~~The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust ~~
Everyone is up and ready to go. My head hurts a little, but I can handle it. I need to handle it. We can’t stay another day here. The longer we stay here, the longer it takes for us to get back to the ones we love, to our boys, to my parents.
Following our now group of twelve people, including the dog into the elevator. The elevator slowly descending down to the parking structure beeps letting us know this is our floor. The doors slowly open, revealing the new cars that the men have got when they left. A SUV that fits six is parked in front of us. A red dodge truck is parked next to it. Mathew throws our bags into the back of the SUV and helps me inside of the SUV shutting the door behind me. Chelsea and Mike jump inside of our SUV followed by John and Maggie and Athena.
Jake, Bob, Julia and Johnny jump into the Dodge followed by Emily. Her head down, she hasn’t mentioned a word to anyone since this all happened. Mathew grabs a walkie-talkie from the glove apartment and plays with the knob, hanging the frequency several times until he hears Johnny’s voice on the other end of the speaker.
“Can you hear me? Hello can you hear me?”
“Hear you loud and clear. Ready to go?”
“Yup, as ready as we will ever be. After you,” Johnny says, sounding tired and depressed.
I think we are all a little depressed about losing friends. Just thinking about Kat makes me want to cry like a baby. In the short time I have become to know her I have learned to love her like a sister. I didn't know Greg very well, but for what I did know of him. He wasn't such a bad guy. And poor Devlin, he has saved our lives and for that I’m grateful. I wonder how Jake is feeling right now. If he misses Kat or if he even cares that she is gone? I want to storm over to the truck and yell at him and blame him for her death, blame him for leaving her alone with the kids, where was he? Where was Emily? taking in several deep breathes trying to calm my nerves. I can’t think of that now.
Calming myself down. No matter how he was treating her towards the end it wasn't his fault. It was no one’s fault. No one knew a cut could turn a person into a zombie. No one could have predicted it. Steve’s message saved several lives last night. If it wasn't for him coming on the radio at that very moment. Warning us about the scratch. Someone else could have died.
Alright let’s go.” Mathew says to me grabbing my hand and rubbing tiny little circles around my thumb.
Looking up into his brown eyes I see comfort, love, He makes this world tolerable. Mathew makes me feel like I can go on no matter what comes our way, I will go on. No matter what, Kat would have wanted us to reach our children safely. She would have wanted it. I look out the window and watch the little strip mall disappear. Closing my eyes, I imagine our boys at my parent’s house, happy and safe. I can smell them and hear their little giggles of joy. Tears start to spill over onto my cheeks.
I swipe them away before anyone can notice. I will not cry again, I will be stronger, No matter what happens, we will make it to our family and nothing will stand in our way. No zombie no living, walking, breathing person can stop us.
“You okay?” Mathew asks, studying my face.
I smile “Yes, baby, I will be. Now let’s get to our family.”
The End
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Hell Bound
Book 3
Till death do us part coming 2016
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