.

The mall was on the opposite side of the street I was standing on but there was a rather large problem in between. The streets were now filled with zombies moving around the street and walking to different buildings. Some of them were carrying objects or taking pieces of rubble from one building to a central pile.

I watched in bewilderment as zombies, or what I assumed were zombies by their discoloured skin, did something productive or organized in some sort of way or perhaps they were working towards a goal that didn’t involve hunger, another thing which I had never seen them do before and had only ever really watched them come together to hunt for humans but even then they still fought amongst each other while these ones seemed to coexist and were happy to share the work as if they were normal humans, which they just might be and could even be the aid finally sent here to rebuild the place but for the most part they appeared to be zombie and they gave off that general scent so it must be that they were in fact zombies who were acting bizarrely in this one specific case and maybe just were getting a little bit smarter and were beginning to search for people by pulling apart the buildings and cleaning up but that wouldn’t explain all the regular ones who were simply walking around or carrying other objects.

I was too puzzled to work out any observations or coherent thoughts so I left my pondering aside in lieu of working out a plan to avoid the zombies. I couldn’t just walk through and I couldn’t wait them out in case they came into the building I was hiding in. As I tried to formulate my plan one of the zombies looked around for a moment and put down the cinderblock it had been carrying. It clutched at its stomach a little before breaking away from the rest of the group and sprinting towards the mall. The rest of the zombies didn’t react, simply parting and moving around this breakout zombie. The zombie stopped at the door and turned back around and crossed the street to my side and entering the building.

What was going on? How could it figure out where I was? I was used to seeing zombies like this, running around in no particular direction searching for food but it couldn’t have found me so easily. As far as I knew if they didn’t see you they pretty much couldn’t find you. I could only assume that it was just the sporadic nature of the zombie foraging. Most likely it was just running rampant and didn’t know I was here. But what if it did? I couldn’t shoot it without the other zombies being alerted to my presence and coming after me.

The zombie entered the building and I could no longer see it from my second story vantage point. Instead I heard it pushing aside some filing cabinets that had been behind the desk on the first floor. And then shots rang out.

Not just one shot. Many shots. Automatic rifle sort of shots, ones that came in far too rapid a succession to come from one person shooting quickly. I could hear them colliding with the body below and the zombie must have been killed. It wasn’t often you came across someone wielding an automatic weapon or semi-automatic of any sorts. But whoever they were they obviously didn’t know about the rest of the zombies walking around the street. Some of those zombies reacted to the shots and dropped what they were carrying and charged towards the building. Most of them however scattered and ran away. Strange.

The zombies crashed into the floor below me, an easy ten of them attacking the gunner down below. Those who couldn’t get through the door smashed against the wall, which wasn’t very strong anyways in its decaying state and began to give way. The shots began again down below, this time more of them coming at once as though there were a few people wielding these weapons. The floor below me began to tremble as the combination of zombies hitting the wall and bullets chewing it up was causing the entire front wall’s collapse.

I dashed to the edge of the building where the back walls and ceiling had been blown away a long time ago by some sort of bomb and leapt out and through the window frame of the neighbouring building. In my few years outside my original shelter I had changed quite a lot physically and gained a lot more prowess in acrobatics and movement. You had to be limber if you were going to escape ravenous hordes.

I didn’t need to see to know the front wall had given away on the other building. The crash from the second floor coming down was loud enough and the guns stopped firing a moment as most of the zombies were crushed. Then they began again in short bursts, picking off surviving zombies or making sure others were dead. The rest of the zombies were long gone and had run off in all different directions leaving piles of abandoned rubble and different objects.

“Fucking zombies.” I peered back out through the window down below at what remained. There were three men standing in front of where the floor had collapsed, each one of them wearing bulky silver armour and two of them donning silver helmets that looked like spray painted upside down flower pots, similar to my teleportation receiver only smaller. Each helmet had large black eye pieces where tainted glass had been inserted in circular holes cut in the metal and on the lower part of the helmet was the nozzle from a gas mask attached so that the person could breathe. All three of them were carrying semi-automatic rifles and the one without the helmet was the one speaking. “I fucking hate them. Wish they would all just eat each other and get this over with. There doesn’t seem to be anything in this area though. I don’t know what they’re talking about back at base but let’s check over in that park. There seem to be some pods there to break down.”

The three of them moved off to the park behind the buildings and I turned back to face the mall. Better to leave those guys for now in case they were hostile to everyone or thought I might be a zombie and killed me. If they were searching for pods though they were probably trying to find more survivors. I would ask the Rumour Mill if he knew anything about them. If they were safe I’d come find them. Otherwise I would just get out of here and do...well I didn’t know what I’d do. If the map really did lead somewhere I would go there. If not I could just try and kill as many zombies as possible before getting eaten for a challenge.

The mall was just as dead and empty as the rest of the city. Survivors rarely set up permanent residencies and so neither did zombies, constantly moving to find the next food source. The only place with relatively high zombie concentrations consistently was the Ravine but why they all chose to live in a fissure that had opened along a fault line during the bombing was beyond comprehension or concern so nobody bothered with the why’s anymore.

The pods were easy to locate since they were set up in a cluster in the middle of the mall. I knocked on three of them and whispered “Rumour Mill” until I was greeted by him at the third pod.

“What do you got?”

“Pop.”

“Diet?”

“Umm.” I checked over the label again. “No.”

“Good, give it here. I’m not on a shitty diet, I wanna enjoy everything the mot. Don’t take my crap out of the soda.” There was a click and he unlocked the door to the pod and pushed it open a little bit. I slipped the drink through the crack until I felt him tug at it and let it go. “What do you want to know?”

“How good are you with maps?”

“Don’t know. Depends on the map. Lemme see what you found.” The door opened again and I passed the piece of paper through. I could have slipped the paper through the small grate that allowed for airflow but it seemed that the Rumour Mill wanted it done this way. “Hmm let’s take a look.” There was a click and I could see a small light through the grate that the Rumour Mill must have installed. Normally pods had only the lock on the door and the switch to open and close the air grate. There was a very loud gasp on the other side. “Boy where did you find this?”

“Well I think it was another survivor’s possession and they were eaten outside the door of the mall I was hiding in. I found it the next day. Do you know what it’s talking about?”

“Yes this is the Black Road. It’s an urban legend, very hard to get facts about it. But you came to the right place. Rumour says it’s a refuge for people from the zombies. The circle on the map represents the intersection while the X is where the Black Road really is, off to the side because in actuality it’s underground. When the wars began the government converted part of the subway line there into a large shelter. Supposedly there are rooms built down there and the subway pops out into the open just up the street a little where there is a large gate sealing them in. Whole place is just a big safe house. And on the Black Road is the Black Market where merchants have set up shop from all their travels. The whole thing together is called the Black Pueblo, or Town, and it is the last safe zone in LA. If you can get there you are home free from the zombies and living a comfortable new life with a bunch of others, possibly including some women.” He began to cackle dryly before breaking into a long coughing fit. Afterwards he was so silent I wondered if he had just plain died in there but his voice came back again. “You can have this map backand I’ll tell you where it is if you give me some new info of my own. I have to supply the people. What have you heard?”

“ Well I found an old radio lying around in one of the homes but it kept coming through with propaganda and static. Propaganda saying that the salvation is coming and stuff like that. Sounded very prewar but there were no commercials. I listened for twenty minutes and there was nothing. The only things broadcasting commercial free these days are the survivors who found working radio stations but this didn’t sound like them at all. Also the southeast district has power now, it recently came back on but the zombie numbers there are kind of risky. It has a lot of resources there if you’re willing to put up with the danger levels.”

“That’s good kid. Here the map is for an area right along the road outside this mall. Take it south until you get to the intersection marked on the map. I’ve added a landmark or two to it so you’ll know the way.”

“Right thanks, gonna give it back now?”

“Let me just finish writing this stuff done ok? So is that all you wanted from me?”

“Umm what do you know about some guys in shiny armour who travel in groups and all wield semi-automatics.”

The Rumour Mill was very quiet for a long time other than the scratching of a writing utensil on paper. “Where did you hear about these guys?”

“They were outside the mall. This whole place was swarming with zombies but they scared most of them off with their guns and killed all the ones who attacked them. They looked like they were searching for pods. Maybe they’re looking for survivors.”

“Kid, you need to leave. Now!” I had never heard panic coming from the Rumour Mill before nor had he ever yelled. “Get the hell out of here.”

“Wait I need the map back.”

“Fuck it, just get running!”

“Hey you!” I spun around to see the three men from before standing near the entrance of the mall. They were dashing towards me with their guns raised.

“Rumour Mill, hurry up! Give me back the map!”

“Just run kid, run!” A bullet flew over my head. They had begun shooting. At me. More came. They began peppering the pods around me. I took the advice and weaved in between the pods. They seemed to work well as shields. I came out the other end and broke out into a sprint, leaving a wall of pods between me and the men. They kept shouting to me. One of them charged through the pods but saw how far I was and turned back. I didn’t stop though. I turned down a hallway to the bathrooms and stood at the emergency exit. If I saw them coming I would break through the door and start running again. I couldn’t leave now though. I still had to go get that map back from the Rumour Mill.

I heard a round of shots explode down the hall and echo throughout the mall. I crouched down against the door and sat, waiting and counting. After I had reached one thousand I crept back out down the hall and checked around. The men were gone from what I could see but I couldn’t see past all the pods in the middle. For all I knew they could be standing right on the other side of them waiting for me to return.

Well it was either them or zombies. My death was inevitable. Might as well take the chance. I ran over to the pods as quietly as I could and slipped in between them. I peered around but couldn’t see them anywhere. Apparently they had given up the chase and gotten what they wanted. I came out from the nest of pods and went around to the Rumour Mills. His pod was a mess. At point blank they must’ve shot it until the lock broke and then opened the door and shot him into cheese. Now his body was just lying broken on the floor in front of his pod, his blood pooling underneath.

It was the first time I had ever seen his body and it looked dead even without all the bullet holes. His skin was paler than the zombies and pressed tight against his bones. For such a popular man it must be hard getting enough food to survive. I flipped him over and found bulged out eyes and a squashed nose that prevented me from ever figuring out what his face once looked like. His mouth was open and most of his teeth had either completely rotted or fallen out or were just the remains of half-rotted, half-knocked out teeth. He was dressed in rags but had been wearing a bulletproof vest overtop, obviously one of his many gifts over the years but it hadn’t been able to save him against all the bullets. The men had unclipped it and opened it to expose his chest before shooting him as some sort of sick joke. Not wanting to be wasteful I pulled the jacket off of him and placed it onto myself. It was a little bit too large for me but it had been way too large for him so it was on a better suited person now anyways. Stuffed inside of it was my map covered in fresh blood on one side but still legible on the other. There were two new landmarks added, a small square named statue and a long stick shape named radio station and the X was between them. That helped a lot.

I wiped my now blood soaked hands on the backs of my pants and turned to face the mall entrance. There, silhouetted in the doorway, was the slumped shape of a zombie. “Shit, not now.” It was obviously some sort of scavenger and had figured out that people had been killed here and was coming to check out the damages in hopes of some food. It wasn’t disappointed. Even from our distance I felt our eyes lock and then it bolted towards me. I fumbled for the revolver in my back pocket and pulled it out. Perhaps a warning shot would scare this one off like the other guns had earlier?

I pulled the trigger but nothing happened. I looked down to see that I had wiped off a lot of blood onto the revolver’s trigger and it had jammed it. Perfect. I tucked it back into my pocket as the zombie drew closer and hopped into the pod next to the Rumour Mill’s. Please, please have a working lock. I clicked the lock into place and hoped it would hold. These pods were designed to take mostly radiation and some mild blasts but if hit directly they were nothing. I knew a zombie couldn’t break into them but often pods that had been around long enough and weren’t used very often had a tendency to break down, especially in the lock department.

A second after snapping the lock into place the zombie crashed into the pod, throwing me against the back wall. Its mouth snapped hungrily at the grate and it began to thrash around beating at the door and scratching the metal. I clicked the button to close the grate and let out a sigh as it shut the zombie out completely. I could still hear the thing pounding at the door in an attempt to get in and I simply stared at the lock as it rattled in place. Was there enough rust for it to snap? Would it just spring back open under enough pressure?

I pulled the revolver back out and began to clean it off fervently but I knew that if the zombie broke the door I wouldn’t have enough time to get a shot off. It must have noticed the dead body beside it but obviously it would go for two kills over one and it knew that the other body wasn’t going anywhere soon. Another wave of pounding and scratching. I saw the lock jump a little this time, the springing mechanism nearly tripping to the force. One wrong hit and I was done. I needed something to dissuade it from chasing me.

I brought my revolver up to where the grate was and switched it open again. I was greeted by the zombie’s face pressed up against the opening, saliva dripping through onto my side. “Piss off zombie.” I squeezed the trigger and was rewarded as the bullet pushed through the little bit of metal in its way and flew out into the zombies mouth, bursting through the back of its throat and passing out the other side. The monster fell back in shock and shook its head, sending splatters of blood shooting out behind it. It snarled at me but got the message and turned to face the body of the Rumour Mill. It grabbed it by the hair and began to pull it away down the mall towards the entrance. I saw it make it halfway before it had to tear off an arm and devour it. Satisfied by the snack it continued carrying it away, probably to where it knew it could eat it in safety from other greedy zombies.  

Once sure he was gone I unlocked the door and got back out into the mall. I chose the back exit though since there was at least one zombie nearby and I headed off down the street. The intersection was supposed to be only a couple of blocks south by the looks of it and looking down the street I could see the large antenna in the sky representing the radio station that was one of the landmarks on the map. At the next block though was a gas station with a massive neon sign directing those passing by towards it. Below the neon sign though was an even better advertisement regarding “charger inside.” If the neon had power flowing so should that charger and I could be good to go if I needed any teleportation. It may screw me up while trying to search for the Black Road but it was better than death. I’m sure I would find the place eventually.

Cautiously I pushed into the gas station and saw a small flag pinned to one of the walls with a string attached to it travelling across the whole store. “If I trip this wire to I get killed?”

“Only if you’re a zombie.” An old man peeked up from behind the gas station counter. “And you don’t look like a zombie.”

“Nor do I talk like one.”

“What you want here? You’re not staying with me. This gas station has been my home for nearly forty years and I intend to keep it that way.”

“I understand that. I’m just looking to use your charger for a moment.”

“Charger? That thing’s got no power running to it. Nothing in here does.”

“The sign works outside though.”

“It’s on an independent line. You feel like moving the charger and pulling out cables, be my guest but I don’t have any rubber gloves to save you.”

“That’s alright I’m sure there is enough rubber around here to help me out. I’ll need this trap disarmed though.”

“No can do. Only way to disarm that sucker is to trip it. I’m not putting down my defences for a moment. You can just drag the thing under it.”

“Fine fine.” I ducked the string and began dismantling the cables for the charger. It was just a piece of metal about a square foot around and three high with a circle on top where I would place the disc on my palm. “So what kind of weapons you got?”

“I ain’t selling if that’s what you’re asking.”

“No just curious. I like to see what other people are using to live off of.”

“Strange boy. I got an old shotgun back here and a crap ton of ammunition. Not many zombies take detours into gas stations when it don’t look like anybody’s in here so I don’t have to shoot very often.”

“What’s the trap spring? Just waves the flag and gives you warning?”

“Well above the door is a small grenade and the string goes across the room then up to above the door. Pull the string and the pin is pulled, grenade falls to the ground and zombies die.”

“Does it work?”

“It’s gone off a couple times. Then I just clean up and move some things around and keep this place looking nice. She’s older than I am so I gotta respect that.”

“Very nice. So a shotgun and some grenades. Well you’ve lasted this long so obviously it’s a good combination.”

“And I got a failsafe boy. This place starts getting mobbed by zombies or whatever I rigged bombs to the gas tanks down beneath us. Whatever’s left in them will be blown sky high and it’ll take this whole place with it. If I’m gonna die I want it to be my choice when.”

“Impressive devotion you have here.” I had dragged the charging unit all the way to the door by this point and was on my way back out into the world when I remembered the rubber I would be needing. “Almost forgot the rubber. Any spare tires left around here?”

“Nah they been gone for awhile. Check around for other things, maybe there is a pair of rubber gloves in the back room.” He nodded towards the back and continued rambling on. It was obvious he didn’t get company very often. “So you’ve got yourself a teleporter. I suppose you’re just a drifter then, a wanderer. Ain’t got no home, or purpose, just moving about from place to place and trying to find your way out there. It’s good, you get to do a little more exploring than most.”

“I guess you can see it that way.” I kicked down the door into the storage room and began rummaging through what was left of the supplies.

“Hmm. Have you ever killed a zombie?”

“Yeah I’ve had to a few times. Some of them looked dead and then I ran so I don’t know if they’re dead or not but I don’t stop to check.”

“Ah smart lad. Well have you ever killed a man?”

I paused for a moment in my searching, something that was easily noticeable since the sound of clutter moved around stopped with me, and thought about the question. “Inadvertently I’ve killed people and by not helping them I’ve let them die sometimes but I’ve never actually killed one.”

“Interesting. Still young I suppose. Got plenty of time for it to happen. And indeed it will. Happens to the best of us. That reminds me. How’s the ol’ Rumour Mill doing?”

“He’s dead.”

“Really? Paranoid bugger passed on did he? Ah I remember back when he didn’t live in a pod and he came to this gas station for his supplies. Always preparing for the wars and always filled with information. He loved it so. So what happened? Did he open up for some fresh air and the zombies got him or did he piss someone off enough that they finally killed him?”

“I think it was the second one. Kind of confusing and I’m not sure why they killed him but I’m sure it had something to do with being mad at him.” I pulled out a single rubber glove and shrugged at it, not bothering to find its mate and hoping I could pull the plug on the sign with one hand. “I found a glove then. I’m out of here. Maybe one day I’ll pop in and say hi.”

“Maybe I’ll be a zombie then. Make sure you got it in you to kill me. Please.”

“Will do.” I ducked the trap once more and stepped out to the sign, pulling the charger over with me. The plug to the sign was rather large and quite obviously wouldn’t fit in the charger but, if I could get enough of it in to get a mild flow of energy I would be set. I yanked out the power cable with a little more ease than I thought should’ve been possible but it could have degraded and weakened over time. I shoved it into the hole for the charger until I saw enough sparks flying to know it was working. When I pressed the disc into the little space on the charger my whole arm buzzed for minutes until the charger made some sort of noise that was supposed to sound like a bell and I took my hand off. My arm continued to buzz thanks to too much flow of electricity but that was the cost of a cable that didn’t fit.

I clicked the disc a couple of times and felt a familiar charge building before I let it cool back down and twisted the disc a little until it was in lock and wouldn’t accidentally teleport me. Across the street I saw the zombie from earlier who had attacked me at the pods. It stared back at me until some form of recognition passed its face and then it continued moving down the street in the same direction I was going. Strange. Not too long ago it had been itching to tear me to shreds and now it was content to walk alongside me?

I began walking with it in unison, just on the other side of the road. I pulled my revolver out and had it ready in case the monster snapped and attacked me. Could it just be luring me into a trap? It had seemed like a scavenger zombie before, a lone fighter picking up what scraps it could so it was doubtful it would organize a trap. That and these were zombies here. They didn’t form plans, they simply attacked en masse and killed.

The two of us continued down to the next block where the zombie abruptly turned and headed away from me down the next street. Apparently it had stopped enjoying our company and was done walking with me. I pressed forward though towards the statue and radio station. The radio station was actually just the broadcast tower without the building and the statue was just a couple of legs standing on a block of stone. But between them lay a subway stop entrance. That was it.

I saw no people. I saw no zombies. Nothing. Just a tower, some stone, and a subway entrance. And the subway entrance was fairly ruined. As I got closer I saw that it actually lead nowhere. The stairs down were intact but the station wasn’t. The whole thing had been blown apart by a bomb a long long time ago and now they were just stairs down into a crater.

I hoped down along the stairs and into the massive dent in the land. Perhaps the city had once been here or perhaps it was really just an urban legend. Maybe it had been an old fallout shelter that was destroyed during a bombing run. Could be anything. Down to the left though appeared to be the remains of the subway track. It jutted out from the wall of the crater and snaked along the bottom for a bit before cutting off in a slew of chewed up metal and rail.

I headed over and climbed into the tunnel. Once past the narrow opening it quickly opened up to reveal a giant tunnel that could have fit at least six trains simultaneously. I began walking down it, unsure of where I was really heading but since the Black Road was gone I might as well explore this. Lucky for me there must have been power still flowing through the lights since they were all on to keep the tunnel moderately lit. The actual tracks themselves weren’t electric though. Maybe there was only enough power going around for the lights to work.

I continued down the tunnel until the light stopped up ahead. There seemed to be something blocking the light from travelling through to the other side. As I approached it began to become clearer to me that the blockade was formed by a massive metal door. I walked up and placed my hand upon it, seeing no way to open it or go through it. Was this the entrance to the Black Road? Or was this just an old fallout shelter that had been sealed shut and forgotten. There was no way to get in though so it didn’t matter what was behind it. My quest to find the Black Road had ended. It had been destroyed and left in that crater at the start of these tracks.

I ran my hand over the little bolts and rivets along the surface of the door in marvel of its design. Part of it suddenly stuck out beside my hand, a short metal rectangle that shot straight out from the door. Curious I placed my hand on the tip of it. Perhaps it was the mechanism to open the door. Instead there was a tiny pain on my palm and I withdrew to find a little dot of blood in the middle. The tip of the rectangle had a tiny needle sticking out of it and it slid back into the rectangle before the whole thing snapped back down into the door.

And there was nothing. Silence and shock for me. The door steals blood? Was it a medical shelter? Research? Something that could explain why it was taking blood samples. The door creaked in response to my thoughts and its two halves slid open to reveal more tracks going around a bend. All my answers remained around a shadowy corner.