The Long Way To Reno (13 page)

            “So?”

            “I
had this feeling. That I wasn’t to trust them.”

            “
So
?”

            “I
have that feeling now, Harley. I want to get out of here,” I continued, bunching
his shirt –
my
shirt – up in one of my fists for emphasis.
“I don’t want to stay with these guys.”

            “C’mon,
they’re safe, they’re the military -! They’re armed, and they have a better
chance of getting us into the city without – “

            I
repeated my words firmly, to which he frowned and jerked my hands away from
him. For a guy with girlish hands, they were pretty strong. I was momentarily
stunned by the strength in them. Almost felt a tingle of appreciation before I
remembered whose these hands belong to.

            He
exhaled heavily, staring up at the water-stained ceiling. Conversation started
to die away, so I fumbled again, subtly shifting to push his rifle to
him.  “Does he know about this?” I asked low, catching his attention by
pushing the barrel at him. He pushed me slightly to get it free, a slightly
alarmed look on his face. Guess I could’ve died at that moment, accidently
pulling the trigger with my layered bulk, so I knew it was loaded.

            “No,”
he replied in a low whisper.

            “Get
some rest,” Victor repeated, startling us.

            I
looked at Harley. Waited for him to agree with me, to acknowledge my bad
feeling.

            He
gave an impatient noise. “All right. Okay. Fine.”

            “Yey,
now go to sleep!” Emmy complained from her side of the room.

            I
settled against the man, feeling really weird about it. I wondered just how
good of a shot he was. Wondered how we were going to get out of the situation.
On impulse I asked, “Hey, can we use one of the rooms for a quickie?”

            “OH
MY GOD,” Emmy exclaimed, making everyone else groan and snap at me for being so
damn annoying and noisy.

            “
Shut
up!” Harley hissed at me, growing red while Victor snarled the same thing and
told me to go to sleep. I shrugged because I tried, and I couldn’t think of
anything else. Just in case he was going to forget about the situation, I
bunched my fingers into his shirt once more.

            For
a few minutes we all laid in silence. I struggled to think of a way to escape
this situation. I couldn’t think of another way out of it, and my dread was
growing heavier by the moment. By the time the front door opened, the sounds of
heavy footfalls causing me to jump, my mind was still a blank. Everyone lifted
their head from the floor to look over at this ‘sarge’, and four others. I
immediately noticed that Sandy and Benson looked at everything but the people
staring up at them with familiarity. That made me extremely nervous.

            “I’m
sorry to interrupt,” the older man said, his voice like a low bark. He scanned
all of us, taking his time to take our individual features in. His uniform was
blackened with soot and dirt, and his hand shook slightly before he slid it
into his pants pocket. “But due to the amount of Rabid in the area, I’ll have
to ask all of you to redress and meet me outside. We have found a more suitable
location for your safety.”

            Hearing
this didn’t make me feel better at all.

: :

            They
had everyone load the vehicles with what had been gathered. I lingered in the
shadows near the porch, not contributing to anything because my instincts were
screaming at me to be prepared. I was anticipating something, but I didn’t know
what – while I refused to help the others load up, shakily applying
lipgloss, I noticed that all of the soldiers were stone-faced and stiff. They
weren’t displaying any sort of familiarity or giving comfort or offering words
of encouragement to anybody. The ladies that had fawned over Benson earlier
were rebuffed sternly, and they were shooting me dirty looks every time they
passed me.

            Emmy
was watching me, I noticed. Only because she stopped complaining about the lack
of my contribution and made it very open that she was studying my expression.

            “Get
over it,” she said on her last trip into the doublewide. I didn’t bother to ask
her what to ‘get over’, too focused on the soldiers.

            Harley
was holding a bunch of blankets that he’d been using, and I was utterly
relieved that he was effectively hiding his rifle from the others in that
moment. He kept giving me suspicious looks, like he was trying to figure me out
every time he passed me.

            Victor
kept frowning at me. There were two other guys standing with them, and they
were giving me skeptical looks, almost laughing as I fumbled with my lipgloss.
I was aware that I was a joke to them – like, really, how could I have
survived so long? I didn’t care about their opinion.

            Our
newest destination was located in the shallow valley to the back of the
community, where the fire burned warmly. While puzzled by the location, the
others started filing into their respective vehicles anyway. I took my time
making my way to the dually. My heart was thundering hard. Dread made my feet
drag, and my fingers to clench on the strap holding my Fubar. Harley kept
giving me dirty looks, but he started to lessen their severity once he realized
how agitated I was getting. For some reason, Emmy traded her seat in Benson’s
truck to be with us – she clutched my arm and muttered that I was acting
like a dramatic freak.

            By
the time it was my turn to get into the truck, it felt like a death sentence. I
felt doomed. I looked at Sandy, but she was avoiding any sort of eye contact.
Whatever had been decided beyond our ears was something none of us were to walk
away from.

            “Get
in,” Harley urged, as I stared at the seat for a few seconds too long. His
‘blankets’ had been tossed in the back, almost carelessly. I’d noticed Benson
scanning our supplies and looking over this scrawny guy for indication of his
weapon. The curious thing was that he didn’t say anything out loud in regards
to it.

            “No,”
I replied firmly, looking away from the truck. Everyone was too busy getting
comfortable for the short drive into that valley. I looked up at him. “No, I
don’t want to.”

            “Get
in, c’mon,” Jordan complained, giving me a dirty look while he started the
diesel. It rumbled to life, spewing fumes into the cold air while the other
vehicles started just as noisily.

            “Just
get in! C’mon, we’re all tired, and we want to get to sleep,” Harley said
impatiently, hand at my arm.

            Emmy’s
hands were deep in her Elmo sweater pockets, knee jiggling – but she
didn’t wear the same expression as everyone else. She looked at me, then at the
two in the front seat with a suspicious expression.

            Feeling
desperate, I searched for any other excuse to stall. Those in uniform were
ignoring questions from the others they had in their vehicles. I could see
puzzled expressions from them, and noted that Sandy was chewing on the inside
of her cheek as she focused beyond the windshield. Her previously chatty,
abrasive self was now reluctant to partake in any sort of contact with those
she’d been open to.

            Emmy
looked over at me, saying cheerfully, “It’ll be okay…c’mon. We can do this
together, if you want.”

            I
looked at her sharply. She was still smiling, but her fingers were drumming
against the knife at her thigh. I had the ultra-strong sensation of relief in
that she knew what I was thinking. That she was reassuring me in a way that
told me she wasn’t about to stand by and be slaughtered, either.

            I
climbed into the dually and sat next to her. She was breathing as heavily as I
was, but struggling similarly to control it. Harley stared at us for a couple
of moments after settling in, then looked at the guy that shut the door as he
settled at the end of the seat. Sandy stared out her window and Jordan locked the
doors before following after the others. We were the last vehicle in the
convoy. That was only slightly relieving.

            Emmy’s
hand was shaking as her fingers found mine in the darkness. She squeezed so
hard that I winced. As we bumped over the speed bumps in the road, I pulled my
Fubar from behind me. Instead of laying it completely over my lap, I held it
inches from the wrench head, my limbs shaking. Harley kept looking at me, but I
ignored his expression as I watched the road ahead of us.

            Emmy
had her knife out, and was squeezing it tightly with both hands. She looked at
me, and I looked at her – she looked terrified, but she nodded to show
that she knew exactly as I felt. When we neared the Lockwood bridge, she looked
at me again. I felt my pulse race. Her eyes darted to Jordan, and then to
Sandy. I looked at Sandy, shook my weapon slightly to show her that I’d got
this. She nodded to indicate that she was okay with it.

            I
took a deep breath, exhaled slowly to somehow relax myself – but it
didn’t work because Emmy was up and plunging her knife into Jordan’s shoulder,
making him scream aloud as he jerked the wheel, Sandy starting to move with a
startled shout. Before she could do anything, I hit her with a sideways jerk of
my weapon, the wrench side knocking her into the window. It was hard hitting
somebody that resisted – like hitting a cement wall. I put all my weight
and desperation into another hit, then another, heaving with the effort. It
jolted my arms, my shoulders – it was a hundred times harder actually
doing it than watching it on tv.

Harley
hollered as he got caught up in the mess, somehow angling over me to reach over
to the driver’s seat, lunging forward to catch the wheel as Jordan struggled to
escape Emmy’s murderous intentions. I kept hitting Sandy in order to keep her
off balance – out of breath, my arms already jelly. The man on the other
side of Harley struggled to get the door open, but it was apparent that the
child-safety locks had been activated.

            The
dually swerved, no doubt catching the attention of the others as it swarmed
into dirt before Harley could control it. But Jordan’s feet still manipulated
the pedals, and he slammed on the brakes. Harley went tumbling onto the seat,
Emmy crashing into Jordan as he was trapped under Harley’s body. I caught
Sandy’s helmet within the teeth of my weapon, and we struggled to free
ourselves. Somehow, Harley was able to open the driver’s side door and shove
Jordan out while he took the front seat – Emmy screamed that the others
were opening fire on their passengers.

            Harley
unlocked the doors, and Sandy bailed – so did the guy once he heard the
doors unlock.

            Gunning
it, Harley turned the vehicle around and struggled for something to say while
Emmy screamed about how the others were being murdered. I fell onto the front
seat as well, popping up awkwardly to look out the window. I saw that the other
soldiers were dropping the others onto the street, gunfire flashing spurts of
color in the darkness. I also saw that the sarge was screaming at the first
vehicle to follow us. Harley took the road along the river with white knuckles.
The truck vibrated with the speed he took over those obstacles, our heads
banging off various surfaces as the truck rattled with his efforts.

            “They
were going to
kill
us!” Emmy screeched, clutching onto the seat while
straining to look behind her. “They were going to kill all of us!
Why
?”

            “Maybe
they thought we were infected, too,” I answered breathlessly. “They had
knowledge of that virus, long before this happened – maybe all of them
were vaccinated, or something, to prevent from being infected.”

            Emmy
had some creative names for them, still breathing heavily. “They’re catching up
to us! They’re going to shoot us, Harley, drive
faster
!”

            I
slouched low in my seat, gripping my Fubar hard. My heart was beating so fast
that I felt like it was going to burst from my chest. I propped my feet up on
the dash to steady myself.