Stage 6 (25 page)

I found Lucy, and asked her, “Hey Lucy, I just checked the list and I’m confused, why aren’t Ian, Karen, and Sarah anywhere on here?”

She sucked in her breath, and replied, “Jack, you didn’t know? They’re deciding to stay here with Donovan.”

Shocked, I reeled backwards, and turned to run towards Donovan’s group. Sure enough, there they were, moving supplies around from shelf to shelf. I walked up to Ian and tapped him on the shoulder.

He turned around and I said, “What the hell man? You and Karen are staying here, and you don’t even bother telling me?”

He looked down at the ground and said, “I didn’t think you’d let me.”

Angrily I replied, “What do you mean you didn’t think I’d ‘let you’? It’s your decision Ian, but I would have thought you’d think of Karen’s safety.”

His eyes flashed, and he said, “Think of Karen’s safety? I think about it every day! Wandering around out there looking for God knows what; you think that’s safe?!”

I apologized, and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to phrase it like that. Of course, it’s up to you. I’m just surprised, that’s all. I didn’t think it’d be goodbye like this.”

He shrugged and said, “I didn’t think saying goodbye to my parents would be like that either, Jack.”

Confused, I looked up at him. Did he know? Did he somehow find out about the possibility of a cure, and blame me for his parent’s death?

Shaken, I replied, “Well... I guess this is goodbye then.”

He said, “Yup.”

I reached forward to shake his hand, and for a long moment I thought he wouldn’t take it. Then he grabbed it, and looked at me.

I could see fire in his eyes, as he said, “Good luck Jack.”

I knew then, that somehow he did figure it out. His staying here was more an act of resentment, then out of interest for survival. I turned and headed away, distraught.

As I walked away he called out, “I’m sure we’ll see each other again someday Jack.”

I called back, “Yeah, I hope so,” but in reality I hoped our paths would never cross again. I couldn’t handle the blame, not with so much other stuff going on. Donovan walked to catch up with me, and we both stood watching my group load up into their cars, and turn on the engines. Back to back, nine engines came to life and it was inspirational to watch the beginning of our new quest, to reform civilization.

Donovan stuck out his hand, and said, “I’ll watch out for Ian and his sister Jack, don’t worry. We’ll do just fine here.”

I turned to him, grasped his hand firmly, and said, “I wish you the best of luck, Donovan.”

He replied, “The same to you, Jack. It’s a crazy world out there.”

I walked away, and jumped aboard the bus. I asked, “Does each car have their own map, drawn out of our paths? In particular, does Kevin in our lead car have the map?”

Steve replied, “Yes, we’ve double checked and everything’s ready to go!”

Ben asked, “Would you like to give the signal Jack? We’re all waiting for one tap of this horn, to set off.”

Emotion filled me, as I stepped up to the driver’s seat. Ben was driving, so he held his hands away from the steering wheel. I took a deep breath, and looked out the open door to the world. I pushed the horn, and Kevin pulled the Lamborghini out the door with a loud gunning of the engine. The next cars in line slowly set off after him, and then came our turn. We ventured out, and I realized that we must make quite a peculiar procession for anybody still alive to watch. Nine cars came out of the grocery store, back to back, and at the center was a huge, militarized school bus controlling the whole operation. We meant business. A few minutes later, we were on open roads, traveling on our route straight west across the country. We tested out the radio’s, checking in with each and every car. We named them based on the color and make of the car, so we’d always be able to identify them no matter who was in the car.

I spoke into the mike, “Red Lamborghini, check?”

Kevin’s voice came in a heavily accented drawl back over the radio, “Ahh, copy that Yellow School bus, we can hear you loud and clear.”

All the radio checks went off perfectly, and everything was going according to plan. A few hours later, I was kneeled down in the back next to Lucy, making sure her wheelchair didn’t roll around so much as we accelerated.

We approached a town with an obvious Infected presence, and Kevin’s voice came over the radio again, “Ahh Yellow School bus, this is Red Lamborghini and I’d like to report a town up ahead with zombies confirmed. Should we proceed?”

Steve turned to look at me, grinned, and asked, “Let’s go?”

I smiled back and turned to Lucy, and asked her, “Let’s go?”

Lucy then reached her good arm around me and kissed me. Stunned, a huge grin spread over my face.

Then she smiled and said, “Let’s go Jack. Let’s go.”