'Til Death Do Us Part (50 page)

“
You love your family?
”
s
he asked.

“
What kind of question is that?
”
I asked hotly.

“
Eliza and her band of idiots
are heading there soon.
I would think that you would want to do all in your power to get there
first
and help them.
”

“
I promised John. Philly is on the way, she
’
s there or she isn
’
t.
”

“
You know what the odds of her being alive are.
”

“
I do, that still doesn
’
t negate the promise I made to him.
”

“
Is your moral compass always stuck
tight
in the upright position
?
”

“
Yeah
,
it
’
s a character flaw for sure.
”

“
Fine
,
we
’
ll do it your way.
”

“
Are we going as fast as this rig can go?
”
I
asked Azile.

“
As much as I want to push it.
”

“
That
’
ll have to do.
”
I held the offending
Yankees hat out my window.
I was hoping the wind would shred it, no such luck. Now I had to hope that
,
as I released it into the wild
,
that a pack of hyenas would stumble across it, tear it up and eat it and then crap it out ove
r an active geyser, or volcano—
either would work in this scenario.
Then I pulled my hand with the cap back in. As much as I dreaded the hat
,
it still beat out the tin-foil, not by much mind you,
but
it was close.
“
Shit,
”
I muttered as I put the damn thing back on.

We had been driving a couple of hours
.
Azile
and I had not spoken at all. The concern I felt for my family was placing a giant pit in my stomach. I was delaying getting to them
on not
h
ing more than the pipedream of a man who had long ago lost the majority of his reasoning abilities to a wide variety of recreational drug use.
We were passing a fair number of abandoned cars
,
and more than once
,
I thought about telling Azile to let me off so that I could get one and go.

I kept turning around
to the slumbering form of John.
He
may have tried to kill me a couple of times
,
but
he saved me a couple of times too.
I owed it to him to keep the promise I had given. And I didn
’
t trust Azile to do it, there was something about the woman I could not
put my finger on.
She
played a part in the drama for sure
,
but
whether it
was a cameo, supporting
,
or starring role was yet to be determined. I thought I had enough of a bead on her that if I left her to her own devices she would kick John out shortly after I left and would then be on her
own
merry little way to parts unknown.

I could h
ear John moving about behind us.
He
sat up and stretched.
“
When
’
d we put a bed in the Gremlin
,
Mike?
”
h
e asked
,
looking over at me.
“
And who
’s
the girl?
”
he stage-
whispered.

“
Her name is Azile and we
’
re in a tractor trailer now,
”
I told him.
I was concerned it might freak him out a little, I needn
’
t have been.
He
scooted up so that he was sitting at the edge of the bed almost between me and Azile.

“
This is much better than t
he car,
”
h
e said, never once asking how our driver came into the picture or how we came to be in the truck.

“
We
’
re ab
out an hour out of Philadelphia,
”
I told him. He didn
’
t say anything
,
but his hands wrapped tight around the lip of the bed.
“
It
’
ll be alright
,
Trip, we
’
ll find her.
”

Azile chose that very moment to
let loose with a
heavy sigh as if the whole event was an exercise in futility.

I shot her a glance
that she completely ignored.

“
What are we hauling?
”
John asked, possibly as a way to avoid Azile
’
s negativity if he noticed at all.

“
I honestly don
’
t know,
”
I said
,
looking over to Azile.

“
Don
’
t look at me, I
’
ve been a prisoner for longer than I can remember.
”

I thought that was a strange response but I didn
’
t ask for her to elaborate. N
ow I was really curious as to what we were hauling also.

The truck began to slow down and finally came to a halt.

“
Go check,
”
Azile said to me.

I had my hand on the door and had just opened it, I could hear John coming up behind me, he was curious too.

“
Relax
,
I won
’
t leave without you.
”
She said smiling.

“
That really doesn
’
t make me feel any better.
If
you were the type of person to leave us stranded
,
you sure wouldn
’
t care about
a little lie to make it happen,
”
I told her.

“
You
’
re probably right,
”
s
he said as she looked at her side view mirror.
“
Why don
’
t you go check before so
meone decides to see who we are?
”

“
Wow
,
man
,
she
’
s a mean one.
Where’d
you find her?
”
John asked me as he stepped down.

“
You do know you
’
re less than six feet from her,
”
I told him.

“
D
o you think she heard me?
”
John asked in all seriousness;
in response
,
Azile bleated the horn.

“
Probably not,
”
I told him.

“
Good,
”
h
e said as we walked to the back of the rig.

I kept looking for something to hold onto if she did decide to leave. There wasn
’
t anything I would trust life or limb to. I stared long and hard at those rear doors. I was remembering what Eliza liked to put in her trucks.

“
What
’
re we doing out here?
”
John asked.

That was about all the catalyst I needed to get moving. I placed my hand on the latch, John had moved closer.
“
Hey
,
Trip
,
why don
’
t you move back a little.
If
any of the funky people are in here
,
run
back up to the cab.
”

“
What are you going to do?
”
h
e asked as he took a couple of steps backwards.

“
I
’
ll be right behind you.
”
I was thinking we were safe, I didn
’
t hear anything moving back there
…
unless they were packed so tightly
that
they couldn
’
t move which meant they would start spilling o
ut the moment I opened the door.
But
the bigger piece that had me pretty convinced we were safe was I didn
’
t smell anything either. If there were that many zombies this close
,
the stink would have had a physical presence.

“
Ready?
”
I asked John.

“Hurry up back there, will you!”
Azile shouted.

I pulled the latch upwards
and pulled the door back.

“
Holy shit!
”
I yelled.

Eliza and Tomas

“
What do you mean she
’
s gone?
”
Eliza asked.

Her man in charge of the convoy was a three hundred pound bruiser that went by the handle
‘
Kong
’
. The last time he had been as scared as he was now
,
he had been seven and had accidentally lit his garage on fire. His mother had sent him to his room, telling him that he would have to deal with his father. Kong
’
s father was a coal miner and did not suffer stupidity from anyone.

Kong—
known better as
Buddy back in his early years—
had cried for five hours straight waiting for his dad to come home
,
and with good reason. Mr. Reynolds had laid down a belt whipping that on occasion still made Kong wince. Right now
,
he thought he
’
d be lucky if the worst of what he had to deal with
was an ass whipping
as he looked into the pitiless eyes of Eliza.

He took a quick breath before he spoke.
“
She got some help. A man came and broke the driver
’
s jaw, took his clothes and his truck.
”

“
Did anyone get a good look at this man?
”
Tomas asked.

Kong liked Tomas more than Eliza
,
but it was by only a matter of degrees.
Like how one prefers a pit viper over a black mamba.
“
No
.
Horatio, the driver
,
was relieving himself when he got jumped.
”