Roads Less Traveled by C. Dulaney

looking off in the distance.
    “No, no I have to get home. Was on my way there when that happened,” Pete nodded towards the wreckage. “My wife, she’s home alone and I’ve been trying to get back to her.”
    “How far away?” Nancy asked.
    “Altoona. It’s not far, maybe twenty miles or so down the road,” Pete answered. Ben and Jake shared a look.
    “Well, we’re headed in that direction. You should ride with us. But you do realize there’s probably nothing left? No one left, I mean,” Ben spoke, softly but firmly. Nancy shot him a look, then took Pete by the arm and started leading him towards the Jeep.
    “Come on, let’s get you some water,” she said, patting his hand as they walked. The other three closed in around Ben and instantly began arguing in hushed voices.
    “We can’t just give him a lift to his house Ben. We’ll be lucky to make it through that town, let alone go sight-seeing while we’re at it,” Zack said. He was turning his eyes to each of them, looking for support against Ben’s idea.
    “Yeah, I agree. The plan was to haul ass through there, not stop for anything unless we had to,” Kyra was shaking her head as she spoke. Ben watched Jake, who had remained silent so far. His old friend sighed and put his hands on his hips.
    “Well, if we don’t take Pete in, he’s likely to walk. Which means he’ll be killed. If we do take him in, we know once he finds his wife she’ll be dead or undead, same thing. He won’t want to leave her, we’ll argue and fight with him. All the while we’ll be drawin’ a crowd. If we finally convince him to leave her, it will be a crapshoot whether we make it out or not. Depends on how many of those dead fucks have us surrounded. So now, let’s vote. Grandma doesn’t get one, she already got her way with Mike,” Jake explained, staring intently at each of them as he spoke. They all nodded and agreed.
    “Ok, we’ll vote. I vote we take him in,” Ben said. Kyra and Zack looked at each other a moment before answering.
    “No, I say we leave him, or convince him it’s a waste of time and he should come with us,” Zack stated calmly. Kyra bit her lip and kicked the ground.
    “Alright let’s take him home,” she finally sighed. She crossed her arms and stared at the ground. Jake nodded.
    “So we got two for it, one against it. Sorry Zack, I get what you’re sayin’ man. But I think we need to try it. But there’s goin’ to be some conditions first. We’ll take him home, but if he starts this I-can’t-leave-her bullshit, we leave him. Get in, get out. Yeah?” Jake asked, waiting for Zack to come around. He made a face, a mix between a grimace and a smirk, and then simply nodded his agreement.
    “Alright, let’s go fill the man in,” Ben said and started towards the Jeep.
     
    * * *
     
    He could see the smoke rolling high in the sky in big billows long before they entered the city limits. Between that and the incessant moaning of a dying man coming from beside him, Ben didn’t know whether to shit or puke. Pete lived on the other side of town, in his words ‘just past the exit sign.’ Ben assumed he meant the you-are-now-leaving-Altoona-please-come-again sign at the other end of town. So the plan was to drive as fast as possible and stop at Pete’s on the way out. Seemed simple enough. Ben kept telling himself this even after they hit Main Street and had to swerve around a school bus that had flipped over. Simple, Jake had said. No problem, Jake had said. His thoughts eventually became audible with each undead they ran over and stranded vehicle they had to maneuver around.
    “Street’s blocked. I’m cuttin’ right,” Jake shouted over the radio. Ben could hear the squeal of the tires and almost squealed himself when the Jeep pitched left, sling-shooting around the corner. He tapped his brakes and followed closely behind.
    “Jesus,” he whispered when he glanced to the left, seeing what had made Jake turn off Main Street.