"Is it because you don’t know us well enough and if we die you can keep yourself emotionally distanced from us that way?" Perla asked.
"Perla,” Jack said. “We don’t know them at all, I'm sure he has his reasons.”
"It's pretty basic reasoning actually,” I told them. “I'll just never remember them.”
Cindy laughed. “Yeah, the 80's were a great time. So what's your story?"
I gave her the super stripped down version that did not contain Eliza or Tommy, and even that was a pretty far-fetched scary tale. Friggen’ hate when I give myself the shivers.
"So now you’re going to try and get to your friends?" Perla asked.
"That's the idea, we think they might be in trouble,” Gary said.
"How would you know any of this?" Brian asked suspiciously.
My story had gaping wounds that you could drive a Mini-Cooper through. I had watched knowing exchanges passed between Jack and Brian. I didn’t have time to appease their suspicions.
"Listen, I've… we've got someplace we need to be,” I told the foursome. “I will be more than happy to drive you somewhere until you get a set of your own wheels and then we've got to go,” I told Brian directly, basically telling him that I was done answering his queries. We owed each other nothing and I was holding good to that.
"What if we went with you to this rescue?" Jack asked, “And then you helped us find some wheels.” "Listen, everyone here knows that I didn’t tell you half of the truth.” Gary nodded, I smacked him in the arm. “What's going on with the zombies is horrible, but being around us is not something most would want to do willingly.” "Yeah, we're sort of trouble magnets,” Gary said.
"That's one way of saying it,” I added, agreeing with Gary .
"We're in,” Brian said with conviction.
"You speak for everyone?" I asked him.
"We're thrill junkies,” Cindy said as she hopped into the back of the truck.
"I don’t think you’re getting it,” I said.
"Ooooh, zombies,” Perla added, throwing her hands up in the air. “Dammit, I think I chipped a nail,” she fake whined as she climbed into the truck bed.
"Jack,” I said grabbing his arm. “This is no joke.”
He looked me straight in the eye. “Nothing better to do. Can we go now?"
I let his arm go. “I thought I was nuts,” I muttered as I climbed into the driver's seat.
"Oh you are,” Gary said wisely. "But apparently you’re not alone.” "Comforting,” I said as I was about to put the idling truck back into gear. “Gary , we're just about the same height but I've got to adjust the damn seat every time. Why do you like to drive with your knees in your face?"
Gary shrugged.
"DAD!" Justin yelled.
I jumped. “Boy, you almost made me crap myself. What's the matter?"
"Spike strips!" he yelled.
"That would have sucked,” I said as I got out of the truck to remove the pointy bars.
"Whoa, that would have sucked,” Brian said as he looked over the edge of the truck bed.
"You want these things?" I asked him, holding them up.
"Not so much.”
I tossed them as far from the road as I could so that some other unsuspecting traveler would not find their forward progress hampered by them. It wasn't nearly as far as I would have hoped, and leave it to Travis to let me know.
"Nice toss Curt,” he mocked from the back of the cab, referring to the great Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling.
Tracy would kill me if she had seen this, but I flipped him off. He laughed as I went to make sure the strips were off the roadway.
"Zombies!" came the shout.
"Well, forget the strips,” I said as I got back into the truck and got going, “Speeders,” I said looking into the rear view mirror. “I hate speeders.” "We would have been screwed if I hadn't remembered about the strips,” Justin said boastfully.
"Yeah, you definitely deserve a pat on the back for that one,” I told him. We would have been FAR better off dealing with the twenty or so that were following than the hundreds that were in the process of surrounding the furniture store, but then again I hadn’t a clue what we were driving into so I forged ahead.
Brian tapped on the glass window that separated the crew cab from the truck bed. Travis slid it open.
"So how far to the rendezvous point?" Brian shouted to be heard over the sound of the wind and the road.
Gary pulled out the Atlas and tried to get a bearing from our surroundings. “Damn,” was the only thing he said.
"Did we pass the exit?" I asked him.
"Not yet, but if Brian hadn’t of asked we would have.”
"You’re the navigator, you’re supposed to be watching out for this stuff.”
"Well, technically, I'm still supposed to be driving.”
"Yeah, well, that was before having your knees all up in your face nearly hindered your view of the roadway and you almost gave us four flats.” "That’s one way of looking at it I guess. About an hour,” he turned to Brian to answer the original question.
My stomach began its internal churning, bile mixed with acid. Oh boy, yum! I didn’t get flashes of images for my prescience, no, nothing quite so noble. I got to feel like I was going to either throw up or crap myself when I felt like we were getting into some trouble.
"Brian!" I yelled. He stuck his head through the small window. “You sure about this?"
"About what, Mike?" He asked. “Listen, you guys are the first folks we've run across in a long while that I feel even remotely comfortable around. That you guys are risking your lives for your friends says a lot about your character. We're in for a while Mike, and unless you prove me wrong, who knows man, maybe you'll be stuck with us for the long haul too.” He pulled his head back through, satisfied that he had spoken his peace.
"Brian!" I shouted again to stop him from completely extracting himself from the cab’s window. I pointed my ringer over my shoulder right at him. “Do not EVER say that I did not give you fair warning.” He laughed. Travis closed the window as Brian got his head out.
"I don’t think he gets it, Mike,” Gary said seriously.
"He's gonna shoot me when he does.”
"I've got a feeling it'll be Cindy you have to worry about,” Gary warned, turning back from looking at the passengers in the truck bed.
"She does look like she knows how to use that thing, Dad,” Travis piped in.
"Just tell me when we get to the exit and feel free to keep your opinions to yourselves,” I told them. Of course they wouldn’t listen but I might get at least a ten minute respite.
It ended up being more like five.
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE – Tracy and BT
BT was looking at the grass causeway as Tracy hurtled down I-95. He barely registered the spike strips as they passed by his field of vision.
"Zombies,” Tracy said flatly a few minutes later.
BT pulled his field of vision in and looked straight ahead. Thirty or so zombies were running full tilt down the highway in the same direction. They nearly took up the entire width of the roadway. Tracy slowed the car down.
"Whatcha doing, Auntie?" Meredith asked.
"Was thinking of going over the grass and just avoiding them,” Tracy responded.
"Do you think they're following Mike? We could be pretty close,” BT said.
"We could roll on up on them and ask,” Meredith grinned.
"I hate Talbots,” BT murmured under his breath.
"There's no reason to fight them, right?" Tracy asked.
"Besides ridding the world of them, no, not right now anyway,” BT answered her.
Tracy drove over the grass in the median, the car bouncing around on the rough ground.