Jack stalked out of the room, presumably to start packing.
“Lets get her to her bed.” Charlie said.
With Walt’s help, Charlie moved Audrey into her bed and left her there, saying ‘holler if you need us, ok?’
Charlie too, went to go pack.
He found packing to be an extremely surreal experience. Throughout almost the last year, The house had been their home. Sure, some pretty horrible things had happened there, but there had been some fantastic times as well. Without this house, the survivors would have died. Their group had 10 people, with no food and no shelter. The house had protected them every single time they had needed protection. Charlie remembered how he would eat two-minute noodles in his bed, and how he would miss getting up extra early so he could watch the sunrise and the wind whistle through the slender grass.
Likewise, Jack didn’t enjoy packing either. He loved this place so much, and he was pissed that he had to leave it based on a rumour that Charlie had heard from a complete stranger. The only reason he had even considered leaving was because there was a chance it might help Audrey.
Penny walked into their bedroom, where Jack was throwing things into a large suitcase. She didn’t say a word to him. She didn’t need to. She walked up to him and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back, smiling gently. Penny started to pack her case as well. She was going to miss this place, but if it was going to help Audrey survive, then it was a more than necessary sacrifice that she was willing to make.
Back in his room, Santa was freaking out. He was eager to leave so that they could get to Washington as fast as possible. He had already lost his wife to this apocalypse, he wasn’t going to lose his daughter as well. He threw everything he could possibly need from The house into his bag, then he went into his daughter’s room and completely packed her bags as well.
If Walt could use any word to describe how he was feeling, it would be a mixture of terrified and apprehensive. He wanted to believe that there was a wonderful, happy ending waiting for them in Washington, he really did. But it just seemed so unlikely that they could survive for 16 months in an apocalypse and not hear a single word about this place beforehand. Regardless, if it was going to save his little sister’s life, then he would be more than happy to leave.
Jessica and Megan were not looking forward to leaving. While they definitely wanted their little sister to survive, they thought it was a pretty far-fetched idea to believe that there was a whole city that had managed to fend off these undead bastards for one and a half years, and then be able to find a cure as well. Regardless, they packed as quickly as possible, then went back to meet the others, who had all finished packing and were now in the living room.
“What time is it?” Jack asked.
Charlie consulted his watch.
“7:30 PM.” He said. “Listen, you guys, let’s leave in an hour. Is that cool? I want to go for a bit of a walk.”
When everyone replied that that was fine, Charlie left for a final walk around the grounds of The house. He visited the ponds, the beautiful, luscious fields, including the one that Frank Barker had burnt down in his mad rampage. With only 20 minutes until they had to leave, Charlie made his way over to the final resting places of Rory and Vanessa.
“Well.” He said to their graves. “This is it. Audrey has been bitten, and I heard from a group of people that there is a cure in Washington. So we are leaving soon, and, if this place in Washington is legit, we’re never, ever coming back. I just want you to know that I will never, ever forget you guys. I will never forget the sacrifice you made so that we could live, Vanessa. I will never forget the kind and loving person you were, Rory. I will keep you guys in my hearts forever. I love you guys.”
Charlie checked his watch again. It was time to head back to the house. Sparing one last glance towards their graves, Charlie quickly made his way back to The house. When he arrived, he found everyone with his or her bags fully packed at the front door. Audrey was leaning against the kitchen door, her face pale and gaunt.
“What time is it, Charlie?” Jack asked.
“8:38.” He said. “It’s time to go.”
Charlie grabbed his bags and loaded them into the back of the Badass Bus. The others loaded their bags in the back of Santa’s van. Walt had elected to drive Santa’s van behind the armoured van, as Audrey needed lots of room to lie down in the armoured van. Charlie was simply being stubborn and wanted his bags with him. He had a lot of food that he wanted to eat while on the journey.
With Jack’s help, Charlie loaded Audrey onto the armoured van. The others got in after her. Walt and Santa carried as many cases of fuel as the could carry, so they would have to stop and siphon cars all the time.
Penny assumed her spot, and Charlie got into the front passenger seat. Jack got into the drivers seat, and put the van into gear. He signalled to Walt in the other van, and slowly drove down the winding drive of The house for the very last time.
Chapter 19: On The Road Again
Charlie spun around and watched as The house slowly disappeared from his view. He remembered with a pang that this meant he would never be able to see Rory’s gravesite ever again.
“Charlie.” Jack said quietly. “Can you show me the map?” I need to know where we are going.”
Charlie pulled the map from his pocket. He unfolded it and showed it to Jack. Once Jack had gotten his bearings, Charlie folded the map back up and placed it in his pocket. He turned around in his seat.
“How are you doing, Audrey?” He said.
Audrey was lying in the back of the van, her head laying on Penny’s lap.
Audrey coughed violently “Never better.” She managed to mumble.
“Ok, well you just hang in there.” Charlie said soothingly. “We will be there in less than two days. Can you hold on that long for us?”
“I bloody well hope so.” Audrey said, breathing heavily.
“That’s my girl.” Santa said. “Try to sleep now, Audrey.”
Audrey nodded weakly, and soon fell into a deep, deep sleep. The inhabitants of the van fell silent for about twenty minutes, with only the somewhat reassuring rumble of the armoured vans engine to accompany them. After that twenty minutes, Charlie glanced at his watch.
“Guys.” He said, breaking the silence. “It’s 9:00. Try and get some sleep. This trip will be over a lot quicker if we sleep through it.”
“Good idea.” Penny said. She put her head back and closed her eyes, as did everyone else.
“So, what is the deal with the driving timetable?” Charlie whispered to Jack.
Jack pondered this for a moment. “We swap every 10 hours. That way, we only have to do this for 20 hours each. You sleep for these 10 hours, then at 7 in the morning, I will wake you up, and you can drive until 5 in the afternoon. I will have a lovely sleep for these 10 hours, then we will swap again. We will keep doing that until we get there. Deal?”
“Yeah, sounds fine.” Charlie responded.
Charlie reached into his bag and pulled out a large fluffy pillow. He put it behind his head and closed his eyes.
“Such a girl.” Jack muttered.
Charlie opened one of his eyes.
“What was that?” He said.
“Oh, nothing.” Jack said, smiling slightly. “Just go back to sleep.”
Within ten minutes, everyone in the van, except for Jack, was asleep.
***
Five hours later, everyone was still asleep, and Jack’s mind was beginning to wander.
Even if this place exists, what if Audrey dies? He thought to himself.
If they got to this base in Washington, and they had this cure, and Audrey still died, that would be the last straw for the group. It would destroy them. They had gone through so many traumatic, life-altering events together, especially in the last day that one more death in the group would be too much to handle.
Jack tried to eject these thoughts from his mind. He was supposed to be this groups leader, for God’s sake. He had t
o get rid of all of these bad thoughts that plagued his mind, for the good of his group. He focused his thoughts on the darkened roads ahead of him. Quickly glancing at the clock on the dashboard, he saw that it was only 2:00 AM. He groaned internally.
God, five more hours, he thought.
Annoyed, he turned his attention yet again to the road.
***
By 7:00 AM, Jack was exhausted. He desperately needed some sleep soon or he was going to crash the van, again. The sun was beginning to rise and the early morning sunlight was splitting through the clouds, casting fingers of light over the armoured van. Jack pulled over to the side of the road. He signalled for Walt to stop as well. Walt got out of the van and walked over to Jack.
“Morning.” Walt said sleepily.
“Morning.” Jack replied. “Go and wake up Santa quietly. Tell him it is his turn in the van. Get some sleep, because you are up at 5:00 PM again, ok?”
“Gotcha.” Walt said, disappearing into the van. Jack walked over to the front passenger seat and quietly shook Charlie awake. When Charlie finally woke from his sleep, he sat up slowly and started rubbing his eyes.
“Is it 7:00?” He said. Jack nodded.
“Hey, is Audrey alright?” Charlie asked.
“I don’t know.” Jack replied. He quietly got out of the van and walked over to the side doors. He slid one of them open, and was relieved to see Audrey still breathing, albeit quite heavily and shallowly. He got back in the front seat.
“She is still alive.” Jack said. “But she won’t be soon, Charlie. We need to get to Washington pronto.”
“Alright, alright.” Charlie said. “Get in the passenger seat.”
Jack got into the passenger seat and put his head back onto the headrest.
“Get some sleep, Jack. You look exhausted.” Charlie said.
He cranked the ignition, and started up the van again. He fondly looked back at the 5 people lying asleep in the van, except for Walt. Then, he looked towards Jack, who had already fallen asleep.
“Typical.” He chuckled.
Charlie looked out at the road, ready to continue the trip that would save Audrey’s life.
***
At around 8:00 AM, everyone else started to wake up. Audrey was the first one.
When Charlie noticed that Audrey was awake, he greeted her in the usual fashion.
“Morning.” He said. “How are you feeling?”
Audrey looked at Charlie. She looked awful. Her face was covered in a sheen of sweat, and she was as pale as a sheet. She coughed.
“Awful.” She said miserably. “Do you have anything to drink?”
Charlie carefully handed her a bottle of water. By the time she had finished drinking, Penny had awaken.
“Oh, good morning guys.” She said. This loud greeting woke Jessica and Megan too, which meant the only remaining sleeping person was Jack.
“Hey guys.” Jessica and Megan said.
“Morning.” Came the soft reply from everyone.
“How are you doing Audrey?”
Audrey didn’t respond.
“Oh, poor thing.” Penny said. “She’s unconscious again.”
“She will be fine, I’m sure of it.” Charlie said. “We will get there in about 29 hours, she will be treated, and it will all be fine. I promise.”
***
The day passed with no incident. Charlie stopped the van twice during the 10 hour drive so everyone could go to the bathroom, careful not wake Jack. At 5:00, when Charlie and Santa’s shifts were finally up, Charlie stopped the van and let everyone out for a bit of fresh air. He also went and woke Jack.
“My turn to drive?” He said groggily.
“Yeah, we’ll just give you 5 minutes to actually wake up.” Charlie said.
“How long do we have to go?” Jack said, sitting up straighter.
“We are halfway there. About another 20 hours. Only one more shift each.
Charlie walked over to Walt, who had gotten back in the other van.
“Can I drive the next shift after Walt?” Megan said, walking up to Charlie.
“Sure, I don’t see why not.” Charlie said, stretching.
“I want company, though. Walt, you are staying with me.” Megan said.
“Yeah, fine by me.” Walt said, smiling. Charlie walked back to the armoured van. Surprisingly, he didn’t actually feel that tired. He would definitely sleep during the next 10 hours, but he probably wouldn’t nod off until 8 or 9. The next shift was at 3:00 AM, so that still gave him 6 or 7 hours of sleep.
“OK people, It is time to head off.” Charlie yelled. Jack, Charlie, Audrey, Megan, Jessica, Santa and Penny got into the Badass Bus while Walt got back into Santa’s van.
Jack strapped himself into the van.
“Everyone ready?” Jack said.
When everyone had replied yes, Jack started the van and continued the journey.
***
Charlie did stay awake until 9. He finally fell asleep at 9:17, according to the clock on the dashboard. It was around 9:30 that the others started to fall asleep. By 10:00 PM, Jack was completely alone with his thoughts again. This time, he was forcing himself to be infinitely more optimistic. Jack reached over and grabbed a bottle of water from Charlie’s bag. He took a swig, and soon after regretted it. He realised that he hadn’t peed for almost 26 hours. He stopped the van, signalling for Walt to do the same. Walt stayed in the van. Jack also grabbed Charlie’s sword for good measure. He knew Charlie would likely kill Jack if he found out Jack had taken it, but it was easily the quietest weapon any of them had, excluding Audrey’s sword, but he didn’t want to reach back there and risk waking her up. Jack grabbed his torch from his belt and flicked the switch on. He found a suitable bush, and did his business. When he was walking back to the van, he heard a rustling in the bush.
“Shit.” Jack whispered. He raised the sword and poked at the bush. Sure enough, a snarling zombie lurched out at him.
“Fuck!” He hissed as he took a swing at the zombie. Luckily, his aim was good enough that he managed to decapitate the zombie in one go. The head bounced harmlessly on the ground, and Jack walked back to the van in silence.
***
The rest of the night wasn’t any more exciting than the situation with the zombie. At 3, Jack put his hazard lights on to warn Walt that he was stopping. He stopped by the side of the road and went to greet Walt.
“Hey.” Walt said.
“Morning.” Jack said back. “How was your drive?”
“Uneventful, nothing like yours. I saw that zombie attack you, man. Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Jack replied. “Charlie told me you are staying in that van?”
“Oh, yeah. Megan wants to drive, so I am keeping her company. I don’t need to drive anymore, so I don’t need the sleep as urgently. I don’t have to drive anymore, right?”
“Nope.” Jack said. “10 more hours and we should be there.” It’s about 3:00 AM, Wednesday morning, and we should be there at around 1:00 PM. This is it.”
“This is it.” Walt agreed.
“OK, then. You go wake Megan. Careful not to wake Audrey, or the others. I’ll go wake Charlie. I want some sleep.”
Once Walt had woken Megan and taken her to the van, Jack woke Charlie.
“Oh, hi.” Charlie said, rubbing his eyes. “How are you?”
“Not bad.” Jack replied. “Sleepy.”
“I bet.” Charlie said, chuckling. “Wow. This is the final shift. We are so close!”
“I know!” Jack said. “Tell you what, wake me when we get there, OK?”
“I promise.” Charlie said, smiling.
Charlie switched sides with Jack and started the engine.
“This is it.” He said.
“This is it.” Jack echoed.
Jack put his seat back and soon was asleep. Charlie put the armoured van into gear and, signalling to Megan and Walt, started the final leg of the journey.
***
Charlie
was completely alone until almost 8:00, which is when everybody else started to wake up. By 8:30, everyone, including Audrey and Jack, was awake. Audrey’s condition had worsened severely. She was vomiting every hour or so, and she was experiencing hot and cold flashes with alarming regularity. She was so exhausted that she could barely speak, and when she did, it was in a rasp, so unlike her usually clear, confidant voice.
Life As We Know It Page 16
