Joe nodded. “Good. Thanks, Keith. Anybody else get an electrical shock?” He looked around the room. Nobody answered at first.
“Holy shit,” Romy said. Everybody looked over at her as she toyed with a water bottle. She looked up, becoming aware of everybody’s attention.
“That happened to me too. Getting shocked.” She looked directly at Keith, possibly seeing him for the first time. “I had symptoms before that incident.” The way she said incident told everybody there was more to that story, but Romy wasn’t interested in elaborating.
“This is a bit of a witch hunt, don’t you think?” Tammy said from her table. “Don’t get me wrong, I want to find out exactly what happened, and how come some of us were immune — or cured. But we should tackle this mystery by chasing facts.” She looked at Joe. “I think our best lead is this Maddie Jeffersons.”
“Well, that does it,” Mike said. He was sitting at a bench flanked by BB and Abi. They turned to him as he added, “I am going to head out to this farm. Maybe I can find some answers there.”
“Maybe there will be some more motherfucking soldiers there that will shoot you the hell up!” Joe harrumphed.
“And what do you suppose we do, Joe? Sit here and wait for them to return so they can finish the job?” Breanne was on her feet.
Tammy reached over and put her hand on the stocky woman’s shoulder. She shook her head slightly and motioned for Breanne to take a seat. Breanne shot one last ugly look towards Joe and sat back down.
Q spoke as he slouched on his bench. “No, man. That place ain’t no military base or nothing. I was there, and it’s just a small farm. The fence is a joke — anybody can get over that thing. There were, like, no walls, and the farmhouse was just a house, not like a castle or something. There’s no way any army dudes would be hanging out there.”
“Well, all y’all can think what you like. But I’m going,” Mike stated with finality.
“Not without us.” Abi spoke for herself and BB.
“OK, wait ... wait.” Joe asked the group to simmer down. “Damn, I wish Craig were here. This is what I’m thinking: If a crew is going to check out the Jeffersons’s place, then let’s at least organize it properly. Like...” He searched for the word for a second. “Like an expedition. You will need a vehicle, extra gas, food, and a bunch of other stuff.”
Mike nodded in agreement. “But first let’s figure out who is in.”
Nat was the first to volunteer. “I’m in.” Tammy had also raised her hand.
Rosa said she wanted to go, which started a small discussion. In the end, she relented to the argument that she wasn’t well enough to travel yet.
Maria also stuck up her hand. When she was told that she couldn’t go because it would be too dangerous, she growled in frustration and ran out of the cafeteria. Claire went after her.
Ern was willing to go, but Nancy reminded him that he had been tinkering with the furnace and wasn’t done.
It seemed like nobody else wanted to go, but then a flurry of hands shot up. Michelle was in, and Bill had also raised his hand.
“I’m going,” Jack said with as much calmness in his voice as he could muster.
“NO!” Sarah screamed. Her vehemence stunned the group, but she hardly noticed. She shook her head back and forth like a bear, a manic look in her eyes. “You are not going out there!” She marched up to Jack. “I can’t stand to lose you too!” Tears were starting to form in her eyes, only held back by anger for the moment.
“Mom, I need to do this. Just let me speak!” He cut her short as she started to argue. “This is not about Dad. Yes, I heard those speeches, and yes, Dad was awesome. But I need to do this for myself. Because I need to know the truth! And I feel it in my heart. This is the right thing to do. I need to do it.” He ran out of steam as he saw the heartbroken look in his mom’s eyes.
John had stayed out of the conversation. His thoughts were on Mel and little else. But something about the boy sparked emotions in the ex-soldier. “Sarah, I’ll look after him.”
Sarah looked back and forth between Jack and John, too emotional to speak.
“Trust me, he will be fine. And we will be back before you know it.”
“But he doesn’t know how to shoot a gun!” Her argument sounded weak.
“I’ve been learning. Besides, I will stay out of trouble, Mom. You just have to have faith in me.” Jack looked at his mom, and for the first time his calm demeanor threatened to crack.
“You’re only seventeen...”
“I’ll be an adult soon. In just two months. But that doesn’t mean anything. You know that I am not a child anymore.”
Sarah finally dropped her head in submission.
“All right, so we got BB, Abi, Michelle, Tammy, Bill, Nat, Jack, John, and me. That makes nine of us. Perfect!” Mike grinned. “We’ve got two Humvees. I figure we use both of those. I haven’t seen a zombie yet that can break into one of them.” He gave Sarah a reassuring smile.
The rest of the details were sorted out rapidly, and people jumped into action to collect the gear that would be needed. Within a couple of hours, all the items they thought they needed were stacked close to the front door of the school.
John had taken special care to pack a bag full of everything he might need. Multi-tool, camp stove, twine, knife, and a dozen MREs went into the bag among many other things. He even attached a shovel-like entrenchment tool to the outside. John helped Jack sort out a bag of gear next and checked on the rest of the team’s gear after that. He didn’t stop checking until he was satisfied that they
