# 55

The old Leeya gave me a small spark of what she was like but it was the new version that had me worried. She was sleeping behind me while I started back onto the highway and she was thrashing around, much different then the sleeping Leeya on the ride down. I must have looked in the back over a dozen times every minute or two just to see what was going on. It was like a linebacker was trying to break through the side of the RV. Each time I was greeted to a visual of her rolling back and forth almost fighting the bed to be able to stay asleep. The other reason I wasn't even fooling myself as to why I checked so much was that I couldn't trust her sleeping behind making so much noise. In the back of my head I kept on thinking that she was turning into a monster right behind me and that she would be attacking me at any minute. Had I known then what i know now I wouldn't be so scared of her but what can you do? I was nervous about the whole situation and wondered if Fred at the Hotel had been hiding these little snip its of information from us and that Unice was just as bad or maybe even worse.

The highway was as clear as it was when we headed this way on the way down. We were driving in the wrong direction and for good reason the lanes on this side were clear on the ride down and I wasn't going to find out the side I could randomly not see through the center of the highway was blocked anywhere. I hoped that when we hit the section in the highway that was blocked I could jump back on the side road like last time and scoot through and be on my merry way. About a half hour of driving later and about five hundred spot checks of Leeya later I was well into the state and ran into the obstruction but this time I was past any exit ramps when it came into view. I looked to the median and it was too deep of a ditch to roll the RV through and had to either get out and walk around , abandoning the RV or I would be turning around and heading back to the last exit ramp. Since Leeya was asleep and the RV was such a feather in my cap at this point I started to back up. The RV was a fully loaded beast and through a monitor on the dashboard I could see where I was backing up to. It made it fairly easy to back up but I still had to check over my shoulder in case my paranoia wasn't made up and I was about to be eaten.

A few miles in reverse looking at a 6 inch monitor can make anyone a bit unhinged and I was getting there fast. I continually thought I saw something behind a car or near a tree and would slow down and stare into the monitor and end up seeing nothing but my own nervous reflection off the screen. I brought the RV to a stop and went to the back of the beast to grab the bottle of scotch that was in the cupboard. I didn't even bother looking for a glass as I sat back down and started to back up again taking swigs off the bottle and starting to try and loosen up. The rustling behind me was getting out of hand and half the time I would check the monitor again thinking I had just backed into something only to find that it was the noise of Leeya having an out of body experience in the bed while "sleeping". The RV was almost to the exit behind me when I heard something in front of me. I looked out the windshield which I had been completely ignoring while backing up and saw two of the "things" coming after the RV, only they were running like track stars looking to hand off the baton.

I gasped for a moment and said out loud "OOOOO CRAP!" After which I slammed down the pedal making the RV lurch and started looking at the monitor the things in front of me and Leeya. It was a whirlwind of a three way view but I didn't want anything to surprise me and so far I was being complete crap at it. The things that were running almost as fast as humanly possible only inhuman were right up to the front of the RV and I was seriously wondering what my options were here. If I see the exit and stop to take it they will be all over us and if I pass it they will just chase us as far as I go. I could see the exit coming in the distance on the monitor which meant it was a lot closer than it looked. I looked back at Leeya who was still thrashing but had slowed down a bit and then did the only thing I had in my head. I slammed on the brakes. The things came at me and were completely caught off guard as the rammed into the front of the RV. I waited till it had come to a stop and then rammed the shifter in D and stomped on the gas. The RV jumped at this and the two things that had ran after us were instantly trying to get to their feet as I ran them down. As I passed over them I caught them in the monitor still moving, they just never stop going do they?

At the bottom of the exit I turned to get on the side road and we headed down the familiar road away from the highway as I hoped we had better luck in this portion of the trip. The fuel gauge was still doing somewhat well and we were getting a pretty good amount of traveling done. I knew that once it was dark and with me and Brent's relationship or lack of as well as Leeya's current condition we would not want any attempt to roll in until at least daylight. The night time was slowly closing in and I was trying to think of a place for the RV to spend the night. So far the highway was the best place but out here I knew a few places that were off the beaten path and had room for us as well as a bit of protection. I rolled to the next on ramp and headed by it and through a small gate at the side of the road busting through it and into the lot on the other side. It was an old junkyard that was abandoned by the family that had inherited it when the old man who spent a lifetime filling it with oddities had passed away. It was a bit of a legendary place out here as most people could see it from the side road but not a lot of people knew the story behind it. My career paths had led me many times into it and the old mans graces before his passing so I knew a bit about it as well as the Quonset hut he had in the back that the RV would fit into and be hidden.

I drove through the lot as quick as I could dodging everything from a small child's unicycle to a complete Mustang Mach 1 from the 70's that all had been there for decades rotting away. I thought back in the day the tow truck was tough to maneuver in and out of here with but with the RV it was a whole new world of pain. I made it to the Quonset hut and nosed the RV in. It barely made it inside while it scraped the side the awning hung off of, glad I didn't pay for it. It was nice because it was so tight that you couldn't get to the door or front once I had it nosed it. That meant we were safe from anything trying to get in over night and I liked that. I sat back in my seat and took a long chug off the bottle of scotch and thought what a day indeed. Then a cold hand grabbed the side of my neck gently and an even colder almost ice like pair of lips kissed the opposite side of my neck. "Are we back yet baby ?" Leeya inquired. I said "No we have to crash here tonight before it gets to dark we can make it back tomorrow." She gave me an odd smirk that I think was a smile and the did a "Stagger like I am trying to be sexy" limp back to the bed. "C'mere sweetie" she purred. I got up "Nut up or shut up" Woody Harrelson said in my ear from Zombieland. I got up and staggered to the back as well. Heck it can't be much worse can it?

# 54

I leaned down to see how her leg was where she had been bitten and she pushed me off of her. I was shocked , she was not only OK but very odd acting. I asked her if I could look at her leg and she turned back at me with those eyes. The eyes were so silver, so creepy I damn near jumped out of my skin and she said softly "Why are you going to make me all better?" I have the willies just repeating it here. I tried explaining she was dead and the chemo was injected three times and yet she wouldn't wake up and she Cooley responded with "I look awake now don't I ?" Then she leaned over and looked right down at my knee. "Does it hurt a bad as it looks ?" in a tone of not care but odd curiosity. I said yes and she smiled, it was surreal.

She announced to me that she was tired from all of the walking and was laying down and when she did I went to the foot of the bed to check her bite. The bite was bad but strangely not bleeding, it was more like a red outlined scar and when I tried to touch her leg it was almost ice cold and she looked right at me when I did. "Can I be of some sort of service or are you trying to stop me from resting?" she said in a get away from me voice. I said "No go ahead and sleep, don't have me keep you up". She turned and closed those dead eyes and I sat in the chair in the kitchenette and put my face in my hands. "I must look almost as bad as you do" she said aloud as she went to sleep. I sat there thinking she was not Leeya, but some odd form of her. I thought of Pet Semetary and how they come back but not all the way back and thought it was what I had on my hands. "Sometimes dead is better" the voice of Herman Munster said in the movie, I was starting to think he was right for a moment. Should I have killed her? No that is crazy talk shes right there laying down, not trying to bite me. But she is different, she went from having that clueless innocence I wanted to protect to being harder than a marine in the war. What the hell is going on. I knew one person who may have a few answers and he was Fred and back at the hotel. As much as I hated it I was going to have to get us back to the Hotel and see if Fred knew what was happening.

I snuck out of the RV and headed back to the bus hoping my gas cans were still there. That someone didn't come along and take them, not that I had seen anyone since the running "thing". I stopped a few times adding duct tape to my knee and limping some more. I felt I had let Leeya down and she was bitten because of my stupidity. She wasn't as aware of everything as I was and maybe didn't even look under the damn bus. No matter what she was bitten and the look on her face that helpless, why didn't you protect me look was in my head. She had my back on an occasion and I had hers . But I couldn't help but fee I let her down this time. I finally reached the bus and the first gas can was already full the pump had been running this whole time. I hoped the tank hadn't drained and had enough to top off the second can, if it did I would drive the RV here and use the bus to top me off with whatever is left in it.

The smell of the fuel was headache inducing and once I ad them both full I took them and limped back to the RV. Leeya or whatever example of her was there was sleeping like the dead...no pun intended and I filled the tank with my two cans of fuel and started it up. A diesel like this you don't want to run low in cold weather and I was grateful it caught and fired up. Priming the system on the road here with what had happened wasn't going to be fun and I was glad.......the RV died again. Crap just as I thought one thing it goes and craps out on me. I got out of the RV and went to the engine in the back and looked for a fuel filter. I found it unscrewed it and filled it back up with the fuel in the cans that I couldn't get into the RV because of the poor angle when pouring. I climbed back in and bam fired it up and this time left the throttle down for a moment.

A cold hand was on my shoulder and a cold breath in my ear as Leeya had crept up behind me to whisper in my ear, "Sorry about before I don't feel real well". She kissed me on the cheek that is road rash she had earlier picked on and then went back to lay down. She was a bi-polar zombie , just great. I ran the RV down the road to the bus and hooked the pump from the bus to the RV and let it run until the bus was empty, I ended up with over half a tank and was glad as turning around now I could make it back to probably the Rhode Island line and hit up the truck stop there again, if that running thing isn't around. I turned around in the middle of the highway and started heading back to the Hotel. Hopefully Brent has calmed down and Fred can give me some help or at least some idea what was wrong compared to Unice.

Leeya slept the entire drive back to the line , at least I think she slept either that or she died again. No snore no movement she was laying completely still without so much as a flinch or twitch. I wondered if I didn't give the first or second shot enough time and maybe overdid it. Maybe I had too long of a gap between the bite and the shots. Whatever it was she wasn't Leeya like she was that morning and she was already missed. I wanted her to be sitting next to me with her playful attitude playing 20 questions or name that tune. She really had a way of making everything seem quite OK. Now with the stress of the world before me and her behind me asleep, I felt the pain of this situation like I had back at my mothers house.

The drive to the line was a little bit slower than the ride the first time but so quiet. It was strange how different the ride was when I was all alone this time with my thoughts. Thoughts can drive a man crazy if they have some time to really run them over and over again. My thoughts were just dark and dreadful. Thoughts of Leeya becoming a "thing" if she wasn't already. Thoughts of the end of life as we know it . Thoughts of my brother and his family and how they are right now. Every aspect of what I was thinking was torn apart with the best and worst case scenarios and also what I had thought was an escape plan. If anyone could tear my ideas apart and make them seem bad it was me, and I was on top of my game.

I took the last exit in Connecticut and turned off the ramp to the gas station that was waiting where the running thing had been. I pulled up to the diesel section and parked next to the pumps. Looking back I could see Leeya sleeping with her back to me, at least I hoped she was sleeping. Climbing out of the RV I walked over to the store and walked under the arm bar you use to push it open, the glass was gone on the lower part and I climbed through to the inside of the store. The store had already been pilfered pretty good but it had a few useful things and I grabbed a slim Jim and some soda and had a snack. I waited inside and listened again for any sound of anything and kept a keen eye on the RV in case anything moved outside or in the RV. Leeya was out like a light but I recalled that Unice was always resting too, maybe it was a side effect of the virus or whatever the chemo was fighting. I got up and walked behind the counter and grabbed about five cartons of smokes and then noticed the pump lights were on, this place had a generator somewhere and the pumps were live. I ran to the door and ducked under the handle and scooted over to the RV and let the handle fill it while I looked around some more.

The RV shook and I heard something moving inside so I left the handle locked and pumping and walked to the door to check on Leeya. As I tried to open the door it popped open into my face and Leeya came stumbling out. "My legs are killing me " she said and fell to the ground. Her legs had once been like porcelain and now were grey with dark purple veins showing like varicose veins. I helped her back up and she staggered into the store while I asked unsuccessfully what she needed. She ignored me and continued into the store. I leaned against the RV and thought more, man the thoughts I have and think about will drive me nuts. She came back out with what looked like two paper bags filled with things. I asked what they were and she pushed by me and climbed in a drunken haze filled stagger to get into the RV. I leaned in and watched her pull out the oddest things like nail polish , chewing gum, and gauze pads. She fell to the ground and started crying and babbled " I don't know what I'm even doing baby". I walked into the RV and held her , she was confused and I think being messed up from the bite and chemo had her going in too many directions mentally and emotionally. "Tell me whats wrong" I asked her. "I can't feel my legs, I'm tired all the time, I'm hungry but not hungry at the same time and my head kills me, and last I keep wanting to say and do one thing and find myself doing the exact opposite and not even saying sorry or correcting it!" I smiled and said " you've been through a lot and we don't know what the effects are or how they work, how much chemo you had. If it took too long. We only have what we know and have done, and I hope it's enough". She continued crying and laid into me and asked sobbingly " You wouldn't kill me would you? Not if I was turning you wouldn't would you baby?" I said " NO you never gave up on me when it was all too easy to. I sure an hell won't give up on you Leeya, not for a million years. I may have to muzzle you though". She started to laugh and then said she was tired so I helped her back to the bed and finished the fuel up. It was a tough day indeed and I was glad to see a spark of the old Leeya .

# 53

I climbed behind the wheel and fired up the RV, it started a bit hesitantly and then started to purr. I let it run a while, reminding me of so many of the cars I had owned in the past that never ran well in the cold. Funny that an RV that costs more than most houses would be the same way. Leeya was in the back putting things away and i started moving slowly with an eye on the fuel gauge. It was reading below the orange section and dancing on the empty mark. I was sweating it out hoping we would make it to some sort of gas station or fuel in some form. My mind was wandering with the freshness of the foaming knee as I drove to the great beyond of empty highway thinking about the friends we had made and left behind. Despite the situation breaking down and Brent wanting to kill me in disbelief of his friends demise from irrational thinking ,  I truly missed them. I knew that no matter what front she put up Leeya had to be missing them as well, she knew them for years. Yet she walked away so coldly when I had to leave it was a good feeling in a way to know someone was on your side like that.

The highway was like any highway if it was late at night only this was daytime, early morning. No one was around and there was no noise it was like we were all alone in the middle of the desert. I watched like a man possessed for a sign for the next exit and the longer I searched for it the longer it seemed to take to find. I remembered the pot never boils while you watch it. Smirking I looked hard and still couldn't see any sign of an exit. My eyes went from the side of the road to the gas gauge, back and forth back and forth. Where the hell is the exit , back and forth back and forth. I started to worry if there was an exit coming or if I was in a Twilight Zone episode.The exit that never was or something to that end. I was starting to ramp up into the upper phase of panic, but didn't want Leeya to see it. She had been by my side through some rough things and was still sweet at heart for me and to me. I couldn't let that change or let her start to harden. I was starting to realize she was going to harden at some point but not on my watch, she was sweet and should stay that way as long as possible.

Finally the RV gave out and stalled. It crept to a stop and died, leaving us in the middle of the highway. I looked around and for the life of me could not figure out where on the highway we actually were, and I was pretty good at being a human GPS with all the driving I have done. Leeya went into full panic mode when the RV died and started freaking out. I had to put my game face on like it was no big deal and we had it under control. She started to calm down but sadly I was as freaked out as she was inside, I just would not show her. I told her to get suited up with as much coverage as she had , it was cold out after all, and then we sat at the small breakfast nook and started to wind up the weaponry. This took a bit longer than it should have but I suck with guns and really we searched through the ammo boxes to find the proper ammo for the right guns. Once we were set loaded and ready to rock we hopped out of the RV and started heading to the road we were aiming in the direction of with ammo guns and 2 gas cans. I had hopes with these cans and the syphon system I salvaged earlier we would find something with enough gas to make us reach a pump somewhere.

The walk I was finding was heavier than all the walking we had done in the past. I had the weight of both of us on me now and the knee was all but giving me the finger. I was limping along and Leeya was in front of me looking back and forth as if she was protecting me , and who know maybe she was. About a half hour into the walk and we came upon something that made me smile, a bus off the side of the road. That means two things, it has diesel and it was running when it did this crash to the tree line. I told Leeya to wait a second and eyeballed the situation. If that bus had things in it or anywhere in the vicinity I didn't want to walk up as if I was serving the both of us on a menu. I started slowly and told Leeya to keep an eye behind me as I plodded along. I heard a gasp and turned to see Leeya looking down at my feet. I was leaving bloody footprints and a snail trail of blood from the knee. "Funny that doesn't hurt that bad" I said with a smirk. Leeya just shrugged it off and we kept moving towards the bus.

We reached the bus and I moved slowly down the side of it making sure to keep my eyes open to all possibilities. Leeya was behind me and I asked her to check under the bus, as I couldn't bend down with my knee. She said she did and to just get some fuel quickly. I got to the door of the bus and took a peek inside. It was broken glass , coagulated blood and a few bodies, but there was nothing moving inside of it. I moved to the fuel door and got out the syphon and put down a gas can. I got the syphon to start working for about a minute and filled half the gas can when Leeya started screaming. I looked over at her and she was screaming for her life and as I looked down I saw IT.

She had checked under the bus she said but either missed this one or it was not under it yet. The "thing" was biting her in the ankle and she was just losing her mind. I acted as fast as possible and butted it in the head with the shotgun handle , making it stop biting and spit teeth out. Leeya collapsed on the ground and the freak thing started right after her again not even acknowledging me. I turned the gun around and blew its face completely off leaving a garish hole that the brain started pouring out of. I quickly got Leeya off the ground and threw her over my shoulder, the bad one. I started to do a limp run back to the RV and ignore all of the pain that is shooting through my entire body. Leeya was crying and saying she was so sorry and I was mumbling all the things I could come up with to keep her upbeat as I headed to the RV and the chemo. I was praying I wasn't taking too long. In my head I was beating myself up thinking why didn't I take it with me where is the chemo in the RV right now. I wanted to hit the door and grab it fast. We could see the RV in the distance and each step seemed to be coming on slower and slower. Leeya had passed out and I was probably not far from doing the same. Pain was surging through my leg and my face was yelling at me as well with Leeya leaning against it. I wanted to switch which side she was on but my knee was on the other side and wouldn't take the weight on it over there.

I finally hit the door to the RV and we barreled through once I unlocked it. I lay Leeya down on the floor and she mumbled something and was in and out of consciousness. I started a frantic search for the chemo and was losing it quickly screaming to myself where it was. Then I sat next to Leeya and looked at her front pocket of her jacket, she had the chemo with her the whole time and didn't say anything to me. I dumped it out and grabbed a bottle and as I injected an entire vile of it she started to have a seizure and was convulsing. I waited a second and tried to get a pulse but heard nothing. I looked at the vile and grabbed another one and filled the needle. Looking at her I was talking to her telling her to wake up and not let go and then I gave her the second injection, not knowing exactly how much to give . I listened some more and still no pulse, so I started some CPR. I wasn't exactly sure how to do CPR but i was giving it my best and not getting anything I reached over and gave another dose of the chemo.
I was fearing I had lost her and would have to kill the version of her that would wake up that was when she moved and then opened her eyes, the once blue eyes were now silver and hazy, and looked at me. I stepped back a bit and asked her if she was OK I mean she was looking a bit different with her eyes and her skin was pale with dark veins, and she looked back to me and coldly said "Why wouldn't I be". 

# 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.