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Zombie Road VIII

Crossroads of Chaos

David A. Simpson

Zombie Road VIII

Crossroads of Chaos

Book 8 in the Zombie Road series

This is a work of fiction by

David A. Simpson

ISBN: ISBN: 9798720224721

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

No portion of this text may be copied or duplicated without author or publisher written permission, with the exception of use in reviews

Copyright 2021 David A. Simpson

All rights reserved

Contents

Prologue

1. The Traveler

2. Unfinished Business

3. Destruction

4. Loose Ends

5. Lakota

6. Gunny

7. Jessie and Maddy

8. The AI

9. Saved

10. Corrupted

11. The Madroleeka

12. A More Perfect Union

13. A Way Out

14. Train to California

15. Guns

16. Ensenada

17. Xavier

18. Star Wars

19. Jessie

20. Takeo and Sandy

21. Lakota

22. Remembrances

23. The Girl He Left Behind

24. Spaceport

25. Double Cross

26. Ancient History

27. Maddy

28. The Space Pirates

29. The Queen of the Outer Reaches

30. The Arena

31. The Collectors Men

32. The Agro Planet

33. Home

34. Time Travel One

35. Time Travel Two

36. Leaving Lakota

37. Scarecrows

38. Natacha

39. Iona

40. Choices

41. The Hospital

42. Sailing Up River

43. Mona Lisa Smile

44. New York

45. Manhattan

46. Madroleeka

47. Arrivals

48. Training

49. The Traveler

50. Jessie + Maddy

Afterword

Also by David A. Simpson

Zombie Road VIII

Crossroads of Chaos

A two-fisted trucker tale

Original Cover Art by Wahyu Widodo

Cover design by Christopher Michaels

Dedicated to my dearest partner in life:

The nitpicky, OCD, grammar-Nazi, Robin.

Wild Cry

Attributed to Bonnie Parker

Distance wheels, spike-rimmed

Across the curve of consciousness.

And every mile scars deeper

Until my every sense

Blends into one gigantic wound

You of the cool sweet hands,

Giver of ease

Alleviator of longing,

Where are you now?

Distance is an enemy

And the stars spit fire,

The winds rake baleful teeth

Down every naked nerve,

Screaming crimson words of mockery.

You of the deep warm voice,

Speaker of music,

Maker of splendid dreams,

Where are you now?

Prologue

The Asteroid

Jessie passed the days reading the journals, sitting beside Scarlet watching her float in the healing fluids and slowly piecing the strange story together. The other Scarlet, the machine Scarlet or whatever she was started to thaw some towards him. As time passed, she seemed to resent him a little less. He knew she still blamed him for being here, held a grudge that he was the one to show up and not her Jessie. As far as she was concerned, the Traveler should have left him to die and returned like he was supposed to. She seemed more human to him, also. She became less robotic, more accepting as she grew to know him. She showed more emotions.

“Something I don’t understand.” He said one evening as they sat down together to eat, which was something new. For the past week or so, he hadn’t seen her eat or drink anything.

“What is that?” She asked, wiping her mouth with a napkin.

Her table manners were perfect as was everything else she did.

“How long has he been trying to jump back in time? The journals don’t have dates, they’re numbered and the newer entries don’t have any details. Sometimes just FAILED is written on a page. I guess he got tired of writing down what happened, they’re mostly just math formulas or something.”

“They are coordinates.” She said. “And he has been trying for many thousands of years.”

“What?” Jessie said and stared at her. “He couldn’t be that old.”

“If you count the years he has been in space between times, it has been thousands of years.” She said.

“Yeah, okay, but that doesn’t count.” Jessie said.

“It doesn’t?” she asked.

“Well, no.” Jessie said. “You’re not really alive are you? When the machine breaks you down you die, right? The only reason he survived is because of the zombie virus, you can’t count the time you’re dead as part of your life time, right?”

“If you have the virus then you don’t really die, do you?” she asked.

Jessie pondered that for a moment before answering.

“I don’t remember anything when I came here.” He said. “But I think I passed out before he activated the bracelet. We talked for a few minutes then he…”

“You spoke?” she asked eagerly, leaning closer to him. “You were awake?”

“Well, yeah.” Jessie said “I told him his beard looked like shit. You thought he found me after I was unconscious?”

“Yes!” she said. “You were almost permanently dead when you arrived. I didn’t know you spoke. You really told him his beard looked terrible?”

A small, enigmatic smile crept across her face and for a second, she almost looked impish.

“We are in agreement on this. I encouraged him to shave.” She continued “But tell me, what did he say? Did he leave instructions for me?”

Jessie opened his mouth to answer then closed it and took stock of his situation. When he spoke again, she didn’t like what he had to say.

“I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.” He said.

Her eyes narrowed much like Scarlets would and not for the first time he was baffled at how similar they were. One of his questions was going to be how she did it.

“Okay.” She said. “I am familiar with this game. I will ask first. Did he give you any instructions?”

Jessie thought for a moment before answering. He tried to relive the whole weird situation of meeting himself but most of it was a little fuzzy. His head had been broken open and he was in the middle of dying.

“No.” he replied after considering it. “Not really. He said to put the bracelets in some blue thing on the table. He said don’t come back, don’t try to change anything. After reading the journals I understand why.”

The Scarlet machine looked down at the table, disappointment on her face.

“He said to destroy them?” she asked quietly.

“No, he said put them in the blue thing, an osmi-something if I remember right.”

“Osmitron.” She said. “It absolutely eliminates anything that is put inside. Permanently. I will get them