Julia sat on the bottom step when the packing was complete, watching the kids create art and Tatia as she rode around on the bare floors with her tricycle. She filled in her notebook with their progress, penned the observations of how they'd pulled together instead of apart. She wrote her fears, not making the ride all the way to the cabin. She wrote the what if's. Jess at beside her and read long as she wrote.
"Don't worry. We'll get there."
"How do you know?"
"Because we have come too far to not get there. And if we don't we'll find another place and we'll try again." Julia listened as she spoke, giving her a pep talk and reassuring her that they'd make it. Then she had the best idea that Julia had heard in awhile. "Close the book."
"You're right. No more tonight. Book is officially closed." Julia smiled.
"Let's take the night off, too. Let them be in charge. They're the men right? Shouldn't they be protecting us?"
"They are, Jess. They are. Everyone is in their own way."
Jess went on to say she couldn't believe how their lives had changed in a little more than a week. That she and Chess would hang out, making out and had no cares in the world. Julia nodded, seconding that notion.
"Will we ever be able to go back home?" Jess asked. "Sleep in my own bed or watch TV?"
"Or paint our nails?" Julia added.
"Or just hang out and listen to music and talk about boys?" Jess smiled.
"Or study and do homework?"
"Or sketch? I used to do that all the time, sit by my window and sketch." Kelly added, her voice sad, but her eyes watching the guys as they talked about morning.
"We can still do all of that. In a different place, right?" Jess added.
"Julia, can I get my sketch books and pencils from my house in the morning? I'd like to take them with me."
"Yeah, of course. You should have your things as well as your brothers. We'll make time for that. And I'd like to see your drawings."
Kelly told the girls about her art she created. She talked about school and her friends. She and Jeremy used to sketch after school in the art room while they jammed to music on his iTunes. When Jess asked if Jeremy was her boyfriend, Kelly blushed and replied, 'I wish.' What was his best quality? He was nice to her, which got Jess ooh'ing and aah'ing about Chess and how sweet he was. "And I thought he only wanted to hang out with me for my pool."
"What was it about Jay?" Kelly giggled.
"He was cute." Julia answered honestly.
"That's kind of shallow, Julia." Cass called across the room.
"I already knew he was nice."
"Julia, is there anything else that needs to be done?" Cass asked, breaking up the conversation.
"Not now. Now we wait till morning." Julia replied.
The house was dark and silent except for the sounds of people snoring. Julia stood on the crates and looked outside and saw nothing but darkness. The ever present hum of death in the street could be heard, but it was a still night. Jay picked her up and placed her on the floor. He demanded she stop looking outside. She had looked at her house and Jay's grand mom's house and the bodies standing in the yards. She reflected on the memories made in those two houses and found herself emotional. She pushed it out of her mind. Her nerves were raw and her anxiety increased as the time ticked by. She and Jay sat silently, both in their own minds. Jay wondered if they'd be able to pull off Operation Flame Thrower. Chess was sick in the head, Jay was sure of it. He wasn't scared or worried, rather he was excited about burning the people that surrounded them. All he lacked was war paint.
"What's in Julia's box?" Jay asked, looking over the stack of bins and bags and boxes that she'd set in the living room.
"Some stuff from home." She answered. "Pictures and a bear, some journals. My hair ties and girl stuff." Jay started opening Julia's box. "It's all packed, Jay. Leave it alone."
"You brought his stuff with you? Why?" He asked taken aback at the sight of Caleb's black box and his notebooks that chronicled his murders. He closed her box back up like she had it.
"I don't know. I just did. What are you looking in there for anyway?"
"What pics did you bring?"
"The ones I had in my room. Mom and dad and us and the kids." She answered, getting testy. "Do you think we can pull this off, Jay? Honestly, can we pull this off?"
"Definitely." He assured her. He lied through his teeth. He had no idea if they could pull it off and all stay alive in the process.
They laid down by the boxes. It was imperative that everyone sleep, that everyone have energy and be alert and ready. Julia knocked out first and he tossed and turned but the noises that the herd created were overbearing. He also feared they'd crash through the door, which was ridiculous because they hadn't up till that point. He also worried this would be his last breathing night on earth. How did Julia and Andy live with Cal and Ellen and not get sick? How did Ray and his friends get sick so fast? Was Sandy sick and in that basement with him? He wished he had his phone, a fully charged phone. Was the Internet still even on? What would they find on their trip to the cabin? Would the roads even be passable? What if the woods around the cabin be full of death and sickness also?
Jay cat napped another hour or two before giving in and getting up. He walked the house, checking the front and back doors and did a quick tour of the basement. All secure. He never wished for the sunrise more than he did then. The first rays that sliced the darkness Jay started waking people up. The rest he left asleep. Julia said to spare them the worry and the wait and the news, no matter how good or bad.
Jay and Tavin left first through the alley as it had the least amount of infected. Chess and Doug waited for the signal, which would hopefully be a shift in the herd as they were beckoned off the dead end street. Phase two depended upon the success of phase one. Until they moved, Chess and Doug had no choice but to wait. The clanking of metal on metal was the signal. Rey stood on crates, peering out the window, waiting and watching.
"They're looking around. It needs to be louder." Rey whispered. "I only hear Jay, what the hell is Tavin doing down there?"
"Stabbing people in the head most likely." Julia mumbled. "Are they fucking moving?"
"No. I think they're too far down."
"What's it look like out there? How many? Can I make it down the street?"
"No way."
Julia turned and walked through the house. Before they caught up with her, she'd sprinted through the alley. She ran till she found an empty side yard. Hopping the fence, she ran to the front and stayed within the confines of the fence. She had mere yards to get in front of the herd. Jay's metal on metal only distracted her. 'They need live bait', Julia said to herself. Now or never, she hopped the front fence, feet hitting a mud puddle where she slipped and fell backward onto her ass. Cold, wet and covered in mud, she picked herself up and sloshed through more mud that felt like quick sand. Her feet sunk into the earth. Julia freed herself from the sticky mud and jogged into the street.
"What the fuck is she doing?" Tavin yelled, dropping the last of the dead near them. All they'd been successful in doing was drawing them from their immediate vicinity. They spent more time killing the ones around them than drawing the herd down the street.
Jay dropped the metal lid on the ground and removed the gun from his waist band. He ran toward her.
Julia stared frozen at the sight of all the dead in front of her. The man she'd landed in front of was massive. Over 6 foot tall with shoulders as wide as a sedan. There was no way she could take this one down without climbing him like a tree. She started backing away, her Nike's scuffing on the concrete. Before she could turn away from the mammoth monster towering over her a bullet whizzed past her head and exploded his head in all directions. The gun shot and her scream definitely caught the herd's attention and they turned and made their way to her, hunger in their bloodshot eyes. The blood had dried on their faces and their skin was tinted an oxygen deprived shade of purple-blue. She heard the boys behind her screaming at her to run. Jay put a bullet into the next walker that reached for her, exploding that one's head. Pieces of flesh and scull and brain matter polka dotted her hair, face and clothes.
She ran back to meet them as the dead turned and started following her. Some moved faster than others, but they all moved, snarling and humming and gnashing their bloody teeth.
Jay grabbed her arm, shaking her. "You are not supposed to be here."
"Jay, stop. They weren't moving." She struggled to get her arm free. ""You almost shot me."
"I would not shoot you. And I was no where near you with either shot."
"Let her go. We need to move out." Tavin yelled, knocking his arm off Julia. They led the herd to the old tire shop on the first street that crossed Green. Tavin took the chain off the fence and Jay and him pulled the fence open and led them inside.
They sprinted around the back of the shop. Tavin jumped and grabbed onto the top of the fence. He was over it like he did it for a living.
"Jay, I can't do that." Julia screamed as he went to follow his brother over the fence. He stopped.
"Yes, you are. If I have to throw you over. Grab the fence when you get up there." He knelt in front of her and he cupped his hands together. "Foot." She set her foot in his hands and he hoisted her with everything he had up in the air. She barely caught the top and held on for dear life. She climbed with all she had as Jay jumped, caught the top and scrambled over. She climbed and sat atop the fence, scared to jump down. Jay kept running. He had to make it back around the building. "Jump!" He yelled back at her. He couldn't make her do that. She'd have to do that for herself.
"Phase 2 is a go." Chess hollered, opening the front door. He and Doug followed the herd from a distance with their fire bombs. When the last of the dead walked through the gates, Tavin and Jay closed them. Cass and Callie finished off any stragglers behind them that didn't make it inside the gates before they closed. Doug and Chess lit the fire bombs and threw them over. Tavin reapplied the chain and a hook to hold the fence closed.
"Where's Julia?" Tavin asked. "Did she make it out?" Jay was quiet. He didn't know how to answer. "You didn't leave her in there?" He yelled grabbing him by his jacket. He shoved him against the fence. "Jay, if you left her in there, I will throw you in."
"I didn't."
"Where the hell is she then?" Tavin screamed shaking him to the point that Doug and Chess pulled him off of his brother.
"I don't know. I got her to the top of the fence and told her to jump."
"You left her there."
"I had to get back here. She was safe up there. She had to jump."
"Did she jump?" Tavin asked.
"I don't know."
"How could you leave her?"
Julia limped around the corner of the building in time to see Tavin shaking Jayson. She'd jumped just as the firebombs were thrown over the fence. At first she sat watching them burn, then the one grabbed her shoe, which forced her to kick off her shoe and jump twelve feet to the ground where she then sprained her ankle on the drop. Limping and shoeless she had to kill three death walkers on one foot as pain shot through her entire body.
"She's right there." Chess yelled, running to meet her at the corner. "Get Callie, she's hurt."
"I am fine." Julia argued, putting an arm over his shoulder so he could help her walk. Her ankle felt like it was exploding at the bottom of her leg.
"It could be broken." Chess argued with her. "And you're bleeding."
Chess helped her to the fence where they all stood a moment watching the bodies burn. As the wind shifted the odor infiltrated their nostrils and they opted to walk away. At the house, the women had started to move their stuff into the truck. Jess was dumping the water off the coolers and bins and she was packing the remaining snow on the ground around their refrigerated foods. Julia sat on the front steps and someone found Callie who launched into a full newbie nurse assessment of Julia's ankle.
"Callie, it's sprained." Julia insisted. Callie looked nervous as she observed the swelling. Light bruising developed on the outer aspect of her ankle. She bent her foot back and forth and sideways. She felt for a pulse.
"Callie, It's not broken, but if you keep bending it all backwards and shit, it might just break for you." Tavin said, looking at Julia's ankle. He unwrapped the ace bandage from its wrapper and moved Callie aside. He knelt on the bottom step and started wrapping Julia up. "How about you treat her head, some saline and a 4x4, some tape?"
"Yeah, yeah, definitely. I'll grab my bag."
They watched Callie walk away. "She's our nurse, Tavin? Jesus Christ."
"Shh, she hasn't even graduated yet. And she's only in her third year. Her head's still in her books."
"And you?"
"Work experience beats out books every time. Trust me." He smiled. "Take it easy and by easy I mean sit on the truck and watch."
"Can you take Kelly home and get her books and stuff and find me a pair of shoes please. I only have one Nike now."
Callie returned with the bag and appeared nervous. "I'll take her. You finish up with Julia."
She went to find Kelly inside and took Jess with her to watch the kids.
Tavin worked on her head, cleansing and cleaning up the cuts and scrapes she got from her jump off the fence. He smeared some antibiotic ointment on each scrape. The large one she had on her forehead he applied a neat bandage.
Everyone worked busily around her. As supplies were brought to the truck, she would take them and stash them inside. Everyone had their list and was working hard. Tavin brought her a pair of replacement shoes as she had asked and Kelly retrieved her belongings from home. She also had another bag with the kids clothes and belongings. She looked longingly at Tavin as she watched him walk away from the truck. She handed off her bag to Julia and kept her back pack over her shoulder.
"He is handsome isn't he, Kelly?" Julia pointed out.
"What? I'm not looking at him." She denied, rolling her eyes.
Within a couple hours, they were loaded up and every one sat inside their assigned vehicle. Julia and Jay were the last to get in the Prius. They leaned against the car and looked at their houses. Jay wasn't upset about leaving this street or this area, but Julia was teary eyed about leaving for sure. She'd grown up in that house. A large chunk of her life was inside that house. She'd never been outside of Maverick for any length of time. This place was all she knew.
They didn't make it far out of Maverick though before they were forced to stop. Tavin jumped down from the truck short of the on ramp to the turnpike. He passed the minivan in the middle and came straight to the Prius that brought up the rear. Jay rolled down the window.
"Interstate's jammed." Tavin complained. "I only know how to get there on the turnpike."
"Well, what do we do then? Phones are dead, not like we can use google maps."
"We need a real map, Jay. Who carries a real map anymore?"
"I do. I Mean I have one." Julia replied. "Open the trunk."
Julia got out of the car and rooted around in her box. She opened up the last of Caleb Downing's notebooks and handed Tavin a Pennsylvania map. "You seriously brought this shit with you? I can't believe it. I told you to get rid of it, Julia."
"Aren't you glad I didn't? We have a map."
Tavin opened up the map on the hood of the Prius and looked at the different routes they could take that would circumvent the turnpike. He stated to follow along, that he'd lead the way.
They had to stop 3 more times due to obstacles in the road and thanks to the airplanes that came down, though not many, they faced a couple areas of road that were completely devastated. They struggled on sometimes faster than others. They'd passed more dead than alive and even though they'd been flagged down by people on foot on the road, Tavin continued onward. They'd never discussed picking up or not picking up people that asked for help and Julia marked in her notebook that they would have to discuss that at the evening meeting. By dusk they'd only made it half way. The kids were tiring in the van. They signaled Tavin by flashing the headlights on and off a few times. Again he'd climbed out of the truck and they convened about whether to push onward and ride around in the dark or to stop somewhere along the way. Julia didn't know which made her more nervous, stopping along the way and walking into a possible unknown threat or continuing and getting stuck on the road and being left in the dark. They hadn't planned on the trip taking so long.
They pulled into a motel parking lot. No one in the office. The office, according to Tavin was splattered with blood. There were several cars outside the motel, but only one family peeked through windows looking at them. A man emerged from the motel room at the far end of the building. Tavin spoke with him, Andrew Laughton. He and his family, wife and 2 children, were in the room holed up. They were stuck with no gas and supplies were running low. They were on their way from Jersey to his family's farm upstate. He hadn't gone out other than the vending machines for fear he'd return and his family would be harmed or worse. He took Tavin to the office and showed him the keys to the rooms. Help yourself, he'd said.
The man was in his late 30's and looked rather like an accountant. When it all fell apart, he started driving and like Tavin, he was forced off the highway. Tavin got through life following his gut instinct. This man, his wife and his children didn't seem to be a threat. He appeared unarmed and he appeared just as terrified as every other survivor out there on the road. The other cars belonged to other motel patrons, but they'd turned into monsters locked inside their rooms.
Tavin and Andrew eventually returned with room keys. He handed out the keys and sent everyone inside, leaving the vehicles outside the rooms till everyone unloaded with their backpacks and road supplies. Tavin, Jay and Tom moved the vehicles around the back of the motel, out of sight. Tavin gathered some water bottles and some cans of soup and gave them to the man and his family. He also said that they'd find him some fuel in the morning so his family could finish their trip to that farm, wherever it was. He didn't give up any information as to where his group was heading, but he did tell the man he had a place.
Behind this motel was an in ground pool and some grills where Luz and Daphne could whip up some food from the coolers in the morning while they road around looking for fuel. They needed it almost as much as the man he'd met. Tom suggested siphoning the gas out of the cars in the lot before separating and going for gas elsewhere. These men formed their fuel plan while everyone else examined their rooms for the night. Nothing was on TV except static, but they charged up their phones and electronics. Julia kept hers close, hoping to hear from her dad.
This motel and the area they stopped had managed to keep the lights on. That night every smelly soul would have a hot shower, the kids would have baths and they'd sleep in beds and next to a heater.
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