"They're forgetting the world right now," she said, "and I envy that. So I think, if you don't mind, I wanna live vicariously through them for a moment."
"Sit here and watch them?"
"Yeah, sit here and watch."
I raised my glass to her. "Life goes on, Faye."
"It does." She clicked her plastic cup to mine. "And for the first time in a while, I'm realizing that."
NINE - FAYE
August 31
It was the first summer without my children, the first time in forever where I wasn't running out to the mall for new school clothes. The excitement of the first day of school was gone, because there was no excitement over the first day of summer vacation or my getting tired of the kids being home all day.
I missed those days of telling them to step away from the television and go out and play, or to put down the video game.
Go get fresh air.
'Mom, it's hot.'
I absolutely positively dreaded when the weather really warmed up.
From the moment we made it back, Dodge ditched the usage of any radios. Just on the outside chance, the people from the CDC had science fiction technology and could zoom in on us.
What Dodge had originally foraged was miniscule in comparison to the houses that weren't touched. The stores that remained were fully stocked, especially in the back loading docks.
We had plenty to choose from.
While I didn't hide, I didn't leave my gated community either. Our housing plan was gated and that offered a minimal layer of security.
It took about a week for Dodge, Bud and Tyler to remove bodies from the street and homes close by. That helped with the smell. By one month post ERDS, the worst of the smell started to subside. A hint of it lingered. I didn't know if we just got used to it or the bodies decayed enough to stop.
Bud proclaimed about sixty days.
His reasoning was, "That's why no one ever smelled bodies buried in the woods, eventually they rot enough to not smell as unholy."
George marked a calendar every day, and even started to make the next year's. At first I wished he didn't, because he announced the date every day and yelled out at noon.
"It's twelve o'clock." He'd just shout it, and diligently wound his super hero watch.
George was our official time keeper. But I was glad he was.
Because of him I knew it was my daughter's birthday, my Anniversary. I was able to mourn the loss and celebrate my chance to have them.
I was making oatmeal when George got up, announcing, "It's August thirty-first. Boy, we'd be in school. We need school, who's gonna teach us?" he asked as he sat at the table.
Dodge produced this look of 'don't look at me' and I was going to volunteer.
Then Tyler said. "I can teach you. I'll be your art teacher. Music too. Faye, bet you are good with numbers."
"Not by my checkbook," I replied. "Reading. I'm good with reading."
"I'll do math," Bud added. "I was a tax attorney. I'm good with that."
History would have to be a group effort and there were books that would help. After all the plague didn't destroy the pages of old stories that graced the shelves of libraries. We could always get them.
In fact, Bud had already taken to reading books on farming. We cultivated our own seedlings and the tomato plants were amazing.
We spent a lot of time drying out the food and readying it for travel.
I thought it was a mistake to leave. We had enough supplies to make it through the winter. But I was outnumbered. The general consensus was we wouldn't make it through the cold and snowy weather. If we did stay it would be a challenge and too much for the little ones to handle.
The three and a half months back at my house were only preparation months.
I realized this as the house grew empty and the supplies were moved to our transportation. We would take the RV and a car.
It was unsettling to me because we hadn't heard anything. We hadn't see anyone. No one came after me for being the last woman. Perhaps that was over and done with. We just didn't know.
We had no set destination. Just that we were heading west then south.
That thought scared me because I had become complacent in my own world, in my own home. I hadn't a clue what lay beyond my housing plan, much less the city.
Soon, we'd find out.
It was a particularly cool day for the last day of August. I stood by the window watching Dodge load up the car. A chill swept over me and I didn't know if it was the breeze or the ominous feeling I had about leaving.
I didn't want to leave.
But what choice did I have?
Bud, Dodge and the boys had become a huge part of my life. Without them I was back to nothing and I wasn't going there again. So my choice was to go where they went.
I only hoped the foreboding feeling that swelled within me was just my fear of the unknown and not some psychic premonition I was trying to ignore.
TEN - DODGE
Bud started smoking cigarettes again. He had kicked the habit three decades earlier, but since he really didn't care and they were plentiful, he lit one after another. Although I wasn't fully convinced he was actually inhaling.
He loved the idea of mapping out our route into the unknown. He and his wife always took the RV, so hitting the road was nothing new to him.
He yammered on about which roads we'd take and ideas of good places to stop. He couldn't wait until daybreak when we'd roll out on an adventure into the unknown. His enthusiasm matched that of a kid waiting on Santa. He just wasn't winding down.
My head was still reeling after the daily, post dinner argument slash discussion with Faye. It was the same. She didn't want to go. Why did we have to go? As if I were suddenly going to tell her something new and the light would switch on.
Truth was. I had nothing new. We had to go.
Weather was going to play a big role. And despite how secluded the small gated community seemed, it wasn't. More than anything I wanted to stay back too. It had been months since we left the area, we didn't know what the world held for us. Things could have gone really bad.
We just didn't know.
But staying in the open of that housing community wasn't going to cut it. I knew in my mind what I was searching for as a final destination or long term stopping point.
A structure where it was warm, protected and far away from civilization, or rather, former civilization.
The good people survived but so did the bad, and chances were those bad were emerging, starving and would hit the cities and the former populated areas.
We couldn't stay, a fire would send a smoke signal seen for miles. We couldn't practice shooting because sound traveled.
It was such a quiet world, I would be blocks away and would hear Bud cough.
Imagine if someone heard Faye laugh or yell, which she did when the boys were being bad or even calling them in for supper.
We didn't know what to protect ourselves from, because we simply didn't know what was out there.
In my mind, staying put, we were sitting ducks waiting for trouble.
I remember a quote from an author named, Alan Cohen. 'There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.'
We were going on an adventure, the excitement was unknown, and we would keep moving.
It was the only way to gain power over all that we lost. To forge ahead and keep going.
As the night dwindled down, I too, suffered from the pre travel jitters and decided to take a walk. The moon was pretty bright and that helped light the street. I wouldn't go far, I just wanted to walk. It was while doing so, a block from the house, that I heard it.
A 'snap' in the distance. As if something was stepped on or broken. We hadn't seen or heard an animal, and in the quite that sound carried and echoed.
It made me stop.
I pulled my pistol from my jacket and lifted the flashlight, aiming in the direction I heard
the sound.
My heart beat hard when I swore I caught a flash of movement between the houses. I stood there for the longest time, waiting, watching and ready.
Nothing happened and I heard no more. I wanted to chalk it up to my imagination, but it wasn't. Someone was there. I saw the movement, heard him and when the wind blew, I smelled him.
I may have scared him or he just backed off. In either case, I didn't take a chance.
I stayed awake the rest of the night, sitting on Faye's porch. That simple sound, movement and whiff of body odor reiterated what we had to do.
We had to leave. As much as I wanted to find a reason to stay, it was no longer an option. Our little suburban sanctuary had been discovered.
The Game Changer - Major James Reynolds
Basic common knowledge told us that if the surviving female was indeed at Central City Kentucky, then she picked up a radio signal to make her way there.
By all accounts she was at farthest seven hundred miles from that convoy point. I was in charge of the search and recover mission. Instead of going out wildly, we waited until the CC convoy arrived and settled and interviewed several key people.
We learned that the man named 'Dodge' arrived with one older gentleman and two young males. The female was not with them.
No one remembered a license plate nor recalled asking them where they came from. They were in an RV. One person recalled the older of the boys having a deep southern drawl. The relationship between the older males and younger was connected, so that told me they had been together for at least a few weeks.
Since none of the older individuals or the female on the radio had a southern accent, I made the determination that the boys were more than likely discovered in their home state by Dodge and the older man coming from a state that had more of a northern dialect. With the seven hundred mile radius in mind, that left really only four states. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Southwestern Pennsylvania.
It was high priority locating the surviving female and I was given all the resources I needed for the mission. I sent out teams to each state, while I ventured out with the Pennsylvanian team.
We would comb every square inch if needed and bring in air support only when we had a good radius of location. Problem was, with each passing day, they grew farther away. But if it were me and I were protecting the only woman, I would keep her away from the south until the weather was too much to handle.
We had time.
While the human race had dwindled, Nature seemed to find its niche in the apocalypse. Growing rapidly and in full force, making road travel more tedious on back roads as trees extended out.
If they did travel, soon they'd leave a trail. But in my mind, they weren't traveling. Not yet.
We were growing weary, and our supplies dwindling. I had sent men back to base for more supplies. Remaining behind, with the search on hold was myself and one other man. Just outside a small community in Southwestern Pennsylvania, we had set up a small camp when a good breeze swept in and I caught the scent.
Food.
I followed that scent until it stopped and I then saw a hint of light. It gave me even more direction. However once I arrived at what looked like a gated community, the light was gone. Or perhaps it was just further in. I made it inside, and that was when I spotted the male.
It was and had been the only survivor we had seen in months.
He was large in height and bulk, and I wasn't certain if he was alone or if there were more. I did know that when he pulled the weapon, I wasn't taking a chance. Because of my uncertainty compounded with only one source of backup, I retreated. It wasn't our mission to engage or to make a hostile approach. Coming at the man at night was sending the wrong message.
I figured the morning would be the best time to check out the man's camp and see if this was possibly where the surviving female was hiding. However when morning came, they were gone. They had slipped out early.
The two of us were able to determine where they were staying, and oddly enough on the mailbox perched in front of the picture perfect suburbia house was the name, 'Wills'.
I hadn't noticed it at first, but the soldier with me asked, "Isn't the name Wills, the one used on the last radio call to the man Dodge?"
He was right. It was. We entered the unlocked home to find it void of food, water and photographs. Actually anything personal had been taken.
But not everything.
A desk drawer in a home office gave us the confirmation.
The home belonged to a Faye Wills.
I know for sure the surviving woman's name was Faye.
We had it. We found where they were or at least had been staying up to only a few hours earlier. The house still smelled of food and people.
They weren't that far and I was one hundred percent certain we had a vicinity. Even with their head start, and even without us having their direction, we had an area. It wouldn't be hard to find them. I was confident we would and soon. A few hours and we'd lock in.
I radioed base and called in for the air team.
ELEVEN - FAYE
It shouldn't have surprised me one bit that Bud's route to the west would follow a trail of KOA campsites. It was something I learned as we were getting into the cars, and Bud pulled out the KOA map.
Dodge championed that idea to me after the initial thought of 'we're living camp ground to camp ground?' I hit the phase of 'it figures'. After all, Bud and his wife were always on the go in the Fastball RV.
It was hard saying goodbye to my home.
When I left it months earlier, a part of me felt that I would be back. I did go back sooner than I expected. But as I took one last look at my family home, I knew it was the last time I'd see that house.
Dodge's mood was off. The usually confident man was quiet. Something was on his mind and he looked tired. I didn't push the issue with him, figuring we'd have time to talk later.
I could tell though he was deep in thought about something far more than our travels. He squinted a lot, like he had a headache, causing deepened lines on the sides of his eyes.
When Dodge was in thought, he squinted. Almost as if his eye lids held answers.
The RV was packed to capacity and so was the compact car that I drove. We would all take turns at being behind the wheel. Our travel plans didn't include going too far per day. We weren't really aware of what the roads would be like.
The plan was to avoid Kentucky, more so avoid going south for a while. Avoid the way we had taken to Central City. Simply move west and then when we hit Illinois, we'd go south. Sometime while I slept Dodge came to a decision on where we would head. Louisiana was the first state of choice. Close to the Lake Charles area. Not that Lake Charles was a remote town, but a place near there. The weather was warmer in that state and they got a lot of rain, which would help with the issue of fresh water. Dodge set his initial sights on settling there.
I didn't argue because I didn't know much when it came to long term survival plans. My argument ended when it was out of my hands to leave the house. Something, unless proven to me otherwise, I would always believe was a mistake.
We were off and moving by sunrise.
It felt rushed, I don't know why.
In my mind, I saw us cruising down the highway without a problem. That wasn't the case.
Since I had missed the final days of civilization, I didn't know that people ran for the hills, trying to get to remote areas to avoid the infection.
But the government sealed off roads to keep the infection from spreading and since military personnel was scarce, they took to destroying the roads. Making huge gaping holes right across the middle and they did so in the places where you couldn't just drive around.
We heard about these holes before heading to Kentucky. Hence why we had to take the roundabout way.
We saw the first of the road block holes, just about forty miles into the state of Ohio.
There went the idea of heading directly west. I was following behind the RV wh
en it slowed down, then finally stopped.
The toy radio hissed and then Dodge's voice crackled. "Hey Wills, we have to turn around." George, who was my riding partner, lifted the radio and responded that we 'roger that'.
They were pink princess radios, Dodge got them from the budget store so we could communicate during the ride. He figured the range wasn't that good and we wouldn't be picked up by an unwanted third party. But just on the outside chance, I wasn't allowed to speak on them.
I hung back until Dodge turned the RV. He lifted his hand in a wave as they drove by slowly and then I turned around and followed.
"Bud said don't worry," Dodge came over the radio. "He said we're in KOA heaven."
I chuckled and told George. "Tell him, I said I bet."
"Wills is not surprised," George stated.
I followed behind, lagging more like it, being told to keep up. Old habits of being a law abiding driver die hard.
After backtracking a good ten miles, we veered off a lesser known exit.
"This will take us North," Dodge said. "How you doing on gas."
George radioed my response of, "Still good. But we're getting hungry."
"Oh stop," I nudged George playfully. "I didn't say that. Are you hungry though?"
"A little."
"You didn't eat much this morning."
"That's 'cause Dodge kept hurrying us," George said.
"He did, didn't he?"
"You don't suppose he was worried about something do you?"
To me, George was perceptive, because I also noticed a difference in Dodge's demeanor. It was a conversation I wasn't going to have with George. So I said, "Nah, he's fine, just nervous. But if you're hungry. I have chips. Want some?"
George nodded fast and assuredly.
My small bag was just in the back seat and as I reached behind for it, I glanced through the back window. Coming up in the distance from behind was a motorcycle and car.
"Shit."
"What?" George asked.
I quickly turned around. My hair had grown, and I grabbed it pulling it upwards. "Put your hat on my head. Hurry."
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