The Hole — Chapter 13

A Novel of Supernatural Apocalypse

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Elliot wished he’d found a gun. But, as he stared out from behind the picket fence of a ranch home in what looked like it had been a quiet neighborhood, he knew there would be no getting one now.

Crazies filled the roads and overflowed onto the sidewalks. They mumbled and bumped and shambled, generally heading west, toward the center of the city and, beyond that, the Great Salt Lake. Elliot watched them while Evajean huddled at his side, doing the same. The crazies’ cacophonous noise washed over him, making it hard to think.

He leaned close to Evajean’s ear and said, “We can’t stay here. We have to keep moving.”

She looked up at him and nodded. Staying low, they scampered along the fence to the next house.

When they left the grocery store, Hope had tried to follow. Evajean told him no, that he needed to stay, but the dog would have none of it. Finally, Elliot cut a strip of leather from the seat of an empty BMW, tied one end around Hope’s collar and the other to the door of the car they had filled with food. “He’ll chew through it eventually,” he said when Evajean looked at him in horror. “He’ll free himself, but not until we’re far enough away that he can’t find…