Roadtrip Z (Season 3): Pocalypse Road by Saintcrow Lilith

Author:Saintcrow, Lilith [Saintcrow, Lilith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Zombies
Publisher: Lilith Saintcrow, LLC
Published: 2018-04-17T04:00:00+00:00

“Forty years,” Juju answered darkly, squinting. The four-by crept in the truck’s wake, and the glare off melting snow was dazzling even with sunglasses on. “That’s how long.”

“What’s syphilis?” Carline wanted to know, leaning forward and peering out at the windshield. She wore a faint powdery perfume, pleasant despite the close quarters.

“A sexually transmitted disease.” Ginny’s of-course-your-request-is-normal librarian voice was coming in handy all the time, now. The Merck Manual’s thin pages fluttered a little in her lap, heat coming through the vents since one or two bullets had punched all the way through the car’s hard shell. A cold draft every once in a while was a reminder she did not need of how far off-course the planet was veering.

“Ain’t just any disease, it’s the mother of ’em all.” Juju shook his head, the pompom on his cap bouncing. “Makes you insane, makes parts of you fall off—”

“Which parts?” This was the most interesting discussion Steph had been party to in a while, and it was obvious by the way she leaned forward too, almost breathing in Ginny’s hair.

I can’t believe I’m having this conversation. “Your nose, for one. There can be lesions on your, ah, your genitals.” Ginny kept her tone level. “It can also be passed to babies when the mother gives birth. Congenital, that’s the word. It’s very nasty.”

“And they didn’t treat it?” Mandy’s disbelief spiraled up into almost-supersonic from the window seat behind Juju. “For forty years?”

“Oh, maybe they treated some.” Juju’s knuckles stood up as he gripped the wheel, the burn scar on his left hand shining. He’d taken his gloves off, to feel the road, he said. “But mostly they wanted to know what happened if you didn’t. Since it was only black men.”

A short, breathless, pained silence filled the four-by-four’s cabin, broken only by soft static from the radio as it scanned endlessly, searching for a signal, and the faint whistling of cold air from somewhere.

“That’s fu—uh, that’s effed up.” Carline leaned back, sandwiched between Mandy and Steph. Her left hand, caught in Mandy’s right, tensed. “They just let it happen?”

“Ain’t the first time.” Mandy stared out her window, her snub-nosed profile thoughtful and oddly serene. “Been experimenting on brown people since they met ’em, really.”

Ginny’s head throbbed, and her throat ached. The Merck manual on her lap had started this whole thing, really. Trying to find a disease that fit what they’d seen, however loosely, was difficult. The current subject wasn’t helping her concentration, either. She hadn’t gone after an education degree, but it looked like she was about to have a teacher’s duties thrust upon her anyway.

“You got that right.” Juju’s frown deepened, if that were possible. “What you want to bet this whole thing ain’t some gummint crap that escaped the test tube, huh?”

Ginny nodded, slowly. “It would make sense.” But that doesn’t help me treat it. Were there any doctors left capable of figuring this out? What would happen when the current stock of antibiotics behind pharmacy counters

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