“You’re good.” I told him and he smiled before putting the pencil he was using down.
“Thank you. Ashlyn right?” He responded looking at me.
“Yeah. So why are you drawing all of us?” I asked him.
“Before all this, I was an artist, now I draw what I see; keeping an image documentary reminds me that I’m not crazy.” Evan answered.
“So you’ve drawn everything you’ve seen?” I asked him and he handed over his sketch book.
“Yes I have; you can have a look but I should warn you some of it is more on the gory side.” He told me as I started from the beginning.
The first drawing was of a street with lots of people running and houses on fire. There were shadows going after people, but they were too far away to see clearly. The next image was of a Red Eye up close holding onto an arm that was no longer attached to a body. Followed by a picture of a little girl holding the hand of a woman in a field of sunflowers.
The next drawing showed the woman from the last picture on the ground as a Red Eye dragged her away. The little girl was holding the woman’s hand, trying to pull her back. The next one was of the little girl sleeping. She had a teddy bear wrapped tightly in her arms, there were tears running down her face. There were more pictures of people sitting around a fire and then ones of them dying.
Then came a drawing of a cross in the ground, the name Eve was carved into it and a teddy bear sat by the foot of the cross. The next drawing was of the gas station overrun with Red Eyes. The next one was the perimeter he had set up, there were bodies on the ground that had arms and legs cut off. There were drawings of cars filled with people waiting at the pumps. All loaded up with whatever belongings the people had.
“Who were the little girl and the woman?” I asked him as I got back to the drawing of all of us on the bus and handed the book back.
“My wife and daughter.” Evan answered as he flipped through till he got to the picture of them in the field.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Julie died saving Eve from an attack. She got dragged away while Eve screamed.” Evan answered, “I barely got her out of there but there was nothing I could do for Julie.” He responded.
“How old was Eve?” I asked.
“Eve was five and I lost her to the shadows. We were where I thought we would be safe, but it wasn’t, they left me barely enough to bury.” Evan said.
“I’m sorry.” I told him looking at the drawing of the woman and child playing. They both looked so happy and carefree in the midst of all they had probably seen at that point.
“Don’t be sorry, we have all lost people, being sorry almost seems like we’re sorry we had them when we did.” Evan said, “Miss them and love them, hold their memories near but don’t be sorry.”
He touched the face of the woman then the little girl.
“That’s very well put.” Aaron said as he sat down on the other side of me. “You’ve got some talent there.” Evan nodded and was silent again. “I like the way you captured Ashlyn lost in her thoughts.”
“She’s an easy subject to draw, she stays still.” Evan agreed and Aaron laughed.
“I am not that still.” I told them.
“Oh Ash, you go off in your mind and a whole day could go by, and you wouldn’t know.” Aaron said and Evan laughed.
“Are you two related?” He asked us.
“No, actually we’re not, at least not by blood.” I answered, “Why?”
“You two are like brother and sister.” Evan responded.
“It’s more like losing people brought us together.” Aaron said, “I think that forms a bond pretty much as strong as a real family’s.”
“I think you’re right. I’ve been watching all of you the short time we’ve been driving. It’s obvious you all have been through stuff together.” Evan said, “Makes me glad I did come with you. It’s a good reminder of the good there still is in the world.”
“You’re a part of that good in the world now.” Aaron told him.
Evan seemed more at ease talking to Aaron and me. After hearing what he had to say about his family, I could see why he’d withdrawn himself from any group he ended up with. He watched Red Eyes tear his family apart, and who knows how many others.
I sent up a silent prayer that he had more hope being with us then he had at the gas station.
Sam finally had Tone stop so we could have lunch. Although he wanted us all to stay on the bus since we’d been seeing more Red Eye activity as we went. They left us alone since we weren’t on foot. Unless they were already close and went for the movement.
Movement seemed to draw their attention until something else drew them another way.
Sam made everyone a lunch of the rabbit meat. It was a quick lunch. As soon as Tone finished, we were driving again. There was hope out there. We all knew where the dome was and being able to see it had all of us antsy to get there.
“It’s been days since I had warm food.” Evan was saying as he took another bite.
“Yeah, we saw your supply was canned.” Hunter said to him.
“Being hungry, it didn’t matter too much what I was eating but having hot food now makes me realize how much I missed it.” Evan said as Sawyer came around and gathered everyone’s dishes to bring back to the kitchen.
“For the most part we’ve been pretty lucky and haven’t had to deal with the whole being on the road stuff too much. Well we’re on the road but I mean like out there, since we have our moving house.” Daisy said.
“Speak for yourself, they found me in a trunk of a car.” Micah added in playfully, pushing Daisy.
“Why were you in a trunk?” Evan asked, looking at Micah.
“My dad locked me in our trunk when we got caught on a jammed road and got attacked by the Red Eyes. He gave me the key but the battery died in it and I couldn’t get out.” Micah responded. “If they hadn’t driven that way and decided to clear the road I would still be in the trunk.”
“That was a smart place to have you hide, do you know if your dad got away?” Evan asked.
“He never came back and there wasn’t anyone alive around the area so I have to assume that he didn’t but he saved me.” Micah answered, “We were on our way to find my mom and sisters but I don’t know if they made it anywhere safe either.”
“Maybe when we get to Paradis Roulette they’ll be able to help you. Maybe then you’ll see if you can find out anything about what happened to your family.” Evan said.
“I hope so. I don’t want to think about my family being Red Eyes.” Micah told him, “I hope they found a safe place and I’ll be able to find them.”
“Once we get to the dome, I’m sure we’ll be able to sit and try to find all our loved ones. Maybe we’ll be able to figure out how to go get them, if we can make contact.” Sawyer said as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Stay like that a minute.” Evan said as he reached for his sketch pad and flipped to a blank page. Sawyer and Micah both looked a little confused, but they stayed.
“He’s an artist.” I told them and they both smiled.
Evan had them stay like that till he had the rough outline done. I watched him fill in the lines; it was amazing to see both Micah and Sawyer start to appear on the paper. He finished pretty quick and started to do another copy of the same picture. He made a copy for both Sawyer and Micah but he kept the original in his sketch book and added their names to it.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Watching Evan draw took more time than I realized. Sam had come back to the living room and was discussing dinner.
“We’re not stopping to eat dinner. I’m going to make burgers and Tone will keep driving, we are getting close to Paradis Roulette now.” Sam told us as he went into the kitchen.
Sam had the last of the rabbit meat on the stove and the bus filled with smoke causing Hunter and Aaron to run around to open windows. The smoke cleared instantly leaving the smell of cooking meat. He brought out everyon
e’s food to them on plates.
He even brought food back to the room where Sydney and Scott were still watching over Hannah. Sam ate his own food quickly. And we stopped just long enough for Sam to take over driving so Tone could eat.
The sky was starting to darken as sunset came. Sam was stretching in the front seat as he drove. The world looked to be bathed in gold as we continued to drive.
“Starting to look like we should find a place to park for the night.” Tone said to Sam.
“Don’t think you’re going to want to pull over.” Evan said from where he was sitting looking out the window.
“Why?” Sam called back.
“We got a whole horde of Red Eyes in the trees. They seem to be following the bus’s movement.” Evan said.
“I’m not seeing anything in the rearview mirrors, Tone go check out where he’s looking.” Sam responded and Tone got up to join Evan at the window.
“He’s right we have definitely attracted a following.” Tone called over to Sam.
“How many are following us?” Sam asked.
“A lot. It was the cooking food. We opened the windows to clear the smoke and never closed them again.” Evan said, “They’re following the smell of our dinner.”
“Then close the windows and see if we can lose them.” Sam demanded as Evan and Tone closed all the windows.
“It may help but they are following our movement now too. So even without the smell we need something else to draw their attention.” Evan was saying.
“So we have to keep driving until we lose them.” Sam said.
“Yeah, there are a lot of them out there and if we stop I think they could overwhelm the bus.” Evan agreed.
“We need to figure out how to lose them soon. I don’t want to drive at night where the headlights will draw more attention to us. We can’t drive without them on once darkness comes.” Sam said, sounding like he was trying to work out what to do.
“I’d suggest driving faster but with it getting dark that could prove more dangerous to us.” Tone said.
“I could distract them and you guys could get away.” Evan said and everyone looked at him.
“Distract them how?” Sam asked, keeping his eyes on the road.
“I’ll jump off the bus and give them something to chase.” Evan responded.
“I appreciate the thought, but we are not leaving anyone behind. You are staying on this bus with us and we will figure out how to get them to leave us be.” Sam said in a tone that left no room for argument.
“What if we stopped long enough to put a radio on the ground? Would the noise distract them?” Daisy asked.
“Like a boom box thing?” Evan asked her.
“Yeah, use the noise to keep them from following us.” Daisy responded.
“That might work.” Evan said, sounding excited.
“Get the boom box Daisy, it’s the only plan we have right now.” Sam said.
Daisy rushed back to her room and returned with a boom box cd player.
“I found an audio book I was listening to so it’ll be like someone talking.” She said as she put the boom box on the dining room table.
“I’ll be the one to hop off and set this up.” Evan said as he took the boom box.
“We ready?” Sam called back.
“Yeah, ready when you are.” Tone responded.
Sam stopped the bus.
“Go.” He called back.
Evan jumped off the bus and placed the boom box on the ground hitting play. The Red Eyes were getting closer as he ran back to the door and slammed it behind him.
“All set Sam, let’s get out of here.” He called as soon as the door was shut.
We all gathered around the windows looking as Sam got the bus moving again.
At first it didn’t look like the Red Eyes were going to stop, they were still watching the bus. Then the voice on the boom box caught their attention. They started to fight trying to get to the voice. One had the boom box in its hands and was trying to bite it.
Soon they were just dark figures behind us. The plan had worked and we were moving away from them. Sam kept driving even as it got too dark to not use the headlights. He didn’t turn them on at all; he didn’t want to draw attention to us. We were crawling along by the time Sam felt like we were far enough away from the horde to stop for the night.
“That was good thinking Daisy.” Sam said and patted her on the head.
“Thank you but why are you patting my head? I’m not a dog.” She said and started to laugh.
“Thanks for offering to sacrifice yourself Evan, but let me make this clear. As long as we can help it, we are not leaving anyone to die.” Sam told Evan.
“I just thought I was newest and not really part of the family yet.” Evan responded.
“You became part of this family as soon as you stepped on the bus.” Sam told him, I saw Evan’s eyes fill with tears; he didn’t let them fall as he nodded to Sam.
“Now let’s get some sleep.” Tone said and laughed.
Hunter followed Daisy to her room where he had set up a bed for himself on the floor. Micah had his spot on the floor in the room with Sawyer and me. Axel gave up the bed in the room he had been using to Tone for the night while he slept on the floor.
Evan went up front with Sam and got the passenger seat all laid back to sleep in. Sam stayed in the driver’s seat while Aaron plopped down on to one of the couches.
Morning came showing us most of the bio dome that Paradis Roulette was inside of. You could feel the change in everyone’s attitudes. Being able to make out the bio dome and knowing we would be there soon cheered all of us. There was energy that hadn’t really been there much since we started out on this journey.
Sydney and Scott even thought it would be good for Hannah to be around everyone. So they got her all set up on one of the couches. She seemed happy to be around everyone again. Although she looked pale and the wound on her arm from the bullet was looking red around the edges and swollen. Sydney was putting an ointment on it while Scott watched.
“I think it’s infected, we have stuff that will help but we really need to get her to a hospital.” Scott said, as Sam got the bus moving.
“There’s one inside the dome.” He said. “They’re so far out that my nephew wanted to make sure there was a hospital, in case of emergencies. It is fully staffed.”
“Perfect because the ointment doesn’t seem to be clearing this at all. I can’t do anything with it without clearing it out.” Scott said, even as he fussed over the wound and got it wrapped again in clean bandages.
“She’s going to be okay though, right?” Hunter asked, as he sat by Hannah on the couch and held her hand that wasn’t being bandaged.
“I think she will be, yes.” Scott answered as he finished wrapping the wound.
“You know I’m right here, you don’t need to talk about me like I’m still behind closed doors.” Hannah said.
“I’m not talking about you like you’re not here. I’m just asking the doctor questions you can’t answer.” Hunter told her and she stuck her tongue out at him.
“It’s good to see you back out of bed though.” Daisy said to Hannah.
“Yes, the room was getting a little bit boring.” Hannah said.
“It was for your own good.” Sydney told her as she grabbed a pillow to put under her hurt arm.
“I know just not any fun.” Hannah said and her eyes landed on Evan. “Who are you?”
“I’m Evan Smith; they picked me up from the gas station I was living in.” Evan answered, smiling at her.
“Oh, well hi. See I didn’t even know we picked anyone else up.” She complained. “What else did I miss?”
“Only us getting stuck in the mud and almost having to abandon the bus. You know about Evan. There was last night when we couldn’t stop until we distracted a horde that was following us. Which we did with a boom box.” Axel chimed in as he sat by Hannah’s feet.
“See all I’ve been doing is
sleeping and out here you have been facing exciting things.” Hannah went on complaining.
“Well if it helps, it wasn’t fun, it was scary and if you had been out here you may have not wanted to see it all.” Hunter said, seeming to be amused by his sister’s complaining.
“You’re probably right. I just hate that I was sleeping for so long. They kept me sedated.” Hannah said, “They wouldn’t even let me go use the bathroom, I had to use a bed pan.”
Hunter was trying not to laugh. Hannah made it sound like she was a prisoner in the back room instead of someone who got shot.
“Must have been horrible.” Hunter said, but he started laughing, losing the battle not to do so. Hannah looked at him for a moment before she started laughing too.
“I guess it was better than dad locking me up.” She finally said.
“Yeah, you knew why they were keeping you in there.” Axel said.
Sydney came out from the kitchen; she gave Hannah a couple of pain pills. To help her stay comfortable and hopefully help fight off the infection.
“We are going to be getting to the dome today.” Sam called back from the front of the bus making everyone cheer and look out the windows.
“How long do you think till we’re there?” Sydney asked him.
“Not long if the way is as clear as it looks to be, all that driving last night put us closer than I thought we were.” Sam answered her.
He had a determined look on his face and it seemed we were going a bit faster than we had the last couple of days.
Sam was right that getting to the dome didn’t take much longer after he had told us.
We were all watching out of the windows as the dome grew in size as we got closer. Soon, we were parked in front of the entrance that had ‘Paradis Roulette’ scrawled across it in gold. Sam stopped by a call box and hit a button. The rest of us were in awe of the size of the dome. There was beeping from the box before a voice came over.
“Sorry we are not open.” The voice said.
“Drew?” Sam asked.
“No.” The voice answered.
“Well go and get Drew, he’s expecting us.” Sam demanded. The voice didn’t respond. I was starting to worry that we were going to be turned away after everything it took to get here.
Survival Ties (The Outbreak Chronicles Book 1) Page 14