# 52

We were on the road and everything was looking up, we had a safe vehicle. We had some food , water , and beer. And we had each other life was good. The road was somewhat clear and still I couldn't figure out why no one was trying to run, where were the cars? where were the mass exodus of people running for their lives? I had to figure it was so fast no one could get an escape together. How the hell could it be so fast. Me and Leeya talked at great lengths about this. What did we eat or drink before it happened. Where were we, what did we do before it all went down. Neither of us had anything in common except for one thing. Right before it had happened I was drinking my fourth coffee, and Leeya said that the night it went down her and the crew she was with when me and Fish found them had been out partying all night and at one point wanted to keep going and popped a bunch of gas station caffeine pills. Could a large dose of caffeine have actually saved all of us? Not logical I thought but what was logical now?

We tried to make sense of it , how fast it came and how quickly everyone seemed effected. If it was caffeine it could explain why my brother left, he drank more coffee than even me. Caffeine stops the trigger chemo stops the effects from a bite , it almost seemed like a virus or infection. I wish we would have figured this out sooner to see if Fish had coffee or caffeine. Thinking about it Fred would have been drinking coffee at the hospital to stay awake while his wife was being treated and she had the chemo and was safe. Could it be something that was air bound? Or in the water? I wanted answers so badly but I was never a book smart sort of guy. Leeya took over driving a while so I could straighten my leg out a bit on the couch and rest. She pulled out her backpack and started putting Cd's in the radio and listening to some weird club music that I couldn't deal with. I leaned back and closed my eyes and started slipping into the dream again, a beach , feet in the sand, waves crashing down.


Leeya woke me up a while after, I have no idea how long it was but she said it was getting dark and wanted to know what we should do for the night. I checked her gas gauge and it was low so I figured we should stop on the next exit for gas and go from there, the one issue we had was the next exit was 23 miles away. We were in the one area of 95 where the exits were spread out. We were going to have to spend the night on the highway. It had been done before but not knowing the area well it was a tough gauge on where to stop. We rolled a ways more where it seemed there were no cars broken or abandoned and shut it down. I locked all the doors and we got some guns at the ready and lay them out all over the RV near every window and door. If something was going to come we would be ready and waiting. We had some food fast while we had light still and we kept noise to a minimum. The bad had a lot of blankets and it was considerably warmer where we were already. As the night rolled in me and Leeya headed to bed and sat a while listening to the night and holding each other. I was more curious but they way she was curling into me had me thinking she was scared of the dark.

The night was quiet for the most part we heard some things but most were things being blown around I had figured. I never heard what seemed like footsteps or heard anything that would drive or anyone. But I kept thinking of the runner. That freaky 'thing" that was different than the rest it ran to us. It was something that stopped me from falling asleep for quite a while. Leeya held out for a while but in the end she was out like a light. I continued thinking about the runner. Fast "things" were just a freak thought to me. Terrifying I thought to be running into the things and have one running fast , how do you get away? We had seen a few of them in Providence but most of them never actually saw us and from what I could remember I never had a lot of experience with them in big areas to see if they could run. Crap what if they all could run when they needed to?

I finally was whisked away to dream land with that beach but it was a darker dream this time. The blue water I dreamt of rolling in with big crashing waved was now black. The sand I imagined between my toes was now blood and the happy people all around me were now undead. The worst part I thought was that the dream seemed to never end, much like our lives now. I woke to a terrible noise and looked around but it was dark and quiet, Leeya was sleeping next to me and soundly. I sat up for a while thinking that couldn't have been in my head could it ? I waited and waited but nothing. I laid back down on the bed and settled back in, maybe that was part of the dream I thought. I started to get cozy with Leeya and was falling asleep again when I heard it and it seemed to shake the whole damn RV. "BOOM" Leeya woke up this time and said in a half asleep voice " what was that?" I got up as fast as my body would allow and went to a window and peeked through the blinds. Nothing here , one by one I checked the windows and nothing was anywhere. "BOOM" again "what is that" Leeya said worried. I grabbed a gun and leaned to the windshield but stayed far enough back to not be seen if something was out there. "BOOM" I could see it that time.

Off in the distance was a huge industrial type building and it was on fire now , the last explosion caught something. "It's some building blowing up about two miles to our northeast"I said. I kept my eyes on it making sure it wasn't the type of building you need to be clear of, but it looked more like a processing plant for a gravel company. I thought for a minute, why would that explode? Those type of things when they aren't running are not prone to nuclear meltdowns its all belts and pulleys and crushers. I stayed for a while watching it burn , another night with more questions than answers. I stayed up for a good two hours watching it burn down and making sure there was no night walking things around. I eventually joined her in dream land again and the rest of the night was off without a hitch. I awoke or so I thought to the dream again, or nightmare I should say of me waking up with Leeya dead by police and the world was fine. I hated that dream and it seemed like whenever we slept on the highway I had the darn thing.

I woke Leeya up and we both got cleaned up and dressed she helped me again with the bandages and she was starting to worry about the knee. The bandage came off with a bit of effort to remove it and the wound was so bad it was hard to tell where the bullet actually went in. Fish did a number on the knee trying to dig the bullet out and I had Leeya get the peroxide for me. She put a towel under my leg and I poured it on.There are few things in this world that feel that bad and let me say I have felt them all lately. The entire wound started foaming like ginger ale in a glass poured too fast so I poured some more. It continued foaming I emptied a whole bottle on it and then had Leeya put some antiseptic spray on it and wrap it. I was wanting to yell or scream but I held it in. After I got up and we started out the new day heading for the next exit and some gas hopefully.

# 51

Brent had the shotgun aimed at the back of my head and I knew with so much as a finger wiggle I wasn't going to worry anymore about anything. I also looked in front and thought that everyone was going to be like the front row of a Gallagher concert if he does shoot. Leeya had him in her cross hairs I suppose, I couldn't see what was going on back there but sounded like he was in a spot as well as me. "You put that thing down now or you can have long talks with good old Bob in the afterlife" Leeya said to him angrily. Brent said in a stern voice "Please Lee, three weeks ago you didn't even know this clown and now your like his soul mate , give me a break. Three weeks ago and the last three years in school all you ever cared about was body shots ,dancing and acting like a tramp. Now all of a sudden you found a guy who changed you? Put your gun down and be Lee again, this old crippled freak faced moron isn't worth it." Leeya must have got mad because i heard a spitting noise and then she said "You want to live in the past go ahead , the world a month or so ago isn't like it is now, and this man you call a freak is more of a man than your ass will ever be. Drop the gun or on three you get a major haircut."

Brent must have thought better because he took the gun off my head. Fish came up to him and grabbed it from his hands then gave him a pimp slap. Brent started to apologize to everyone but no one was listening. I looked at him and said "Well don't apologize to me unless you got flowers." He came at me with such anger I laughed. Fish and Rusty corralled him to the other side of the room and I got up and stood on my bad leg. " You ever want to come at me Brent you just do it, no games, I'm right here and don't plan on apologizing in this life or the next for that prick Bob." Then I sat back down. Leeya came over and hugged me and whispered things about us I wont say now. Lets say they were personal and about how she felt.

I got up and headed back to the room , and started packing. It was obvious this wasn't going to get any better and what Brent did now he would try on a more subtle level later. The fact that now Leeya was in his sights was even worse. Leeya came in behind me and saw what I was doing and started to pack without even questioning it. We took all our stuff and a bunch of the ammo and guns we had and the chemo we had managed to get and we headed to the back door. Rusty stopped us and  said "Wait where you both going?" I looked at him and said basically what it was, things weren't gonna change and I didn't want to put anyone including Leeya in a bad spot here. Brent was a loose cannon and then some and no one wanted to make him answer for anything. It was just stress. Yeah that's what it was. Rusty was a good guy and I had no doubts he would be OK in all of this. The rest were being sheepish with Brent who didn't have much in the way of survival skills and seemed to lack common sense.

We shook his hand and left quietly and told him to say bye for us. I didn't want to make a big bye out of us leaving and have Brent do something wacky again.We got to the RV and I fired it up. Jenn and Linda came out followed by Fish they all wanted to know what was up and we told them. Fish was pissed but I knew that the place was a good spot to stay until winter ended and couldn't argue with him about his staying it was a smart move. For me I had been shot 3 times and almost killed on the fourth , it was time to move on. Leeya hugged her friends good bye wishing them luck and we started to drive off. I moved slow and quiet so I wouldn't make anyone or thing alert to our spot here. Despite Brent I wanted the rest of them to stay safe.

Leeya looked at me and said "Just the two of us so now what should we do?" I thought a second and said "We head down the coast to Florida and then the Keys , heck who knows maybe find that island we talked about." She smiled and hugged me and we motored down the road, no winter sounded good to me. The road was mostly clear and we rolled through Providence this time and went to the split and headed south. Having driven so much I knew we would need to find fuel at some point and that required a syphon of some sort. When we reach the Ct state line I'll look for a truck stop , the mechanics should have something there. We rolled down the highway and there were no cars really it was too odd. How does it happen this fast. There were no cars until we hit the off ramp for route 4 which led to Narragansett and then we hit a damn blocked road. I doubled back and headed to route 2 which would lead to a side way to route 3 that ran the length of the highway and to the state line as well.

On the road it was rough leaving everyone behind but that situation was just getting worse. Rusty was good people and so was Fish aside from the dad thing. The girls I would have to take Leeya's word on I never really got to know them too well. Fred and Unice were weird but cordial. Brent was a different version of Bob and that was too much , the hair on the camels back I guess after the week I had been through. We now had a chance to head south and maybe find some sort of life to live, I just wished my leg wasn't killing me so badly. Leeya ended up going in the bed and taking a nap while I motored on. I wasn't the smartest guy in the world but I managed to move around without being killed so far, I just needed to do it without being shot so damn much.

We hit the state line and I pulled off route 3 and into a gas station. It was pretty beat up but around here the population wasn't big numbers wise so my hopes were this place still had gas. I told Leeya to wake up and handed her a gun,she was groggy but followed me outside. We went to the garage attached to the gas station in search of a syphon of some sort. I found a small one usually used on oil drums and about 30 feet of hose. We went outside and looked for the  covers that the fuel truck fills and the workers stick to check the tanks ,I pulled the cover off the middle one. I was not sure which was regular so the middle was always safe. I dropped the hose down as far as it would reach then pulled it and a good six feet of it was wet. Perfect I had Leeya pull the RV over to the other end of the pump and stuck it in the hose again. I started spinning the hand crank and there it went, I was extremely happy and knew we would be taking this kit with us for our journey. I filled both tanks and a reserve on the bottom for the generator, things were looking up.

I threw the pump and hose into the storage area next to the generator and locked it up tight and we were off. Leeya went right back to the bed and I checked the back and bathroom to make sure things were cool. We headed out some more and that was when they came. As I started pulling back out onto route 3 I could see them up ahead next to where the old Tim Horton's was. There had to be fifty of them if there was one and they were coming towards the station. Our attempt to be quiet was not working out so well I thought and started towards them. Between us and them was a side street that led to the exit ramp for the highway, and hopefully after the huge detour the road was clear again. I put the pedal down and headed into the crowd hoping to make it to the turn off before they did and that was when I saw one for the first time, a runner. A "thing" that wasn't just walking but running, like an athlete in a track meet. It was so different I found myself staring thinking maybe it was a regular person running from them. The closer I got the more I realized it was a thing alright. The ghoul had one arm flailing around like it was ready to fall off and was running like a child in a field.

We made the turn off and I swung it quick and Leeya rolled right off the bed. "Hey what the hell!!" Leeya yelled from the back and then I heard "THUMP" to the back of the RV. She looked to me and said "What the hell was that". I said "Oh nothing just a "thing" that was running at us". She said what I had thought "They can run?" Judging by the noise they cant stop too good. I said " You found out just like me, tonight " She came up front and asked where we were she just laid down and we were at a gas station, lol now we were on the highway. I explained what happened and she was shocked. I was glad we found out about the running type now and not when we had no way out fast. We headed down the highway, newly refreshed and full of fuel, I was good to go if the road allowed it, we headed towards the New York line and hopefully clear highways.

# 50

The next day was a bit rougher than the one preceding it as far as my knee was concerned but it was a day with out lives safe just the same. The morning was looking up though compared to the day before. Leeya was asleep on my somewhat healed chest and the couch had awarded me a comfortable bad. I could hear a rustling behind the couch we were perched at and figured Rusty and Fred were doing something in the kitchen behind the lobby. I tried to look around the couch without moving Leeya and was being unsuccessful so gave up the attempt. The noise was like pans moving around or maybe it was dishes. Sitting there I still felt like I was in a different world, a lot had happen in the past few weeks and it was time for me to take a mental list and sort through it all on the couch. I had met people who died in front of me, watched the world dissolve in the span of a coffee, fall in with a girl who wouldn't give me a second look on a good day, been shot ...three times in a week and managed to do all of this while avoiding  zombie like things that wanted to kill me. All in all it was a busy few weeks but for the most part I wasn't cracking up yet. I was also thinking of my mother and my brother and then thinking of all of my other relatives spread out across the region and country.

"You want some breakfast ?" Rusty shouted out from the other room. "You bet guy." I replied and started to twist to get up and replace my back with Leeya's front as she slept. I got up to one leg and tried to put my weight down on the other and had more pain than I was ready to deal with. I made peace with hopping on the one good leg and my arm was starting to give me the high sign as well. I was so concerned with this balancing act I didn't realize I was basically naked. Fred took a peek to see what the noise was and yelled "This isn't one of those Hotel's cover up will you". I looked down and smiled and grabbed some boxers. It was a real act of cirque De soleil , getting them on without falling over but I got it done. I staggered over to the bathroom in the back of the front desk and tried to take a bloodless piss. After which i went to the sink and washed my hands and then tried to wash what was left of my face. God damn I looked like a bucket of monkey crap, won't be needing a costume this Halloween I thought. My face was something of a bad nightmare and I started to feel bad for anyone who had to deal with looking at me, wished I hadn't seen the mirror at all.

I hopped over to the kitchen and sat at the chair near the counter. Rusty looked over and asked me how I wanted my artificial eggs. As he put it "do you want them scrambled or scrambled?" I bet he thought that was funny, OK I laughed a bit. Eggs were nice and when you haven't had them in forever you can't tell they are fake. I asked Rusty how I looked and he smiled and responded with something that rhymes with Bit. I had to laugh and Fred did too. Rusty said he was surprised how fast Lee had taken a shine to me but after seeing how much I had taken to keep her safe he was no longer surprised. He called me a hero for what I had done and patted me on the back. I was confused and told him I was no hero, just a guy doing what he had to as it came at him. " A regular John McClane" he said with a smirk referring to the Die Hard movies. In a way I guess that was more accurate than a hero, only this was real. For all we knew Bruce Willis was a zombie right now.

Leeya woke up finally and came in to lean over and give me a kiss and a hug. Rusty handed her a plate of his finest scrambled and she ate it as fast as I did. The day was looking to be a lazy one and I for one was looking forward to it. One by one everyone shuffled into the kitchen and started eating Rusty's famous eggs. I made a hop out of the kitchen and headed to our room ,Leeya was right behind me trying to help me. We got to the room and she asked me why I left the group and came back to the room. I just looked at her "Look at me, I know I wouldn't want to be eating eggs with this face in the room. Hell my leg is still soaked with blood." She smiled and said she would eat eggs off my face. There's a thought for ya huh? She was being loving and loyal and gross all at once. I could see her saying it but for the other people in the group I wasn't dinner fodder.

I lay down on the bed and had a big sigh of relief. Leeya came on to the top of me and started a purring noise and the whispered how she was going to change the dressing on my knee and arm and then show me a different way to groan. I was all for it and didn't bother moving, however as she changed the bandage on my knee it started to become obvious to me my leg from my knee down was either asleep of sawed off because I couldn't feel it at all. I would have said something but, why kill the mood. After changing my wraps she put the do not disturb sign on the door and gave me a real run for my money at twister, without the game present. After she told me she had never been happier and I lay there on the bed thinking "Woman it only took the end of civilization to make her happy". It was funny to me to think this way, I knew what she meant I had not been this happy in forever too but was too stone faced to give it away.

The afternoon came and Leeya was taking a shower and doing her hair and whatever else it is that takes an eternity in the bathroom. I had the feeling that if I didn't hit the men's room soon I was going to have a problem. I got up and got some bowers on and then tried my damnedest to put a pair of sweat pants on. I grabbed a shirt and believe me it was the easiest part of the whole deal and threw it on as I hopped out of the room and into the hallway. I headed to the lobby and into the bathroom again but this time I fell right over and onto the floor behind the front desk. I put too much weight on my leg and it failed me badly, I still couldn't feel it. I dragged myself up using the edge of the desk and finally got into the bathroom. Ahh blood free urine, it is a good day i thought. I cleaned up quick and came out to Brent who was facing me and we were all alone.

"Me and Bob had been friends since grade school. I know he had a thing for Lee , he had for a while. But I don't think he tried to kill you. Bob was not the guy to do that." I sat into the chair at the front desk and looked at Brent and then pulled my leg up onto the desk and said "You didn't know your pal as well as you think you did because he ran like a girl from those "things" and after me and Leeya took care of them he shot me. You can try and turn it around all you want but I never got a round off on him, truth is Leeya took Bob out after he blew me across the hall with Fred's shotgun." Brent looked at me with what seemed like anger and then said " That's just you and Leeya's story but I think things went down differently." I looked at him and said "What you think is what you can't get your head around your buddy being as wacky as he was. But if you think I will sit here and take your crap when so far you have done nothing but watch things go down your wrong. You want to take a shot at me Brent, then take your shot I haven't flinched yet and don't aim to start." He kind of grimaced and walked away. Leeya came around the corner a short while later and asked why I left and I told her it was the bathroom and nothing more.

Fish came over to me and wanted to talk, in private. i told Leeya I would be in the room in a few minutes and she headed that way. Fish leaned in and told me Brent was putting in motion with everyone the beginning of a full on eviction of me for thinking I killed Bob maliciously. I was smirking and Fish warned me, the things he was saying and how he was saying them were making the others think I was crazy. My face was making it an easy sell. I underestimated the jock apparently he was a good debater too, specially when he had no one debating with him. I told Fish I wasnt concerned , me and Leeya knew what went down and if Brent was going to try and remove us he better have something more than his words. That was when Rusty came over and leaned to me and said "Brent is a nut man, me and the others have been humoring him, I think hes losing it." I couldn't figure out why Bob freaked out and now it was seeming Brent was as well.

Clunk the barrell of a shotgun was up against the back of my head. Brent was on the other end and he was shaking as he reared down on me. " I thought today was going to be a lazy day.." I said. Brent yelled for me to shut up and told everyone to get in front of me so he could see them. They all moved over and the Brent told me to admit what I had done to Bob. I heard a click and Leeya was behind Brent with her gun aimed to his head. "I blew his head off for shooting my baby" she said and then added " And if you don't put that gun down you can ask him yourself in a minute." God I dig her I thought.

# 49

The faces I could make out pieces of were staring into the ceiling tiles and me and Leeya were ready to rock and roll. I am not sure if it would end well for us but I knew we would take a piece of them with us if we had to go. Leeya was staring a hole in the woman and the one hand she wasn't holding onto the edge of the wall with was aiming the gun straight on top of her head. I was doing a pretty good balancing act and had both guns aimed at where the other folks seemed to be. The woman looked a bit more and then said "Lets go even the rats are trying to leave here."I looked at Leeya and gave a big sigh. She settled in for a second and was looking paler than ever. That was a good scare and I was glad the rodent problem saved our asses.

The woman left with the two men and we heard the truck start to drive off. Leeya was ready to climb down but I didn't quite trust it yet and made her hold up a second. Just then the woman came back in alone. She looked up again and then looked down at the floor. I leaned over a bit more to see what she had her eyes on, it was our footprints of mud from when we came in. She called another guy over and asked him to show her his boots. Then she looked at the prints again. "OK , you can go. It was rats I guess, but just in case." Then she took out a gun and fired several shots into the ceiling. I covered Leeya's mouth and took one in the forearm. Then the woman said "OK now we can go." Leeya started to well up and I started to feel the burn in my arm from being shot.

The truck drove off and we waited still yet for a while waiting just in case. Leeya leaned over and tied a rag around my arm and I bite down hard on my other hand as my knee started burning. We waited it out a few more minutes then I moved a tile and fell out onto the floor with Leeya dropping onto the desk behind me. "Oh my god you got shot baby are you OK?" I leaned over and showed her my knee and Leeya started crying. "What luck lately huh ?" I said with a smirk. I always find humor even at my own damn expense. She helped me up and sat me on the desk and started tying rags around my knee. I couldn't have planned that to go any worse than it just did. She had me lean over on her and we started  hobbling back into the woods, but this time I told her we would follow the woods by the treeline all the way back to the Hotel. It was a long walk with us shuffling through the woods and me leaning on her but we were moving along. Leeya asked me why I covered her mouth and all I could respond with was "To shut you up" and we laughed. I really did want to shut her up I thought when the lady started shooting she would yell or cry so I capped the well so to speak. Little did I know I stopped her from getting shot in the damn head , a hero's work is never done.

We finally could see the hotel in front of us through the woods and the bus was there finally. I had a little bit of peace in me knowing our friends were OK. We broke out of the treeline and I was starting to feel dizzy and cold , so damn cold. Leeya couldn't pull me anymore and I had her put me down and go get help. She was reluctant to leave me but knew she couldn't carry me and I wasn't moving anymore and left crying all the way to the door. Rusty and Brent came running out and grabbed me and Fish was behind them with a gun as cover, from what I have no idea but he was like a warrior that way. I lost a lot of blood mainly because we didn't know anything about tying the wounds up correctly and then having to walk a good mile in the woods. They dropped me on the couch in the lobby and while they were looking over the wounds and getting water Leeya was frantic and babbling about what had happened. Then I blacked out, it's getting to be a habit I hope to break.

I woke up and not being sure what day it even was had a dry mouth and headache. I looked around and Leeya was passed out on my lap sitting to the side of the couch. This girl has no quit I thought. I cleared my throat and she woke up and started kissing me, I could feel the bandages were finally off my face. I had that going for me at least. I finally got the words water out and got a glass with a straw,drinking all of it to the point of choking and coughing my brains out. Hey my side and chest felt better but my knee and arm sucked, badly. Everyone started coming around and giving me congrats on waking up and being OK, and Leeya had a look in her eyes like I just won the super bowl. Guess that's what happens when you take a bullet for a lady, you get to be the BIG MAN ON CAMPUS. Sorry I had to do it, my humor has no tact.

I sat up and then Fish told me what was what. He got the bullets out which for my sake were only .22's but the knee shot hit a bunch of stuff and Fish said being no doctor he did what he could but couldn't guarantee any of his work. I had ice on it and Leeya said she had been changing it the past few days...few days? WTF. I found out I had been out for four days , with water being poured in my mouth and Leeya being a nurse to her own fail, she had passed out twice for not eating. Rusty made her eat he proclaimed or she would've been laying right next to me. I thanked everyone for everything they did , even Fish's crappy medical work. And then sat around the rest of the day talking with everyone catching up on things and finding out Fish and Rusty had gotten another truck while I was out full of fuel and the heat was bitching.

I settled into the couch with Leeya and a group of friends and we had beers food and laughs. It wasn't often we all had smiles so when they came it was good for the souls. I just hoped my leg would be able to hold me up and soon, laying around gets you dead. Fred came down finally and was smiling at me as opposed to last time. Unice he said wasn't feeling well and was laying down and he had to attend to her. I told him I gave her my best and to have a good night and he was off. Rusty said they went out two days ago and found the oil truck in mid delivery sitting in the road with almost a full tank. They filled its tank up to run it and brought it back and emptied it here. They guessed the delivery guy was attacked while doing the delivery and the truck ran out of gas. Luckily he hadn't flipped the lever to fill the house yet or it would've filled the cellar and been empty too.

We had heat and electricity for certain things and every time someone went out we suddenly had more beer, ahhh college kids. It was good to be here warm and safe. We had a good thing here and the other people said they had not seen the group me and Leeya ran into three times now and shot me. My guess was they had somewhere to hunker down like us and needed fuel like us. In a way it was good they found the truck and took it from me or they might have spotted it behind the Hotel and that could have brought all sorts of trouble down on us. With that Rusty went outside and fired up the fuel truck they had taken and drove it deep into the woods. I guess he put two and two together and didn't want anyone sniffing around either.

With everything that had been happening it was like we forgot about the "things". I was worrying about heat and the mob but out there somewhere are "things". Maybe the cold has them hiding as well, who knows. I would love to find out what this was and why it was spreading so fast. Classic zombie movies be damned why was this happening, was it a form of rabies? or a chemical weapon? I didn't have a clue but I knew i would have .....One more beer.

# 48

We had a good day and everyone got plenty of sleep. I never even checked the road for the group of people, maybe I was slipping or just so damn tired I didn't remember. Waking up I noticed Leeya was in a state of zombie herself with a night snore. I got out of bed and headed to the window to take a peek and see what I could see. Nothing again nobody , nothing , just silent. I got dressed quick and headed tot he back of the Hotel where our main entrance was. I hoped that the bus would be back there and everyone would have pig piled in the RV over the course of the night. Looking out the window through the boards blocking all of the windows and I could see nothing. I had a bit of worry for a second there thinking they had been taken by the group of wacko jobs. Or that they had encountered a large group of the zombie things like we had only they never got a chance to get it in reverse. My head was throbbing again, it seems I was going to be a migraine machine with all the worry of this crap. I turned around and Rusty was right behind me.

"Hey man your up early , any sign of them yet ?" Rusty asked me with a chipper attitude. "Nope no one and nothing out there this morning. Maybe they just shut it down on the road and they will be back this morning at some point." Rusty shook his head and then pointed at me and had the " I have an idea look " on his face. " Maybe they all died yesterday and they will come back to eat us." He said in a weird thinking he was funny sort of way. "Not too funny there Russ." I replied. He shrugged it off and then asked if I wanted coffee. " You have coffee? Well shoot yes I want coffee ." I said in a shocked manner. I had no idea this mother eff er right here had coffee. He waved me to follow with his head nod to the side and I walked with him into the kitchen.

"Your face feeling any better ?" He asked while his eyes were on the task of coffee. "I'm sort of getting used to the pain. My teeth are hurting a bit but it's just some pain." I commented in response to him. He smirked "Real tough guy huh? Well tough guy you want to tell me what exactly happened with Bob so I can see if this story is on the up and up ?" He asked. " Sure thing man but I have to warn you after the shooting it was all a bit of a blur". He nodded and I told him word for word what I remembered as it had happened. He listened and nodded and at one point during the moments leading to Bob shooting me stopped what he was doing to pay full attention. When I was through he started the perculator on the stove and then said " Sounds like what Lee said so I guess it is what happened. Unless you worked the story out." I looked at him and then said "I got no reason to lie to you or anybody here. Truth is Fred gave him a shotgun loaded with rock salt because he heard the dumb ass talking to you about me. Is there anything you want to tell me red ?" I said sarcastically. He looked like my eyes were melting him and nodded no and said squeamishly " No I don't and I didn't know he was gonna do that to you , I swear ." I nodded and said "Well with him dead I guess I have to take YOUR WORD now don't I ?"

Rusty sat down and waited for the coffee and then put his face in his hands and wiped it like he needed to wake up. Fred and Unice came in moments later and Fred commented how Rusty was getting good with the coffee maker he showed him. Piss me off , how the hell do you have coffee and not say anything. This new world we are living in is full of butt heads I thought.I sat down and started to think of a way to get oil to the Hotel for the heat and hot water. Trust me you don't want to lose the hot water it was king around here. We had about ninety gallons of fuel for the generator and Fred said it would last a good month so I wasn't concerned yet about that but the heating oil for the water and heat was epic , and needed to be done now. Winter was settling in and we didn't want to freeze. The Hotel was about a mile from a company that did heating oil and car sales. A weird pairing but it worked for them for years. I just had to hope they had two things. An oil truck that was full and that also ran.

I had coffee, actually three coffee's the creamers were OK but not like half and half and talked with Rusty about my chance for oil for the place. If the truck was full it could supply us the rest of the winter and then when the weather broke I would make a dash for some sort of escape. That dream I keep having makes me think the tropics were in the cards. Leeya finally woke up and came out of the room and down to where we were all sitting and poured a coffee. She sat on my leg and kissed my bandaged face and asked what was the conversation. We filled her in and she said she needed a half hour to get ready. I tried talking her out of going but she told me I was never going anywhere without her. Chic's...lol. I kid, it was beyond cool having someone want you in their life that bad that going out in a frozen zombified landscape was a better choice than waiting for them to return.

I went to the room with her to get geared up and she took a long shower and got dressed. We wore heavy clothing with scarves and got the weaponry and ammo straight. We got everything together and headed to the doorway. Rusty was there with a shotgun and a beer, I have to say I really like this guy lol. He wished us luck and opened the door for us and locked it behind us. Leeya was on my wounded side because she insisted I would have trouble seeing with the bandage and she had my blind spot. We walked on the edge of the treeline to the roadway, I was convinced that the group of wacko jobs were around somewhere and didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb. Slow movement on the treeline was what was best. Leeya was being a regular tactical soldier walking with her gun barrel aiming down slow and steady, it was impressive how far she was coming along so quickly. Then again a little over a month ago I was having a coffee in my tow truck so I was no measuring stick.

The road we called route 6 was empty as far as I could see with cars scattered randomly. No dead , no alive , just emptiness. Leeya sighed and I asked what was wrong. She thought we would spot the bus coming but no luck it wasn't in the distance anywhere. We stayed along the treeline at least until it ran out and we were crossing the parking lots of various business's. We were tracking well and then we heard something off to the left of where we were heading. "Get down " I said to Leeya and we squatted down and started shuffling to the little hut in the parking lot that house a cell phone retailer. We stayed against the side of it ducking down and listening. Leeya looked nervous and started getting me nervous looking at her. I peeked up over the ledge where the side windows were and looked through the interior of the cell phone place to the street across from it. I couldn't see anything and pulled out another gun in my left hand. Something wasn't right and I was getting a bit antsy.

We headed around the back of the little shack we were along the side of and headed to the edge of it. I peeked around the corner but still nothing. And the noise persisted, sounding like a whining of some sort. I looked ahead of us and we had a good fifty yards to go to the next building, one of the chain sit down restaurants Applebee's. I whispered to Leeya to stay right with me and stay low and quiet and we ducked down and while hunched over and guns down and ready scampered across the lot to the side of the restaurant.

The noise was still happening and I finally spotted what it was. A car was rammed into the Burger King across the way and was revving and randomly spinning it's tires trying to drive while slammed against the building. I smelled a trap of some type and told Leeya to keep her eyes peeled for anything, because this wasn't some weird accident. We slid around the back of the restaurant and to the other side. When we reached it I too a slow peek around the edge and that was when I saw it, The group of people from the week before and they were hunched down staring at the car as well next to the Donut shop just past the Applebee's. Thank chicken I didn't just run that way. I told Leeya to follow me and we went back to the cell phone building. My idea was to go far into the woods and behind them to the other side. Passing them from a safe distance was better than trying to sneak right by them. I counted at least thirty of them and they were pissed at us for the lady we clipped no doubt.

We headed diagonally away from where the were with Applebee's as our blocker from their view and into the woods. Me and Leeya snuck deep inside but not so deep we lost eye contact. I wanted to know where they were at all times. We snuck through the woods and watched them finally start hunting around the Applebee's , thankfully we didn't stay there, and then the cell phone place. I loved it the further they went one way we were going the other. The bad news was they were heading one place at a time towards the Hotel and if everything works out it will look abandoned to them as well and they will move on. Either that or if we get fuel we will have to run more people over , and kill the rest.

 We made it to the destination Columbus Oil and they did indeed have a truck out back. I ran to it and checked and it had a full tank, must have been ready for a new day when it never got started up. Hopefully I get some keys for this beast. Leeya came over to me and said "Hurry". I looked and for whatever reason the group was heading this way and were about 200 yards away. I ran over to the building and kicked the door in and did a mad dash for keys. Dammit I couldn't find them. The group was only a hundred yards away now and I grabbed Leeya " quick get in the ceiling" I said and gave her a boost as she lifted the tiles and climbed in. I made sure she had a good spot with a ledge to stand on then followed her into the drop top. We were curled up in the drop ceiling like I had been before with Fish and the group started rummaging through the lot and four people came into the office and started rooting through the desks. I'm not sure what they were searching for but they had something specific in mind.

Outside I heard the truck we came for start up and one of the guys under us said " forget it hes got it running." You have got to be kidding me, they wanted the same damn truck. Leeya pointed her gun downward and I put my hand on it and nodded NO to her. And gave the shhhh sign with my finger to my lips. Then a woman who was apparently in charge came into the office and started shuffling through things. Leeya's foot slipped a bit and made a scuff noise. The woman under us from what I could see through the lighting stopped everything and looked up. Crap I thought we were dead, and I aimed both of my guns downward as well.

# 47

The morning got me to awaken to my breath being visible. the heater had finally quit over night and if it wasn't for a pile of blankets we may have frozen. It was having trouble keeping up I thought but now it had become obvious it was broken and limping along. Last time I pay this ind of money for an RV and have it break in the first week, I'd be a little upset if I was the guy who bought this tank. Leeya was already up and out, probably getting breakfast or something and I got up with a bit of pain but not like the day before. I was stiff for sure and slow in my movements as I tested my limitations and headed to the bathroom. A nice bathroom indeed with a tub shower that was triangle shaped and could fit two. Nice for a camper I thought, shoot the hotel room isn't this nice. I took a bit of time and peed a bit of blood but figuring what I had been through I wasn't questioning it yet. If I still had blood in a day or two then I better have a hole dug. I shook and headed to the sink and started washing my hands and looked up in the mirror. Oh lordy I was at least grateful the bandage covered most of my face. I cleaned up as best I could and tried to brush my teeth, but my cheek wasn't allowing much space on the inside which I think led to the outside in some spots.

I got dressed as quick as my movements allowed me and found the shirt going over my head and arms to be the hardest. At least I thought it was the hardest part of dressing until I unknowingly tugged it down over my chest and remembered the chest wasn't good either. Stars and unicorns as Zolak would say, that's what I saw. I got some shoes on and headed to the windows to check the perimeter and make sure it was all good. Grabbing my jacket I SLOWLY and I mean SLOWLY put it on and then headed for the door. I know the guys were scared but after a day and a half they can't still think I'm bitten can they? I opened the door and the cool crisp air hit me. The sun on my face was nice but the wind was going right through me. I took a step away from the RV and heard a noise to my right. Looking over I could see Rusty under the flip out trying to fix something. I staggered over and gave a hey to him and he climbed out from under the overhang.

"Hey Rusty what the heck you doing under there man"? I asked him. He looked skittish and said without much eye contact " Trying to fix the heater for you guys but the thing is all high tech I dunno what I am looking at under here." I asked if I could give a look and he held his arm out for me to try. I climbed under the overhang and could see the heater and it was quite the unit for sure. Electronic and I would have guessed gas of some sort but nope electric. I followed the wiring and it led to a box that faced away from me. I looked at the diagram and it was a fuse it said. I reached up and the button I felt on top of it was out , I clicked it in and the heater started. "All set man, unless it keeps tripping off." Rusty looked at me finally eye to eye and said "shoot you know a few things don't ya, I been under there over an hour not knowing what I was looking at". " Yeah I know a few thing's" I said. I told him maybe the unit was breaking in or something and we just overloaded it and he ran inside to turn it to about 60 degrees. he came out saying it was set to 80, Leeya must not have known you cant have 80 when its 12 out the heater would blow up. Oh well we would see if it can keep it comfortable now.

Rusty put his arm under my left one and gave me a hand walking in and asking how I felt and small talking. He was an OK guy and I had read him that way from the get go. He helped me inside and got me a seat by the pool on a chaise lounge type thing. "I'll get Lee for ya man be right back" he said and I thanked him for the help. The place was much quieter and I almost suspected that something was afoot the way it seemed I was the only one around. Leeya came over and she was looking much better than the past few days. Amazing what some down time can do for you, she had a glow and was smiling a goofy smile like a love sick puppy. I asked her where everyone was and she said around but her answer was kind of underhanded so I asked again. She said that Deb, Linda, and Brent as well as Jenn were on a trip to scavenge and Fish might have gone too. "So you me Rusty and the old folks are all that's here"? I asked. She nodded yes. WTF are these people seriously going out there in a large group, I thought back to the RV and yes the bus wasn't in the lot. Oh crap Fish knows about the group of people why is he being that stupid.

Leeya talked with me alone for a bit and she assured me Fish wasn't taking chances and most of the heavy artillery was in the bus with him. My stomach began to flutter, that would mean we were the sitting ducks , not them. Leeya went to get me food because I was weak and the blood loss was getting the better of me. While she was gone I heard a hello from above me. Fred and Unice in the perch above as usual. I yelled hey back but didn't move much , the soreness was limiting. Eventually Leeya returned and we had some food and drink it was nice to be able to relax with her and not in the cold RV.

Fred finally came down and joined us and started right away with the business at hand. "The heat in here isn't going to last much longer. I have every floor but this one shut off and the water up there as well but the boiler is running low on oil." I thought a bit and then asked what size the tank was in the basement. He said it was a thousand and huge but at about a sixteenth and maybe had three to four days left in it tops. I asked why oil in such a big place and he told me it had three differnt ways of heat it used gas which was off now, it had oil which he was switched to and it had electric which was impossible since the generator was operating basic things like the fan on the heater now and the limited lights and refridgeration we had working. I told him to give me some time to work up a strategy and then I would let him know. He smiled and left us to the company of ourselves.

Rusty came over and jumped cannonball style into the pool soaking our legs and I had a good laugh. He brought out some beers and was just easy going good company. Me ,Leeya, and Rusty had a great afternoon of just shooting the breeze and having some suds and laughs. Times like these made us forget about the real world and just smile a bit, this Hotel was infectious for it and made me worry it was too easy to forget while here at the pool. I had some anxiety for the others as I hoped they would come at any minute. Inside I kept thinking that the group of scavenging freaks we had run across were going to overcome the group and another part of me thought they would take them back here. I feared they could get them to talk about this place if they got them, but that was crazy they wouldn't get them , Fish had his stuff together didnt he?

The day came and went just as easy as the time by the pool. Funny how all the fretting and worrying doesn't change anything as the clock keeps ticking away. I wasted the entire day with my head in the clouds thinking of heating oil and a bus full of people and groups of pirate like people. Rusty and Leeya had no worries that they showed and my head was starting toward sthe end of the day to throb with activity. I showed no signs of my issues and kept to a smile here and there and a nod. Leeya could tell I was different and my pee was telling me at each bathroom break that I was healing. My face and neck were still bandaged but needed changing and Rusty wanted to sit in on the event for the view I suppose. Fred even leaned over the rail to take a peek. The reaction from Rusty had it not been my face would have been priceless but for my own sake it made me wonder what was happening. He asked what the others feared and wanted to know if I was sure it was not a bite of any kind on my face and neck. Leeya looked at hime with evil eyes when he asked and answered for me. She kissed my wounds and dressed them and Rusty comically added "now that is love". I had to smirk even though Leeya wasn't smirking.

The night fell and we left the same note and unlocked RV for the crew and locked up the perimeter. They had done a great job making the first floor basically impenetrable and we all went to bed with warmth and full stomachs that were butterfly filled for our friends. I hoped they were just running late and as I fell asleep with Leeya I dreamt about oil trucks and heat.

# 46

I woke up to the sound of voices and while blurry eyed I looked to my right and saw Leeya talking to someone at the door. I tried to move but my chest was stabbing me with a violent pain. I sunk back into the bed and took a few deep breaths. Leeya closed the door and noticed I was awake and came over to me, cupping my head in her lap. She was very excited to see me awake and smiling with a worry some look on her face. There was a lot to discuss and not really sure where I or she would even start. I asked her about the others and if she told them what had happened. She told me that she told them about Bob and his wacky attempt to kill me and how she did him in. Then she told them about my wounds and they said to keep me in the RV until it was healed better as they feared her lying and me being bitten. I was offended and also happy. Least they were thinking of salvation and not being blind to the problems. Then she told me Fred was the one she had talked with.... Fred wants me out here for fear of a bite? That was rich.

I told her to get Fred to come in here and talk with me alone and to go hang out with Jenn, Deb, and Linda. She kissed my forehead and then went to get Fred. A few minutes rolled by and I was thinking that Fred refused to come in here but my head said he would. I was the only one who knew about his wife and he didn't want to upset the apple cart that could tell the truth. The door opened and Fred came in , the face of the happy old man I had left was now different and he sat on the bed beside me as Leeya left us alone. Fred took a deep breath and swallowed his spit,"I knew that Bob there was bad news, at the pool I heard him a few times talking about you and that girl. None of it was good. Soon as he volunteered for the trip I had a feeling he was out for you. I gave him a gun with rock salt to give you a chance". I looked at the old man who wouldn't make eye contact with me and said "thank you for that."He then went one to tell me that he feared I would slip and say something and wondered if I told Leeya about it because she said something about having Chemo.

I looked at him and told him I had explained the chemo as my bright idea for possibly killing off whatever it was that made the people into "things". I also reminded him that I was never going to break my promise, his wife was free to live her life however she saw fit. She wasn't sick she was fine but dying from cancer. I then told him that if he wanted we could try with what I had to treat her and he turned me down. Then he said he was sorry for the way I looked and that maybe he should have given him real bullets. I was floored, "your rock salt saved my life why the hell would you say that." He just hung his head, " you think out there if you run into people they wont think your one of those things out there ? " I sat in that for a minute and then responded " any time I have now is bonus man, dead then or dead later on what would it matter, your my hero don't forget that, maybe your tired or something". Fred got up and said "yeah tired , maybe I'll go lay down."

Fred left and a few seconds later Leeya walked in. She kneeled down on the side of the bed and while looking into my eyes asked me if there was something she should know. I looked right at her and said,"there is something but I can't say just yet". She hugged me and whispered " I heard everything from outside". My eyes widened and I asked her to keep it between us if the others know someone will do her in. She shook her head in agreement and then told me that if I ever lye to her again she would never forgive me. In this world all we have is each other and our word and I could see what she meant. I told her I had nothing but trust in her and she would never hear anything but the truth again. She smiled and then I told her " you could have walked , you could have left with Bob, you stayed , you fought , you kicked ass for me. You helped me get back here. Helped me get better." She climbed into bed alongside me and kissed the wound on my face, we both laid there for the rest of the morning.

The afternoon came and it was starting to get colder, the RV was heated but fighting with its limited power to keep up. Leeya went into the Hotel and came back with blanket upon blanket and we huddled up in the bed with hats on and about five blankets. The hotel ones are always kind of thin. "Kind of kinky you , me and eighty other peoples DNA in the bed here together". I joked to Leeya. She laughed a good laugh and we stayed there for the day just curled up holding each other. Talking about our lives , our dreams, what this all could be from. Leeya was younger and had the party girl attitude but she was a good soul and heart. She changed like a switch was turned leading me to believe she was a party girl by act not by herself. The things she spoke of and dreamed of were that of deep rivers. I was hooked at this point and she even brought up why me in Target that day. I wont talk about that here that would be like giving out the secret to Dunkin Donuts coffee or Coke's recipe. I will just say it was something else and pretty cool to hear. We played games like twenty questions, and things like that. Even name that tune, which showed i cannot sing a lick.

Around the beginning of dusk the door knocked and Linda was outside with food for the two of us. She handed Leeya a tray and then a small bucket that used to be for ice. In the bucket was a bottle of wine and two cups. She then came in for a second and said hello to me and hoped I would feel better. I knew it was to get a look at me and then tell the others but she didn't have to bother. Eventually they will all see me. I had not held a mirror in a while and to be honest didn't want one. Me and Leeya say down to a nice dinner with wine and got to have a date. AT least it seemed that way. We drew the shades tight and lit one candle and had a long evening of eating and trying to figure out why we went through puberty. The night was getting colder and we had each others body heat but the cold would be worse the next few days and we had to get back in the Hotel.

All night long was wind gusting and branches behind us creaking, it made for a long night. Leeya once again was dead to the world and I was wide awake. The past few days had done a lot to us. Seen one family gone and another one give us hope. We had a member of the group go insane with jealousy and rage, and had been attacked . We even had the "things" walk right by us. Of all the things we had experienced the one thing that was in my head was the chemo. i could not stop thinking if the chemo was a poison meant to kill cancer than whatever this was had to be some type of a growth or infection. How else is Unice inside and fine and so many others wandering around eating anything that's warm and moving. I was no scientist Bob was right about that , but something had to be causing all of this and it had to start somewhere, and by someone. The other thing I couldn't get through my head was how the hell did it spread so damn fast, like it was almost already here and something triggered it. Even a cold takes a while to spread through an area but this was almost overnight and everywhere. Something was not adding up and I had plenty of time to think. Why if these things are so easy to avoid by us , was the military not able to control it? where is the damn military? My head raced through paranoid schemes where the entire thing was done by the government, or it was a biological weapon. Hell I even thought it was just this area and we were under a quarantine that's why it was fast and no help was around. 28 days later i thought , that was a quarantine. Things weren't making much sense and no one seemed to question any of it, they were just happy it wasn't them. Eventually I slipped into a sleep and the day of bed rest was finally past me.