“God, pushy.” Jake stood.
Tiger looked at the map.
“Tig, really, I know you wanna help but—”
“Look,” Tigger said, “I may not know how to read this thing right, but I’ve seen Dora the Explorer enough to know we have to look for familiar things.”
“Like?”
“There’s a lake out that window, Chris. Ain’t there water on this map?”
Common sense. Maybe his nerves were causing him to lose it, but Chris looked at the map. “We left Pittsburgh on a highway north.” His finger trailed the map. “Has to be this highway here.” He pointed. “We were headed to Lake Erie.” He showed Tigger the lake. “So we have to be in this area…”
“Rosemont.” Tigger’s little finger pointed. “Does that say Rosemont?”
“Tig, you can read?”
“Yeah. Some words. Does it say that?”
“Yes. Yes!” Chris grinned. “Rosemont is twenty miles west of where we were, that’s what Ethan told Mick.” He moved his finger to the right, east, away from Rosemont.
“That little blue dot — water?” Tigger asked.
“Has to be. Go see if there’s a pen in Mick’s sack.”
After Tigger stood, Chris continued to stare at the map. He had to learn it. What were roads, which way they would go, and how would they get to safety? But the real question was, where was safe?
He would think about it, but not for long. They couldn’t stay at the cabin. They had to get moving. Aside from figuring out a direction to go, he had to figure out a way to let Mick know they were fine and moving forward on the outside chance that Mick would come looking for them.
Journal Entry 5
I only have a minute to write, but I thought I should. Just in case something happens to us and this notebook is found.
Our camp was attacked by these guys in older military uniforms. I don’t know how many, I only saw three of them. They killed a boy and other grownups in the camp.
Mick had left with Ethan to search for more kids in a town nearby.
I only hope Mick wasn’t caught up by these guys on his way back. Not that Mick couldn’t handle them, but what if he wasn’t ready?
If he didn’t, then I am glad Mick wasn’t there when they came. Mick would have gone after these guys, like he always does, but they didn’t care, there was no fair fight in these guys, they only shot.
I know Mick is out there and he’ll look for us. But right now, we have to run. We’re gonna head north to find the road and follow near that. But stay hidden on the way.
We got a baby with us. She ain’t very old. At least she can walk, but she cries a lot and I don’t know what to do with her.
Heck, I don’t know what to do about anything.
For as much as Mick and my mom and dad taught me, no one said anything about running to save your life. No one taught me what I would need or should do.
I don’t have a clue and I got three kids with me that I have to watch. No one said anything to me about how to survive if I am stranded. I guess no one thinks to teach their kids that.
I’ll just have to do the best I can. If something should happen to me, I tried.
7. Smoke and Mirrors
Tom didn’t find Dan Hynes, the driver of one of his trucks; Dan found Tom.
Just about one mile outside of Wadsworth, the smoke was so thick Tom had to pull over. He didn’t believe they could go any further.
His chest filled with a heaviness from the smoke, and even a cloth over his nose and mouth didn’t help. He felt bad for the two men in the back of the truck, and for them and their safety, he couldn’t go on.
“You sure you sent the trucks this way?” Rose asked.
“This is the way they would have gone. Big Bear Food Storage is just outside of Wadsworth. This was the last trip to unload the warehouse.” Tom replied. “Son of a bitch.”
Rose swiped her hand down her face. “Maybe they saw the fire and trouble and just stopped.”
“We can hope.” Tom shifted the truck into reverse and just as he tapped the gas, he heard a double bang against the rear of his truck. He hit the brakes. One of the men in the back of the truck pointed, and Dan Hynes smacked against the driver’s side window.
His face was dirty and bloodied with brush burns.
“Jesus,” Tom opened the truck door. “Dan!”
“Tom, thank God.” Dan grabbed his chest.
“Get in.” Tom got out, making room for Dan to get in the truck.
Dan struggled and grunted, holding on to his side as he climbed in, sitting next to Rose.
“Where are the others?” Tom asked as he got back inside.
Dan shook his head. “I don’t know. We got separated. They were alive the last I saw, but we decided to separate so they didn’t see us.”
Tom turned the truck quickly and headed away from Wadsworth. “So who didn’t see you?”
“Group of men. Big group. That’s how I got hurt. They were speeding away, don’t know if they saw me, but I dodged from their truck. Think I broke a rib.”
Rose peered over Dan. “We can’t leave the others, Tom, we have to look for them.”
“I know, I know. But we can’t see nothing with this smoke. Dan, which way were they? When did you separate?”
“Near the warehouse. We were pulling in,” Dan said. “We saw the trucks; they beat us to the punch and were emptying it out. They had guns so we backed off. We ditched the trucks off to the side, but that was stupid on our part. They took them. Then we decided to split up. I went through Wadsworth.”
“What happened there?” Rose questioned. “What’s burning?”
“Everything,” Dan answered. “I guess it wasn’t supposed to be like that. When I arrived, they had a tanker and were emptying the gas station. They lit it up and it got out of control.”
Tom twitched his head with a long blink. “Any idea who these guys were? Did they look like stragglers, a gang, something out of Mad Max, what?”
“No,” Dan answered. “Soldiers.” Rose looked quickly at him at the same time as Tom. “But not dressed like normal ones,” Dan clarified. “Some were wearing black jackets. A lot looked like hunters.”
“Yeah,” Rose said. “Sounds like militia.”
Tom asked, “Rose, you’re part of Ohio Third aren’t you?”
“No, Minuteman, but this doesn’t sound like them. More like OFD… even then I can’t see them burning Wadsworth.”
“What are we gonna do?” Dan asked.
“Head back, organize and think,” Tom answered. “Get on Henry to get back in touch with the government, see what they know. Rose, any thoughts about if we can find out if Minuteman or OFD is still operational?”
“Take a ride to their compound, it’s not far. Buzz and I can take a ride out on the bikes.”
Tom only nodded but didn’t give his verbal agreement. His options were limited. He had to find out what was going on, because all of this was far too close to home. He hated the thought of sending Rose out with Buzz, but with Mick out of touch, what choice did he have?
Las Vegas, NV
He coughed his way through telling Lexi and Bill about there being rooms available in the hotel, and that at least a hundred people were there.
Cough. Cough.
He wasn’t sure. He was just someone staying there. There were other people running it, and they were hoping to make it a stopping depot for those going east.
When Lexi asked why, he simply said, “Lots of people are going east. That’s where the life is.”
It made sense to her. After all, the flu had started on the West Coast and people on the East Coast had a chance to lock down, maybe stay out of circulation. They were able to prepare a better defense against the flu.