“I think it would be worse if I don’t,” Lindsey said. “He’d probably flip out. I’m hoping he’ll have some time to think it over, and maybe he’ll have calmed down by then. Honestly, I think he’s bluffing. I can’t imagine him getting someone to attack the building, just because I won’t go with him.”
“Even if he was upset enough to do it, I don’t see anybody else going along with it,” Snake said. “We can play it by ear, though. If we think there’s going to be trouble after you talk to him, it might not hurt to get people out of the hospital for a while. In the meantime, we’ll check out the farms and see if there’s a good place to hole up if it comes to that.”
~*~
Mojave Preserve, California
“Cholla Ridge, two miles,” George said, reading the sign by the light of the dawn. When they reached the edge of the small town, they found a roadblock set up with two armed men standing guard. It looked like the area had been enclosed with wire fencing, and a gate had been erected across the road. Dan slowed down, debating on whether or not to try to find a way around the town. Since they’d already been spotted, he continued on, knowing it might look suspicious if they turned around. Approaching slowly, he kept a close watch on the two men while trying to appear relaxed. The fingers of his right hand brushed over his pistol as he eased the truck forward, but he hoped he wouldn’t need to use the weapon.
The man on Dan’s side of the truck was clad in jeans, boots, and a cowboy hat that had seen better days. The one on the right was dressed in similar attire, though he wore a Dodger’s baseball cap. They obviously weren’t military, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t be a problem.
“See the cowboy boots?” Rayburn asked, nudging Hixson. “That’s so the rattlesnakes can’t bite their ankles.”
Ignoring the comment, Dan rolled down the window when he was even with the man in the cowboy hat. He reluctantly pulled his hand away from the pistol, not wanting to appear threatening.
“How’s it going?” the man asked, looking Dan and George over carefully. On the other side of the truck, the Dodger fan was doing the same.
“Good. We’re just passing through,” Dan replied. “Couldn’t make it on the freeway.”
“That’s what we’ve been hearing,” the cowboy said. “We just want to make sure nobody’s going to bring the plague to our town. Have either of you been bitten?”
“No,” Dan said.
“Can I ask you both to step out so we can check your arms and legs? You can refuse, but you’ll have to find another way around town.”
Dan opened the door and stepped out, hearing George’s door open at the same time. As he pulled up his sleeves, then his pant legs, Dan could hear Rayburn’s voice going nonstop.
“You’re fine,” Hixson was told once he was checked. “We’re going to give you an escort through town. Nothing personal, but we had a family sneak in some out-of-town relatives, and one of them was infected. We’re not going to let anything like that happen again.”
“I understand,” Dan said, relaxing a little. “I hope you can keep your town safe. It’s bad out there.”
“We’ve heard that from a few others,” the cowboy said. “We figure we’ve got a good setup here since we’re in a fairly remote location. We’ve got a natural spring for water, and we can grow crops, though it’s going to take some work.”
“What about electricity?” Dan asked.
“We’ve still got power, but I doubt it’ll last long. Most of us are off the grid anyway so that won’t be much of a problem.”
“I think you’ll be fine, in that case,” Dan said. He watched as the man turned and motioned to a woman in a blue pickup.
The truck started up and pulled onto the road.
“You’re free to go. Just follow that truck. Be careful if you plan to go into Vegas. They got hit hard a couple of days ago.”
“Thanks for the warning, and good luck to you,” Hixson said, getting back into the vehicle.
The man tipped his hat as he stepped away to open the gate.
Dan rolled up his window and fell in line behind the blue truck. As they made their way through the small town, they saw a few people, though the sun was barely up. A middle-aged man and woman were digging up their front yard, and Dan saw seed packets on the ground near some gardening tools.
“Planting a garden in late August?” Dan asked. “Isn’t it a little hot here for that?”
“A lot of people plant winter gardens around here,” George told him. “Cool weather crops like lettuce and root vegetables do well unless it freezes. I knew a guy from Las Vegas who told me he always had a garden all winter long when he lived there.”
“I guess that’s one good thing about this area,” Dan said, “though I’m not sure I’d like the heat.”
They passed a small park where a few children were already awake and playing. Two armed adults stood nearby. Life wasn’t exactly going on as normal, but at least it was going on.
There was another gate on the other side of the small town, with two more men guarding it. The blue truck stopped, and the driver spoke to the guards who opened the gate.
Hixson lifted a hand in thanks as he drove through then watched in the mirror as the gate was quickly closed again. When the town was nothing more than a dot in the rearview mirror, he finally felt himself relax once more.
“Glad that turned out okay,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Rayburn asked. “Were you worried?”
“You weren’t?” Dan asked.
“No. Should I have been?”
Dan shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road. “I thought of about a dozen bad scenarios before we even reached the roadblock.”
“Like what?”
“The military could have already been there, waiting. These guys could have been robbing people for their food and weapons . . .”
“Wow,” Rayburn said. “I never even thought about that.”
“We’re going to have to think that way from now on,” Dan said. “Not everybody is going to be like Ryan and Emily. There are going to be others who will be looking out for themselves, or worse.”
Rayburn was quiet for a moment, but he finally spoke. “I guess you’re right, but I like to think that people are generally good, and that will show through.
“I hope you’re right, George,” Dan said. “Just be prepared in case they aren’t.”
It was almost noon by the time they finally hit US 95. Like I-15, there was a river of unmoving traffic as far as the eye could see. They were forced to take the shoulder of the road and eventually even that didn’t work since other vehicles had done the same thing and had become stuck in the sand. Dan finally backtracked and found a power line road, which he took. They eventually made it to Boulder City, driving into the town past a small airport.
~*^*~
~41~
St. Mary’s Hospital, Lansing
Lindsey walked down to the ER where a group was already gathered to go harvest more crops, though it was barely dawn. Wild Bill was still working on clearing the way to Dustin’s family farm, but he was having a tough time whittling a path through the miles of congested roads. Since time was running out for the harvest, they’d been picking what they could along the way while Bill worked on the road. They’d found that many of the fields were full of field corn and soybeans, so they continued to concentrate on the private gardens and orchards of abandoned homes, where they were getting a better variety of produce.
They’d managed to bring home a few truckloads of produce each day, which had pleased Theresa immensely. The woman had been putting in grueling hours as she worked with several others to get everything processed and canned, but she didn’t seem to mind.
Lindsey had been going along to help out with the harvest, though it was difficult for her to be around Wombat. She loved being outside the city, and it felt good to breathe air that didn’t stink of the dead, but she remained lost in her own thoughts while the others talked around her. When the
name Roberta came up, as it seemed to do every day, Lindsey usually walked away and found another location to pick vegetables so she wouldn’t have to hear about Wombat’s girlfriend.
Now, as everyone gathered by the ER, there was a discussion over whether or not they should cancel their plans for the day since it was starting to rain again. The general consensus was to go, since they were running out of time to bring in more produce.
As they got ready to leave, Lindsey overheard Wombat say, “I’m bringing Roberta today. I was hoping the weather would be better, but I haven’t had the chance to take her out yet, and she’s feeling neglected.”
Wolf grinned and said, “Can’t have that. You’ve got to treat her right if you want her to take good care of you.”
The comment stung Lindsey badly. She didn’t understand how the men could tease Wombat about his new girlfriend when Lindsey was standing right there. She turned to walk away, knowing that she couldn’t go with them to the farms. It was hard enough to be around Wombat, but to spend the day watching him with the obnoxious blonde was more than she could handle.
“Hey, Xena, aren’t you going with us?” Wolf called to her.
She stopped and turned back to look at him. “No, I’m not. But don’t worry. Roberta’s going in my place.”
“What’s wrong with me taking Roberta?” Wombat asked, confused.
Lindsey turned to face him.
“You can’t possibly think that I can be there today, watching you with her,” she said. “I understand that your feelings have changed, but mine haven’t.”
Wombat stared at her in utter confusion, obviously at a loss for words. In fact, the only sound to be heard was the banging of pots and pans coming from the kitchen. Lindsey looked around, realizing that every single person within earshot was looking at her with a mixture of surprise and confusion on their faces. Some of them were even whispering to each other as they looked her way.
Realizing that she had just made a complete fool of herself in front of everybody, Lindsey turned and left for the stairs, humiliated.
~*~
“Lindsey?” Wombat asked, watching her walk away. He turned and looked at Snake. “What the hell?”
“I have no idea,” Snake said, baffled.
“Women are a complete mystery to me,” Wolf added, scratching his head.
Wombat said, “She told me she was going to be giving me some space after she talked to Reynolds the other day. I’ve been getting the cold shoulder ever since.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Snake said, recalling the conversation he’d had with Lindsey.
“And what’s her problem with your bike?” Wolf asked.
“Maybe I’ve been talking about it too much,” Wombat shrugged. “I was pretty excited to get it.”
“There’s got to be something else going on,” Snake said.
“She must have made up her mind to go with Reynolds,” Wombat said, shaking his head. “She told me he gave her a week to decide. I was kind of shocked that she was even considering it, because she had just told me she wasn’t leaving. In fact, I was hoping we were going to get together, but then she met him on the roof and everything changed.”
“She can’t be considering it,” Snake said. “I talked to her that night, and she told me about the threat he made. Wait . . . do you think she’d go with him to keep him from retaliating?”
“What are you talking about?” Wombat asked, frowning. “He threatened her?”
“Dude, you didn’t know that?” Snake asked. “I thought that was why you wanted to punch something the other night.”
“No, that was because she was thinking about going with him. She never said that he threatened her, but she did seem really upset when I went up there.”
“I don’t want her sacrificing herself to keep us safe,” Snake said.
“I’m going to go talk to her,” Wombat said. “And I’m not letting her walk away this time.”
“Now you’re starting to use your noggin,” Snake replied. “We’re going to take off. You can just hang out here and help Hawk and the others with guard duty today.”
“I’ll do that,” Wombat said.
~*~
Boulder City, Nevada
“There’s a park. Can we stop? I need to go to the bathroom.”
Dan drove around, seeing a large soccer field, but no restrooms.
“There it is,” George said, pointing to a brown building that lay to the right of a pond.
Dan drove forward, but sped up when he saw another truck in the parking lot. The last thing they needed was to run into even more people who might remember them later. He passed the restrooms, wanting to leave before they were spotted.
“What are you doing? I really need to go.”
“I don’t want anyone to see us,” Dan said, continuing down the road. “Maybe that truck’s been abandoned, but I’d rather not take a chance. I’ll park somewhere else, and we can walk back.”
“Uh, Dan?”
“What?”
“Too late. Someone saw us, and I think she needs help.”
Letting out a long-suffering sigh, Dan stopped and looked in the rearview mirror. Now that they were on the other side of the small pickup truck, he could see a spare tire on the ground next to a jack. A petite blonde woman was watching them warily from where she was crouched down near the tire.
Dan backed up into a spot near her, noticing that she was probably a few years younger than he was. She wore shorts and a tank top, so he was fairly certain that she wasn’t armed. That didn’t mean that she didn’t have friends waiting in the trees. He’d heard stories recently of people ambushed for their food or weapons, and a beautiful damsel-in-distress was the perfect bait.
“Need some help?” he asked.
She hesitated before answering.
“If you wouldn’t mind. I’m not sure how to use this type of jack,” she admitted. “I’ve only used a bumper jack before.”
“I’ll be right back,” George said, getting out and hurrying to the brown building.
“Be careful,” Dan called to him, still worried about an ambush.
The woman’s gaze was constantly shifting as she kept watch around her.
Dan realized she was probably watching for the dead, and he relaxed a little. When she finally looked at him, he saw pale blue eyes that seemed to be regarding him warily.
“It looks like I ran over a nail,” she told him, pointing to a spot on the tire.
Dan got out and checked the tire. “You sure did.”
“If you could just show me where this jack goes, I can do the rest,” she said.
“I can change it for you,” he told her. “It won’t take long.”
“I was just thinking that it might be good for me to know how to use it, in case it happens again.”
“Sure, I’ll show you,” he said.
“Thanks.” She gave him a smile but was still looking at him in a way that said she didn’t trust him.
Dan showed the woman where to put the jack, and then watched as she took over. Within a few minutes, they were finished changing the tire, and she put the jack away.
“Thanks,” she said. “I feel a lot better about being out here now.”
“You know, it’s none of my business, but you shouldn’t be out here without a weapon,” Dan said.
“You’re probably right,” she said. “I heard on the radio that Vegas had been overrun, and I just wanted to drive around a bit and see how it was here. I didn’t even plan to get out of my truck until the tire went flat. I’ll bring something with me next time.”
“Even that tire iron would be better than nothing,” Dan pointed out. “How bad is it in town?”
“Not bad at all. We even have a few stores that are still open,” she told him.
“You’re lucky,” he said. As he looked around, he caught a glimpse of the pond that lay just past the sidewalk. There were several ducks floating around in the water, and he watched as a drake Mallard went a
fter another duck, chasing it across the pond. Their wings skimmed the water as they took off, causing a loud splash. Moments later, it was almost quiet again except for some faint quacking as the ducks settled down. There were others resting on the sand in small groups or in pairs. On the far bank, turtles were sunning themselves just inches from the water so they could make a quick retreat if necessary. A bird of prey drifted overhead on the thermals, circling the park in large loops.
“Life almost seems normal here,” Dan said.
“I guess to the ducks and the other animals it still is,” she replied.
“I envy them,” Dan said.
“My name’s Miranda, by the way.”
“I’m Dan,” he said, taking her hand with a smile. He glanced over when he saw some movement from the corner of his eye, but he relaxed when he realized that it was Rayburn walking down the hill from the restroom.
George made it about four steps then jumped, startled. His foot hit a rock that marked the edge of the path, and he fell.
Hixson ran over, pulling his sidearm as he scanned the area. Reaching the other man, he asked, “You okay? What was it?”
“Rattlesnake,” Rayburn said, sitting up and pointing at a rock. “Right there.”
“What? On the rock?” Hixson asked, reaching down to pull the other man to his feet.
Miranda joined them, still looking around cautiously.
“George, I don’t see a snake,” Dan said, thoroughly searching the area.
“Did you get bit?” Miranda asked.
“Please don’t encourage him,” Dan sighed.
“No, it didn’t bite me,” George said.
“I see rattlers sometimes when I walk in the desert,” Miranda said.
“He didn’t get bit by a rattler. There was no rattler,” Dan insisted.
“I just saw a sidewinder a couple of weeks ago,” she told George.
“That’s what I keep telling him,” Rayburn said. “He doesn’t listen to me.”
Dead, But Not For Long (Book 2): Pestilence and Promise Page 36