“Alright, I get it. You did what you had to, trust me, I get that. That’s pretty much been the theme of my life up to when I met you,” said Jamie smiling slightly to ease some of the tension. It worked. Rose decided to let her anger go. She wasn’t angry at Jamie, she was angry at herself. Rose had been over that scenario so many times in her mind and she always came to the same conclusion. Rose just wished she could’ve found some other solution.
“Thank you Rose, I know that wasn’t easy to share,” said Jamie, pulling Rose into a hug. “I love you Rose,” she whispered into her ear.
There was more to tell but Rose couldn’t bring herself to do it. Lt Drisco, Andy, the bikers, that man she’d met on the road near Sainte-Marguerite-Marie...Rose wanted to stop Jamie, to break free of her embrace and confess all her sins, but Jamie seemed content with just the one confession. Part of Rose knew it was wrong to withhold the other things she’d done, but that voice in her head asked: “What’s the harm?” Rose would be carrying these burdens for the rest of her life, Jamie shouldn’t have to share the weight of her actions.
Instead of dumping more pain on Jamie, Rose chose to lean into her instead, returning the hug and pushing Jamie onto her back, their lips connecting. Rose’s past was exactly that, her past. It was time to put all that behind her and start living in the present with Jamie.
Chapter 6
Rose and Jamie woke the next morning and ate a quick meal of cold canned beans before leaving at first light. They had a long drive ahead of them and Rose wanted to get on the road as quickly as possible. The day was bright and unseasonably warm so they drove with the windows down, their hair blowing in the wind and classic rock pumping from the speakers.
Jamie and Rose skirted Green Forks and made straight for the south. They eventually joined up with Route 95 South, the highway that would take them all the way to Boston. This far north, there was the occasional tree or car in the road but it was otherwise clear of any major obstructions. This made for fast driving, but the road itself was surprisingly dirty. Not having any traffic for two years with no one to maintain, sweep or plow it, the road had accumulated a lot of clutter. Rose figured it was all part of mother nature re-taking the roads as most of humanity was gone. Usually just leaves and dirt, there were rocks and sinkholes here and there from general disrepair that they had to avoid. Rose actually welcomed the obstacles as it gave her something to do rather than just driving straight for hours.
Around midday, Jamie made the suggestion they stop in Waterville, Maine. They’d been driving all morning and Jamie wanted to get out and stretch her legs. Pulling off the highway into town, they found it completely deserted. There was a large plaza off the highway that was completely destroyed after what appeared to have been a large fire. Blackened pillars could be seen among the rubble that had since been covered with a layer of grass and weeds that was starting to turn green in the warm spring weather. Not much was left of the town either and Rose made the decision to not drive any further in. As they’d progressed further south in Maine, the highway had more and more cars and debris and it was just that much worse in the town of Waterville itself.
Stopping in the middle of the main thoroughfare through the town, Rose parked in front of the destroyed plaza and turned off the car. Grabbing some canned peaches, canned green beans, canned brown bread and a can opener, Jamie and Rose got out to eat. Rose hopped up on the front bumper and sat on the hood getting to work on the cans. Jamie gave a loud stretch followed by a louder sigh. “I’ll be right back,” she called moving off toward a nearby overgrown hedge.
Glancing in Jamie’s direction, Rose kept working at the cans. The opener was not the best they could have hoped for having been found on one of many scavenging missions over the last two years. It was likely from the 1970’s and was tarnished from age. It still worked, but Rose made a mental note to grab a new one should she come across one later.
As Rose finished opening the last can, Jamie re-emerged from the hedge zipping up her jeans. “I could go for a rest stop with a place to wash my hands and some decent toilet paper, but I suppose beggars can’t be choosers,” said Jamie, wiping her hands on her pants.
“There are probably a few between here and Boston, maybe we can stop at one and find some toilet paper,” said Rose, handing Jamie the can of green beans.
“That’s why I love you, always the woman with the plan,” grinned Jamie taking a sip of the water the beans were suspended in.
“Oh man, I don’t know how you drink that,” said Rose making a face.
“Can’t let it go to waste. I don’t know how you eat that canned bread,” said Jamie, making a similar face. “Talk about nasty.”
“Well you know, beggars can’t be choosers,” said Rose giving Jamie an elbow in the side.
They ate the rest of their meal in contented silence, the only sounds were the sounds of the wind in the trees and the birds around them. After eating, both Jamie and Rose reclined back, their legs on the hood of the car, their backs on the windshield, arms folded behind their heads. It was sunny, warm and peaceful, exactly what Rose needed. The loss Adeline and Aaron was still raw, but there was something about lying in the sun without a care in the world that made the bitter pill of their deaths just that much easier to swallow. Rose let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes, the sun warming her eyelids with its warm rays.
Rose must have fallen asleep, she wasn’t sure how long she’d laid there, but she could tell the sun was still in the sky without opening her eyes, perhaps just not as high. Keeping them shut, she felt refreshed and knew she’d napped at least a little. She could feel the press of Jamie next to her and figured she’d likely fallen asleep as well. However, she wasn’t asleep now. Rose could feel Jamie’s hand slowly creeping up her thigh and then slipping under her shirt to gently rub her belly. Rose, arms still crossed behind her head, didn’t move as Jamie’s hand slowly caressed her body. Jamie was slow and methodical in her attention to all of Rose’s curves. After stirring up butterflies in her stomach, Jamie moved up Rose’s chest caressing each breast with care making sure each nipple got the attention it needed leaving them erect and aching. Finally, after toying with Rose’s waistline until the point she almost couldn’t take it any further, Jamie’s hand slowly plunged deep into her jeans, under all layers of undergarment, and into the warm, wet crevasse between her legs. Not able to stand it any further, Rose let out a low moan, unfurled her arms and grabbed Jamie close, jamming her tongue into Jamie’s mouth. They rolled around on the hood of the car, Jamie’s hand moving in rhythmic circles as Rose kissed her deeply, lost in pleasure.
Completely engrossed in Jamie’s touch, Rose could think of nothing but what was happening to her in that moment...until a loud scream broke her from her trance and seemed to echo around the plaza and surrounding buildings. Simultaneously, Rose pulled back from Jamie and Jamie ripped her hand from Rose’s pants. The scream wasn’t close, but it’s owner was clearly in town somewhere nearby. Disorientated from rolling around on the hood, Rose stumbled off the passenger side of the car and nearly fell on her face, still partially intoxicated from Jamie’s touch mingled with the unexpected panic those screams induced. There was no question in Rose’s mind what the scream belonged to. It’d been at least a year or more since the last time she’d heard a scream like that, but it was something she would never forget as long as she lived. Infected.
Whether it’d seen them, it was hunting or something else, Rose was sure she had no interest in finding out. She ripped open the passenger side door and jumped inside before slamming the door closed as Jamie did the same on the driver’s side. Turning the key, the engine immediately responded. Jamie threw the car in drive, slammed on the gas, and cranked the steering wheel spinning the car around; the empty cans from their meal flying off the car and into the road. Once turned and facing the off ramp for the highway, Jamie floored it the wrong way up the ramp, back onto the highway and out of town.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I
t wasn’t until many miles down the road that Rose and Jamie’s adrenaline finally started to dissipate. Rose’s breathing lessened from panting to hurried and then finally, back to normal. Rose could tell Jamie was similarly calmed as the speed of the car had eased from borderline reckless back to their normal controlled speed. It was then that it finally hit Rose, there were still infected out there. As much as she’d hoped that two years in the woods had been enough to outlast all the infected, that was clearly not the case. Based on the level of destruction in Waterville, the scream was likely not from someone who’d survived and was just recently infected. Could the original infected still be around? Had they found a way to cope? A way to survive the ravages of the infection on their brains and survive? If it was true, Rose shouldn’t have been surprised. She knew she was immune to this disease and probably should’ve figured that others, while maybe not immune, could come to live with it. The human race was funny like that, it refused to die despite how terrible living may be.
“How many do you think?” asked Jamie, breaking the silence.
“I don’t know Jamie, as much as I’d like to think that one back there was the only one, I really doubt it,” said Rose quietly.
“Should we keep going?” asked Jamie, letting off the gas and glancing at Rose. “Should we keep going toward Boston? If there was at least one in Waterville, Maine then there’ll be even more in Boston.”
It was solid logic. Boston had a lot more people when the infection hit and would likely have a higher number of infected still running around. Rose thought about it for a long time before finally answering. “We need to be more careful. The closer we get to Boston, the more dangerous it’s going to get.”
“Okay,” said Jamie. “We’ll take a look around, but if it’s not safe, we should just move on Rose.”
“Are you sure Jamie? Boston was as much your idea as mine,” said Rose turning to Jamie. “You used to live there, it was your home.”
“It was my parent’s home, I just lived there,” said Jamie sadly. “If Boston’s not safe, we’ll find a place that’s safe. It will be our place. That’s what I care about Rose.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After some debate, it was decided that Route 95 would be the best and fastest way to get into Boston-and out of needed. Now that they knew there were infected about, the faster they could get in, the faster they could see how dangerous it was. Leaving the highway and taking local roads, after seeing the state of Waterville, was just not an option. The only downside was that Route 95 passed through many major population centers outside of Boston, any of which could be filled with infected.
It was early evening when Rose and Jamie started seeing signs for Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The roads were much more crowded here, both with cars and other debris. There were some places where they had to slow down to a crawl and navigate around clusters of cars. Some were just stopped in line as if stuck in an eternal traffic jam, the reason for the backup long since gone. Other clusters were a direct result of crashes. The carnage was muted from time and weather, but the white bones of occupants were testaments to the pain and death that had once been here. Scattered bones had become a common sight as they approached Portsmouth. Bones around cars, strewn over the highway and in the grasses on either side. Jamie tried to avoid driving over them, but soon it became impossible, crunching and snapping like twigs under the tires of the car. It had gotten warmer the further south they’d driven, but despite this, Rose and Jamie kept the windows up, Led Zeppelin's “Whole Lotta Love” drowning out the sounds beneath their tires.
As they neared an exit for downtown Portsmouth, the road had become so cluttered with abandoned vehicles that they were now only driving on the median and even then, it was slow going. They were driving through grass that was the height of the windows of their car so visibility was poor. Who knew what unseen obstacles were lurking in the grass.
“Let’s try getting off at this exit,” suggested Rose. “Maybe we can find a way to circumvent this traffic jam.”
Concentrating on driving, Jamie didn’t answer but began making her way off the median and over to the exit. They ended up having to go past it and then circle back around as the cars were so dense, but once they got off the highway, the number of cars blocking the paved portion of the road was much less. Using the compass feature on her smartphone, Rose directed Jamie to the south. “Hopefully if we keep going south, we’ll meet up with the highway again and it’ll be clearer,” said Rose looking down at her phone.
“Sounds good to me,” answered Jamie. “Looks like we’re...out of the weeds,” said Jamie snorting, barely able to contain her amusement.
“Oh God,” said Rose sighed sarcastically shaking her head, the tension of navigating the cars and bones evaporating. “If we follow this for a while, it’s our best shot. This road goes mostly south as far as I can tell.”
Continuing south for several miles, it was becoming clear to Rose that they were headed into the heart of Portsmouth. Destruction from fire, wind and snow had taken its toll in the last two years. Everything still standing looked rundown and abandoned with overgrown yards and large swatches of green everywhere. The evidence of death was a little harder to find amid the destruction, but if Rose looked hard enough she could still see bones and large, dark rust colored stains on buildings or in cars.
As Jamie and Rose approached the downtown area of Portsmouth, the roads again became less and less passable. The fire damage in the downtown area was pretty extensive and many buildings had fallen over, likely having burned for an extended period of time.
“I don’t think we’re going to find the highway this way,” said Jamie skeptically. She stopped the car in front of the ruins of a blackened church, the frame of a charred and broken stained-glass window the only structure left standing among the rubble, much of which had tumbled into the cemetery adjacent to it.
“Yeah I think you’re right. Let’s turn around and head back to the closest main road, maybe we can find a sign somewhere,” said Rose glancing behind her out the back window. “I think you could do a 3-point turn right here.”
Three maneuvers had been a little conservative for the turn-around and after five trips traveling forward and backward, Jamie was finally able to get the car headed back in the opposite direction. About a quarter-mile back, they found a sign they’d missed the first pass through.
“Alright, take a left here and this will bring…” started Rose.
KAPOW!!!
The noise caught both Rose and Jamie by surprise and both ducked down in their seats, Rose scrambling to unholster her handgun from her waist. Jamie slammed on the brakes bringing them to a stop. “The fuck was that?” yelped Jamie.
“I’m not sure, maybe someone was shooting at us?” replied Rose, gun in hand. “You stay here and keep the car running, I’m going to check it out.”
Without waiting for a reply, Rose quickly opened the door and staying low, moved along the side of the car squatting, moving toward the back passenger side tire. Holding her gun at the ready, Rose visually scanned the area looking for any threat, any indication they might be under attack from someone. Everything seem quiet and nothing appeared to be moving but Rose knew better than to call it safe.
Rose continued to squat by the tire listening for several minutes before rising slightly and looking back into the car. Jamie was still slouching in the driver’s seat but she was looking around as well, her head moving back and forth as she looked for any threats.
Turning her attention back to the ruins around her, Rose decided to move out from the car and check the area around them. Continuing to stay low, Rose moved around the back bumper toward the driver’s side. As she rounded the driver’s side, she could hear a soft hissing noise coming from the driver’s side rear tire. Looking down, Rose could see a blackened, jagged chunk of wood sticking out of the rear tire.
“Fuck,” said Rose standing and re-holstering her handgun. She walked over to the driver’s door and knocked on
the window.
Jamie opened the driver’s window about an inch and a half. “How can I help you officer?” said Jamie in a faux-serious tone.
“Quit it Jamie, just get out of the car,” said Rose, annoyed.
“Not until you tell me why you pulled me over, Officer,” Jamie replied, smirking.
Instead of answering, Rose just frowned at Jamie before turning and walking to the back of the car. “Does that mean I just getting a warning?” called Jamie as Rose walked away.
Jamie rolled up the window and shut off the car before exiting. “Just a joke man, relax,” said Jamie, joining Rose.
“Do we have a jack or anything we could use to change this tire?” asked Rose, still annoyed, pointing at the rapidly deflating tire.
“Ahhh...hmm. You know, I don’t think so. Probably should have brought one of those eh?” said Jamie, clearly not as concerned as Rose.
“Well we need to find one before we can go to Boston, we can’t drive on the fucking rim,” said Rose, her annoyance growing.
“Rose, there are like a thousand cars around downtown Portsmouth, probably more. I’m sure one of them has a jack set and a comparable tire ok? Relax. You always get so stressed out about stuff like this,” said Jamie squeezing her shoulder.
“You ladies having some car trouble?” called a distant male voice from behind them.
Both Rose and Jamie spun around to face the voice. It was coming from a group of five men.
“Shit,” said Rose under her breath.
Chapter 7
The five men started jogging toward Rose and Jamie as Rose pulled her handgun from her holster. Jamie had done the same and they both moved around to the passenger side of their car putting it between them and the approaching men. As they came closer, the man who’d called out to them slowed to a walk, his companions following his lead, again calling to Rose and Jamie. “No need for weapons ladies, we’re here to help,” he said approaching the car.
Jordan Rose Duology (Book 2): Homecoming Page 7
