Chapter 25
We
actually made it further than we thought before we ran out of petrol. We were
about three quarters of the way back to the warehouse, over a few hills we
would be able to see it. Unfortunately our progress wasn’t a good thing, the
closer we got to home the fewer places we could find that hadn’t been raided by
us or the marauders. We stopped in a dirt road to pull out any maps we still
had, we only had a few minutes of fuel left, so we had to face the fact that we
might have to work to find more. The remaining resistance man, Malcolm, and
Monica went off to see if they could find anything nearby, leaving the rest of
us to stare at a map. I tried to remember the places we had raided before to
eliminate them as targets. A milk bar down one road, a high school down
another. Jacobs and Lindsey said most of their raiders hadn’t come out this
far, but they couldn’t say for sure. I knew the marauders had raided most if
not all pharmacy’s in the area, but it didn’t matter anyway, it wasn’t medicine
or food we were after, but petrol.
I knew
we could find some in some of the main roads where traffic had stopped, but I
also knew from experience that those roads were also filled with the dead. What
we needed was a small car park, nowhere that would have been raided already, or
where the infected would have ran before dying. Somewhere where the only cars
there would be the ones people left there on purpose, not to flee from the
dead, or somewhere they would keep a lot of fuel. But I thought I could safely
assume that a petrol station was out of the question.
Jacobs,
Connor, and I were still arguing over the viability of raiding a Primary School
when Lindsey spoke up, “I might know of, it would have petrol, and other
supplies too”
“Why
haven’t you mentioned this before Lindsey?” Jacobs asked, concerned
“Because
I was afraid of what I would find there,” she stared at the floor as she spoke,
“it is… it was my Dad’s house, he was
a firefighter, and a bit of a survival nut. He was always going on road trips
up to the mountains, buying all sorts of equipment to make sure he comes back
safe… I haven’t heard from him though…” We all knew the pain of losing loved
ones, but it was somehow worse when you weren’t even sure if they were alive. I
wanted to comfort her and say we had another options, or that we could go there
as a rescue mission as opposed to a raid. But I couldn’t promise anything.
“Where
did he live?” I asked, trying to find a point between comforting and
business-like. Lindsey pointed at a spot on the map, I recognised the street,
and better than that we could reach it with what little petrol we had in the
van. But if we got there and we didn’t find any more we would be even further
away from our goal. “Alright,” Jacobs cut through the sombre atmosphere with
her determination, “we’ll wait for the other’s to return and then we’ll be off,
Todd, can you help me find the safest route to get there that won’t use up what
little fuel we have?”
“Uh,
right,” I agreed a little pathetically, something about Jacobs always made me
feel like an idiot, and apparently act like one too.
For an
hour or two we measured and argued until we eventually decided on the best
course. It wasn’t the safest one, but it was the best we could do with what
little driving time we had left. Jacobs insisted I ‘get some rest,’ a sentiment
I would have appreciated if it hadn’t come from someone I was trying to
impress. So once again I found myself alone in the back of the van, thinking
about Jade, and Brooke, and everyone I had lost since the beginning of this
nightmare. But I was more than sure I wasn’t the only one grieving, because
after ten minutes of lying on my back in the cramped space I heard the muffled
sounds of crying from outside.
It was
Lindsey, obviously know that she was alone the grief for her fallen comrades
and her fear for her father’s safety had caught up with her. I wondered if I
should go out there and comfort her, and I struggled with what I would say: ‘It
will be alright’ that would be a lie, ‘I’m sure he’s fine’ that is also a lie, ‘we’ll
get through this’ that too may turn out to be a lie. But in the end my choice
was made for me as I heard her stifled her crying as someone came around the
corner. I heard Emma’s voice, with a softer tone than I had ever heard it
before, “I would ask if you’re okay, but I’m pretty sure you’re not”
“Please
leave me alone,” Lindsey told her, trying to steady her voice, “I want to be
alone right now”
“Now that’s
not true,” Emma said confidently, and I heard her sit with her back resting on
the van, “no one wants to be alone right now, if they did it would be all too
easy to just leave”
“I don’t
want to talk about my father,” Lindsey stated firmly
“Okay”
“Or Kyle…
I mean Anthony”
“Okay”
There
was a long gap of silence and I wondered whether one or both of them had left
“What do
you want to talk about then?”
“I… I don’t
know…”
“Well I
have an idea,” Emma’s voice became softer, “why don’t you tell me about your
friends”
“My
friends?”
“The
ones we lost at the station, you knew them right? I didn’t but I would like to”
“Ha,”
Lindsey laughed like she had back when we met her, “Alright.” She went on to
talk about the people she had lost, the man that rescued dogs that were
abandoned, the one who had organised a karaoke event during the storm, the one
who had punched Pete in the face when they first met. I was surprised by how
happy Lindsey became the more she spoke, and by how happy I was too. I didn’t
want to forget those people, but I never knew them, I had nothing to remember
them by. But now I did. After a while their conversation died off, until
Lindsey spoke again, “what about your friend?”
“My
friend?” Emma sounded surprised at the question
“Brooke
right? Wasn’t she your friend?”
“Well…”
I could hear regret in Emma’s voice, “to be honest I didn’t know her that well,
or for very long. She wasn’t distant or anything, we just, never connected,”
she paused again for a long time, “but now I suppose we never will.
The
grief and sadness returned, and memories of the times I had felt connected to
Brooke came with them. Memories of Caleb came too. But luckily we did not stay
for long in that state of mind. We were jolted out of it by Jacobs’ voice, “they’re
back! Get ready to leave!”
I jolted
upright in the back seat, “did they find anything?”
“Nothing
useful, on to plan B, get the others in here.” I stepped out of the van and
walked around to find Emma and Lindsey getting up “are you ready?” I asked
Lindsey carefully
She
glanced at Emma before answering with a nod, “Yes.” We all piled inside the
van, and I made a note to pick up another vehicle if we found enough petrol.
Everything relied on what we would find there, whether we would return home,
whether we would even survive, and whether Lindsey had any family left to speak
of. We were on the road again, and God knows what we would find.
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