Once they were done with LeBron, he yanked an already sleeping Harley off the couch and asked him to help setup an escape route. Harley grumbled profusely but forced his aching body to sit up. After a few minutes of back and forth they got up to stroll around the room and see if they could find anything useful. They considered tying sheets together. They even went so far as considering taking the bedframe from the sofa bed and trying to build a ladder to the balcony below theirs. When they couldn’t come up with anything realistic immediately Harley promised he’d keep working on it while Drew went and sat out in the hallway to stand guard.
Within about twenty minutes all of them were fast asleep.
Chapter 27: Wake Up Call
Drew wiped the drool off his chin and stumbled to his feet. His body hurt. That was a pretty standard sensation to wake up to in the new normal. As long as he could stand up and hold his rifle, he was good enough. The vending machines stood out in the light streaking in through the grime covered window. The sun had come up over the mountains and woke up the world. Even better than the wakeup call Drew liked the fact that the sun would send the crawlerz skittering back into their dark holes to hide for the day.
Knowing the clock was ticking for them to get the hell out of this god forsaken city Drew rushed to the room to wake up everyone else. Everyone else was still sound asleep. Hoping it’d work Drew nudged Yue gently. Her eyes fluttered open. She saw someone standing over her. She kicked him backwards across the room. For someone who’d been asleep a second earlier she’d landed a super solid kick. She’d landed it on the last place a man wants to be kicked. Drew fell to the ground on the other side of the room gasping for air and cradling his crotch.
Yue sat up which woke Lisa. Lisa sat up to see what was going on and put her hand on LeBron’s hurt shoulder. That woke him up. He gasped painfully and gave her a hurt look. She muttered a quick apology then climbed out of bed to see why Drew was lying on the floor with his hands covering his junk.
“I’m so sorry!” Yue stammered out. The apology would’ve been better delivered without all of the poorly suppressed giggling. Drew was just happy Yue was awake. He knew he was a dumbass for surprising someone like that. He honestly hadn’t thought she was going to wake up when he poked her though. The giggling was contagious. Once Lisa figured out what’d happened, she also thought it was hilarious.
“What the hell dude?” Harley called out from the couch in the main room. He was fighting through some extreme aches and pains to get up himself. He’d fallen asleep with the coil of rope in his hands as he tied knots in it to make it easier to climb down. It hadn’t helped the pain in his neck that he’d fallen asleep sitting straight up. Finally working his way off the overlarge sectional, he looked forlornly at the comfort that should’ve been his.
The group in the bedroom rushed to assure Harley that everything was ok. He pulled out a bottle of something from somewhere and self-medicated while he waited for everyone else to get up. The booze and oxy soothed his muscles much faster than the maximum strength Tylenol Yue was passing around had any chance of doing.
“Do we just walk down the stairs and leave?” Lisa asked. She’d addressed the question at Drew but said it loudly enough for it to be fair game for anyone to answer.
“I hope so.” LeBron said. They’d trashed his clothes from the night before. Instead of all the normal gear hanging off him he looked oddly light. He was walking around in just an orange T-Shirt with the name of a high school cross-country team on it. He didn’t have his rifle on his shoulder, but he was carrying a pistol near his functional hand. The Tylenol Yue handed him for the pain was most likely nowhere near adequate for the pain he was in. Harley considered offering up some Oxy then decided it was better for LeBron to learn to deal with the pain. Coincidentally it’d also be better for Harley’s limited Oxy supply if everyone sucked it up and dealt with their pain on an over-the-counter basis.
“Alright. Let’s do this.” Drew said once everyone looked ready to go. He’d already walked out on the balcony and confirmed the truck was still where they’d left it. It looked like it‘d survived the night unscathed. They split up LeBron and Yue’s gear then headed over to the vending machines blocking the staircase door.
“You don’t think the stairwell is full of crawlerz just waiting for us to move these things out of the way, do you?” LeBron asked. The question turned the regular looking door into an ominous trap. Drew was now picturing the entire stairwell full of creepy crawlerz standing in rows silently waiting for someone to open a door so they could feast.
“Shut up! Why would you even say something like that?” Drew asked him. He caught himself before he lied and said he hadn’t heard anything while watching the door all night. He was pretty sure he’d be called out on that lie.
The truth was that if the stairwell was full of the infected then they wouldn’t have another exit out of the building anyway. They’d be completely screwed. Drew thought they might be able to rappel down the side of the hotel going from balcony to balcony to balcony. Except there were going to be infected on some of those floors already. Ideally once they opened this door the stairs would be nice and empty. They’d be able to just walk down to the street below without any issues.
For once they got to take the easy way out. Drew crawled over the vending machines to pry open the door to see if anything attacked him. When nothing did, he enlisted Lisa and Harley to help him shove the machines out a few feet so he could check again. Ready to shove the machines back in place if he had to, he stuck his flashlight in the stairwell and looked around. Nothing tried to eat him, so he went all the way in. He backed out after scanning the whole stairwell. Having verified that there wasn’t a horde of demons packed into the space he helped move the machines out of the way. They needed to make it easy to get through the door so that LeBron and Yue didn’t have to try climbing with their injuries.
Ten long minutes later they were standing in the sunlight outside the hotel staring at a pile of bloody clothes next to a broken rifle. The stark reminder of the death of their friend quickly quelling the giddiness of having escaped the hotel. Looking up Yue imagined the fear Gus must’ve felt as he plummeted to his death. She’d seen him let go of the rope. Gus wasn’t a quitter. The only explanation in her mind was that the crawler had gotten its teeth into him. Gus knew he was going to turn. Rather than hop down to the balcony below and endanger his friends he chose to go out on his own terms.
Not knowing what to say they stood in a semi-circle while Drew went to the truck and grabbed a container of diesel. He poured the fuel over the body of their friend and protector. He stood over what was left of Gus shaking with barely constrained sobs of grief once he was done. It seemed like someone should say something. They weren’t just getting rid of an unsightly blemish on the street. They were telling a dear friend goodbye.
LeBron and Yue were the normal talkers. Neither of them looked up to speaking at the moment. LeBron was ghostly pale from blood loss and Yue looked like she might keel over at any moment. Lisa had barely known Gus. Drew had honestly been a lot tighter with Mikey. The awkward silence stretched out until it was finally broken by Harley.
“I knew you only briefly brother but the strength in your arm and heart were there for all to see. We’ll be seeing you again soon enough given the state of things. A warrior’s death you died. Your life wasn’t taken. It was freely given so that those under your protection would live. Semper Fi Devil Dog.” Harley wrapped up the quickly improvised speech with a flourish. Drew gave it a moment to make sure no one else wanted to say anything before bending over and lighting the diesel on fire.
They solemnly dispersed to the truck after that. Each muttering a quick and tearful goodbye to the faithful Marine. The flames blackening the smooth gray concrete as they scorched away the physical remains of a good man.
Harley did a quick circle around the truck to see if there was anything wrong with it. Everyone else piled into the cab. Without Gus there the seating a
rrangement was a little more comfortable. LeBron and the two girls ended up in the sleeper section while Drew parked himself in the passenger seat. Harley messed around with a bottle of DEP and a big jug of diesel before climbing in to join them. He sat down and fired up the truck.
“Where are we headed?” Harley asked as he looked around at the street signs. He was trying to figure out how to get back to the highway. He put the truck in gear and drove slowly in that direction waiting for someone to respond. One thing they all agreed on was that they weren’t trying to spend another night inside the city limits if they could help it. They were tremendously fortunate to have only lost one person.
“We’re headed north to the weather base place.” Drew said from the passenger seat when no one else spoke up.
“Why?” Lisa asked loudly from the sleeper section.
“To see if Jeff’s there.” Drew answered quickly.
“How long are we going to spend guessing where Yue’s old lover is? We’re barely surviving as it is. Gus is dead. Yue and LeBron are both hurt. Harley can barely walk. This is stupid!” Lisa said loudly. She’d clearly been building up some steam for a while. Looking in the mirror Drew could tell she was seriously pissed. Harley kept right on driving. No matter how pissed off everybody got he was focused on getting them as far from this hell hole as possible before the sun went down.
“You’re welcome to leave any time.” Yue said frostily from the back.
“How would you even know if I’m here or not? You’re in a coma half the time! Don’t you think Jeff would tell you to find somewhere safe and wait for him? Think about it.” Lisa said belligerently. She really respected everyone in the cab of this truck. She couldn’t figure out why they were all being so hardheaded about something so stupid.
“I’m not in one now! I’m going to find Jeff and we’re going to save him! I don’t care how hard it is!” Yue yelled losing her cool. Tears bubbling up in her eyes. She knew what they were doing was stupid. She knew the chances of them succeeding were somewhere between zero and probably not.
“LeBron’s shoulder’s shredded. That could’ve been Drew instead of Gus splattered all over the sidewalk. Is this worth killing your brothers over?” Lisa said trying her best to talk some sense into Yue before she got them all killed. She knew LeBron and Drew would do whatever Yue said to do. Neither of them would be willing to stand idly by while Yue took off to find Jeff on her own. This had to be Yue’s decision.
Yue didn’t respond. She shoved her face in her pillow and withdrew from the whole conversation. Lisa wanted to scream at the back of her head and make her listen. Instead, she sat there with her emotions stewing over. She wondered if she should’ve just gone back to the dam with everybody else. She could be sitting in a concrete fortress munching on MREs right now instead of being stuck in a constant battle to stay alive. She was chasing after Drew like some kind of lovesick puppy.
“We’ve got to go somewhere right? Staying in one place doesn’t normally work out too well now a days.” Drew ventured a comment. LeBron wanted to reach up front and hit him in the back of the head. Had he bummed a drink off Harley? That’d explain his moronic entry into this verbal battle between his girlfriend and his sister. It was scary enough the big dude driving their truck was occasionally sipping some kind of whiskey out of a flask. It made it even worse if he was also including the person who was supposed to be their lookout. No one had missed the way Harley casually declined the Tylenol Yue had offered him.
“Are you serious? We have to go somewhere? We have to go somewhere so you choose to drive towards the big base where all the guys with guns are trying to kill you? You’re taking your girlfriend and your little brother there to be slaughtered? Your sister too for that matter since I bet if you tried you could talk some sense into her. If I’d known how little you cared about me, I wouldn’t have come. No way you really love somebody you’re willing to get killed that easy! You asshole!” Lisa leaned forward crying. She started punching Drew in the back of his head.
Yue pulled up off her pillow long enough to call Lisa a crazy bitch and try to grab her arms. Lisa easily threw the disoriented Yue off of her and went back to hitting Drew. LeBron leaned forward then leaned right back into his corner at a single glance from Lisa. Unless she pulled out a weapon, he was content to let her beat up on Drew all day long. If she pushed Yue down again, he may have to do something. What that was he had no idea. He really hoped that Yue would just stay down.
Yue sat back up and Lisa stopped hitting Drew long enough to get in a yelling match with her. It culminated with Lisa screaming for them to pull over so she could get out and leave. Harley continued to act like none of this was happening. Even when Lisa screamed at him to pull over, he just kept right on calmly driving. It looked for a second like Lisa might strike out at Harley. She appeared to consider it then discarded the idea as going a little too far. She didn’t think Harley would turn around and slap her silly, but she wasn’t positive he wouldn’t either. That and the fact that getting out in the middle of the city was suicide was enough to bring her back to reality.
She leaned back and focused on her breathing. Yue stared daggers at her through a veil of tears. LeBron and Drew both did their best to not bring attention to themselves. Harley just kept right on driving like nothing had happened. If you looked closely you could tell he was fighting back a grin that kept trying to break out on his face.
“Maybe you’re right.” The subdued tone coming from Yue wasn’t like her at all.
“I’m sorry. I’m always just so scared now. Gus died last night. Any of us could die anytime. I just want us to find somewhere safe. If we knew for sure where Jeff was, I’d be the first one to say let’s go get him. I love you all so much.” Lisa sobbed.
LeBron and Drew both watched in shock as the two girls who’d been at each other’s throats seconds before collapsed into one another’s arms and began crying for all they were worth. Harley broke out of his cool façade to smile over at Drew and shake his head in a ‘don’t even try to figure it out’ sort of way. Staying quiet he pointed up on the dash for Drew to pull down the stack of CDs they’d accumulated. Listening to the radio wasn’t exactly an option. You got your occasional HAM radio guy who had no clue what was going on interspersed with your end of the world religious kooks. There hadn’t been anything useful on the radio since the government signed off to let everyone fend for themselves.
“… if you are on the eastern seaboard please turn to FM 92.3 or AM 540 for the specific locations of facilities you can report to. Once again this is the director of the department for the continuation of the United States government broadcasting from the formerly top-secret base in Weathertop near our nation’s capital. Your government is back to serve you. Our goal is to gather everyone together in centralized locations. We have the munitions and the experts to train you how to use them. We can destroy the crawler menace. It’ll be a long hard fight, but we’ll win it. We’ll reclaim our country together. This message will repeat again at the top of the hour. Keep your heads down out there…”
The shocked occupants of the truck all stared at the radio like it’d just fallen out of the sky. How long had useful stuff like that been being broadcast? Was the government really expecting everyone to forgive them and come join in the fight? Yue finally broke the silence.
“I guess we’re still on our way to Weathertop.” Sha said beaming at a confused looking Lisa.
“Yeah, this changes stuff, but shouldn’t we check to see where else we should go that may be closer?” Lisa asked.
“Nope. That was Jeff talking on the radio. He figured out a way to tell us where he was. I believe you were saying you’d be the first in line to go get him?” Yue said in a teasing tone. A big smile playing around on her lips.
“Absolutely. Maybe we can double date some time?” Answered Lisa with an echoing grin.
Chapter 28: Fool Me Twice
“If we go the fastest way, we’re going to end up being a frozen
dinner for whatever crawlerz are stupid enough to be up in the mountains.” Harley said it emphatically. He had no desire to drive until they got stuck in a blizzard and froze to death.
They were parked in front of the sign to take the I-40 ramp east off of I-26. As if to emphasize Harley’s point a light flurry of snow kicked up out of nowhere. Harley took everyone’s silence as consensus. He put the truck back in gear and took the off ramp. Yue was busy tracing their path in the atlas looking for the next major road they could turn north on to keep heading towards Purcellville, Va. Purcellville being the closest city to the supposed location of the not-so-secret Weathertop installation they were now pretty certain Jeff was at.
Lisa handed LeBron an antibiotic and a naproxen. The antibiotic was one they hoped would help keep his wound from getting infected. The naproxen was to try and help with his aches and pains. Once she’d made sure he’d taken his medicine she signaled Yue to get ready. This next part wasn’t going to be fun. They needed to poke around in LeBron’s shoulder and make sure there wasn’t any metal bits still in there from where he’d been fragged. They hadn’t seen an exit wound when they were patching him up at the hotel. They’d looked for metal then but hadn’t found any.
Crawlerz: Book 3: The Mountains Are Calling Page 24