Day 2 Part 4
After we had rushed to explain things to Casey, the ride fell to silence. The roads were still empty; as I glanced down a side street, I yelled at Eric to stop. He hit the breaks and I pointed out another “construction” project that hadn’t been there the day before.
“Wow, another roadblock…do you think they’re quarantining parts of the town?”
“It sure looks that way, Den.” Eric replied, and got the truck moving again.
“Umm…after we talk to your buddy, uh…Kyle? Connor, that’s it…after we talk to him, maybe we should skip town for a few days, get a room somewhere and let this whole thing blow over…” Casey suggested nervously.
Karen grinned, “Girl, I barely know you but we already think alike. I say we get Connor and Doc J and take a road trip to anywhere but here.”
“Yea, you’re right,” I turned in my seat to talk to the girls, “This place isn’t safe anymore; and it’s only a matter of time before they’re doing construction on the West Bridge.”
“Oh yea, I didn’t even think of that! If they close the-Whoa!” Casey was cut off by the squeal of tires as the SUV came to a sudden halt. I turned to face forward and see what was wrong; my mouth hung open in shock. Before us was another roadblock, this one complete with a military humvee; there was blood all over the ground, and not a person in sight.
“What the…what happened here?” Karen asked, “Where are the soldiers, or construction workers?”
“I don’t know…but there’s a lot of blood…maybe they got attacked by some of the infected…” I suggested.
“But if they got attacked, they would’ve fought them off right? I mean, there were soldiers, with guns, assault rifles man! If there aren’t any soldiers here, then…” Eric let the thought trail off.
“Let’s not think about that and focus on getting to Rachel’s. We should probably go around, rather than drive straight through here. Do you know a back way?” I asked Casey.
Her voice broke up as she spoke, nearly sobbing, “No…this is it, we’ve gotta go through here…this is Rachel’s development, the only way in…her development…which was under quarantine…was, until…”
Karen leaned over and put an arm around the crying girl, “It’ll be alright Case, Rachel’s probably fine.”
“You…you think so?” Karen nodded and managed a weak smile, but there had been fear in her voice.
Eric moved to put the truck in drive, when I stopped him. “Bro, we can’t just leave.”
“Why not? We should hurry to Rachel’s then meet up with Doc J.”
“I wanna check out that humvee; what if there’s somebody inside? Or, what if there’re guns?”
“You want a gun?! Are you crazy? Have you even fired a gun before?”
My cheeks colored, “Yea! Well…I had a BB gun…as a kid. Shot cans and stuff. Anyway, you saw that guy on the way to Casey’s, and now this. There are crazy people, infected people all over! I want a way to protect myself…to protect us all, in case we run into them again.”
Eric sighed; he knew how stubborn I could be sometimes. “Fine, but make it quick.”
As I opened the door, Karen spoke up, “Dennis…you shouldn’t go alone,” she looked pointedly at Eric; he caught her gaze and looked away.
“I’ll go,” Casey said, her voice strong as she wiped her eyes and stepped out of the SUV.
I climbed out as well, and leaned in before closing the door, “We’ll be right back, hopefully with a pistol or two. Keep it runnin’.”
