Read Online Steps by Eric Trant - Free Book Online Page A

men in front became the sounds of men above. He crossed a shallow creek and began scaling the far bank one handhold at a time. The dirt gave way as he climbed. He skid down into Goetsch, cursing, and then with a shove from behind reattempted the ascent using more carefully thought-out hand and foot placements. He had crossed plenty of creeks and climbed plenty of muddy banks, but never with the weight of a pack on his back. It felt as if someone were tipping him backward, and he thought if he had been smart, he would have tied the pack behind him and dragged it up, rather than leaving it attached to his shoulders.
    When he topped the ridge, he found himself on a mountain road. In the road were fresh-cut ruts from both the rain, and by the looks of it, mud-gripped tires. Sarge shucked off his pack and motioned for the others to do the same. “Rest while you can, boys. Let’s find our bearings.”
    Gentry dropped his pack. He considered opening it and dumping out some contents, but then decided he would carry it whatever the cost. Now he was committed. He sat on his pack. “You want to stay on this road, Sarge?”
    Sarge pointed down the road, then swept his finger toward where it wound up and into the trees. “Can’t go back down, boys. Mayberry’s at the head of the trail and they’ll have it blocked off. No way but up.”
    Riggs shook his head. “Disagree, Sarge. I say we head down, sneak around the blocks, try to make it home.”
    “There ain’t no home, Riggs.”
    “Moot point, Sarge. We done been exposed, and the clock’s ticking. We have maybe a week, maybe a day, then we’re red-eyed buggers like the rest. If we head up, we die on the mountain. Or we die down low. Least I’ll die on the road headed home. Either way, we die.”
    “Don’t say that,” Gentry said.
    Riggs raised a middle finger. “Piss off, Genny. Only reason I ran is ’cuz I don’t want to die in quarantine. You don’t got nothing to go home to?”
    “I have a home.”
    Sarge lifted both hands. “We all miss home, boys, calm down. Riggs, take a seat and hush up. I can still put my boot up your ass. You want to go down, fine, but let’s get our shit together before we proceed. Take some inventory. Be smart. Now listen, we ain’t dead. We brought our rifles and some supplies. Nobody’s injured. This here’s a good team of guys, so as far as dying on the mountain, I don’t see that happening for a while at least. As for the bug, we may or may not have been exposed. No way to tell but time.”
    “Yeah, that’s great, Sarge,” Riggs said. “And by the time we figure shit out, it’ll be too late. Besides, you want to be around when Billings goes red?”
    The men fell silent. They sat on their backpacks with rifles between their knees, and all of them stared at Billings.
    Billings rubbed his knee, the one that had not been blown off. “Hell, Riggs, I don’t want to be around when I go red. You both make a point, though. Die high or low, that don’t matter. All that matters is whether we caught the bug. The rest we can deal with.”
    Gentry, along with the others, nodded his head, and they all faced Sarge and waited.
    Sarge said, “Look, boys, I think we all done a lot of thinking about home. None of us heard from nobody for a while, not a peep. Complete blackout so as we keep focused. The body count blew up and we dug them trenches wider and deeper, and we all watched for familiar faces. But I don’t figure home’s an option right now. You can try if you want, but put your head on. Riggs, how far is home for you?”
    “No idea. Where are we?”
    “Southwest Arkansas, best I can figure. Anyone else?”
    The soldiers shook their heads.
    “There it is, boys. We’re in Southwest Arkansas, and that’s assuming we have our bearings. We could be in the Appalachians for all I know. I just know this ain’t the Rockies. Riggs, you’re from Kentucky, right?”
    “Yeah, Sarge. This ain’t the Smokies. That’s for