by White, A. L.
Pulling two pistols out from under the sweatshirt he positioned himself by the tail gate. “Now we can use the tail gate to steady ourselves. I have twelve bullets and I am pretty sure you don’t have more than sixteen so every shot matter.”
Lori draped herself over the tailgate and took aim. After she fired her first shot and was aiming the second, she introduced herself. “My name is Lori, by the way.”
“Pleased to meet you, Lori. You can call me Tillford or most people back home just called me Tilly.”
“You know this isn’t going to make much of a difference.” Lori remarked as she fired another round.
“No, not much at all. Maybe a few less to catch up to us though.” Tillford replied.
***
Jermaine had fired a shot and couldn’t help but be pleased with himself. Somehow, he had actually taken down two creatures with a single shot. No one will ever believe me when I tell this story, he thought as he reached for another shell. His heart sank feeling an empty box and instinctively he looked down on the walkway below him to verify that he hadn’t dropped any. Seeing nothing but an empty walkway, his mind raced to remember if any of the other rifles had a scope. Convinced that only Boo had one like that, he looked for anyway that he could continue to help. That was when it dawned on him. This mob wasn’t just the run of the mill zombies or two-point-zeros. They were like Lori, so that meant that they could think and act just like any other person. The barn would become less of a place to make a stand and more of a tomb for all of them trapped inside. The RV was still loaded with supplies from yesterday’s attempt to leave for the next stop on the map. All he had to do was pull the RV out, close and lock the barn doors behind him, and hope that Charlie caught on to what he was doing. As long as no one showed up driving something that could catch up to them, everything would work out fine.
Running down into the bunker Jermaine found Tressa sitting at the table talking to Todd as he drew pictures on the back of an old paper sack he had found in the barn.
“Tressa, can you gather all of Todd’s stuff and meet me in the RV as quick as possible?” Jermaine asked.
Tressa looked up surprised and asked. “Is there trouble?”
“Trouble doesn’t even begin to cover it.” Jermaine replied, “A stranger came down the street and told us a little more about the people in the town.”
“The ones I saw last night I bet you. I bet you anything that’s what it was,” Todd said excitedly.
“Yes, the people that you saw last night, Todd.” Jermaine replied. “Lori went into town with Walter and that girl to have a look around and check things out.”
“Todd, get your stuff and let’s go, follow Jermaine to the RV.” Tressa said, without waiting for Jermaine to finish. “You can finish once we are all safe.” Tressa added, pulling a few things that she had brought in the night before together and pushing Todd to move faster. They followed Jermaine up to the RV and climbed in. Todd thought he should sit in the front seat riding shotgun because he was a boy but changed his mind with a stern look from Tressa.
Pulling the RV out of the barn, Jermaine was nagged by the thought that he had forgotten something. It wasn’t anything of his that needed to be loaded, he didn’t own very much since the apocalypse and he wasn’t one to collect new things. What was the point when he was constantly on the move? There was something that he had seen inside the barn on one of the mornings where he had awakened hours before anyone else; something that, more than likely, he had seen and thought nothing about it because it didn’t mean very much to him at the time. Now for some reason it was at the back of his brain trying to make its way to the front and it was driving him crazy. A button in a glass case, there was a red button in a glass case. Jermaine thought to himself trying to remember where he had seen it. Back by the generator, I saw it back by the generator. Jermaine froze in his tracks wondering why the button was such a big issue in his in his thoughts. It was probably a master off switch for the generator, he thought, but couldn’t shake the bothering question of why he would remember it that of all moments. Looking to see how much time he had before Charlie would be at the end of the long driveway, he decided that if he could run back there and just take a look he would still have time to meet Charlie, if only just at the end of the driveway. Throwing the door open he ran back into the barn straight to the generator. It took a few minutes for him to find the locked glass case hidden off toward the back of the machine. Just under the case was a small handwritten sign that read: In extreme emergency press and evacuate immediately. Jermaine took a step back and remembered that he had to meet Charlie before he turned down the driveway leading back to the barn. “I think even Old Bob would see this as an extreme emergency.” He said to himself as he picked up a hammer laying on the bench beside the generator and smashed the glass case. Pushing the button, he had half expected some kind of voice to start announcing a warning with a count down. Hell, it probably doesn’t do anything at all, he thought running back to the RV.
Turning onto the street, Jermaine tried to keep a close eye on where Charlie was. Once he was sure that Charlie had caught on, he turned his attention to finding the street. He had seen another state route that bypassed Clarksville a little way off to the east of where they had been. He thought they could follow that for fifty or so miles and then cut back to the west, picking up several crossroads that would put them back on course to the next stop on Bob’s map.
Feeling confident that Charlie would follow without the mob catching up, Jermaine stared ahead into the solid white field before him looking, hoping for, a sign or something that would let him know the street he sought was there.
Chapter 25
Charlie watched the taillights on the RV glow and slide hard to the right, followed by the backup lights coming on. Jermaine was backing up, turning right; it didn’t look to Charlie like it was a street, but he would trust Jermaine that it was. After all, if it wasn’t, he would know soon enough. There was no way the RV would make it through deep snow off road.
“Where is Jermaine taking us?” Virginia asked.
Charlie shrugged his shoulders. “Doesn’t really matter where right now as long as it is away from here.” In the rearview mirror he could see the mob was no longer following them, they must have taken interest in the barn. A few creatures seemed to not give up the hunt but were falling farther and farther behind. Charlie flashed his bright lights several times, trying to get Jermaine’s attention. On the fourth series of flashes the brake lights lit up on the RV as Jermaine brought it to a stop. Charlie pulled the truck up just short of tapping the rear bumper. He hopped out and told Lori to get everyone inside of the RV as he scanned the area around them for danger. “You can ride with me and save yourself some trouble until a later time or go face the music.” Charlie said to Virginia.
“I am going to stay in the truck but want to put the lads in the RV. It has been a long day for Zeus.” Virginia replied.
Coming out of the RV, Jermaine almost walked right into the man carrying Zoe. From the looks of him he figured the guy was almost the same size as he was, maybe just shy of it but pretty close. He began reaching for his gun but Lori walked up. “Jermaine, meet Tilly, he is going to be traveling with us for a while.”
Not sure how he felt about that. Jermaine just nodded his head and let the guy pass by. He walked over to where Charlie was standing. “Yesterday we didn’t want to sleep in the camper because we had to many people and thought it would be crowded.”
“Today we have two more people inside the same camper. Don’t complain to me, I was following your lead today.” Charlie replied with a smile.
“Do you want to lead the way or follow?” Jermaine asked.
“Been following this far, you might as well keep leading.” Charlie replied.
Jermaine started back to the RV when the sky turned a brilliant reddish orange back toward the farm and the Earth shook with a thunderous boom.
“What the hell!?” Charlie said.
“That Old Bob had the place booby trapped. I thought it might help even the odds a little bit in our favor. Wasn’t expecting it to be that big.” Jermaine said with a chuckle. “What’s with the guy carrying Zoe?”
“Came back with Lori, I haven’t had a chance to ask about it.” Charlie replied.
“No, I don’t guess you have. I will find out what I can.”
Chapter 26
With her feet on the dashboard and her head leaning against the cold glass, Lori tried to stretch out and get some rest. More had happened in the last two days than she could honestly remember happening since she and Virginia had left their home with Bob. If it was all a dream Lori knew that it would be a nonstop nightmare that she’d never wake up from. And Virginia, Lori didn’t even want to think about that right now. Sometimes she thought that Virginia’s antics were growing worse with each new day. Yes, it had been a good thought to lie in wait to save the day if it was needed. In truth all she had really accomplished was placing her life and the dogs in jeopardy. Lori let out a long sigh and told herself to just let sleep overcome her for now. When that didn’t work, she opened her eyes and stared at the passing fields until that proved to be too monotonous.
“Where are we heading?” Lori asked Jermaine.
Handing Lori the maps, he replied, “I am not one hundred percent certain, to be honest.”
They both looked at each other and began laughing. “Your plan was to just drive?” Lori asked.
“Well, I did look at the map for a minute or so first. Looks like this road will cross a few that we can take to get back on course to the next stop.” Jermaine replied.
“It will cross all of the main roads.” Tillford said, standing between the seats just behind them. “I have traveled these roads a lot in the last six months looking for small towns.”
“What about this spot here?” Lori asked pointing out a forest preserve. “Looks like there is a lake there too.”
Tillford thought for a few minutes. “Pretty good-sized parking lot. Plenty of cover from the trees on two sides with the lake on the third. You could see someone coming from the road in enough time to prepare to meet them.”
“How far off do you think?” Jermaine asked.
Scrunching his face as if he had just sucked a lemon, Tillford replied. “At this speed, few hours at most.”
“So just before dark then.” Jermaine added. “No signs of anything to worry about?”
“I camped by the lake a few nights, great largemouth bass in it. Couldn’t seem to pull myself away. Of course, that was a few months ago.” Tillford replied.
“Then I think we should stop there for the night and plan for tomorrow.” Lori replied as she climbed out of the passenger seat and stepped around Tillford. Tressa and Todd had been in the back with Walter and Zoe. Lori wasn’t sure that no news from back there was good or bad. Having put it off as long as she could, it was time to face the music.
“How is she doing?” Lori asked.
“Feels like she is burning up and hasn’t said anything yet.” Tressa replied holding a damp rag to Zoe’s forehead. “We could really use Doc, or someone with a little medical background.”
“I know.” Lori replied. “We will have to do the best we can for her.”
***
Virginia thought for sure that she saw something moving through the fields, low to the ground, fast, and moving with purpose. Closing her eyes for a few seconds and reopening them, the movement would be gone.
“Are you doing ok with all of this?” Charlie asked Virginia.
“Why wouldn’t I be ok with it?” Virginia replied.
“Wasn’t too sure that you would be.” Charlie said.
Feeling tightness in her chest and no small amount of sadness Virginia raised one tremoring hand up toward the sky. “I promise you that if it needs to be, I will put Lori and Walter down without thinking about it.”
“It sure doesn’t seem like we will need anything that extreme.”
“We don’t know that yet. There is no way possible that you could know that for sure.” Virginia said.
“I think we both know your sister well enough to be certain that if there was a chance that she could harm any of us, she would leave first.”
With sad eyes that pitied Charlie for letting his feelings cloud his judgement Virginia looked at him. “For now, I will wait and watch. If you’re right, then this isn’t even an issue.”
“I understand what you are saying Virginia. I just want to make sure that we give it time to see how it works out.”
She shook her head yes and looked at Charlie again. From the very first day she had liked Charlie and Boo more than she thought was possible. Boo was like Old Bob, so that was an easy one for Virginia to understand. Charlie wasn’t like anyone she had ever met before. He couldn’t shoot very well, had no idea of how to survive in the world that they lived in, and he trusted everyone and everything around him to be what it advertised. Nothing like her, Bob or Boo in any way shape or form. Yet there was something about Charlie that made her want to believe too, made her want to see the goodness left in the world around her. If someone had given a choice to Virginia of who she wanted to be standing with in the end, Charlie would be on the list. Not very high up on the list, she smiled as she thought, but on the list nonetheless. “As long as the lads are ok and don’t react then I will hold off.”
“That is all I am asking for.” Charlie replied.
“Charlie, you’re in love with my sister and you think this will end with you two having a family.” Virginia added at the last second.
Caught off guard, Charlie changed the subject. “What did you think you were going to do up in that tree? What were your plans for the dogs?”
“I guess you could say that I didn’t plan that out very well.” Virginia replied.
Feeling like he took back the upper hand, Charlie continued. “That is my point in a nutshell. Sometimes you need to think things out more before you react. Jermaine and I knew exactly what you would do and damn near how you would do it. The tree was a surprise, but we should have figured on that.”
“You didn’t stop me.” Virginia replied.
“I think we both have learned that stopping you is almost impossible. So we looked out for you in the best way we could.” Charlie said.
“You do know that I rode with you so that I could get out of a lecture, right?” Virginia asked.
Smiling like he had been caught sneaking a brownie off his mother’s kitchen table, Charlie replied. “You got me there and we both know you have one coming that there will be no getting out of.”
“I know, so I am going to try to get some rest until we stop. Lori can go on for hours when she wants to, repeating the same thing over and over.” Virginia leaned her head against the window, trying to fall asleep.
Chapter 27
Tillford pointed over to the left of the highway, making sure that Jermaine saw the forest preserve coming up. The park was gilded in gold as the sun reflected off of the thin layer of ice that formed on top of the melting snow.
“Looks beautiful, let’s hope it is safe.” Jermaine said.
“Let’s hope.” Tillford replied. “I can go take a look around if it will make you feel better?”
“Once we get settled down, I can go with you.” Jermaine replied.
Tillford thought about it and was going to say that he really could travel faster and smell if there was danger by himself. He decided instead that it was a good sign that this guy wanted to go along.
“What about over there?” Jermaine asked, pointing to a spot near the lake and a park pavilion. “I think we could light a decent fire in the middle of that, kind of stretch our legs a bit.”
Tillford looked back over his shoulder to see if he could still see the entrance and the highway. “I think that would work for me, almost hidden from the entrance but just enough of a view for us.”
Slowing the RV down, Jermaine yelled to the back “We are here everyone, you
r home for the evening.”
Lori started to let Zoe’s hand go when she felt the slightest bit of a squeeze. Looking down into Zoe’s empty, sad eyes, Lori said, “We are going to rest here Zoe, you’re safe now.”
“No one is safe anyplace, child.” Zoe replied. “They came into the school acting like they just needed a place to stay for the night to get out of the storm.”
“We got you away from them, Zoe. Please believe me that for now we are all safe.” Lori replied.
Zoe struggled to raise herself up then lay still for a second before putting everything she had into rising. Knowing that she would not stop until she was up, Lori placed her hand under Zoe’s back and raised her up to a sitting position. “Help me out there to the table, Lori.” Zoe commanded in a pleading voice.
“Jermaine, can you come help Zoe to the table?” Lori yelled up front.
Jermaine came back with Tillford and they both very gently took an arm, helping Zoe stand. After thinking about asking Zoe if she thought that was best, Jermaine knew that it would be easier to get Zoe to where she wanted to be. Up the short hall they went, holding Zoe up as she took baby steps on wiry legs. Reaching the table Jermaine reached behind, placing his hand just under her armpits and slid her into the booth. “There, how is that?” Jermaine asked.
“Thanks son, thank you two very much. Let me rest for a few and I will see what kind of meal I can come up with.” Zoe replied.
“I was planning on cooking something up as a treat to welcome you back.” Jermaine replied.
Zoe smiled and made a “pfffft” sound as she looked toward Tressa. “Maybe you can make dinner, Tressa?”
