“Drew and his father built a resort called Paradis Roulette. It’s a bio dome. It is solar powered and Drew says that they haven’t had any outbreaks like we have. So we’ll be safer there till we figure out what’s happening.” Sam told us.
Chapter Three
I went to check on Jenny before joining the others in the dining room. She was still sleeping in Carter and Marie’s room.
Sam, Sawyer, and Axel were already sitting around the dining room table when I walked in.
Sawyer had our chairs pulled next to each other so we could share the large orange throw blanket. Axel chose the seat next to Sam, his hands slowly spinning the cup in front of him. Sam had already explained to them that we were going to try and make it to his nephew’s bio dome resort.
“Wait. If we are bringing Jenny with us, aren’t we contaminating the dome?” Sawyer asked.
“If she doesn’t turn crazed before we can get her there. Drew has his own fully staffed hospital in the dome; we can get her in an isolation room.” Sam responded.
“How are we going to get people here to go there?” I asked.
“I’m going to call around and we’ll see how many people show up before we leave for the dome.” Sam answered, “I’ll start with a cop I know, him and his partner may be able to round up some people.”
“So what do we do while you make calls?” I asked.
“You can try to get hold of your families.” Sam answered as he walked out of the room.
“I’m going to check updates on Facebook.” Sawyer decided, “Do you want to come with me to the office?”
“Yeah, maybe we can even find more information online.” Axel added as we followed Sawyer down the hall.
Sawyer turned into the office with Axel on her heels. I stayed back near the door and looked at the picture of my parents on my contact list. I tapped my finger on Mom’s and listened to the ring.
No answer. Just the voicemail full message.
I tried Dad’s next. After three rings it went straight to his voicemail.
“Dad it’s me. There’s a lot going on here. The neighbor Sam is with me and we are going to Paradis Roulette. Call me please. I love you.” I said after the beep.
I tapped my phone off and went to look over Sawyer’s shoulder. There were images and videos up that looked similar to what we had seen.
“Turn it off.” Axel said.
Sawyer did.
“Let’s go back to Sam.” Axel called over his shoulder as he headed to find the old cowboy.
Sawyer nodded to my phone and sent me a questioning look as soon as we were alone. I shook my head.
“I’m sorry.” She mouthed to me. I wiped the tears that trailed down my face away and followed after Axel.
Sam was pacing around the living room when we walked in.
“Any luck?” I asked.
“He said he was going to find a ride and be here.” Sam answered as he made another lap.
He was on the tenth lap when we heard crashing in the back yard.
Peeking through the cracks of the boarded windows we could see a huge bus lined up with the back of the house.
Knocking sounded on the backdoor.
Sawyer and I looked to Sam. He shrugged and went to check it out.
Sawyer grabbed my wrist and dragged me along as she followed.
Sam cracked the door open and looked outside; he started laughing and swung the door the rest of the way open.
“You’re lucky this door opens inwards, Tone.” Sam greeted the dark-skinned cop. His friendly brown eyes took in the whole room in a quick sweeping glance.
“Yeah, well I was prepared to knock it in if I had to.” Tone responded as he came into the kitchen, “There was no way in hell I was bringing her back around to try again.”
“Why did you park so close?” Sam asked. He looked out the door and down the length of the bus, “There’s not even six inches between the house and that bus.”
“Things have gotten nuts out there. We thought it’d be safer to get people loaded in if it was a straight shot.” A woman’s voice came from just out of sight.
Once Sam stepped out of the way a woman with black hair came out to stand next to Tone, she was a good foot shorter than him.
“Good to see you Sydney.” Sam said to her as he hugged her.
“I know on the phone you said you wanted to leave in the morning but as Syd said, its nuts and we’re going now while we can.” Tone announced.
“Okay, Sawyer please go get Jenny and Axel.” Sam directed, “Ashlyn go start grabbing supplies.”
Sam kept everyone busy. He had us gathering what we could. Clothes, food, blankets, pillows, batteries, and anything else we could fit. When we’d finally emptied the house of useful supplies he had us load onto the bus.
There was a girl asleep on the couch when we boarded. Her back was to the living room area of the bus so all we could see was that she had long emerald green hair.
The bus itself was huge. There was no way this thing was your typical stock model from a lot.
There was a living room with a hallway leading down one way and a kitchen on the other side. Tone was heading to the kitchen through an open door that looked to be the front of the bus.
“Okay everybody, let’s get you all settled in.” Sydney told us as we started rolling. She led Jenny down the hallway to what must have been a bedroom.
Axel curled up in a recliner near the couch. Sawyer and I sat down in chairs around a dining room table. I was watching the green-haired girl wondering who she was.
“A tour bus, really?” Sam asked Tone as he went through the door to the front of the bus.
“Yeah, I can drive the beast and the girl back there was trapped in it after an outbreak at her band’s concert.” Tone answered, “She said she never saw what happened to her band mates and she can’t drive this.”
Sam closed the door shutting him and Tone off from the rest of us. Sydney returned from the back of the bus and sat down in the chair across from me.
“We haven’t been introduced, I’m Sydney Tyme, my partner is Antonio Varqez, he goes by Tone. The girl on the couch is Daisy Duke.” Sydney said.
“Wait, Daisy Duke as in Daisy Chain’s Daisy Duke?” Sawyer asked, lifting her head from the table.
“Yeah, like Tone said she was trapped in here. He thought it would be easier to travel in.” Sydney answered. “I’ll introduce you when she wakes up.”
“Oh I’m Sawyer Raide by the way.” Sawyer responded.
“I’m Ashlyn Glass.” I added “And the boy sleeping on the recliner is Axel Bishop.”
Sydney showed Sawyer and me to one of the bedrooms on the bus; it was the first room on the left. Jenny was in the room directly at the end of the hallway.
“I know the rooms aren’t big but at least there’s a bed to sleep on.” Sydney said as we crawled onto the full size built in that touched both walls.
“Thank you. Is one of the rooms yours?” I asked.
“Yeah, I took the room right across the hall from you and Daisy’s room is the other door on this side.” Sydney answered “You two should try and get some sleep. Do you want the door open or closed?”
“Open.” Sawyer decided for us.
I didn’t think I would be able to sleep, but the last noise I heard was a door closing.
Dreams were scattered. Images of Marie and Carter dressed up walking out the door. Blood. Mom with her camera. Screams. Dad holding tissue ready for when Mom grabbed it. A man being ran over by a red car.
My parents with their eyes glowing red.
I woke to my pillow wet with my tears and the image of my parents haunting me.
Sawyer was asleep so I slid out of the bed careful not to wake her and joined the few people who were awake. In the living room Axel was up and playing Trivial Pursuit with Daisy.
“Morning.” I said as I sat next to Axel on the floor.
“Hey.” Axel responded first.
“Back at ya.” Daisy
responded, “You must be Ashlyn.”
“That would be me.” I told her, “How’d you guess?”
“Axel said you had brown hair. Want to play?” Daisy asked me even though it looked like they had already been playing for a while. “We can restart or you could just jump in.”
I wasn’t comfortable sitting on the floor playing a game while the world outside was going to hell in a hand basket.
Sam came and sat on the couch, silent for a few moments.
“We are going to make a stop for supplies.” Sam told us.
“A stop where?” Daisy asked.
“A gas station to fuel up then a department store for anything the gas station doesn’t have.” Sam responded, “We’ll stop at whatever one we see first to load up on any necessities we need.”
“How is a gas station going to have anything we need?” Daisy asked again. It seemed like the idea of stopping freaked her out. Sam seemed to pick up on the same thing.
“It’ll be a quick stop and you won’t have to get off the bus if you don’t want to.” Sam told her as he knelt in front of her with his hand on her shoulder.
“Promise it’ll be quick?” Daisy asked.
“I promise.” Sam agreed.
“Then I’m coming in too.” Daisy said, she held her head up and rolled her shoulders back.
Chapter Four
Tone pulled the bus up to the pumps. Sydney and Sam were checking their guns. Sawyer and Axel didn’t want to go into the station. Jenny came and sat on the couch. She looked disoriented and her hair was all over her face.
“Sam, you know how to turn the pumps on?” Tone called from the driver’s seat.
“Yeah, you pump while we grab what supplies we can.” Sam called back.
“Okay, could you check out the RV parked on the other pump too?” Tone asked.
“Yeah we got it.” Sydney responded as she loaded her gun into its holster on her hip.
Daisy pulled her long green hair into a ponytail and followed Sam to the store. I went with Sydney to check out the RV.
The sky was gathering clouds and the breeze smelt of rain. I remembered it was called petrichor from some Greek mythology teachers thought we needed to know.
I stood next to Sydney looking at the campsite picture on the RV and couldn’t figure out how knowing Greek mythology helped me now.
“Stay behind me when we get inside.” Sydney told me as we got closer to the huge unnecessary vehicle people pretended to camp in.
“Okay. What are we going to do if we find people?” I asked as she took the lead so I was looking at her black hair in its ponytail.
“I don’t know.” Sydney answered as she reached up to try the door.
Surprisingly it was unlocked and opened easily.
The place was empty. There were no dishes scattered around or clothes. Nothing to show that someone had been here.
“This is pointless.” I said as I picked at the hem of my shirt.
“Shhh.” Sydney hushed me, “Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” I asked.
She was already moving to the closed door in the back. She signaled me to stay where I was, but I followed her anyway.
Tilting my head towards the door I could hear the faint crying on the other side.
“You don’t have to be afraid. My name is Sydney and I am a cop. Are you hurt?” Sydney called softly through the door.
There was no response for a while.
“Are the other people gone?” Finally came through the door.
“What other people?” Sydney called back.
“The ones who attacked us. They were everywhere and they were biting and eating people.” The response came.
“There’s no one here except for the group I am traveling with. You can come out we won’t hurt you.” Sydney called, her hand resting on the door.
The door opened slowly revealing a girl with short brown hair. She looked to be about fourteen and she was holding the hand of a little boy. Both their eyes were green and wide, the little boy was still crying.
“Hi sweetie what’s your name?” Sydney asked the girl as she crouched down in front of the boy.
“I’m Angela and he’s Thomas. Do you know where our parents are?” Angela asked.
“We didn’t see anyone else. When did you last see them?” Sydney asked.
“When we were attacked. They made us stay and hide here, they said they’d be back, but they had to make sure we would be safe first.” Angela responded, her tears slipping down her cheeks.
Sydney looked over her shoulder at me and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing. The chances of their parents still being alive were slim to none.
“Let’s get you two onto our bus and Ashlyn and I will take a look around to see if your parents found a safe place to hide.” Sydney suggested, taking Angela’s hand. Angela nodded and followed us out of the RV. Tone was pumping the gas into the bus as we walked up. Sydney left Angela and Thomas with me as she went to fill Tone in on what we had learned.
Angela was looking around when she started screaming. At first I didn’t see anything, but then I saw where she was looking.
Daisy and Sam were running towards us and right behind them were people with red eyes.
I pushed Angela and Thomas towards the bus and they ran but I didn’t think Sam and Daisy were going to make it back to the bus. I could hear Sawyer screaming on the bus but couldn’t hear what she was saying.
I was looking behind me when hands grabbed me and shoved towards the bus and someone was running past me towards Sam and Daisy. I focused on Jenny drawing the attention of the Red Eyes as she threw herself into the group of them.
They converged on her. She never screamed and within seconds she was gone under the mass of the group of Red Eyes. Sam grabbed my arm and dragged me after him back onto the bus that Tone already had running. As soon as we boarded he started driving.
“What about Jenny?” Sawyer cried, staring out the window where the pile of Red Eyes was still squirming.
“She’s gone.” Sam told her looking in the same direction.
“So we’re not even going to try?” Sawyer yelled at Sam.
“Now listen, she sacrificed herself to give us all a chance to get out of there. You remember that.” Sam told her, “You give thanks. But she is past us being able to help her. Look at that pile—I don’t think there’s even going to be enough of her left to rise when the Red Eyes are done.”
Sam grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. Sawyer melted into him crying and he held her rocking her back and forth.
“It’ll be okay Sawyer. We’ll all be okay.” Sam was whispering to her as she cried.
We moved Angela and Thomas into the room Jenny had stayed in.
Neither one of them said much, the only thing we could do was let them process. I wanted to hope their parents had survived, but I knew they had more than likely went the same way Jenny had.
I tried to take comfort in what Sam had said and believe Jenny wouldn’t come back. But I knew in my dreams she would be there with red eyes.
Axel stayed by Sawyer’s side since she had curled up on the couch. He was holding her hand as she stared off into nothing. Sam said she’d be okay in time. She was just processing what had happened.
At this rate I wondered if we would even make it to Paradis Roulette. Sam seemed determined. He had disappeared up to the front of the bus with Tone and they had the door shut. So whatever they were discussing we weren’t aware of. I figured they were planning our route and dealing with the loss of Jenny.
“Hey.” Daisy said as she sat down next to me on the bed.
“Hey.” I responded.
“I’m sorry about your friend.” Daisy told me.
“She wasn’t really my friend. Sawyer dated her son and she ended up with us after her husband went crazed at my sister’s celebration of life. In the chaos she ended up with us. I feel horrible that I didn’t try to get to know her.” I answered, sp
illing out things I hadn’t even realized I was feeling.
“She seemed pretty brave, I mean she really didn’t know me but if it weren’t for her I wouldn’t be here. She had to have known what would happen to her by running out like that.” Daisy said as she looked at her hands.
“So what happened in the store?” I asked her. Neither she nor Sam had said anything about what had happened before the group of Red Eyes attacked.
“Sam turned the pump on and started gathering supplies. I think Jenny is my fault.” She confessed.
“How would that be your fault?” I asked her.
“I wasn’t getting supplies. I was looking for those little shoe figurines they sell everywhere to add to my collection.” She was crying, “I knocked over a shelf and the noise must have attracted the Red Eyes from the back room. Sam barely got me out of there. I risked our lives and caused Jenny to lose hers for a glass shoe that I somehow managed to hold on to through all that.”
“Daisy, you can’t blame yourself. You didn’t know there were Red Eyes in the store and Jenny made a choice for whatever reasons she had.” I told her as I put my hand on hers.
“I just feel like if I was doing what Sam had told me to do we would have made it out of there without being attacked.” She said.
“Maybe. Or maybe not. It could have ended up that way no matter what. All we can really do now is stick together and make it to Paradis Roulette. Hopefully Sam is right and we’ll be safe there.” I said to try and comfort her, “Tell me about the shoes.”
“I’ve collected them ever since my dad walked out on us when I was nine. My older brother, Luke, started bringing them home for me. He still brings me new ones whenever we get to see each other.” Daisy told me.
“That’s cool that he was there for you and that you have something special with him.” I responded.
“Yeah, but I also don’t know if he’s safe, or if he’s dead, or worse, if he’s one of those freaks now.” She said, “I thought about going to try and find him but I don’t even know where to start.”
“We can talk to Sam once we get to Paradis Roulette, he may have an idea to help get other survivors to safety. At least if it really is safe there.” I told her.
Survival Ties (The Outbreak Chronicles Book 1) Page 3
