They Walk (46 page)

Maria goes over and immediately begins helping Kelli sort through all the surgical supplies and together they get things they would need to scoop out a bullet, or that’s what I think they are for. No one exactly explains what they are going to do, and then again I don’t ask either. When both of them are ready and sliding on matching pairs of plastic gloves, Kelli looks over at us.

She seems very serious all of a sudden, and I have the worst thought that she is going to tell us that there is no point is trying to operate, that mom is already gone. But then she gives us a ghost of a weak smile. She opens her mouth and begins saying something, and I can see Gabe and Dan both nodding in agreement over what she says. But like before her words take my mind a while to process it and when I do, I’m already being guided out of the room between Dan and Gabe.

“
I’ll need you all to leave if that’s all right? The less distraction’s we have. The better the results will be. But don’t worry; your mother is in good hands.”

There is a loud voice in the back of my mind that wants to run back into the room and demand that I stay by my mother’s side. But it stays there in the back of my mind with all of my body’s feelings, and instead I let myself be led out of the room. I do allow my eyes to stay on my mom as long as they can, and the last thing I see is my dad bending over her crying while Kelli and Maria cut into her. Just as the Gabe is closing the door behind him, Kelli calls out to me, or I hope it’s to me, and I barely catch what she says. But again, we’re all already at the end of the hall and going back into the main room, when I hear that she told me to not worry about my eye.

She says it’ll be fine and clear up in two weeks.

I find that rather funny, as I walk sandwiched between my brother and my boyfriend heading for an empty sofa in the middle of the room. Numbly, I follow them to the front of the couch, and sit down when they do only out of reflex. I can’t stop thinking about Kelli’s comment though, and why I think it is so funny to me. The whole idea of still being alive in two weeks is slipping away and who really knows if I’ll live for my eye to clear up.

But do I really care anyway?

Honestly, I didn’t even think about it until she mentioned it, so I guess I don’t in a way. On my right, Dan turns to face me and gently places a hand on mine that are clenched together in my lap. They relax though when he touches me, which is good because I didn’t even know they were to begin with. His lips are moving and I know he’s telling me something, but like before it takes me a moment to catch what it is.

When I do, he is just waiting patiently for a response from me.

“
Kelli was right you know mom really is in good hands. She and Maria are a great team, and are the best medical staff we could have around here as of late. Don’t worry, she’ll be fine.”

I only watch Dan for moment before something in what he says, breaks the shell that is covering my mind, and oh so slowly do my feelings come crashing into me. My eyes fill with tears until they fall over the edge of my lashes, and cascade down my cheeks in an endless flow. My body is shaking now, and for some reason I’m freezing inside and out.

Every little cut, bruise, hit, and ache comes throbbing into me and I want to cry out from the pain of it, but I don’t. Instead, I gratefully allow Gabe to take me into his warm strong arms. He holds me just at the right amount of pressure, that keeps my shaking body still and I’m able to take in a deep gasping breath as the sobs come pouring out of me.

I’m not sure how long we sit this way, me hiding in the protection of Gabe’s arms and Dan silently sitting beside us as he tries to stay strong. But eventually there is movement across the room, and I raise my swollen and wet eyes to see who or what it is. Even upset and I still have a self-preserving instinct, who knew? What I see is a very annoyed and maybe a little bit guilty, Randy.

He is leaning against the far wall right across from us, and he is really giving off an intense vibe towards Gabe. “So tell me, what is all this bombing business? And where the hell is Noah?”

It makes sense as to why he’s giving Gabe the evil eye now, he wants answers.

Well I say get in line.

We all do.

Chapter Seventy Nine

Not even waiting for me to pull my crap together, Randy gets right to business by getting the tight nit group of the ‘it’ people here together. With us in the main room is now us, with Brady and Lauren. For some strange reason sitting here on the couch sandwiched between Dan and Gabe still, I’m reminded of the Collisee. And only because now that the initial freak out over getting here and getting my mom help has subdued somewhat, I can now hear the other people down here. There aren’t loud or anything like that, it’s more like a comforting background hum, like at the Collisee. You can’t see the people, but by just hearing them in the distance, you know they are there. And it gives me a sense of solace that we aren’t alone in all this.

Heavy, right?

Anyways, Randy has been deposited in a recliner for the last couple of minutes while Brady and Lauren got comfortable on the loveseat. They’ve all been staring at us, waiting. Waiting for us to tell how everything happened the way it did over the last week, and where the rest of our party is and how we got my parents back and found out about the bombs. I know we should jump right in and get it over with so we can get down to the bombs explanation, but for the life of me, I don’t know where to start.

Luckily for me, I wasn’t the only one there, Gabe was too.

With little help from me, he goes into the tale of how we got to the army base with Noah, and how we found a jackpot of weapons, ammo, and grenades. He tells how we finally made it to the Collisee, and how Sam got bit saving me and then killed himself before he turned. Hearing that again makes me feel guilt so strongly, that I feel sick to my stomach. It is my fault he’s gone now after all. But I try to not let it get to me, as Gabe continues none the wiser to my thoughts.

He tells how Claire and Noah found her mom, and his pregnant sister and boyfriend. He also mentions that we, meaning him and me both, couldn’t deal with the fact that my parents weren’t there. I notice that Dan now is the one to look guilty even though he doesn’t have a reason too. Alright so maybe does, not going with me in the first place, but it’s really not his fault.

And I definitely don’t blame him.

When Gabe goes on to tell about us getting together with just Noah, and heading for Bates, I’m grateful that he doesn’t mention Hunter. That is certainly something I don’t want to have to explain, least of all to my brother. Even if he understood, I still don’t really condone killing him. I’m not a monster after all.

Dan is sitting at the edge of his seat, when Gabe tells them about how we were only just searching the library when Noah found my parents and a small group of others. He mentions that we stayed the night, and had to find another car in the morning since we all wouldn’t fit in his and thankfully we all were back on the road to the Collisee. When Gabe tells of how we found the place scattered and in chaos, Randy is the one to move to the edge of his seat. He tells them how we found Claire with Hanna and the others, and that they inform us that the military there found out that the Country will be bombed in 48 hours.

Everyone is still quiet as Gabe continues, but I can tell that Randy really wants to interrupt about what the military said word for word. But instead, they wait and let Gabe go on to tell them that most people, Noah and Claire included, are heading for the nearest border for evacuation before the bombs hit. When Gabe is finally done, they are all still quiet and for a moment I think something is wrong, but I know nothing other than the obvious is, it was just a long story and it’s seems’ weird that this is the end. I know exactly how they feel.

Randy sighs and leans back into the recliner making it groan in response.

He raises his hands and buries his face in them, and then he is the one to groan, before he lowers them.

“
You said the bombs are arriving sometime tomorrow didn’t you?”

Gabe tenses beside me, and he twines his fingers with mine.

I ignore the fact that his hands are sweaty and I cling to him.

“
That’s right.”

Randy narrows his eyes at Gabe now, and leans forward so that his elbows are resting somewhat awkwardly on his knees.

“
But you just said you were told the bombs were coming in forty eight hours. So what happened the other thirty or so hours?”

Gabe clears his throat and looks away so that he and I share our own little awkward look.

“
On the way here we got stopped by a band of wannabe renegades, and they took us to the old Auburn High School down the road. When we escaped, that is when Karen was shot.”

They all make their own admonishments, and Randy just nods his head, like he figured something like that had happened. He doesn’t explain why he would think it, but we don’t ask either. Randy leans back in the recliner again with a pensive look on his face and I know he’s going over everything Gabe had said again in his head.

Everyone else is quiet still though, I included, and I’m not entirely sure where we go from here.

“
Why did you come here instead of running for safety? It’s not like you guys knew we’d found better shelter. And what if you were to run out of time?” Dan asks in a soft frightened voice, breaking the silence.

I share a brief glace with Gabe, before searching out my brother. This question needs to be answered by me and no one else, since I am the reason for coming here after all. Dan is staring at his hands that are in his lap, and all I want in the world is to make him feel better. I don’t like seeing him so subdued and not his usual punk kid self.

“
Daniel, I couldn’t just leave you and the others. It wouldn’t be the right thing to do. Besides, if we’re going to die wouldn’t it be better to do it with those you care about?”

He looks up at me then, and I see that he is smirking at me, and then is shifts to the grin I’ve come to hate and love from him over the years.

“
Your and idiot, you know.”

I can’t help my own grin from forming and I think back to all the times I’ve jumped into a fight without thinking and how Gabe would always get mad at me. He too would call me an idiot, looks like its catching.

“
I know.”

Dan just shakes his head for a moment and then he reaches out and pulls me close to him.

I latch onto him like he’s my lifeline, and feel so blessed to have him as my brother. When he tightens his hold on me, I remember the hug we shared before I ever left the apartments so long ago and I wonder if we can ever get to a place we were before all this. It’s nice to think so, but I won’t hold anyone to it that’s for sure. We pull apart at about the same time chuckling, and I swear I see Dan swiping at his eyes, must be dust.

Right.

I lean back in the seat of the couch and let out a deep breath that I really think I’ve been holding for a week since we left. Gabe shifts closer to me and drapes his arm over the back of the couch and my shoulder at the same time. Randy, finally have enough time to process everything, gets to his feet suddenly.

“
We should get everyone together, because it seems we all have a decision to make.”

He walks right out of the room then and down the hallway to the left and disappearing from our sight. I wonder for half a second what he could mean by ‘decision’, and then I realize he means for us leaving for the border with the rest of the population. Why would he want that though? Are the tunnels not safe?

I guess there is only one way to find out.

Chapter Eighty

Twenty minutes later found us in the room with over a hundred new people.

It would seem that there were more people down here in the tunnels than I originally thought. There are so many in here, that it’s only standing room available now. Which leaves my little group having to lean against the far wall, closest to the entrance, and from here I can see the line of people traveling down the two narrow hallways. Seeing them I am definitely sure they weren’t all at the apartments, but Dan filled me in that on the way here they ended picking up some stranglers. Quite a bit of them I would say.

They are all in various stages of undress, since most of them had to be woken up to come out here. I’m glad to see that there are a lot of families with small children here, and in a way it kind of gives me hope that all this isn’t the end. I remember the single woman with the two small girls at the Collisee, and I like to think they are safe and sound already.

I’m still between Gabe and Dan, but we now have a new buddy with us. Maria’s little brother Michael, though ‘little’ isn’t a very good description of him since he could pass for her older brother. Like Dan and I, you can see the family resemblance in them, with their light hair and eyes. The only difference between them is that she is open and sweet by nature, and he is more quiet and reserved. Not much has changed about Michael, and I can never forget the way we found him weeks ago hiding out in his house. Having to kill your own parent does something to you inside, and I don’t think he’ll ever be the same video gaming comic loving teen. Right now, he just leans against the wall beside Dan and gazes out at the masses with a look of indifference.