This Would Be Paradise (Book 1)-A Zombie Novel

Chapter 20

"Any idea where the police station is?" I asked.

"I got a rough idea, I've only ever set foot in Gretna once before. Had no reason to go to the police station."

The town was a decent sized one, not too large or small. We passed by the main drag of stores then ended up in a relatively new development of houses. They stuck out amongst the rest of the aging infrastructure.

"Are you also noticing the lack of any infected? Or bodies?"

"Just thinkin' that myself. A town this size should have some out and about."

"Stop!" I commanded.

John hit the brakes without question and I stepped out of the car. The last portion of the new subdivision was all just empty lots. But that wasn't what had caught my attention.

"Ho-ly shit," John said in a low voice as we approached the last lot.

It looks like they had managed to dig the basement, but instead of being filled with cement, the hole was filled with charred and burnt bodies. The stench of scorched charcoal and gasoline, mixed with a foul smell I couldn't place, drifted off of the massive pile. There must have been at least a hundred bodies in there. Whether they were the corpses of infected or not, I had no way of telling.

"You can still smell the burned flesh, whoever did this must have added to the pile recently," John observed, making me even more nervous.

Taylor and Ethan had joined us, both just as disturbed by the sight as we were.

"What the hell?" Ethan asked to no one in particular.

"You think whoever did this is nearby?" I asked.

"I'd bet on it and to do somethin' on this scale, it would need more than one person." John rubbed his hand along his jaw line.

"Well this is probably the most efficient way to deal with the infected," Taylor said.

"If they were all infected," I voiced what I'm sure the others were thinking.

"Come on, let's keep movin'," John prompted.

We drove in silence, following the blue signs that showed us the way to the police station. John made sure to drive slower, trying not to draw attention to ourselves. Since we were the only moving vehicles on the road, driving slower was futile. The police station appeared on our right; a chain-link fence surrounded the perimeter.

John spotted them before I did, "I'm willin' to bet these are the folks who did the burnin' back there."

There were two men stationed at the make-shift front gate. The chain-link had run all the way along except for the break in the front. Which was now covered with a brand new moveable chain-link gate; you could tell due to the shininess of the gate compared to the rest.

Now aware of our presence, the two men approached our van with their weapons drawn. Both had black handguns pointed right for us. They weren't wearing any police or military type clothes; just green cargo jackets and jeans. One man veered off towards Ethan's truck while the other came up to the driver's side. I gulped as the man opened John's door.

"Get out," the man said forcefully.

"Alright, we don't want any trouble," John said calmly.

"You too," the man said as he noticed me in the passenger's seat.

I reached for the door, fear making it hard to grip the handle. Were we being taken hostage?

"It's gunna be fine," John looked me in the eye and nodded.