“I’d better get over there and start cataloging what we’ve got,” Devora said. “I’ve got my handheld powered up, at least for now.”
“We can charge it off the bus engine too,” Les said.
Once they arrived at the side of the bus, Devora undid the backpack and took out a picture book, which she handed to Jenny. “You can help me with all of this by sitting and reading, okay?”
The toddler took the book and plopped down on the pavement.
“Might as well open the cargo area,” Les said. “We can load up as soon as you’ve made your tally.” He fished the driver’s token from his pocket, having found it stuck to the dashboard by its magnetic back and pressed it to the locking mechanism. The bus panel slid smoothly aside and he and Devora stared in disbelief at the contents. There were boxes and boxes of survival rations and a number of packs of sealed nutrition drinks, as well as flats of bottled water. “Guess the late Rosewater warlord did think ahead to some extent,” Les said as he gestured to Ethan to join them.
Devora shook her head. “I’m positive it wasn’t Jonny. He wouldn’t have done this because he never expected his compound to fail. I was told the owner of the local sporting goods store was in charge of the evacuation plan, which Jonny agreed to grudgingly and he must have brought stock from his store.”
“Did he make it out with us? I’d like to thank him,” Les said.
Devora shook her head. “He was on the barricades last night.“
Ethan whistled as he walked up to them and got an eyeful of the bounty in the cargo compartment. “Nice.”
“Go check your bus and see what you have over there,” Les said. He eyed the pile of foraged goods, which was growing slowly. “We’d have had a hard time feeding the group with just the junk food from this place.”
“Get me somewhere with a stove or even a big pot and a fire and I can make a filling meal with what’s been brought out from the restaurant kitchen,” Devora said, pointing at large containers of beans, tomato sauce and other basics. “If we’re going to stop at the Killdeen Hot Springs and Wildlife Preserve Park tonight, I can take over one of the cabins and cook. A good meal will help morale.”
Les grabbed a young woman who’d come to drop off a few sticks of candy and a six pack of soft drinks. “You’re now Devora’s assistant, congratulations. Help her make an inventory. I’ll get a couple of guys to load up the bus.” He was getting impatient and the longer they parked here at the rest stop, the more the suspicion grew they needed to move on. He saw the car the small group of refugees had hotwired go peeling out of the parking lot and heading south, which didn’t make much sense to him Nothing in that direction but Rosewater and beyond that New Damarkal, both of which were overrun with infected. Maybe the group knew something he didn’t but clearly they had a destination in mind and motivation to get there. Fewer mouths for him to feed so goodbye and good luck.
He rounded up his passengers, splitting them evenly between the two buses but making sure Devora and the little girl stayed on his bus, in the seat right behind his. He felt an extra measure of protectiveness toward the two and told himself it was because Devora had stepped up to take charge of the food inventory. She was making his life easier.
It couldn’t have anything to do with her sparkling eyes and no nonsense manner, or the curvy figure she was hiding in her baggy clothes. Who could think about those things right now in the middle of an apocalypse?
Well, he guessed he could, given the right woman.
He pulled out onto the main road ten minutes later without incident, Ethan following a few yards behind and headed north at a good rate of speed. Les was anxious to hit the park before dark and check the place out thoroughly, as he’d done here, before he allowed his group to rest for the night. The buses had a limit on how fast they’d drive, maybe because they started life as school buses, but he and Ethan were definitely going to work on the issue tonight. He wanted all the speed he could squeeze from the engine if there was an emergency.
The infected couldn’t move as fast as the bus could go but watching the car full of departing refugees had gotten him thinking about human predators they might meet on the road before reaching the presumed safety of Glastine. He wished the group had more weapons but it was a miracle they had any at all.
He was giving himself a headache, thinking of all the contingencies and trying to make plans which had to remain inadequate, given the circumstances. Engaging the AI, he put his feet up and dozed off. The sound of the child behind him singing a lullaby over and over to the stuffed animals he’d gotten her lulled him into a nap.
Chapter Five
The regional park wasn’t exactly inviting when the two buses pulled into the parking lot. Three cars sat deserted, one of which was occupied by a trapped infected. The welcome center and the ranger station were brightly lit, and cabins dotted the gentle hills close by. Les sat and pondered the scene from the safety of the bus for a few moments.
“Looks okay,” someone ventured from behind him.
“Looks can be deceiving,” he said. Rising to his feet, he glanced at Devora. “You okay to be in charge while we’re off checking out the place?”
“Sure.” She seemed pleased by his choosing her again but he liked her demeanor and the fact she’d been a police dispatcher.
He and his armed men left the bus and met up with Ethan and the armed individuals from his bus. The ad hoc team worked their way methodically through the buildings, not finding anything but sad vignettes of past carnage. Two of the cabins were clearly occupied by infected, as there was groaning and thumping in response to the sound of their approaching footsteps. Les wondered if the infected could communicate with each other. He didn’t want to risk going in there and killing them if he didn’t have to but neither did he want them summoning up a swarm of their ‘friends’. Deciding he was worrying too much, he and his team finished checking their half of the cabins and met up with Ethan in the parking lot again.
They’d marked the cabins of infected with big X’s made from duct tape he’d found in the bus’s toolbox, so no one would go in there by mistake.
Devora opened the bus door in response to his signal and the person Ethan had left in charge opened his. The refugees spilled out in the fading sunlight and gathered around Les.
“A couple of the cabins have infected trapped,” he said. “We’ve marked them so stay away. The others were empty. Some have personal effects in them if that’s going to bother you. I don’t give a damn where you bunk or with who so long as those of you assigned to guard duty show up at the appointed times. Devora here needs volunteers to help with fixing dinner, see her if you can cook. I’ll draft people if I have to. We’re only going to get through this and reach safety by working together.”
“I’ve been here before,” Devora offered, glancing at the assembled passengers. “There’s a big meeting room with an attached kitchen next to the welcome center. There should be dishes and pots and pans there so I just need the food we found at the restaurant carried over and I can get dinner going. It won’t be fancy but it’ll be filling.”
“What about the hot springs?” a young man in the crowd asked. “Can we go swimming?”
There was a lot of murmuring about how nice it would be to take a swim and clean up.
