“East, we don’t need what’s back there. There’s more than what we could pack in here,” Alex called. His hand was on the door and he looked back at her. Alex was sure he knew what she was thinking, but he did not argue. Neither of them wanted another incident like that.
Alex moved the RV closer to the door of the gas station, and she and Easton moved everything edible from the store to the interior of the RV. Then Alex packed bags of snacks that didn’t need to be cold, and added them to the Bronco, to make sure Margaret and Fred had food.
Alex gave Margaret the lunch that Candace had packed for them. Margaret was overwhelmed, and her eyes started to fill with tears. Alex shook her head and smiled as she tried to thank her. She watched as Margaret went to the open door of the RV. The older woman took Candace’s hand through the doorway and they exchanged a soft conversation. Candace blushed a little and smiled before nodding at what Margaret was telling her.
“It’s good to see Candy be useful,” Easton said, coming up next to Alex.
“Better not let her hear you call her that,” Alex said.
“I make sure to do it when I’m out of reach.”
The vehicle gas tanks were both full by the time the siphoning was done, and the food was loaded. Alex took the driver’s seat this time, giving Easton the chance to eat something while she drove. Margaret decided to follow the RV, as Alex knew where they were going. They could reach either other via the walkies when needed.
The roads seemed less congested out of town, as if the fleeing uninfected just hadn’t gotten this far. At times Alex would see vehicles moving on different roads or going the opposite direction on the highway. No one stopped, no one tried to wave them down, so Alex continued to drive. Lunch came, and Candace served Alex a sandwich, bag of chips and pickle on the side. She ate with one hand, keeping the other on the wheel. Easton played cards with Henry in the back, and Alex didn’t want to interrupt the card feud they had going on.
Margaret would check in every thirty minutes, letting Alex know they were ok behind the RV. Alex could see the Bronco in her mirrors, but it was reassuring to hear Margaret’s voice over the walkie. The RV was full with Alex and the kids, so having Margaret and Fred in a different vehicle was necessary. But it didn’t make Alex feel safe to not have their group completely under one roof.
The sun was bright in the driver’s side window, indicating it was getting later in the day. Even without a working GPS, Alex knew how to continue heading North as she wanted, just by the position of the sun. Thanks again to Mitch’s constant determination for her to be prepared for the end of the world. At one time, he believed the world would end because of the creation of a worldwide EMP. During that time, he was obsessed with teaching the kids to live without any sort of electronics or mechanics of any kind.
After driving all day, the RV gas tank was getting low again. Alex was sore and exhausted, but she felt good about the amount of time they had on the road. She told Margaret so through the walkie, and the older woman agreed. Alex could hear the fatigue in her voice, and knew it was time to find a place to stop. She started checking each sign as they drove by.
They pulled into a small strip of stores off the highway. There were quite a few cars in the parking lot, and that gave Alex an uneasy feeling. She decided parking away from the buildings was the best bet, and she circled around the back. She found a small road that lead up a hill into some trees, and she swung around to pull the RV back into it. Once they parked, she and Easton checked the area, finding it empty and heavily wooded.
Easton and Fred started on siphoning gas from the cars in front of the building. Alex lectured Easton before allowing him to go. She knew she was repeating herself, be careful, do not let anything bite you, watching out for the living too, if you see anything come back here immediately. Easton nodded solemnly, and never tried to stop her. He had taken her hand, told her he understood and turned away.
Alex felt that familiar tug at her heart to follow Easton. She struggled with the emotions she felt, wanting to protect him fully, but also needing to understand he was a 16 year old boy. In the world they were facing, that was an adult. In addition, Easton wanted to be treated as an adult. Alex really tried, but she couldn’t stop the flood of protectiveness that came to her every time he went out on his own.
“You worried?” Margaret had approached, finding Alex deep in thought, watching Easton and Fred disappear around the buildings.
“Not any more than normal,” Alex said with a smile.
“He’s a capable kid,” Margaret said.
“Yes he is. Doesn’t make me feel any better,” Alex said, turning toward Margaret. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired, sad...no more like heartbroken,” Margaret said.
“We’ll stay here tonight, as long as it proves safe for the time. Candace is probably whipping up dinner. The girl can do some great things with dehydrated ingredients.”
The gas tanks were full by dinner, with some to spare in the extra containers. Easton and Fred reeked of gas, so Alex insisted they take turns washing up in the RV. Candace wrinkled her nose and threatened Easton within an inch of his life if his smell ruined her meal. Margaret sat at the kitchen table, being told numerous times by Candace she did not need help and that she should relax. Watching the siblings banter brought the hint of a smile to Margaret’s face.
Dinner was filling, but eaten in silence. Each person was lost in their own thoughts. Alex could not help but think about the people of the RV park. The old couple flashed through her mind, and she knew she would have nightmares about them for days to come. She found herself wondering how many others escaped. Those that they saw, she wondered where they were planning on going. There had to be safe places, protected places.
Though Alex offered to make space for Margaret and Fred in the RV, they opted to sleep in the Bronco that night. Margaret had the Bronco well stocked with clothing, bedding and some survival gear. They each curled up in the front bucket seats for the night. Sleep didn’t come to Alex easily that night. She tried to practice meditation techniques she knew, anything to make her mind blank. But all she saw was infected faces, infected teeth….sinking into living flesh.
The glow of the morning light illuminated the inside of the RV slowly. Alex watched the light wash across her children’s faces, asleep next to her still. Alex felt like she hadn’t slept a wink. She was content at that moment to watch her babies sleep, hoping their dreams were pure and happy, unlike hers. She was going to have to break their bubble soon, telling them about Blake. They both just seemed to accept that he was going to find them at some point, never questioning where he was. Alex wondered if deep down they both knew the truth, but didn’t want to speak it.
The group atea a breakfast of microwaved pop tarts and juice. Fred laughed and made a joke that he had never actually eaten a pop tart before, deeming them kids food. Alex agreed with him on that point, but also pointed out that they were full of preservatives, making them a perfect survival food. They lasted a long time.
Easton offered to take the first driving shift, and Alex decided to settle on the couch for a little while. She imagined the motion of the RV might cause her to sleep a little. Alex heard the RV turnover and catch, and then a loud pop sounded from the engine. The engine continued to run, but sounded like someone had thrown a wrench into it. Alex quickly joined Easton, who looked at the red engine light in panic.
“I swear, all I did was start it.”
Chapter 19
Fred wiped his greasy hands on a rag and looked at Alex seriously. She rested her forehead against the side of the RV, tears threatening to overflow. She knew it was the end of the known world. She knew they were being chased by infected things that wanted to eat them. Was it too much to have reliable transportation?
“Well there’s good and bad news,” Fred said. Alex wanted to scream at his ridiculous statement. That was funny in the old world. In this world bad news could kill you.
“Just give it to me
plain Fred.”
“Belt is blown. But beyond that, this engine is real clean. Someone took really good care of it. I think the belt was faulty. No way to know that until it goes. And well it did.”
“How do we fix it?” Alex asked with a sigh.
“Well, you don’t happen to have spare belts do you?” He asked.
“Not that I’ve found in the RV, so I’ll go with no,” Alex replied.
“Well you need a belt to fix it. Really not another option,” Fred said. He slammed the hood down, and Alex banged her forehead against the side of the RV a couple of times. They needed this RV, and she refused to give it up.
“Where do we find a new one?”
“Automotive shop. We’ll take the broken one, and look for one the same size. Shouldn’t be too specialized,” Fred replied.
Margaret and Easton came to join them at the side of the RV. Easton put his hand on Alex’s shoulder and squeezed it, giving her some of the reassurance she needed. It was backwards, Alex knew. She needed to reassure him. But she didn’t have it in her right at that time.
“Ok, so we all get into the truck and we find an automotive place,” Margaret said.
“It shouldn’t be too hard,” Fred said. “There’s a small town about an hour from here. They have a few stores that might carry the type of belt we’re looking for.”
Alex agreed with the plan, really what else could they do. She moved the children into the bronco, after explaining what was going on. She told them in plain terms, and they both accepted things for what they were. The bronco didn’t have enough seats for everyone, so Henry sat on Easton’s lap in the rear of the truck. Henry thought this was great fun and commented on how he was breaking the law.
Standing in the RV Alex looked around, trying to decide what to take. She grabbed the bug out bags and threw a few additional MRE’s into each. She had enough food for her family for 3 days, longer if they rationed it. She threw an additional box into the bronco with water, juices and canned fruits. Margaret met her at the back of the Bronco, Alex going over lists in her head.
“We’ll be right back with the belt, and we’ll get this big machine back on the road,” Margaret said.
“I know. But I also want to plan for worst case.”
“I’m sure your instincts are screaming at you right now,” Margaret said. Alex nodded in agreement.
Alex joined Candace and Billie in the middle seat of the Bronco. She looked out the window at the RV as they drove away. Easton had done a really good job of hiding the RV from anyone driving through. Using the large net Alex had used on the RV before, Easton had propped fallen branches in front of anything that could catch sunlight. Someone would have to be looking hard to see the vehicle. And unless they were carrying a spare belt, they weren’t moving the RV.
A few miles down the road, Alex could feel her eyelids getting heavy. She leaned her head against the window, the glass cool against her cheek. Billie snuggled up next to her, only furthering her comfort to slide into sleep. She floated away in her mind, her body working to absorb the energy she needed to make it through the rest of the day.
An image began to take form in her dark mind, a face, coming at her. It was blurry at first, but as it got closer a person began to take form. The face cleared and Alex felt her heart melt to see Blake’s smile. His eyes twinkled as they looked at her. Alex reached for him, but he stayed out of reach. She felt confusion, why wouldn’t he come to her? His hands raised, and Alex smiled again, knowing he was going to hug her, hold her, kiss her, as he had so many times in their life together.
Alex called his name, the word floating away from her softly arriving to his ears. Blake’s smile changed. It was no longer a smile, but an angry look with his teeth bared at her. His eyes changed, becoming black pits. The skin began to melt from his face, leaving a bloody skeleton behind. The skeleton reached for Alex with bloody claws of bone. And she screamed.
Alex started, sitting up straight in the Bronco, causing Billie to fall over onto Candace and wake up. She rubbed her eyes looking at her mother.
“I’m sorry baby,” Alex murmured to her. She put her arm around Billie, pulling her to her side. Alex looked around the vehicle, wondering if the scream she let off in her dream happened in real life too. Only Margaret’s eyes met hers in the rearview mirror, a questioning look on her face. Alex just shook her head and looked back out the window. She judged by the sun she must have slept about an hour. She felt groggy and stiff, napping never agreeing much with her body.
“We’re getting close to the town that has the shops I was talking about,” Fred said.
Alex shook herself slightly, waking her muscles to prepare for any fight that might come. Billie sat up and stretched herself as well, her strep throat a memory now. Alex squeezed her for a second, and got a smile from her daughter. Her smile gave Alex’s heart a start, so like the one she just saw from Blake in her dream. She forced a smile on her face, and hoped it looked natural to Billie.
Margaret followed Fred’s directions and they pulled off the highway. After a few turns, they found their way into the middle of the town. It was deserted from what they could see. They passed by an old brick building, and Alex saw spray painted words on the side. Margaret paused by the building as they all just took in the scene. “They aren’t dead” was scrawled in red spray paint on the side of the building. The infection had made it here. And the uninfected tried to warn off other people.
As the bronco idled by the side of the building, movement caught Alex’s eye. A small woman stumbled around the side of the brick building. Her movements were jerky and Alex knew immediately she was infected. She was wearing a pretty dress covered in yellow flowers, which reminded Alex of Easter. But that sad thought was stopped short as the gruesome appearance of her legs. The infected that had gotten her had feasted on her legs, covering her pretty dress in blood all along the bottom half.
“Margaret,” Alex said quietly, nodding toward the infected. “We should go. There’s probably more nearby.” Margaret nodded and stepped on the gas, pulling them away from the yellow dressed woman.
The bronco turned down a side street, and Margaret slammed on the brakes. Everyone in the truck slid forward, Alex throwing her arm across Billie and Candace to prevent them from going far. She peered through the windshield, to see what caused Margaret to stop. What she saw made the breath catch in her chest. The road was stuffed full of infected, and they were starting to notice the Bronco.
As they moved toward the truck, Alex could see what had brought them all to the area. Three cars were blocking the road. She assumed they were traveling together, and one by one they crashed due to infected blocking the road. The blood told the story of what happened to those people from there. One body was pulled through a driver’s side window, the throat torn out and blood still dripping from the wounds.
Doors were opened on all of the cars, people trying to run away. But the running didn’t get them far. Alex could count at least four bodies on the asphalt. Her mind registered Henry’s quiet crying behind her and Billie gripping her arm tightly. She wouldn’t allow anyone to be drug out of their truck. Running them over wasn’t an option.
“Margaret, backup. We can’t handle this group at once,” Alex said. She detached Billie from her arm with a kiss, and pulled her 9mm, checking the ammo quickly, although she already knew it was fully loaded. She grabbed her bag with additional ammo and magazines and prepared.
She waited until they were far enough away that she wouldn’t get pulled, and she rolled down the window. Billie cried out as Alex leaned from the Bronco and started shooting the infected one by one. Her aim wasn’t perfect, but by the time her magazine ran empty, she had taken down 6 of the infected moving their direction. Alex ducked back into the truck, rolling up the window again. She loaded a magazine, and handed the empty to Easton, who started pushing rounds in.
Alex repeated the process of shooting and reloaded 3 times before the horde was thinned enough for Margaret
to move through the group. She pulled the truck up onto the sidewalk and drove around the crashed vehicles. Fred instructed Margaret to the first auto store. Alex could see some of the infected were following them, so the search for the belt was going to have to be fast. She knew she wouldn’t know the belt if it reached out and slapped her, so she would have to take Fred in.
Fred carried Margaret’s shotgun, and Alex had her machete in hand, with her 9mm on her hip. Easton fought to accompany them, but Alex wanted him behind to protect the kids and Margaret. First out of the truck, Alex hacked three infected down, clearing their walk toward the entrance to the auto shop. At the door, Alex tapped her machete on the front window and waited. If there were any infected inside, they would show themselves quickly. The slap of flesh against the inside of the window caused Fred to jump but Alex just glanced inside to count bodies.
Opening the door, Alex stormed the auto shop, chopping down the one infected inside, a mechanic who was trapped inside at some point. From the look of his body, Alex guessed he was bit and then hid inside, not realizing he would change after being sick for a while. Once it was all clear, Alex pulled Fred in, and they started comparing belts. While Fred searched through the belts hanging on the wall, Alex searched for batteries and flashlights. She loaded her backpack with everything useful she found.
A cry of delight brought Alex back to Fred’s wall, where he was holding up the correct belt. Alex insisted they grabbed two, just in case, two of everything was her practice. At the door of the shop Alex looked out of the window and saw Easton fighting with two infected. The site of the boy smacking the infected with his bat, put Alex into action without checking the corners. She went running from the shop, Fred on her heels.
She reached Easton in time to chop down a third infected that tried to get at him, and he nodded at her gratefully. As they stood catching their breath, a scream echoed down an alley near the auto shop. Alex wheeled around, and stared toward the place the scream had come from. She realized it wasn’t so much a scream, but more shouts, like someone shouting to someone else. But there was no answer to the male shouts.
Sundown Series (Book 1): Prepared Page 19