Chapter Six #2
names and didn’t want to learn them. “Man,” she barked as both
driver’s side doors closed, “drive!”
Everybody did as instructed. Veronica’s
vigilant gaze and trigger finger stayed calm, but true.
“Where am I going?” the man asked as he
began zigzagging between cars. “It looks like the interstate is
clear just up ahead.”
“To the docks.”
“Where the private boats are kept?”
“Yes.”
“I know exactly where that is and the best
route to get to it. I used to work there. I’m Richard, by the way.
Behind you are my sister and niece, Eve and Marissa—”
“Just drive,” Veronica ground out. She
didn’t want to know anything about them. Anonymity made it easier
if worse came to worse. “No more talking unless absolutely
necessary.”
The man nodded. She closed the laptop with
her right hand. Now Victor could see and hear her, but not vice
versa. Training the gun on the woman, she then used her free hand
to open the faux leather satchel and slipped the laptop inside.
Luckily for this starved and dehydrated bunch, the bag had more
than weapons in it. She took two bottles of water and two protein
bars out of it. It was all she had on her. “Woman, you may reach
for one water bottle at a time.” When the man looked ready to
speak, Veronica forestalled him. “Woman will open the first bottle
and give it to man. Then woman will open the second bottle and
share it with child.”
The dirt-caked woman nodded. She removed her
hands from around the child’s middle and took one bottle of water
at a time. Once all Veronica’s instructions had been met, the
dehydrated trio charted chugging.
“Don’t drink it all,” Veronica warned. “I’m
going to give you two protein bars to split and you’ll need
something to wash them down with.”
The next few minutes contained a lot of
chewing and gulping. Thankfully, the family finished just as the
broken down cars on the interstate drastically lowered in number.
The clearing the man had spoken of was very close now. She found
that happenstance oddly suspicious. Shouldn’t the number of dead
vehicles grown thicker the closer they got to Cleveland?
The growling and hissing echoes of eaters
pierced the quiet. The sounds were coming from just off the
interstate where the traffic thinned out; the pack was no doubt
preparing to head them off and close them in. Had those things
moved the missing dead cars? Were they becoming that smart? There
was no time to worry about her misgivings.
“Drive fast,” she told the man. “Go! Now!
And watch for booby traps on the road.”
He broke out into a sweat, obviously
terrified, his breathing getting heavier. He nodded as he floored
the vehicle. The electric car practically flew off its wheels,
causing her adrenaline to spike too. The man’s relief matched her
own as they whizzed by the clearing where the eaters were entering
the interstate even now.
Everyone in the car was quiet for a couple
of minutes as the vehicle rolled onward, leaving the infected well
behind. Eventually the man broke the silence. “What are we doing
once we get to the docks?” he asked.
Veronica hesitated, but ultimately answered
him. “I’m getting on a boat. You’re going as fast and as far as
this car can take you.”
“Really?” The trio perked up, their eyes
rounding. “You’re giving us a vehicle that is almost fully
charged?” the woman rasped out.
“I am.”
“Thank you,” the man interjected, obvious
relief flooding his worn down features. “We’ve been trying to make
it to Pennsylvania. It’s been slow going until now.”
“You got family there?” she heard herself
ask. Why was she wanting to know anything about them? She knew
better than to care. “A place to go?”
“Yeah,” the man offered. “Both. It’s always
just been a matter of getting there.”
“I’ll leave you with one gun too,” she said,
her gaze flicking toward the little girl before going back to the
man. “It has a silencer.”
He seemed a little emotional. “You’re
pointing a gun at me, yet you’re the nicest person we’ve met since
this whole thing began.”
Her heart panged just a little. How
difficult things must have been for them with a child to worry
about. It had been a living hell for Veronica and she had been all
by herself. “I wish I had more food and water to give you, but
that’s all I had on me,” she grumbled. There was food on the boat,
but she had no idea where yet.
“We’re grateful,” the woman said, her throat
sounding a little less dehydrated. “But we will be fine now. Food
and water is only about an hour away for us once you give us the
car.”
For some reason that knowledge made Veronica
feel better, like she wasn’t abandoning helpless survivors. That
didn’t mean her guard would go down. Having been fooled by
seemingly good people in past encounters, she kept the gun aimed at
the man. “It’s almost yours. The docks are close.”
“At this point they are very close,” he
responded. “At least the non-commercial part of them are.”
She nodded, already knowing that. Some of
her favorite childhood memories were on or near the docks. Her
parents had owned a small boat and rented a slip back before their
children were grown. She knew the docks well, though likely not as
thoroughly as a man who used to work on them. “All of us will get
what we want shortly. Just keep driving and this will be over
soon.”