“It’s not. If it was, we’d all be wandering around with black crud for blood and no brains by now,” Les said derisively. He clasped Devora’s shoulder for a brief moment in a reassuring gesture. “Take Jenny on the bus and give her the bath. Let the ladies watch, okay?”
It was probably the best compromise that could be accomplished right now and she appreciated his delicacy in not suggesting Jenny take a bath in full view of all the refugees. She would have refused to subject the child to such an outrage. Ethan walked her to the bus and helped her up the steps, with the designated observers close behind. Les passed along extra bottles of water from the cargo compartment and a clean towel he’d scrounged from somewhere, probably the hot springs kitchen.
Jenny was too sick and miserable to care about the watchers but Devora was acutely conscious of them staring over her shoulders as she undressed the poor toddler and washed her off with cool water. Jenny was asleep by the time she was done and hastily Devora put her in a fresh tee shirt. Luckily Les had grabbed pretty much the whole rack so there was a variety of sizes and the larger ones made nightgowns for Jenny. She settled the girl on the bus seat and covered her with the towel she’d been using as a blanket.
“Satisfied?” she asked the women, hands on her hip, jaw clenched.
“Yeah, no bites, no marks,” one said.
“Sorry for the trouble,” the other muttered. “We had to be sure.”
“Tell them that.” Devora gestured at the group waiting outside. “So we can get going and maybe find her meds to make her feel better.” She plunked down in her seat, unwilling to disturb Jenny or help pack up. Les was on his own today. Crossing her arms she stared straight ahead as the two women left the bus, one murmuring, “Poor little kid,” as she went.
Where was all this sympathy twenty minutes ago? Objectively Devora understood everyone including herself was terrified of being infected and becoming one of the mindless killers but as Jenny’s parental stand-in, she was outraged. She wasn’t used to people doubting her word either. Thank goodness for Les.
Eventually the other passengers boarded the bus, filing silently by her seat. There were fewer than there had been so she guessed a number had chosen to ride on Ethan’s bus now, just in case. Les brought her two more water bottles and an extra survival ration.
“How’s she doing?” he asked.
“She’s still feverish. I hope we can find the right meds for her at the next stop,” Devora said. She caught his hand as he prepared to enter the driver’s area. “Hey, thanks for giving Jenny and me a chance out there.”
Turning back, he bent to kiss her. “Of course. Gotta look out for my two best girls.” With a wink he climbed into his chair and initiated the engine. The bus pulled onto the deserted highway and resumed the journey to the rumored safety of Glastine.
Devora drowsed off and on. Jenny slept for the most part and when she was awake Devora coaxed her to drink water and try tiny bites of the survival ration but her stomach rebelled. Les had to pull over twice to allow Devora to rush the child off the bus to throw up and each time Jenny seemed weaker and more listless.
“We’ve got to try to find her something better to eat than this dry ration bar,” she told Les as she got on after the second time. “Broth or even better would be drinks formulated to replenish her electrolytes. Plain water is better than nothing but I’m worried.”
“We’ll see what we find in the next town,” he said doubtfully. “If it hasn’t been picked over by all the people who came out here before us.”
“How long till we get there?”
He checked the readouts on the dashboard. “Another two hours. At least there haven’t been too many trucks or wrecked cars to avoid.”
No sooner had he spoken than the proximity alarm on the control panel began beeping and he took control from the AI in time to swerve around the end of a jackknifed groundtruck, which stuck out into the roadway. Les had to go into the verge to avoid the wreck and he swore as he fought to keep the bus upright.
“Stop, go back,” Devora cried, gripping his shoulder hard. “That was a Federated Suppliers truck.”
“So?” Les applied the brakes and the bus slowed to a stop. “So what?”
“So they were one of Jonny’s main suppliers for his grocery store and the pharmacy in Rosewater. It didn’t look like it’s been touched since it crashed—who knows what might be locked inside?” she said eagerly. “Maybe something Jenny needs, maybe food for all of us.”
Les hesitated, assessing the road ahead and then checking out the truck in his vids. “Ethan, back it up, we’re going to investigate the truck,” he said into his com unit. “Might have supplies we can use.”
Raising his voice, he addressed the other passengers. “All right, people, we’re making an unscheduled stop to check out the truck and see what it was hauling.”
The two buses parked on the pavement close to the truck and Les ordered his armed squad forward. “Everyone else, stay on the bus,” he said. “Let us check it out and see what we’ve got before we celebrate too much.”
Devora wasn’t about to leave Jenny by herself on the bus although she was eager to see the truck’s cargo. She doubted the trailer would be empty because the freight haulers made strenuous efforts to avoid a costly deadheading situation.
She watched in the main vid as Les, Ethan and the team of guards approached the truck, going first to the cab. Devora slipped into the driver’s seat and amplified the view on the main vid in order to see better. The other passengers watched on the screens mounted on the bus’s thin walls.
“I guess we know why it crashed,” said a woman as the screen showed two infected locked in the groundtruck’s cab. “One must have turned and bitten the other one.”
Leaving the two infected alone, since they couldn’t do any harm, Les and the others moved to the back of the trailer. With a quick blast, the locks were blown off. Devora found herself leaning forward on the driver’s seat, chewing an already ragged nail as the big doors were swung open, revealing the cargo.
The truck was full of stasis keepers and other containers, jumbled out of order in the crash, many crushed or open and leaking but she saw labels she recognized.
“Guess we hit the jackpot,” said a woman with glee. “Stuffed with food for the taking.”
