women were pregnant then we would have a reason to fight again. Fighter harder I mean.'
'Steve, listen, this is important. If you so much as tell anyone I will kick you in the nutsack so hard you will never have kids of your own.'
Steve stood up more straight and shifted around on his legs until they were slightly apart, then gestured with one hand at his crotch, 'Take your best shot lady, I am telling them. This will help us through the next day or two.'
Seeing the determination in his eyes Dora said, 'Fuck. I really do not want people to know yet. I don't want them acting all weird trying to protect me when I am more than capable of taking care of myself. You would treat me differently, you said so yourself; you would not have brought me to get the buses yesterday.'
Steve nodded and Dora continued. 'Well then you have to ask yourself Steve, would people knowing this, and liking it, according to your belief, outweigh the changes they will make in our fight to leave here? Are people going to make better or worse decisions in combat because they know I am pregnant?'
'I don't…I don't really know Dora.'
'Well you were in the military right? Do you change plans at the last minute?'
'You have to get as up to the date intelligence as you can before you go on any mission. This news could make people fight harder.'
'Steve, Steve, Steve.' said Dora shaking her head, 'They are already going to be fighting for their lives, I don't think fighting for mine even enters the equation. I think they'll do fine. When we get to Iowa we can tell everyone and use it to soften the blow that comes from our losses.'
'If we make it, Iowa it's going to change everything.'
'So you'll wait then?'
With a bit of a frown Steve nodded his agreement, 'But only until we get there, once we're safe again I'm telling everyone.'
'Fair enough. Now let's get going, I still have to talk to Willy before we head out. Why don't you have him ride with me? And throw that tween Beth in my suburban too, would you?'
'You are on point, I was going to try and have another adult in your car…'
'Who? We 'adults' are spread pretty thin, Willy has a good track record of surviving and with his little girlfriend in the car he won't be tempted to head out on his own.'
'Fine. Any other changes to my plans that you want me to make?'
'Now, Steve don't be that way! You know us civilian leaders have to mess with the military plans all the time for political reasons.'
'No shit.' Steve slid open the patio door to Dora's house and they headed into her kitchen. 'Are you going to miss this place?'
'Depends on where I end up, ask me in a year, if we're still around.'
'Oh you'll end up on your feet, I don't doubt that.' said Steve as he helped himself to a huge plate of eggs and cup of coffee. Dora frowned at him and put another pot on to make more. Steve tried to duck out before Dora made a snide comment about coffee guzzling jar heads, but he didn't quite make it. After she had poured herself a fresh cup she approached Mary and Willy in her living room. Willy was much cleaner than he had been and was getting dressed while Mary packed away bits and pieces of her medical gear into bags on the examining table.
'You need help Mary?'
'Yeah, you busy?'
'I just want to talk with Willy for a minute, want me to get you a cup of coffee?'
'Sure, put it in one of those travel mugs will you? Oh and Alex said he had come back to tell you that he couldn't get in touch with Jake.'
'Dammit. We should have left him a walkie-talkie.'
'I am sure we'll contact him when we leave. Now go take your minute, it better be a fast one, we need to get moving here.'
'C'mon Willy.' said Dora dragging the boy with her as she went back over to the kitchen.
He finished dressing by the counter as Dora pushed another bowl of eggs over at him. 'Coffee?'
'Is there any cream and sugar?'
'You know it.' said Dora pouring him a cup then passing over a bottle of powdered cream and a bowl of sugar. Willy doctored his coffee up until it resembled a creamy white sludge then started in on his eggs.
'You're riding with me today. Up front on point, Beth will be in the car too. That okay with you?' he responded by nodding and grunting his assent. 'So what did you mean when you said I could do it too? When we were out there with Tim?'
The young man shrugged and said, 'Some of us are faster, like they are. Especially anyone who got real close up to them to kill them. Jeff was about as fast as I have seen, before I saw you this morning. You are way faster. Like car to bicycle faster.'
'Why in the hell didn't anyone mention this before?'
'We thought you knew. I saw you fight before, I mean you were faster than normal, you were always where you needed to be, always killing the really bad people who needed killing. I was sure you already noticed or that someone else had talked to you about it.'
'No one ever mentioned it. How fast are you?'
'I could outdraw Jeff.' Willy reached up and touched the bandage above his ear, 'But I'm not fast enough.'
'Is there anything else that goes along with this?'
Willy rolled his eyes and sighed, then answered, 'How would I know? You're faster, I'm faster, I don't get so tired anymore, I think we get better sooner or don't get hurt as much as we should.' he paused, shoveled in another spoonful of eggs, then said, 'Oh, wait, stronger too. Much stronger. You can jump farther. That's about it, just try things and see what you can do.'
'Good advice, too bad I don't have time. Does it ever go away?'
Willy shrugged, 'Not yet, maybe when we stop killing them.'
'Which will be never. I get it. Fine. Finish up then come help me with Mary and getting the hurt people into the bus.' Dora poured the last of the fresh pot of coffee into a travel mug, then fixed it up the way she knew Mary liked to drink it before heading over to help the other woman finish packing.
Chapter 39
The vehicles were lined up and ready to move out, the group was waiting for the last of the pickets to withdraw from the fence line. Steve had designated a point at the inner fence for everyone to meet and the watchers had finally all trickled in to that gate. Once the last of them were gathered there Steve covered the young men and women as they made their way to the buses. The buses were lined up in front of Dora's house with a vehicle between each one, two pickups brought up the rear and out in front were the two motorcycles with Becka and Seth, followed by Dora's suburban and Bob's pickup truck. All of the pickups had several teenagers riding in the back, most armed with shotguns sporting looks of grim determination.
When Steve reached his truck, the second to last one, he radioed for everyone to move out and the vehicles all started forward slowly through the main gates at the end of Dora's street. The gated community funneled all of the streets to one common exit and it was in sight of this final gate that the motorcyclist pulled up to a halt, frantically Seth's voice came over the line, 'Dora, do you see them? At the front gate?'
Dora was driving her suburban and she could indeed see what Seth was talking about, the two motorcycles had not roamed far ahead of her yet, they would not do so until the group was out of familiar territory. Ahead was the military truck so often driven to Doraville by Sam Waller or Jim Tiller, looking closer Dora could only see one person standing beside the truck. Grabbing her radio she called out, 'Approach cautiously, that is Jake there beside the truck, not Tiller or one of the others.'
