Total Apoc Trilogy (Book 2): Fighting the Hordes by TW Gallier

magazine, we broke free of the zombie horde.
                Jake's Trailblazer and Mike's pickup were waiting for us, mowing down zombies to clear a path for us.  At first I was grateful and so thankful they'd come back to help us.  Then I realized if they hadn't, then we would've been free to go off on our own.
                "Well, that was fun," I gasped out, looking all around, feeling a little giddy.  "Not!"
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 9
     
                It was dark when we finally reached Carson's city limits.  Jake stopped us atop a rise with a great view of the city.  I studied the city through a pair of binoculars, though it wasn't easy in the dark.  The sky was cloudy, threatening rain again, which just made it darker.
                "What does it look like?" Olivia asked.
                It was surreal looking at a city that I always knew as well-lit.  I could see abandoned vehicles on the roads, burnt out neighborhoods.  A downtown high rise was billowing smoke, but I couldn't see any flames.  Indeed, there were more than a dozen columns of smoke rising up from the dead city.
                "Dark," I said.  "But I see a quite a few fires.  It looks like Dante's Inferno in some places."  I lowered the binoculars to look at Olivia, grinning, "No, I've never read Dante."
                "Ha ha, you guys are hilarious," Ralph said.  "Any sign of life?"
                "Yes," I said.  "I see burning vehicles in three places."
                So there were people fighting each other down there.  Zombies didn't start fires.  I wasn't sure they were mentally able to start a fire.
                "Can you see the armory?" Olivia asked.  "It's on the other side of downtown."
                I knew about where it was located.  Downtown was shrouded in smoke, so I couldn't see past it.  Yet, there were no indications anything was burning on the other side of Carson's small downtown.  Small by New York and Chicago standards, that is.  I thought it was huge.
                A highway ran north-south just east of downtown, intersecting another highway running east-west along the southside.  Both of those highways were filled with abandoned cars and trucks.  We might be able to get through that mess in the jeep, but the bigger trucks probably wouldn't make it.  The quick and easy way out wasn't available.
                We were on a different highway that passed through the northern part of the city at a north-west – southeast angle.  Within the city, it also became cluttered with wrecks and abandoned vehicles.  So I studied the highway that circled around the city, which was locally called, The Loop.
                "Here comes our glorious leader," Ralph whispered.
                I noticed Olivia slanted a hostile look back at Jake.  Mike trotted up to join him.  No one had advised us, but I suspected Mike was second in command.  He obviously thought he was, and probably thought he should be in command.
                "What does it look like?" Jake asked.  "Can you see the armory from here?"
                "No," I said.  "It's on the other side of downtown," I said.  "I'm trying to figure out our best route, but with the darkness and smoke, it's a problem."
                Both Jake and Mike had binoculars, and we stood in front of the jeep looking the city over.  I pointed out a few trouble spots, and some possible obstacles.
                "Olivia, I think we'll have to take the Loop around to Cartwright," I said.
                She nodded, "I figured as much."
                Olivia was munching on a C-Ration, while wearing my helmet liner.  I didn't really like wearing a hat, much less a helmet.  She seemed adverse to a bare head.  And, she looked cute in the fiberglass helmet liner.  When a few crumbs fell