End of the Line (11 page)

             
The only hope I held on to.

             
“Earth to Jim,” Ashley said, interrupting my thoughts.

             
“Sorry,” I said. “Bet you want decorating tips?”

             
Ashley laughed. “Nah, some feng shui advice, if you have it,’ she said and winked.

             
She decorated the back of the truck like my first apartment—Simple and haphazardly. Two people would be in the cab and four of us back here. We had an air mattress, a few pillows, a bucket for a toilet, lots of canned food, meds, candles, flashlights, some tools, ammo and 7-12 mile range CB. Dave would be the chief driver along with Jake and me, not because we were guys but Annemarie and Tanya would be the shooters, and Ashley barely knew how to drive. Dave would be considered ‘security chief’ for this trip. Apparently it was the only way to make him shut up about me being in charge.

             
We planned to go as far as Coram because that’s where Annemarie’s parents lived. I didn’t think we would be able to get to the city. Not with a population of 8 million that were dead or undead. The amount of death disturbed me but I also thought of Cam who never came home. I knew where he worked, three blocks from Penn Station. I always wondered if I could find him. Would he had stayed in the office or tried to go home?

             
I wanted to find Aisha’s family, but we couldn’t for Simon, whose family was dead, and Brie. Abe searched the houses near where he found her to look for pictures or recognition from Brie, but came up empty. She could have wandered for blocks.

             
Maddie said that if society ever came back and no one claimed the kids, she would take care of them. I know that probably partially wished no one would. She loved those kids.

             
I hoped they wouldn’t be spending their lives here. I looked forward to the open air but I was nervous. Zombies liked our smell. One of the reasons Abe limited people to twenty wasn’t only about supplies, but the more the living were together, the more the undead came.

             
Harlan watched from the now fortified fence but there wasn’t much you could do with a chain linked fence, even with barbed wire. Zombies didn’t care about pain. I could see movement outside the fence and several dead zombies on the ground directly outside. I saw more than usual, probably because more of us were outside. Harlan shot the ones that came close. While zombies didn’t seem to have higher brain functions, they reacted to basic emotions, at least I think they did. Sometimes you could shoot from far away and they flee as if fearful of the noise. They got almost giddy when they were closing in on us. Nothing could stop them then, but a shot in the head.

             
The gate opened and Tanya and Aisha came out. Tanya closed the gate behind her and the both of them came down the stairs. The loading dock gate was closed for safety reasons. If for some reason the outside got compromised, we would sacrifice ourselves to save CostKing.
             

             
Aisha took a shine to Tanya which seemed to both annoy and endear her. It might have to do with Aisha’s new room being right next hers. I cut Tanya’s hair a little better. It was still shaved but looked more even.

             
“Hey,” she said. “Girl wants to talk to you.”

             
“To me?”

             
“You’re organizing this trip, right?”

             
“I guess. What’s up, Aisha?”

             
“I want to come,” her voice sounded a little shaky.

             
“What?” Even though I heard correctly.

             
“I said I want to come,” sterner now.

             
“You’re only 14.”

             
“I can shoot, run fast and fix up wounds.”

             
“No offense, but kids do stupid things,” and there was no way I would allow a 14 year old girl to come with us.

             
“I won’t be stupid. I’ll listen to adults, run from zombs, shot them if I have to.”

             
“Maddie will look after you. If we find your mother and sister, we’ll bring them here.”

             
“I love Maddie and all but my mom’s out there, I got to find her.”

             
“Girl’s got a point,” Tanya said.

             
“Tanya, not helping.” I said, staring at her.

             
“’Course I’m not, I’m agreein’ with her. Kid was on her own before she came here, right? No reason she can’t go with a bunch of adults.”

             
Tanya had loosened up in the past couple of months but she could still be a major pain. She never told me or anyone what happened to her but I’m sure it was bad. For five Vicodin, Princess gave Tanya two lessons, but never referred to her by name instead called her the black girl while Tanya called her the rich white bread. 

             
“What did Rachel say?” I asked. Rachel, our depressed, but I think good leader. I often worried she’d take a dive like Abe did but at least now she had Dan despite their celibate relationship. Everyone talked about the wonderful Abe but he had a darker side. He believed in survival of the fittest. He would have never taken in Henry or Tanya. He didn’t want to help that woman who killed Mindy and Eli. It was much worse than I let on. He told me not to give her pills, not to waste our resources on her. She threw the pills in my face because while I was gone, Abe told her that even if she took the pills, we wouldn’t let her in.

I was the one who got Ernie to run errands for us and I was the one who said to leave supplies in the food court for travelers, that we should have friends on the outside. Abe didn’t want to, worried that an influx of people would bring them but ultimately decided we needed allies.

             
“I haven’t asked.”

             
“Because she would say it’s a bad idea.”

             
“I want to go to my house. I couldn’t before. I want to see for myself. What if my mom’s there, waiting?”

             
“What if she’s dead?”

             
“It gonna be rough. Gotta be able to deal with you find,” Tanya said.

             
“At least I’ll know.”

             
“How about this? Discuss it with Maddie and Rachel first. I’ll go along with what they say.” Her eyes lit up, but I hoped I hadn’t deceived her. I gave the decision to Rachel and Maddie because I knew they would say no.
             

             
“Fair enough,” she said. “If I can go, will you teach me how to drive?”

             
I laughed but I didn’t think she was joking.

             
Maddie remained calm when Aisha told her. We gathered near the food court, just those who were going plus Maddie and Rachel. Jake and Ashley sat on lounge chairs nearby and looked like they wanted to vanish. Dave paced slightly. Annemarie was on the roof so she got spared the discussion.

             
“Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked Aisha. Her face gave away she was upset but she kept her voice steady.

             
“Yes.”

             
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Rachel said. “It’s dangerous out there.”

             
“No more dangerous than a year ago.”
             

             
After a long pause, Maddie burst out crying, pulled Aisha into a tight hug, then said: “Girl, if you got to go, you go, but you promise me you either go with your folks if you find them or you come back to me. You don’t die, right?”

             
“Right.” Aisha said, and then untangled herself. Rachel looked upset but didn’t say anything.

             
“Come on,” Dave said, his voice raised. “This is ridiculous. We can’t bring her. She’s a child. Rachel, you know this.”

             
“Don’t matter,” Aisha said. “I’ve decided to leave any way. Either you take me to my mom’s house or I go on my own. None of you have legal right over me.”

             
“Sounds like the girl made up her mind,” Tanya said.

             
“You keep out of this,” Dave said. He took a deep breath in and snorted it out.

             
“No—“ Tanya replied and I could feel the anger from her which was never good. “The girl’s made up her mind. You ain’t her father.”

             
“Enough!” this came from Rachel. “Dave, you have no responsibility towards Aisha, okay. I want you and Tanya to get along. You’ll be on this trip together, worry about zombies not each other,” Rachel looked back at Aisha. “The world is overrun by things that want to kill you. Your family may be dead in the house or one of them. Can you handle it?”

             
“Will I go crazy and panic? Therefore get everyone killed, no. Will it upset me?  Sure, but adults would get upset too.”

             
“This is crazy,” Dave said. “She’s a child.”

             
“The discussion is over. Dave, if you don’t like it, you know where the door is.”

             
“Fuck you, Rachel,” he said and I knew Dave was mad because he usually stepped down. “Stop trying to show me the door because I have an opinion. Sending a kid out there is stupid,” he said, and stomped off. For a change, I didn’t disagree with him. I didn’t think this was good idea. I promised I would go along with Rachel and Maddie but I had to say one thing.

             
“Aisha,” I said, trying to make my voice sound stern. “You have to promise me, you’ll stay out of trouble. I can’t keep one eye on the party and one eye on you. I mean it.”

             
Her eyes softened. “Jim, I’ll do anything the adults say.” I don’t think she really wanted to go out alone. Her face said that. I admired her bluffing.

             
“Don’t worry,” Tanya said. “I’ll keep one eye out for her.”

             
“Okay,” Rachel said, not frazzled. “Why don’t we all get back to work?”

             
Jake and Ashley got up and left without a word, while Maddie and Tanya went off with Aisha, leaving me alone with Rachel.
             

             
“You too, Jim.”

             
“Have you thought about what I asked?”

             
“Yes. It’s stupid.”

             
“Or a cure for the zombie virus. So you either come with us or give me some blood. I prefer the blood. I don’t want you to become a laboratory experiment.”

             
“The blood will probably coagulate or go bad before you even give it to anyone.”

             
I rolled my eyes at Rachel, who could be painfully stubborn. “Doc, come on.”

             
She didn’t look happy. 

             
“We can go to the pharmacy and do it right now. They have blood test kits and we have anti-coagulates to keep it from going bad.”

             
“You know everything in this store.”

             
I needed something to keep my mind off Cameron.

             
She let out a long sigh. “Fine, one tube of blood, that’s it, especially since I have to do it myself.”

             
“Good enough,” I said.

             
“You promise to be careful on this trip?” she asked. “Don’t stay in places that have bodies and if you have to handle a body use gloves.”

             
“I told you before, we’ll be careful.”

             
Rachel almost smiled. She touched my cheek then headed to the pharmacy.

Chapter 8

I was always a lark, so I woke at dawn and made sure the truck was correctly loaded and comfortable. Only Ashley joined me. The rest woke later. Most of them started the day at 8 but today everyone but Princess, who was still in on duty, woke at 6 to see us off. Maddie gave us a big breakfast at 6:30 which everyone except Princess attended. She didn’t say goodbye to anyone except me, I found a short endearing note written in elegant hand on my pillow.

             
‘
Do not die.’ 

             
I was surprised she left a note.

             
Rachel seemed more depressed than usual. She didn’t say much and moped around.

             
Dave would drive first with Annemarie next to him. Tanya wanted to do it, but Dave didn’t want her to, telling me it would be better if Tanya rode with me. This was going to be a tough trip if they never wanted to be together.