Alec settled down again. He had once met a twin, a woman, in a bar. Actually, most of the people he met were women in bars. Which then became women in bras. Then women without bras. That wasn’t why he thought of this one now, though. He thought of the conversation they had had. The woman had told him about what it was like being an identical twin. About mistaken identity, about falling for the same boy, about arguing over who got to wear what on what day so that they didn’t look completely the same. One thing she mentioned though was this connection they had. She said she always knew how her sister was feeling if they were in the same room. Even if they were far apart, she could feel the most extreme of emotions. Her sister was the same way with her. If one of them had a bad break-up, the other would call out of the blue. When she had been in a skiing accident and broke her leg, her sister knew right away that something bad had happened. When her sister was proposed to, she called immediately, knowing that there was going to be good news.
The little girls in the front of the car would likely be the same way. The amount of concern the one had for the other made Alec even more concerned. He hoped that Corey would drive way over the speed limit and get them there in under the hour he estimated it would take.
* * *
Alec reached into his pocket and took out his pistol. He looked it over and decided he should probably replace the shots he had fired off earlier in the day.
“Hey, Danny, could you drag my pack over here to where I can reach it?” Alec pointed to his sack.
“Sure.” Danny had been sitting next to the tailgate just staring off into space. He crawled toward the front of the truck and shoved Alec’s bag over to him.
“Thanks, kid.” Alec opened part of his bag and went straight to where he had packed his pistol’s extra rounds.
He slid the magazine out of the handle and checked how many rounds he would need to put in. He had fired off four rounds already. He remembered that one of those rounds had gone into the head of his friend, Michelle. At least it had been quick.
“Can I do it?” Danny asked, looking at the mag.
Alec thought for a moment. “Sure, why not. You should probably learn anyway.”
“I know how to do it, I’ve just never done it,” Danny told him.
“Well, you can’t really know something until you’ve done it yourself. Here.” Alec handed Danny the magazine and the four bullets to put into it.
He watched Danny figure out how to put in the bullets without comment. If he had seen him do something wrong, he would have told him, but Danny got it right. He handed it back to Alec, who slapped it back into his pistol and pocketed the gun.
“Do you know how to clean a gun?” Alec asked.
“Well, if you don’t really know unless you do it, then no, I don’t,” Danny answered.
“Maybe once we stop for the night I’ll show you,” Alec offered. “It’s a little more complex than putting bullets into a magazine. Where did you learn that anyway? Your brother?”
“No, internet. Where are we going to stop?” Danny wondered. “I saw you looking at a map earlier.”
“Not too far off the highway is a service station.” Alec took out his GPS and showed the spot to Danny. “I figure we can probably barricade ourselves in it for the night.”
“Are you going to teach Alice anything about guns?” Danny asked, seemingly out of the blue.
Alec looked over at the little girl. He didn’t even know how old she was. Or how old Danny was, for that matter. She was currently kneeling, resting her arms on the side of the truck bed. She had stuck her head past the side like a dog out of a car window. The wind whipped her hair in all directions.
“I don’t know,” Alec shook his head. “Certainly not tonight if I can avoid it.”
“What’s the future going to be?” That was a heavy question.
“I know even less about that,” Alec sighed.
“Are we just going to start living with you?” Danny kept asking.
“I don’t know,” Alec let a little bit of irritation creep into his voice hoping it would get him to stop. “Maybe. I still don’t really know what’s going on, or what this virus deal is about. This could be over by tomorrow, or several years from now. It might never go away.”
Alec should have held off on that last part, but it slipped out. Danny’s face subtly changed. Clearly, he hadn’t thought about that yet. He assumed there would be an end, that order would be restored. Alec had thought that too, up until they fled the city and saw all those other cars, all those other people.
“How old are you?” Alec decided to use his recent thought to change the subject.
“Fourteen,” Danny muttered.
Alec nodded. “Do you know how old Alice is?”
“No.”
“Hey, Alice.” Alec put a hand on her back to get her attention.
She turned around with a big, bright smile on her face. Alec couldn’t help but feel slightly better. He hoped her smile worked as well on Danny.
“How old are you, kiddo?” Alec asked.
“I’m five and one half.” Alice held up five fingers, three on one hand and two on the other.
“Do you know anything about guns, Alice?” Alec was going to have to teach her gun safety, at the very least.
“I know that my Daddy has to carry one for work, and that it’s very dangerous,” Alice said matter-of-factly. “I’m not ever supposed to touch one, and if someone has one, I have to do what they say.”
“Very good.” Maybe he wouldn’t have to teach her.
“You have a gun,” Alice said. “I saw it when we met.”
“I do,” Alec nodded. “It’s to keep us safe from the bad people that want to hurt us.”
“Why do they want to hurt us?” Alice huffed. “They’re mean.”
“Actually, they are very, very sick,” Alec told the five-year-old. He tried to find words that she would understand. “Have you ever had the flu?”
Alice nodded. “It was icky, and I threw up.”
“Right, and you didn’t have a choice about throwing up, did you?”
Alice shook her head.
“Well, these people, they’re sick like that. They wouldn’t hurt us if they weren’t sick, but because they are, they can’t help it.”
“Can we give them medicine?” Alice wondered. “My Daddy gave me medicine that tasted yucky.”
“There is no medicine that can help them.” At least as far as Alec knew.
“Will they get better?”
“I don’t know. They might not.”
Alice looked down at her hands and pondered this. “Kara said their souls were torn in two, and that the only way to help them was to kill them. That would put their souls back together in heaven.” She didn’t ask any more questions.
Alec wasn’t going to say anything to that. He couldn’t. Instead, he leaned his head back and stuck his own hands into his pockets. One of them touched his pistol, which was expected, but the other pocket had something in it as well. He pulled out some dog treats that he had forgotten he had on him for Rifle. He put all of them back but one.
“Here Shoes.” Alec held the biscuit out to the hound.
Shoes got up from where he was lying and waddled his way over. When the dog saw what Alec held, he opened his mouth as if expecting him just to place it in there.
“He has to do a trick first.” Alice stopped Alec from just giving him the treat. “Shoes, sit.”
The dog sat, then opened his mouth again.
“Shoes, shake a paw.” Alice held out her hand to the dog.
Shoes lifted one of his short little legs up.
Alice took it in her hand and shook his leg. “Other paw.”
Shoes lifted the other leg up.
Alice repeated the shaking gesture. “Down.” She held out her little hand, palm spread and gestured to the dog that he should lay down.
Shoes lay down.
“Up.” She turned her hand over and reversed the gesture.
Shoes sat back up. He continued to open his mouth, waiting for his treat after every trick.
“One more, you silly boy.” Alice patted his head. “Signal.”
Shoes lay down and started chuffing.
“Good boy!” Alice patted her dog. She took the treat from Alec and gave it to Shoes.
“I think for all that he deserves an extra treat.” Alec took another biscuit from his pocket.
Shoes sat up next to him, mouth hanging open and slowly leaning toward the biscuit.
“Shoes, wait,” Alice commanded.
Shoes closed his mouth, but continued to stare at the treat, his nostrils wiggling as he sniffed it.
“Now you say ‘Okay’ when you give him the treat,” Alice told Alec.
Alec held the treat right in front of Shoes’s face, but the dog continued to wait as it was told.
“Okay.” Alec didn’t make him wait long.
Shoes gobbled up the treat in an instant, then waddled off toward the rear of the truck bed before they could command any more tricks out of him.
“He’s a very well-trained dog,” Alec commented. “What was that signal command you gave him?”
“He used to work for the police with my Daddy,” Alice told him. “He would find cadavers. Lying down and barking was his signal for when he found or smelled one.”
“Really?” Alec looked at the hound. That could prove to be a very useful trick to have.
“Yup, he’s found lots of people,” Alice nodded. “He got old though, and had to retire. That means he gets to stay home with me!”
Alec looked at the pooch. He remembered Shoes had started barking not long before Walter had crashed their ride. Was it possible that Shoes could smell the sickness in people? If he could, it was clear that he couldn’t smell it right away, only shortly before they turned, but that was still better than nothing. Alec would now pay more attention to the dog and what it was doing.
Danny yawned, his mouth opening so wide that Alec was pretty sure it popped.
“Either of you kids hungry?” Alec would rather not have to dig into their rations yet, but he needed to keep the kids’ energy up until they got to a safe location.
“No,” Danny shook his head.
“I’m okay,” Alice agreed. “Unless you have cookies. I would like a cookie.”
“Sorry squirt, no cookies. Although where we’re going may have some, you never know,” Alec shrugged.
He kept trying to picture what the service station would look like. There were a few things it could be. It could be a simple gas station where the only structure was a little hut-like building for the attendant to stand in. Or it could be the kind of gas station that had a full shop with the cheesy gift merchandise. There was even a chance it would have a fast-food joint. Alec hoped it would be one of those so that he could fry them up some burgers. He was hungry, starving even, but he was going to wait till they got to their destination. If there were food there, he would eat that instead of what they had with them.
They continued to ride in silence awhile longer.
* * *
“So what kind of chair is that?” Danny broke the silence.
“You mean my wheelchair?” Alec asked as if there were other chairs present.
“Yeah,” Danny nodded. “It doesn’t look like a normal wheelchair.”
“You mean it doesn’t look like what you picture a wheelchair to look like when you think of one,” Alec corrected him. “There are lots of different kinds of wheelchairs. If you remember when I was talking to Kara, I said that Keystone is the one that ended up fixing me. Well, they gave me that chair. I guess they knew I wasn’t going to be the most friendly with it, so they gave me the heavy duty, rough and tumble one. I never bothered to look up exactly what kind it is, but it seems like they crossed an everyday-use chair with a rugby chair.”
“Rugby chair?” Danny looked at him, confused.
“Yeah, there are wheelchair rugby leagues. As well as basketball, hockey, tennis, whatever really.” Alec noticed Danny still looked confused. “What? You didn’t think people in chairs could play sports?”
“I guess I just never thought about it,” Danny shrugged.
“Don’t get me wrong, walking and running and all that is great, but there’s nothing wrong with being in a chair.” That was something Alec had to tell himself a lot. He really did miss the use of his legs. If he was going be confined forever, then maybe he would adapt, but having the chance to regain the use of them had put him in a sort of grey zone. Not long after being in a chair, he had gone to a bar and hit on the most beautiful girl he could find there. She had talked and flirted with him, but when he had suggested that they leave together, she had laughed. She told him that she would fuck him when he could fuck her standing up. Needless to say, that had set his mental therapy back about a week.
Danny looked like he was about to say something else when the truck ground to a halt on the shoulder again. Alec looked up as the window in the back slid open slightly.
“We reached your exit,” Corey grunted then slid the window closed again.
No one in the cab got out to help them. Their friendly attitude had completely vanished, which suggested things were looking very bad for the young girl. Alec was very glad they were getting off. In fact, he was thinking that if they hadn’t decided to separate when they did, either Corey or Kelly would start blaming one of them for the girl’s sickness, and then all hell would break loose.
Danny crawled to the tailgate and dropped it down. He started moving their bags and placing them on the ground behind the truck.
“Time to get off, squirt.” Alec gestured for Alice to get off the truck.
Alice crawled over to Shoes. She looked like she was going to drop him onto the ground herself but Danny quickly helped her. Once the space was made, Alec once again hauled himself around to the tailgate.
“I think I remember how to set up your chair, but you better watch, just in case.” Danny hopped out of the truck and pulled the chair down.
He opened it up and checked the locks. He only forgot to check one, but Alec reminded him of it. Alec then, once again, got up on tired and shaky legs. He moved quickly to drop into his seat, then unlocked his knees and set his feet on the footrest, which consisted of a single bar covered in rubber grip. His leg muscles were absolutely screaming. There were some pain medications in both his and Danny’s bags, but he didn’t want to take any. Those were for emergencies only.
He slung his pack onto his back, and Danny did the same. Alice dropped off the back of the truck and scooped up Shoes’s leash. Danny lifted the tailgate back up, and Alec smacked the rear of the truck twice.
Corey and his family drove away quickly.
“Bye!” Alice waved with her whole arm. “Thank you for the ride!”
Alec looked at the highway exit. Thankfully, the grade didn’t look too steep; he should be able to get up it on his own. Or, at least, with only a minimal amount of help from Danny.
The sun had finally finished sinking below the trees, leaving only a glow behind it in the sky. Alec took his pistol out and placed it on his lap. He hoped they could get to shelter before it became fully dark.
31:
Jessi
Jessica watched the world go by outside the window. She looked for horses or cows whenever they passed fields, but, so far, she had had no luck.
The others were snickering again. They kept making stupid jokes. None of this was funny. The world was ending, and they were making jokes.
Stupid fucking Abby. Stupid fucking Cender. Stupid fucking Tobias.
Even Cillian was making jokes. Her Cillian. He had come, and he had saved her, but the others were corrupting him. Tobias especially. That goddamn boy cunt.
She was also pretty sure Abby was trying to steal him from her. She had seen her flirting with him. To her utter disgust, it looked like Cillian was flirting back. It’s not like he could help it, though. He was a man. Men couldn’t help themselves.
Still, she liked Abby, so it was very troublesome. They had gone through a nightmare together and come out on the other side. If she would just stop flirting with her Cillian, then they could probably be best friends.
It was nearly dark now. The last of the sun still lit the sky, but she couldn’t see the sun itself. The dark was coming. The fucking dark. It didn’t feel like that long ago when she and Abby were in the darkness of the subway tunnel.
As that memory came, so did the ensuing memories: the hospital, the zombie she had pummelled, the man known only as B. He hadn’t been infected, but she killed him anyway. Once she started swinging that shovel, she couldn’t stop. She told Cillian she couldn’t remember what happened, but she did. She remembered every sickening thump. He might have lived if only he didn’t have that damned gun.
Jessica did not like guns. She did not like anyone who carried a gun either, and now she was in a car full of them.
When Jessica was twenty-one, and still attending school, she had to stay late one night. Her group needed to get an assignment done and had gathered in the library. They had worked for hours because all of them were really busy and didn’t know when they could get together again.
It was one in the morning when they finally disbanded. They had gotten a lot of work done, and Jessica left satisfied. They all had a section of the report to review and edit. Once edited, they would trade sections with someone else in the group and cross-edit. They would do this continuously until everyone had edited every section. Since the swapping could be done online, they wouldn’t need to gather again unless something really drastic came up.
Jessica had left the building with two of her classmates, a couple that she had been friends with for quite awhile. They offered to give her a ride home, but she politely declined. They lived in the opposite direction, and her bus stops at both ends weren’t far. They said their goodnights and went their separate ways.
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