by Jeff Olah
Ethan could sense there was more that Jonah needed to say. “And?”
“I think the good Mayor wanted to be the one to bring it to you. So, maybe we keep this conversation between the two of us?”
Ethan nodded and shook Jonah’s hand. “Anyone else come to you, ask if they can stay?”
“No, can’t say that they did. Although your friend, the one with the injury and the boy, you think they might be safer here?”
He paused a moment. Thought about what Jonah was offering. Would they be better off having Ben and Zach stay behind? Ethan wasn’t sure, but one thing was certain—Ben would never go for the idea and leaving Zach behind just felt wrong. He made a promise to Zach and if nothing else, he was going to stay true to his word.
“I’ll talk to them,” Ethan said. “Let you know … twenty minutes?”
“Twenty minutes.”
179
The water in the bucket was warm enough to make it tolerable. Ethan tossed his jacket and his shirt over the stall to his right and stood before the sink. He took the damp towel and wiped his arms, chest, and shoulders before looking back into the mirror. His ribs were now visible and the lines under his eyes made him appear at least ten years older.
Reaching back into the bucket, he ran his hands through the water, then pushed them through his hair, allowing the residual moisture to run down his face. He leaned into the sink, rolled his neck from left to right, and again stared at his own reflection. While he feared what came next, he was sure of what it was that he was doing. Emma was out there and he was going to find her.
Walking from the men’s room and back into the food court, Mayor Gil Walker sat alone at the edge of the fountain. He stood when he saw Ethan and waved him over. Ethan checked the time and then quickly made his way through the tables.
“Mayor, how ya doin’ today?”
“Ethan, I gotta say that I ain’t got nothin’ but respect for you and your family, but the road ain’t no place for an old man.”
“You lookin’ to stay behind?” Ethan asked. “Like what you see here at Stateline?”
“How’s that hit you?”
“I like you Gil, you’re a good man, and I want you to do what you feel is right. I trust Jonah and his people and think you might just be able to help them.”
Mayor Gil rubbed at his chin and regarded Ethan with a slight grin. “My car, I want you to take it. It’ll get you to the coast with the others … and I’m not askin.’”
Ethan nodded. “Sure thing, you gonna let the others know?”
“I plan to, just wanted to let you in on things before I said my goodbyes.”
“Be safe,” Ethan said. “This world is still changing.”
The two men shook hands and made their way to the area near the rear entrance. They waited with the others as Jonah stood before the security desk flanked by a pair of women who could have passed for twins.
Not a day over twenty-five, the pair sported long dark hair pulled into thick ponytails and had deep hazel eyes that seemed to go on forever. They smiled without joy and held their hands interlocked behind their backs.
“Alright,” Jonah said, “we’ve got good weather at least for the next three hours and you’re gonna need to take advantage of it.”
Ethan looked around. The others appeared just as confused as he did. He stepped forward and made it a point to glance at the women flanking Jonah. They carried automatic weapons and were dressed as though they were heading into battle. “Jonah?”
“Okay,” Jonah said, “there’s a reason that you and your friends haven’t run across much of anything out on the roads.”
Frank leaned in beside Ethan and began to raise his hand. “What do you mean exactly?”
“The military did come through. They cleared the interstate nearly all the way out to the coast, but they also created a sort of vacuum. The infected began following the convoy and when their numbers grew and they got too close, the entire project was abandoned. They just left them out there to roam the desert.”
Ethan motioned toward the doors. “So last night, what your people were doing out there, I’m assuming that somehow relates to why we’re here?”
Jonah looked first to the woman on his left and then her sister on the right. “Diversion.”
“Diversion,” Ethan said. “What do you mean, a diversion for what?”
“The dead. Now I could try to explain to you what it’s going to be like, but I couldn’t possibly do it justice. The only thing you need to remember is to stay at least five-hundred yards from the trucks these women are driving; they’ll do the rest.”
Jonah’s obscure message and lack of detail told Ethan that whatever was waiting for them out on Interstate Fifteen may be best left undiscussed. He wasn’t going to allow anything to delay him getting to his sister. His patience had run out—he was going to find Emma today.
Stepping out away from the others, Ethan looked back toward the empty shops. “Our belongings?”
“Henry’s bringing them out now. We’ll get you to your vehicles and then you’ll follow the second pickup truck out of the south lot. Once you get to the Interstate, you’ll need to drop back. Let us take it from there.”
Jonah took a breath, paused for a moment, and without any questions, he continued, “They’ll peel off at Yates Well Road and hopefully draw the majority of the crowd away from the roadway. It should be clear sailing from there.”
Figuring he had what he needed from Jonah, and not necessarily wanting to shed a light on something that may cause his friends to second guess his plan, Ethan decided to forgo any questions. He trusted that the tall, thin man in the ball cap knew better than he what it would take to leave Nevada safely in their rearview mirror.
Ethan stepped forward and held out his hand. “Jonah, I have to thank you again for saving our rear-ends yesterday and also for being the first friendly face we’ve run across in the last two weeks. We were beginning to think—”
Boone interrupted from over Ethan’s left shoulder. “Okay, we get it. You love these people and can’t imagine what life would be like if you hadn’t met them.”
Ethan only turned and shook his head.
Boone shot Ethan a sly grin and continued. “Give the guy a kiss already and let’s get the hell out of here, go get your sister.”
Griffin stepped in close, took Boone’s right arm, pulled it up behind his back, and started leading him toward the doors. Boone quickly complied, walking on his toes and laughing to himself. “Ease up big guy, no reason to get all hostile.”
Griffin pushed a bit harder. “Just keep your mouth shut. No one wants or needs to hear anything you have to say.”
“You sure?” Boone asked. “I’d bet my last dollar that Ethan may have a different opinion.”
The two groups quickly exchanged goodbyes and as Ethan started toward the doors, Ben approached. “Hey Ethan …”
“You ready kid?”
Ben hesitated. “Uh … that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Ethan knew what this was. “You’re kidding, right?”
“How’d you know, Jonah tell you or was it Frank?”
“I didn’t know, but I guess I do now.”
“Listen Ethan, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about why I’m staying behind, and it’s not like I’m never going to see you guys again. It’s just that with my arm, I mean at this point, I’m more of a liability than anything else. If you guys run into trouble, I won’t be much help, maybe even get you into more trouble.”
“Is this because of what I said?”
“Not totally, but you also weren’t wrong. I mean you did try to do this on your own and now you’ve got six other people besides Boone to worry about, I don’t want to be number seven.”
The kid was right. If there was a way for Ethan to do this alone, he would have, but now that was impossible. Ben was like family and leaving him behind would be nearly as bad as losing him altogether. But for now, he’d have to put th
ose feelings aside; there wasn’t time to reflect. He’d have to come back to it when there wasn’t already a thousand other things he was dealing with.
Ethan looked back toward where the others were gathering their things. “You share this with Zach?”
“Yeah, he’s okay with it.”
Ethan narrowed his eyes. “You think he wants to stay?”
“I asked him, but there’s no way that little boy’s gonna leave your side.”
Ethan smiled. “Yeah, I figured. You gonna be okay here?”
“Yeah, these are good people and Mayor Gil’s stories are starting to grow on me. He reminds me of my uncle.”
Ethan shook Ben’s hand. “I’m gonna miss you kid.”
“This isn’t forever, Ethan; we’ll see each other again one day.”
“I sure hope so.”
180
Emma sat up, yawned, and looked around the room. She ran her hands through her hair and although the lump along the right side of her head had faded, the memory of what he’d done for her continued to put a smile on her face. She pulled her sweater up over her shoulders, shook away a chill, and for the first time in days, felt a twinge of optimism.
Tom was also awake. He sat off to the left side of the window and once again stared out into the distance. He was pitched forward leaning into the glass and his eyes darted from one end of the devastated city to the other.
“Hey,” Emma said, “good morning mister.”
Without turning to face her, Tom said, “Good morning to you too.” His voice was quiet and playful.
“So, what’s got your attention out there or do I not want to know?”
Tom let out a long breath and finally turned away from the window. He crawled on his hands and knees over to Emma and sat next to her. “You want the bad news … or the really bad news?”
Emma’s stomach growled. “How about we start with the bad news. We can work through the other one once I’m fully awake.”
“Okay, so I was up early and decided to check our supplies. I walked the first floor and then checked the rest of the stockroom. We’re pretty much screwed, we basically have half a box of crackers and we’re also just about out of water.”
That wasn’t the worst thing she had heard over the last several days, and although she was already past the point of being hungry, she knew it could be worse. “Okay, what else? Let’s keep going, what do you consider really bad news?”
“You were right, we’re gonna need to get outta here today, and the sooner the better.”
“What do you mean?”
“Check the streets.”
Emma sat forward and slid over to the window. She tucked in close along the left edge and slowly peeked out into the world below. Slouching back into the wall, she sighed heavily and shook her head. “You’ve got to be kidding me. How is that possible? Where’d they even come from?”
“I was thinking the same thing. They were headed the other way last night, but now it seems like something is drawing them here.”
Emma looked out over the street again. There were only a few areas that weren’t overrun by this new massive horde. Shoulder to shoulder and moving in from the west, they numbered in the hundreds. “Yeah, it looks like there are more coming from that intersection past Sixth, from where we came from. You don’t think that somehow Blake is responsible?”
“Or maybe those men from last night.”
“I guess it doesn’t really matter, either way we’ve got to—”
Interrupting, Tom held up his hand and pointed toward the highway. “Right there, we just need to get right there and I may have just found a way that won’t get both of us killed.”
Emma turned away from the window and shot him a half-hearted smile. She held her arms out at her side and raised her left eyebrow. “I’m waiting.”
“I’ll show you.”
Emma followed Tom to the roof and the pair stood near the eastern edge peering down at the empty alleyway below. Tom pointed to where the building met an eight-foot-high chain-link fence and then drew a line to where the alley ended at the opposite end. “Looks like they’re blocked off at Sixth, and as long as they don’t get through this fence, we have a straight shot to the highway.”
Emma reached down and took his hand. “Your car?”
“Don’t need it.” Tom pointed to the row of abandoned vehicles left along the shoulder near the on-ramp. “We’ll just borrow one of those.”
Turning back toward the alley below, Emma squeezed his hand as she leaned over the edge. “Please tell me there’s a door down there.”
Tom shook his head. “There’s some rope in the stockroom. I’ll lower you down and then tie it off on that pipe, climb down right after you. Nothin’ to it.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
Back into the stockroom, Emma gathered what little she could as Tom tossed the rope over his shoulder and used a permanent marker to leave his friends a note. Within thirty minutes, they had reset the door at the entrance to the Bagel Shop, checked the kitchen one last time, and made their way back to the roof.
While Tom went to work anchoring the rope, Emma dug into the orange backpack she’d carried for the last two weeks. She pulled out her phone, closed her eyes and quietly said a prayer to herself before powering it on.
Waiting as the dusty hand-held device came to life, Emma looked out toward the highway and attempted to imagine driving away from this hell. She only got as far as the entrance to the freeway before the phone in her hand began to vibrate.
Her eyes fixed on the screen, Emma brought the phone up and flattened out her hand. She had received a message that was date stamped forty-eight hours earlier. Quickly tapping through to the messaging app, she stared at the number. It looked familiar, although she couldn’t quite place it until she actually opened the text.
Emma Runner – This is James Dalton. You need to get out of the city as soon as you receive this message. Marcus Goodwin knows where you are and he’s sent someone to find you. You DO NOT want to be found. Destroy your phone, leave the city, and don’t ever return. JD-
Emma’s stomach dropped. Her knees felt weak and her mind began to race. What did this mean? Why would Goodwin have people looking for her? And although she remembered James Dalton, why would he be delivering this cryptic warning?
She reread the message once again and then as she turned to Tom, he was already pulling the rope toward the corner of the building. He looked up at her as he backpedaled, narrowed his eyes, and began to slow. “What is it?”
“I don’t know, I got a text, but …”
A concerned look shot across Tom’s face as he started toward her. “From who? I mean, I thought you had no signal?”
“I don’t know, it came through sometime last night. Someone I used to work with, he said … he said we need to get out of the city. He said I need to destroy my phone and just leave.”
Tom thought for a moment. “Those men last night. You were probably right to be suspicious, maybe they—”
Emma gripped the phone, lifted her right hand above her head, and as she began to launch it forward, her palm vibrated once again. She stopped just short of tossing the phone over the side of the building and instead glared down at the screen.
Switching back to the messaging app, her heart began to race as she read the timestamp and then the name alongside the message. It was dated two days before and although it contained only six words, it offered her the same sense of optimism she had felt earlier that morning.
Under her breath she said, “Ethan.”
181
Onto the interstate, Ethan’s mind was for the moment at ease. Although he hadn’t come up with the idea of having Ben and Mayor Gil stay behind, they were at least out of danger for the time being. And if things went the way he planned, he may at some point have the option of coming back for Ben.
With Zach in the passenger seat, Ethan gripped tight to the wheel and checked the rearview mirror. Boone had become i
ncreasingly belligerent and had to be forcefully silenced more than once as they made their way out of the parking lot.
Griffin leaned in from the third row. “I don’t see why we can’t just toss him out here … we have his phone.”
Boone reached for the door handle and shot back quickly. “Sure, let me out here. And good luck getting into my phone. Six failed attempts and it’s locked forever. You may as well say good bye to Emma now.”
Griffin threw his elbow back into Boone’s chest, but continued to address Ethan. “He doesn’t even have a signal. He’s lying to you; he doesn’t have a clue where she is.”
Boone pushed away from Griffin and turned to Frank. “You’re a smart man, tell Ethan what you think. Go ahead, tell him to toss me out.”
Frank ignored the request. Instead, he turned to the younger man and stared him in the eyes. “How about you just keep quiet, save yourself the abuse?”
Boone sneered through gritted teeth and turned back to the front. “Yeah, you might be right old-timer. Your boy here has a nasty temper.”
Backing away as they approached the overpass, Ethan counted in his head. He wasn’t exactly sure what five-hundred yards looked like, but he figured a count of twenty should be a large enough gap.
Again checking his mirror, he watched his friends’ faces as they stared out through the windshield. With Ben staying behind, he was able to also leave behind Mayor Gil’s sedan and in the process top off the SUV’s tank. Making the coast wouldn’t be a problem.
Before he turned his focus back to the road, Ethan could sense Zach shifting in his seat. The boy sat up straight and reached for the dash as the others in the second and third rows let out a collective gasp. Frank was the only one to speak as he calmly leaned away from his seat and asked, “What in the hell is that?”
Ethan instinctively covered the brake as he turned his eyes back to the interstate. Now less than a mile from Yates Well Road, the picture of what Jonah said he was unable to describe came into full view.
