Quinn reached out and squeezed Josh’s shoulder hard in support. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. I don’t know if the radios will reach all the way to the zoo but we will try and keep in touch to let you know what’s happening. I’ll send two clicks to check in and wait for you to reply before speaking in case you need to stay silent. Reply with two clicks if you can’t talk - otherwise just answer, okay?”
Josh nodded in agreement. “We need to get moving, the light’s fading fast.”
The two teens jogged across the massive parking lot that separated the hospital from the house and nodded to Cooper, who was standing guard at the lobby’s doors. The girls and all the children had been moved down into the lobby where they were staging the exodus from.
Josh scanned the three sleds, three trailers, and one Ranger before taking in all his friends and the kids surrounding them. He chewed on his lip in thought before shrugging with the decision he had come too. He let out a loud whistle to get everyone’s attention. Once all eyes were looking his way, he cleared his throat.
“Ok everyone, let’s go over the plan again. I’d like to tweak it slightly to streamline it a bit. The original plan called for us to make five runs on the river but I think we can cut it down to two. The first run to the Zoo was supposed to have me, Lisa and Cooper on one sled to make the deal and then multiple trips to bring the kids and supplies. I don’t think anyone there is going to say no to everything they’ll be getting so instead, I want to take all of the sleds and trailers with the kids and supplies in one go. That will leave Alex, Quinn, and the rest of the kids here with just the Ranger. If the worst happens and we don’t make it back - Quinn, Alex, and the kids will have to dump most of the gear we planned on taking home, but they can squeeze into the Ranger and leave.”
He glanced around at the others and saw that they didn’t seem to be too confident with the new plan so he tried to make them understand.
“Look, guys, driving on the river to get here was smooth sailing but we can’t expect it to stay that way. Someone is bound to hear or see us eventually and then we will be forced to defend ourselves. Every trip we take on it ups the chance of that happening. We will most likely make it back to the zoo with no contact because it’s been all day since we came here on it. I doubt anyone would have waited the whole day to see if we come back so they could ambush us. This next trip will alert anyone listening, making the trip after that one more likely to be ambushed. That trip would be you girls and all of the kids. It’s just not a risk worth taking! No, we go in one trip to make the deal on the spot with the zoo people and then launch the medicine trip from there. The last trip on the river coming this way will be just me, Dara, and Emily to pick up Quinn, Alex, and the kids to head west and home.”
All the other teens were nodding their heads in agreement but Leslie was shaking her head. “What if they say no? Then what will we do?”
Lisa shifted in her chair with a grimace from the wound in her side and said, “They’re not going to say no, Leslie. My dad is there and he has a…girlfriend who’s pregnant. Matthew told us there are other women expecting as well. With your professional medical skills plus all the supplies we are giving them, they would be idiots to not take the deal.”
Leslie’s face set in a stubborn expression. “But what if they are idiots and say no? Then what?”
Josh let out a frustrated groan and threw his hands up. “Then we give them a couple of beef roasts to put you all up for the night and we reassess the plan after we retrieve the meds we need.” When her stubborn expression just deepened, he turned away in anger so Emily stepped in to the conversation.
“Leslie, you need to stop this right now! We are trying to do our best in a very difficult situation. In case you haven’t noticed, there are no guarantees on anything anymore. You have two choices right now. You either get on board with the plan and roll the dice on success or you and the kids that aren’t coming home with us stay here and face the future alone. You need to decide right now because we are loading up and leaving in the next twenty minutes, with or without you.” She spun away on her heel and looked to Quinn and a drowsy Alex who was slumped in a wheelchair. “If we’re all leaving then let’s get your group over to the other house and settled. I don’t want you trying to do it by yourself.”
Quinn nodded gratefully towards her before turning to the kids that were waiting on them. Their expressions ranged from worried to flat out terrified, so he tried to lighten his own expression and tone to assure them.
“How are you guys, are you ready for a huge adventure? I need everyone who’s staying in the house with Alex and me to line up behind her wheelchair. The rest of you get to go on the snowmobiles with Leslie and the others.” When none of them moved to separate, he sighed and tried it again. “I know you’re all scared but this is the best thing for you guys right now. The sun is going to be going down soon and we want to try and get everyone moved before then so we’re not working in the dark.”
It finally took nine-year-old Anna to get the kids moving when she pushed to her feet and started pulling them up one by one. There were tears and hugs among the children as they separated into two groups. Quinn had to look away and hold his own tears back when he realized that these children had formed a family bond here in the hospital and splitting them up would be like tearing a family apart. He sincerely wished there was some way he could keep them all together but it just wasn’t possible in this fractured world.
Once they had said their goodbye’s and sorted themselves into the two groups, Quinn gave them all a reassuring nod and started to push Alex’s wheelchair out the lobby door that Cooper was holding open. The children trailed behind him like a line of sad, little ducks. Leslie watched with tears streaming down her face as they filed out. If the group of children had become a family, then she was their mother, and this goodbye was especially hard for her. When the last child was through the door, Cooper let it close behind him and scanned the parking lot for any possible threats.
Emily, Dara, and Josh accompanied the small group across the parking lot and into the dark building where they would shelter for the night to help get everyone settled.
The girls helped Alex out of her wheelchair and into a bed that they had pushed into a corner of the room, leaving space for more mattresses that the other children could use. The boys got all the little kids settled and covered up with blankets that they had scavenged from the other bedrooms in the house.
Once all the children were settled, the teens all gathered around Alex’s bed to say goodbye. The little bit of movement that Alex had done leaving the wheelchair to get into the bed had her head spinning with dizziness and pain but she fought through it to focus on her friends. Her voice was a whisper as she gripped Emily and Dara’s hands.
“You have to come back. I don’t think I can live in this world without you guys. Whatever it takes, get back here so we can go home together.”
Both girls nodded and leaned over the bed to briefly hug their friend before moving out of the way so Josh could have his turn. He looked down at Alex with a slight grin tugging at his lips.
“Don’t worry Red, we’ll be back first thing in the morning. Even if I have to burn this city to the ground to get us back here. ‘Sides, I’m leaving you my new toy and there’s no way you’ll appreciate playing with it as much as I will - so like the Terminator said, I’ll be back!”
He knew just how bad off Alex was when just a small smile spread across her face and her eyes started to droop closed. With a concerned sigh, he bent over, placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, and took a few seconds to study the face of the girl that was more sister to him than friend before turning away to Quinn. They locked arms and pulled into each other’s chests briefly and then moved back apart. With a grim expression on his face, Quinn gave him a hard nod. “Get it done brother and get back here safe and sound.”
Josh nodded back with a determined expression and then followed the others back out to the main room wh
ere Emily was backing the Ranger into the wide foyer of the house while Dara guided her back. The area had been designed with wheelchairs and hospital beds in mind so there was plenty of clearance for the Ranger to park in it. Once the machine was shut down, the four of them moved a heavy wood hutch from the dining room to the area in front of the double doors. Once the doors were closed and locked, all Quinn would need to do was shift the hutch a bit to secure it against the doors for an extra layer of protection. It wasn’t the best barricade but hopefully, it would buy him enough time to get into position to fight off anyone who tried to come in. There was nothing they could do about the multiple windows in the oversized house and they had already blocked off the back door. Their best defense would be staying quiet and hoping they weren’t discovered.
With a last round of hugs and good luck wishes, the three teens slipped out the door. Quinn used his shoulder to push the hutch into place after locking the doors and then just rested his forehead against it. He did the only thing he could think of, he prayed.
Chapter Two
When Josh and the girls entered the hospital lobby, they were happy to see that the sleds and trailers were almost ready to go. Cooper and Leslie were each helping the children to lie down in the padded trailers that they would travel in on the trip to the zoo. Lisa was doing her limited part by encouraging the sick kids with an upbeat chatter about adventures. The pain from her injury shone through in her eyes but her tone of voice didn’t betray it.
Josh strode over to the one sled trailer that they were using to transport the supplies that would hopefully buy the nurse and kids entrance to the zoo community and started tightening the straps. It was dangerously overloaded even with what they had left in the back of the Ranger for Quinn and Alex and the trip home. He looked over the other two trailers that the sick kids were now laying in. Even with four kids lying on their sides surrounded by blankets and pillows for padding, there was an empty space in both trailers by their feet. The kids were too short to fill the entire length. He pictured the trip and had visions of the kids sliding back and forth down the length of the trailers with every acceleration and brake they made as they drove and shook his head. He turned back to the supply trailer and loosened the straps he had just tightened while calling the others over. He pointed at the mound of supplies.
“We need to transfer some of this stuff over to the other trailers to keep the kids from sliding around. Ideally, they will be tucked in tight for their own safety.”
The kids watched with curiosity as the supplies were transferred and used to fill in the empty space until they were all snug in the trailers. Leslie spent a few minutes reassuring each child before they settled a heavy blanket over the trailers and secured it with straps to keep the cold air from them. Josh made sure that one corner of each trailer had the blanket folded back to keep the air fresh and allow some light in before turning to the others.
“All right, let’s get this convoy started. We go back the same way we came here and don’t stop for anything until we get to the zoo. My hope is if anyone was watching the river, they’ve given up by now but if we do come under fire, don’t stop, just speed up and keep going.” He focused on Cooper. “You have the least experience driving a sled so you and Lisa will drive the supplies. Emily, you take Leslie - Dara and I will take the other kid-mobile.” When no one objected to the lineup, he took one last look around the lobby of the hospital, lifted his arm and twirled his hand in the air in a “let’s go” motion.
A couple of wheelchairs blocked the lobby doors open so it was a simple matter to just drive out into the parking lot. Josh was glad that the kids in the trailers were covered so they couldn’t see the dead bodies from the earlier battle lying scattered around. He spared one last glance at the house on the far side of the lot that his friends were hiding in before focusing ahead. He had to put them out of his mind and have faith that they would be okay in order to concentrate on his own mission.
Josh waved Cooper and Lisa to take the lead with the supply trailer followed by Emily and Leslie’s sled and then him and Dara bringing up the rear. In his mind, the children were more important than the supplies even if it meant putting Cooper and Lisa in the crosshairs. He leaned forward slightly as the assault rifle his girl was carrying between them dug into his back. If they were ambushed on the river, he hoped that he and Dara would be able to give the others covering fire from behind.
The sleds followed their earlier tracks in the thinning snow as they made their way down the hill. The area surrounding the route was just as eerily quiet as it had been before. The park that contained the river access was still empty but the deepening shadows of dusk created a sense of urgency in Josh, knowing that they would still be on the river when full dark hit. On the one hand, it would make it harder for anyone to see them with just the noise of the sleds giving them away - but it would also make it harder for them to drive. They had all agreed to keep the headlights off and try and navigate by following the tracks they had made earlier. His shoulders already ached from the tension but they tensed even more when they drove down the slight slope and on to the river. Josh knew this would be the most stressful thirty-minute drive of his life and he wouldn’t be able to breathe easy again until he could offload the nine children they were hauling.
The first fifteen minutes of the trip went by in a blur with there being enough light for them to make out the tracks from this morning but as they were entering the corridor of the river that ran through the downtown area of the city darkness descended, leaving them practically blind. Earlier, they had worked out a system of tapping on the brakes every thirty seconds to allow the sleds following them to stay in line. Josh kept his head on a swivel in between Cooper’s brake flashes even though he couldn’t see anything on the banks of the river in the darkness. What did catch his eye were tiny, scattered lights, flickering in some of the high-rise building’s windows. He didn’t know who was occupying the offices behind those windows and had no interest in meeting up with them, so he tried to keep his focus ahead.
When the river curved around the final obstacle, a small island that the map claimed was a park, Josh allowed some of the tension in his shoulders and arms to relax slightly. It was a five-minute drive from here to where they entered the river at the zoo. The straight stretch ahead had nothing in their way so hopefully, they would finish this nerve-wracking trip without issue. He cursed himself for jinxing their luck when two gunshots rang out back to back. There was no flare of a brake light ahead of him so he assumed that Cooper had sped up with Emily following him. As far as he knew, no one had been hit by the gunshots and he couldn’t even be sure if they were aimed at them - but he wasn’t going to take any chances - so he sped up as well to try and get out of the area and the range of anyone shooting from the far bank.
His eyes caught a flare of red brake lights in the distance that he realized anyone watching could track them by. There was nothing they could do about it now so he followed them toward the left-hand side of the river. Cooper must have reached the access to the zoo because the brake lights on the sleds in front of him stayed on for a few moments before abruptly disappearing. He applied his own brakes as he got closer to where he had last seen them and involuntarily hunched down, knowing his own glowing red brake lights would provide a perfect target if anyone was searching from the other bank of the river.
Dara let out a choked gasp when the two sleds materialized from the darkness in front of them but Josh had cut his speed down to almost stalling his machine, so they came to a stop with a gentle bump against the supply trailer that was parked on the bank leading up to the zoo gate. Josh just sat for a minute trying to convince his clenched fingers to let go of the handlebars of the sled before finally dismounting and walking up to join his friends at the gate that led into the zoo. Dara joined him and the others who were quietly talking to one of the guards on the other side of the gate.
Josh was happy to recognize the guard on the other side of the gate as Jeff, th
e guy who had helped them bring the sleds into the zoo from the C-train tracks. He lifted a hand in greeting.
“Hey Jeff, good to see you, man. Could you let us in, please? We brought you guys some goodies that I think you’ll appreciate.”
Jeff frowned and shot a quick glance over his shoulder before turning back and shaking his head. “I don’t know. You guys caused quite a ruckus being here last time. I’m not sure if the community wants to let you back in.”
Josh shrugged one shoulder and cocked his head to the side. “Sure, I get that but maybe you should check in with Matthew before you make that universal decision for everyone. We’ll just stay out here on the banks with our loud machines attracting attention. I’m sure you guys have enough guns to fight off any gang members that might have followed us, right?” When Jeff’s eyes narrowed in concern and started frantically looking around the river behind them Josh knew he had him. “Tell you what, we don’t plan on staying too long so why don’t you just let us in for everyone’s safety and will park in that garage you had us staying in last night. We’ll have a quick conversation with Matthew and go from there. We’re not looking for any trouble so if he says we got to go, then we’re out of here. No harm, no foul.”
Jeff looked around the river again in uncertainty but the sounds of gunshots ringing out from the downtown core had him reaching for the lock with a nod of his head. “Yeah, you’re right. Wasn’t your fault that Aaron and those other idiots caused the dust-up. Come on in and park by the same building. I’ll send a runner for Matthew to meet you there.”
Josh’s smile spread across his face and he nodded in agreement. “That’s great, man, I’ll tell you what - if it helps, one of us will stay back and help you guard the gate just in case anybody comes nosing around. Our firepower is a little bit more potent than yours.” He said, holding up the assault rifle he had slung over his back when he left the sled.
STRANDED: Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 97
