Our supplies were drenched, and the three places in town that had supplies were wiped clean, I should have expected as much.
It was cold and I found the ideal place to stop.
Just outside of town, part of the high school system was a career and technical institute. I remember when I was in high school, even though I excelled in math, I was a poor student, hated school and did afternoon classes at one of those tech schools.
I had hoped they had a mechanic course, which would mean a garage. It looked like it might. A small administrative-style building with a huge warehouse structure attached to the back. After following the driveway, I found the triple wide sliding garage door.
It was locked.
I checked out the exterior of the grounds, saw no Vee, but the front doors were glass. I left the cart behind the building.
“I’ll be back,” I told Hannah.
She nodded. She looked tired as if she didn’t feel well. I knew she didn’t.
I looked around the grounds on my way to the front and found a large stone. I kept thinking how did anyone miss this place? How was it untouched? Maybe people were so focused on the obvious supply places, they didn’t think of a technical school, or they realized how close they were to Sanctuary and didn’t care.
An easy throw of the rock shattered the glass and I kicked it clean with my foot. The lobby was dusty and smelled of dust, no one had been in the building a while and the air was stale.
After checking out the fire exit map on the wall, I walked my way through the small classroom building, checking every room to make sure it was safe. I arrived to where the garage would be. It wasn’t mechanical, it was carpentry.
The smell of wood filled the air, only a small window let in a little light. Sheets of plywood were stacked up against the wall and I opened the huge garage door.
The area was large, and I led the horse and cart inside and closed the door.
We were hidden and safe. It was more than I could ask for.
The technical school was a gold mine. The carpentry area had flashlights and battery operated lanterns. The first thing I did was secure our safety. I grabbed the plywood and I sealed up the front of the building and the broken window. I was confident no one would know we were in there and the building was far enough away that no one would hear Edward.
By the time I finished securing the front and all the doors, nearly two hours had passed.
Hannah followed me around even after I advised her not to.
“I don’t understand, Calvin, you said we were only staying a couple hours.”
“I think we’ll stay a little longer. You need to rest. I want to clean those bruises, bandage you, and have you lay down on a real bed.”
She snickered. “Calvin, how you gonna do all that?”
“This way.” I took her arm and led her to the back. “Here. The medical teaching room.”
She peeked inside and smiled when she saw the examining bed. “There are people in them.”
“They’re mannequins.”
“I knew that.” She looked at me. “Okay. I’m gonna lay down. Wake me if you need me to feed Edward. I mean, I just did, so he should be good until we go.”
“I appreciate that. Now, let me bandage you up then you sleep. When you feel ready to go, we’ll go.”
I found what I needed in that teaching hall. I cleaned her bruises, put on ointment, even made her take some ibuprofen. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep and I made the most of my time.
I went through our supplies to determine what was salvageable and what was not, then I hit the vending machines and took what I could.
I was most productive in the garage. In fact, I was inventive. Using two by fours, I made four posts around the cart and used a tarp I found to create a cover. Then after finding two sheets of tin in the metal shop, I rigged two of the spotlights to the front posts on the cart to create my own version of headlights. I did the best I could to shield the lights with the tin, to protect from the rain, but I didn’t see that lasting long.
The final leg of the trip was ahead of us and I just wanted to get there safely, rain or shine, light or dark.
25
SANCTUARY
Hannah slept for three hours straight. When she woke up she looked better and felt better. She started rambling and I knew she was getting back to her old self. I was glad.
I asked her if she wanted to stay, but she was insistent that we leave. So we packed up and would be on the road two hours before sundown. To my surprise and a little relief, Leah was at the bottom of the driveway.
“She must have a wife GPS on your rear end,” Hannah said. “I can’t believe she found us.”
“It’s weird.”
“Yeah, but I saw her back when we left the underpass and then again when you stopped to pee. She was closing in.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked.
“Because you didn’t mention her and I thought maybe you were mad that she ate a person.”
“No, I’m not mad.”
We started moving and Leah tagged behind. There was a steady slight drizzle, but the tarp kept us dry.
“We should have stayed at the school,” I said. “Really. We were safe.”
“They were coming, Calvin. I don’t think they’d go past that town, but they were coming there.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Because you told that woman everything.”
I nodded in agreement. “True.”
“I told you not to trust her, but there you went trusting her, and telling her your inner most secrets.”
“Oh, please, I did not.”
“You did. Didn’t I tell you Leah was gonna get jealous? Ate her right up. Speaking of Leah…” Hannah looked behind us. “Whatcha gonna do about her? She can’t come into Sanctuary with us.”
“I know.”
“She’ll follow us there. She’ll get there after us and they’ll shoot her.”
“I know.”
“Think you should do it first?”
“Hannah, I don’t know if I can. I mean… I know what she is.”
“It’ll hurt your feelings if someone else does it. I know. I know how I felt when Pastor Jim killed my dad.”
“You saw it though, maybe it won’t hurt if I don’t.”
“Maybe.”
As I thought it over, we lost Leah again. She trailed behind unable to keep up. She was back there and I knew it.
After it turned dark, we stopped for an hour. Edward was out of control, even Hannah taking him aside, walking him and feeding him didn’t help.
I felt inside of me he was sick. He had caught pneumonia or something. He didn’t sound right. After all he had been through I was surprised that he was still moving. His crying was a calling card for Leah, a way to find us in the night, and she did.
I gave the choice to Hannah if she wanted to stay put or move forward. We had less than ten miles to go and Hannah wanted to forge ahead. She managed to calm him down with the pacifier.
After getting her in the cart, I stood by the side, Edward strapped to my chest, and looked at Leah.
“This is goodbye you know,” I told her. “I know you don’t understand me, but we’ll lose you before we get there. I just needed to say goodbye.”
Of course, Leah tilted her head. She stared back, the skin on her face was drawing in giving her an anorexic appearance. I looked once more then got in the cart and drove.
The homemade headlights worked but we had to slow down the pace. Then just as we saw a sign for Morehead, KY that we had three miles remaining, a massive storm blew in. I felt it coming earlier. The wind picked up and phantom lightning flashed in the sky without the sound of thunder.