by David Rogers
Now it was his turn to blink in surprise. After a moment of consideration he spoke calmly. “Where? Head for South Dakota, look for the source of that signal we heard last week, try to find safety with the government’s rebuilding effort?”
“No, south.” she said. “The Dakotas are a long way from here, and we’d be heading into worse winters, not better. If that message doesn’t pan out, then we’ll have taken a lot of risk and effort for a net loss.”
They had turned up a wind-up weather radio in one of the houses; it was powered by turning a crank that generated electricity. While fiddling with it, Jessica had heard a transmission that purported to be what was left of the government broadcasting out of South Dakota. She hoped it was, and that they stuck with their stated plans to work on clearing the zombies from the country; but she couldn’t rely on it. Even if they were serious, she couldn’t count on help just materializing to save them.
Not a chance. She’d take help if it showed up; but between now and then, she’d do everything she could to hang on until it got here.
“South.” he mused. “How far?”
“Central Florida, at least.” Jessica answered. “Past Tampa, at a minimum. Maybe all the way down somewhere level with Miami.”
“Florida still has winter you know. I spent a little time near Tampa over the years, before I got out of the service, and I remember it getting below forty once.”
“I’m not saying it might not get cold down there. But we won’t be looking at four months of it. Conditions will be milder. And we can always just move further south if a problem comes up. A couple of days here and there of jacket weather I can get Candice through; five months of it could be a problem.”
Austin shrugged. “We’re basically near Macon right now; and off the top of my head, here to Tampa is something like five hundred miles. We’re going to need fifty or sixty gallons of gas to run the SUV that far, which means we’ll probably have to stop twice to scrounge up more from stations along the way. At least.”
“Unless we find a lot of cans and a way to carry them all with us, yes.” she nodded. “Which I’m not counting on. If we can come up with a way to haul an extra twenty gallons along I’ll count that as a lot of luck.”
“Then there’s the time involved.” he went on. “If everything was normal, we’d hop on 75 South, set the cruise control, and be there in seven or eight hours. With detours and caution, I bet we’re looking at making no better than forty; which throws an eight hour trip time right out the window. We’re talking two days, minimum. Even without the need to find more gas. Plus who knows what kind of detouring we might have to do to route ourselves around trouble along the way.”
Jessica sighed. “So you don’t think we should go?”
“Oh hell no.” he shook his head. “I didn’t say that. I think it’s a great idea. I’ll follow you anywhere. You know that. I’m just helping you figure out what we’re going to have to do to make the trip.”
She smiled, relieved at his response. “I wasn’t sure if it was a good move or not.”
“Yes you were.”
“Okay, maybe I was leaning toward doing it.” she admitted. “But we’re in this together.”
“Yup. You call the shots, and I do my best to make them.” he laughed.
“Austin!”
“Okay, maybe I need to heal a little more.” he grinned again. “But you’re in charge. A Florida winter will be easier without power than a Georgia one, so if we can make it down there, then let’s do it. The sooner the better.”
“I want to take a day or two to shore up our supply situation, as best we can.” Jessica said, gesturing broadly in the direction of downstairs. “Gas and gas cans, obviously, but some more clothing, some more water jugs if we can find them, more food, things like that.”
“You thinking about maybe hitting up a store?”
Jessica shook her head quickly. “No . . . I don’t think we need to take that kind of risk.”
Austin frowned slightly. “We might find something off the beaten path.”
“If we do, and it looks okay, then maybe.” Jessica allowed. “But honestly, what’re the odds of finding a store anywhere away from a town? And if we do, one that someone else with a pulse hasn’t already stripped bare?”
“We are out in the middle of the sticks you know.” he pointed out. “It’s not like we’ve had a lot of problems avoiding people.” Jessica had shied away from contact every time though. She still wasn’t quite ready to trust people.
Maybe not ever, but definitely not yet.
“I remember what Vanessa said as well as you.” she said instead. “And I remember those broadcasts coming out of South Dakota. I don’t think the country’s been depopulated; people, survivors, are running around doing things. A remote store with useful stuff still on the shelves would be fortune well past the point of suspicious if you ask me. I’m not counting on something like that, and I don’t want to spend time driving around looking for it either.”
“So more houses and gas stations?”
“That’s my plan.”
“I like it.” he nodded. “We’ll start tomorrow.”
“Sure you’re feeling up to it?”
“I’m tough, remember?”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “And careful, cautious, loyal, I know, I know.”
“Good. I’d hate to think you were taking me for granted.”
“Never.” she assured him. “Not in a million years.”
His smile turned mischievous. “Okay. So, strip.”
“What?” Jessica blurted, sitting up quickly. She could feel blood rushing to her face as she blushed.
“The Taurus.” he said, pointing at the holster on the right side of her belt. “One of us is cleaning it, and if I’m the guy, then you’re gonna strip it down.”
Jessica drew the gun and hit the magazine release. “Your choice of words is a little forward.” she said, eyeing him merrily.
“What’d you think I meant?” he asked slyly, then made an ooof sound as she tossed the magazine at him. “Hey, I was shot, remember?”
“How could I forget?”
Chapter Three - Surprise
“Stop pouting.” Jessica said as she turned onto US-80 and headed west.
“You have any idea how much fuel we could fit in those tubs?” Austin asked reasonably.
“I know their lids aren’t water tight.” she replied.
“Fuel, not water.”
“Same difference.” she told him. “If they spill, we’ll have gas all over everything. Including the food.”
“The food’s mostly canned.”
“Some of it isn’t. The pasta is just boxed, and the flour bags are just double layered paper.”
“We’ve got those three cases of ramen noodles that are double wrapped in plastic; per package then each case.” Austin said in the tone of someone looking for a bright side. “And we can make do without the flour if worse comes to worse.”
“Food is food; what happens if we get down to our last meal and are thinking about gas soaked flour?” Jessica frowned. “There’s also the clothes, the boxes, and the odds and ends back there; none of it needs to be drenched in gas. We’re not driving around with two thirty gallon storage tubs full of gas in the back unless the lids are water proof.”
“Nothing says we have to fill them all the way up.”
“Austin!”
“Okay, I’m just pointing it out.”
“You pointed it out.” she said, glancing over and trying to soften her expression so he wouldn’t think she was mad at him. It wasn’t a totally bad idea – fuel was the difference between riding and walking, and between the supplies and having no means to bring them – but she was serious about not wanting to carry unsecured fuel inside the SUV. The gas cans made her nervous enough, and they had solid caps that went on tight. And were designed to carry fuel, so their plastic was thicker.
“Well we’ve got that five-gallon can we found a few weeks ago, an
d the four little dinky two-gallon ones we’ve picked up along the way, so that’s thirteen, which isn’t even half a tank in this beast.” Austin said. “I never would’ve guessed people living in the sticks wouldn’t have gas cans in their garages.”
“Maybe they took them with them when they left?” Candice said.
“Doesn’t help us much though girlie-girl.” he sighed. “But I guess you’re probably right.”
“That’s a lot of people who left.” Jessica muttered.
Austin glanced at her, but when she darted her eyes toward the back seat, he just nodded slightly. She was both grateful, and surprised, to see so many of the houses in the area were vacant. It wasn’t that many houses – this was the middle Georgia sticks after all – but she would have assumed more of them would have stayed put since they weren’t near cities.
Apparently that hadn’t been the case. She was past wondering where they’d all gone, but it was a little curious. Whether they were dead or merely evacuated, they weren’t around now. The area wasn’t deserted, but only about one in seven or eight houses they checked showed signs of activity. Those they skipped – she wasn’t interested in opening a dialog with anyone at this point – but even allowing for the few people they did see, the area was quite depopulated. Even by its pre-apocalypse standards.
“Stop!” Austin said suddenly, reaching across and putting his hand on the steering wheel. His voice was loud enough to rebound off the windshield commandingly.
Jessica wasted almost two seconds trying to interpret the single word, then her startled thoughts got out of the way of her reflexes. Jamming her foot on the brake, she felt her seat belt lock and hold her in place as the SUV slowed rapidly. There was no skidding, the anti-lock brakes took care of that, but she felt the pedal vibrating under her foot as the system dragged the big, heavy vehicle to a halt.
“What?” she demanded, looking around quickly. The simple two-lane road looked deserted, lined with trees and scrub vegetation; all of it getting quite overgrown with no one tending to it. No wandering corpses in view, and nothing on the road that looked like it could be a problem. She had a last fleeting thought that maybe he’d spotted a deer or something, then his next words registered.
“Get off the road. Now!” Austin ordered, staring forward. Jessica followed his gaze. The gas station they’d been visiting the past several weeks was just in view a couple hundred yards ahead. Then she looked closer and saw a pair of big black vehicles in the parking lot. Black SUVs . . . exactly like the one she was driving.
“Oh shit!” she blurted, feeling her blood ice up inside her. She was dozens of miles west of Knoxville, at least. In the opposite direction of Macon, where the settlements and scavenging would be much richer. What were they doing this far out? Fumbling for the gearshift, she hauled it upward, too hard. The transmission clicked into park, and she had to pull it back down into reverse before she looked over her shoulder and started backing up. “Where?”
“Find a spot where you can fit between the trees. I see movement up there. I think they’re getting back in the vehicles. They might come this way.” Austin said without taking his eyes off the barely visible gas station.
“What’s wrong?” Candice asked, sounding scared. The tension between the two adults was obvious, and the girl was worried.
“Just sit tight sweetie.” Jessica said anxiously, trying to hold the heavy SUV steady as she looked for a place to pull off. “Okay?”
“The stop hurt me when the seatbelt tightened up.” the girl half-complained.
“I know, I’m sorry. Just keep it on though, and let me focus.”
Raking her gaze across the trees to either side of the pavement, Jessica finally found a spot where they were spaced far enough apart. There was a lot of tall scrub grass filling the area between them, but it looked good to her. She halted just past it, put the transmission in drive, and hauled the steering wheel quickly over.
The SUV bumped as it left the road, then bounced some more as the engine powered it over the uneven ground beneath the grass. Jessica spun the wheel left to follow what there were of the gaps between the tree trunks, then back right to avoid still more trees and continue following the spaces she could fit through. The vehicle tilted as one of the wheels encountered a rock or something else big enough to make it sway heavily back and forth, and she let her speed drop further. She was running out of room; the trees were thickening up as she left the road behind.
“There, stop there.” Austin pointed, indicating a thick stand of bushes. “Behind those.”
“We won’t fit.” she protested, eyeing the trees.
“We’ll fit.” he said, looking over his shoulder.
“It’s too tight.”
“It’ll be fine.”
Jessica didn’t agree, but her darting gaze didn’t spot anywhere else that she thought she could go. She curved around the last tree in the way, then cut hard right and braked to stop behind the bushes, just short of a trio of closely spaced trees. The driver’s side mirror ripped off as she skated past the trees on her left, and she heard the bushes scraping down the passenger side in a series of screeching scratches that told of a lot of damage to the paint.
She didn’t care about any of that though. She was looking right, at Austin and at the bushes, and at the road beyond them. What concerned her was what happened next.
Austin had the MP5 in his hands. “You remember the last three houses we’ve slept in?” he asked as he pulled on the handle to rack the bolt back, loading the weapon.
“Yes.” Jessica nodded. She was reasonably confident she’d be able to find them if necessary.
“Okay. If anything happens, and we get separated, get to any of them that you can. I’ll find you at one in no more than three days. If you change to one of the others, leave a note under the big bedroom mattress. Three days. I’ll find you.”
“What? Where are you going?” she said, unable to help the rising alarm in her voice as he opened his door.
“I’m going to lose myself nearby as a surprise in case they spot the car.” he answered, using his foot to force the door open against the bushes as he felt in his pockets, making sure he had extra ammo for the MP5. “Turn the engine off, so the exhaust doesn’t draw attention.”
“Austin!”
“Trust me.” he said, giving her a very serious look. “If they come in here after us, stay in the car as long as you can. Whatever you do, don’t shoot at them until I do, or you have no other choice. If you do have to fight, treat them like zombies if it gets that far.”
Jessica nodded, feeling sick, and watched unhappily as he stepped out of the vehicle. She twisted in the seat as he closed the door and went back the way they’d come until the big stand of bushes ended. He was moving quickly, bent over with the submachine gun clasped before him, but she saw the stagger in his normally graceful movements. His injuries were still bothering him.
“What’s Austin doing?” Candice asked timidly.
“He’s going to try to help.” Jessica answered as she watched him plunge into the undergrowth past where she’d driven in, and then she couldn’t see him anymore. It was an impressive trick, especially for someone as big as he was; one moment she saw his broad back, and the next he had just vanished out of sight like an illusionist wowing an audience.
“How?”
Jessica had an idea, and she didn’t like it. Two SUVs could easily mean eight or ten people, even if they were on a scavenging run and planned on hauling things back with them. Eight to ten men who were likely to be trained and dangerous, with the skills and weapons to cause a lot of trouble.
“I think he’s going to try and be the cavalry in case there’s trouble.” Jessica said as she tried to convince herself there was no need to panic. Her pulse was thudding loudly in her ears, and she could feel a swirl of terrified concern urging it on. She had to stay calm. “Candy Bear, take your seat belt off. Get down on the floorboard back there. Stay still, stay quiet. Can you do that for me, p
lease?”
Candice unlatched the buckle and slid down off the seat. Jessica drew the Taurus and worked the slide, then checked the safety before laying it on the passenger seat. The leather there was still warm from Austin’s body. She reached behind her and pulled the Shield out, loading and re-safing it as well before replacing the nine millimeter pistol in the holster at the small of her back. Picking the Taurus back up, she checked the safety three more times, then made herself hold it in her lap.
The waiting was horrible. As the seconds became a minute, then two, she felt like they should have stayed on the road. The SUV was a big vehicle, heavy with armor, but it also had a powerful engine. If she’d put her foot down, they could have been ripping along at eighty or ninety. The last turnoff hadn’t been that far back. They could have been to it by now, and headed away from the ‘main’ road, such as it was.
But . . . what if the pair of vehicles at the gas station weren’t the only ones out here? What if there were others on the road to the east, waiting or checking cars or coming to join them or something? She would have trapped the three of them between a bunch of, very probably, hostile groups.
As usual, despite all she’d learned the hard way since the world turned to shit; she needed to rely on Austin’s training. He was the tactical expert. At least, compared to her. If he thought trying to hide and avoid contact was the right move, that was the play. But the waiting was . . . hard.
She knew what he meant by treating them like zombies. The men who’d taken over the Eagle facility in Knoxville were all like him; ex-military, and further trained as professional bodyguards. They wore body armor, which she knew would defeat either of her pistols. She thought about the big rifle that was tucked away in the back of the SUV, but she didn’t know how to use it very well. At all, actually. She wasn’t even sure she knew where all the controls – like the safety and magazine release – were.
She’d stick with the pistols, which she was at least confident she knew how to fire properly. But if she had to try to shoot anyone, she’d have to aim for the head. Just like against zombies. The rifle could punch through body armor. It had against Austin’s. But the pistols would be effectively useless against someone wearing a vest.
