They took their spoils and headed to the hallway, sitting such that they could see the garage door and front door but might not be visible to someone outside of the house.
They ate in silence, Cassandra finding the bread and hummus and olives almost choking her but still swallowing them down.
They finished the meal by sharing a diet soda, and then once they were done, Cassandra leaned against the wall and studied the man.
He was not looking at her, but Cassandra had no doubt that he was aware of her perusal.
“Good work back there,” he said.
“Where?” she asked, somewhat surprised that he had spoken.
“With the soldiers,” he said.
Cassandra shook her head. “Yeah, I know a shakedown when I see one,” she said. “Why did you give them the car?”
“Would you prefer they take something else?”
His words were yet another splash of reality. And though the words weren’t kind, Cassandra couldn’t bring herself to be angry with him, not when what he said was true.
“Besides,” he said, continuing, “that electric car wasn’t going to get us very far.”
“No,” she said.
She went quiet then and again studied him.
“What’s your name?” she asked.
“Why does that matter?” he responded.
“I just want to know who to thank,” she said.
He looked at her, surprised.
“Jackson Thorne,” he said.
“Please to meet you, Jackson,” she said.
“Jack,” he said.
“Pleased to meet you, Jack. I’m Cassandra Rutgers,” she said.
He stood, studying the place. “Get some sleep, Cassandra.”
Doing so seemed impossible, but as the seconds ticked by, Cassandra found herself falling into a deep sleep.
CHAPTER NINE
Jack had thought the woman, Cassandra, would argue, and he was relieved when she fell asleep without protest.
All things considered, she wasn’t the worst person he could have gotten saddled with, but he needed a clear head to assess the situation.
There was no way around it, no way to deny it, but the shit had hit the fan and he’d been caught unawares.
He cursed himself for that, knew that he of all people should know better than to ever let that happen, but here he found himself. If someone else had told the story, he’d laugh at his stupidity. He’d seen the signs, but he’d let himself get stuck in the city and gotten saddled with a civilian along the way.
A series of disastrous fuckups that Jack might not recover from.
He had to be smarter, and that would start now.
He did another search of the house, looking for something he might have missed during his first round, not expecting to find a weapon but hoping nonetheless.
He didn’t.
The closest thing he found was an emergency kit that had a flare gun, one of those thermal blankets, some ointments and Band-Aids, and two flashlights.
It wasn’t much, but Jack would make do.
He needed transportation but suspected that would be harder to come by, but that was another problem he’d have to deal with when he came to it.
About two hours after they had arrived, he looked at the woman in the hallway and thought about leaving. It would be easier for him if he did, and he moved faster with no one to worry about.
Reason told him that that would be the smart play, the one most likely to keep his ass out of the fire, but he couldn’t do that.
It made him think maybe he wasn’t as heartless as his ex had told him he was, or maybe he had just gone soft. But either way, he felt responsible for her. At least for now. He’d see that she got somewhere safe, though he had no idea where that might be, and then be on his way.
He considered letting her sleep longer but knew that they were burning daylight and needed to get moving. Things were quiet now, but he couldn’t count on that lasting.
He leaned down and shook her, and she startled awake quickly, clasping her surprisingly slender fingers around the hammer.
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
She seemed to be one of those people who could go from asleep to completely lucid in an instant, something that was positive.
“Yeah, but we need to go,” he said.
She nodded and then stood, stretching.
“Did you sleep?” she asked.
“No. But we need to go,” he said.
“Okay,” she responded.
She excused herself for a moment to go to the bathroom again and then she met him back in the hallway. She made quite the funny sight, her professional lawyer’s suit and the bright neon sneakers, but she didn’t look too worse for the wear.
“You find a vehicle?” she asked.
“No. We’re on foot,” he said.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“I’m going to Montana. But I’ll get you somewhere safe before I do,” he said.
She looked immeasurably relieved at his words, but that relief was gone an instant.
“Is there such a place?” she asked.
He had no answer, so he just looked at her. She looked back, her expression not telling him anything, though he could see her mind was working.
“I have an idea,” she said.
“What?” Jack asked. He looked at her warily, not sure that he liked the sound of that, nor the excitement that he saw in her face.
She left, moving quickly to the first room in the hall, and then she came back.
She lifted the helmet and then smiled at him. “How about a ride?” she asked.
CHAPTER TEN
“Jack, it’s the right move,” Cassandra said.
He didn’t have to say anything to make it clear he didn’t agree with her. She’d barely been able to convince him to take five minutes to hear out, and now that she had, she didn’t know that she was gaining any ground.
“Think about it. You want to go to Montana. Montana’s west. So is my family’s place. If we go there, you can get supplies, maybe find out what the hell is going on, and then be on your way,” she said.
“And you want to make this trip to your folks on bicycles. An eighty-mile trip,” he said.
“Yeah. It’s the best way,” she said, nodding emphatically.
She’d spotted the helmet in the craft room but hadn’t paid it too much attention. But when he’d mentioned leaving, she thought she saw a solution.
She found the helmet, and even better, maps, one of which was spread out on the craft table with Jack studying it.
“These trails go for more than a hundred miles. They can take us from here to there. Plus, no people,” she said.
It seemed insane to her that she could so easily buy into the idea that people needed to be avoided, but after that shit with the soldiers, she knew that was the case. And besides, there might be more of those things.
Zombies.
She needed to accept that that was what they were, but it was hard.
All of this was hard.
But if she made it to her family, at least she would be with people she cared about and try get through this.
“And you really think you’re capable of biking eighty miles?” he asked.
“No, but I’m more capable of that than I am just staying here waiting to die.”
He looked at her and then looked back at the map. Cassandra had traced the path that she knew would be most efficient, and she looked at him as he looked at it.
“If we do this, we can’t go through the city,” he said.
“It’s not optimal, but it’s the most direct way,” she said.
“Sometimes direct is not best. We go up and around,” he said, tracing a path around the big suburb.
“That’s hilly terrain,” she said.
“We’ll make do,” he said.
“So you agree? This is the plan,” she said.
“This is the plan,” he responded.