I swiped away tears as I handed the letter to Dan to read. He touched his son’s name on the paper almost reverently, then handed it back to me. I pressed it to my chest.
“They’re alive,” he said with a fierce joy. “They’re alive.” He one-arm hugged me, and I squeezed him back.
Lana was alive and she had a head start. I just had to catch up. Or join her at home.
Silence fell as Dan and I basked in happiness. When I thought I could speak without sobbing, I said, “Ivy, you want to come with us?”
She shook her head.
“Are you sure? It’s … we have food. Water.”
“We got stuff here. Richie and me, we are making do. And anyway, I don’t think I could make myself get back out on the road again. Not anymore.”
I held out my hand, not really wanting to touch her because she was so filthy but unwilling to leave her without that much consolation. She took it, squeezed once, and let go.
“You should go.”
Something about her posture, her tone, worried me. “Are you okay here? Is he treating you okay?” I didn’t bother whispering. Let Richie get pissy. If he was being mean, holding Ivy here against her will, we would take care of him.
“Richie? Of course he is. We’re just … it’s been a hard few weeks is all. There used to be seven of us, but we lost five when we tried getting into the cafeteria to get food. It’s … it was lunchtime, I guess, when things went bad here.”
“If you’re hungry—” I tried again, but she shook her head.
“No. We have food and we can always go to town to get more. We’re just adjusting to the new normal. You guys go on and get down the road. Find your families.” She itched at her arm, then crossed both over her chest. “Go on now. Be safe. Don’t let them bring you down.”
I nodded and we left, switching drivers so Paisley could take her turn. I watched from the back window as we drove away and Ivy stood on the steps, arms still held tight to herself, her face almost disappearing in the dirt. She didn’t wave a goodbye to us, but I rolled down the window and stuck my hand out anyway.
Then we turned back onto to road and drove out of her life for good.
39
Now
Car alarms blare behind them as they ease around another mob. The alarms work to a point. Either these zombies are dumber than the other dead things by the Complex, or they haven’t had any of the living around to motivate them to evolve. The survivors manage to get another couple blocks before the next big problem: cars packing the road so tightly they don’t have a prayer of getting past.
More backtracking, more car alarms. Dee is tense and tired and worried. She remembers that first moment she walked up to the door and knocked, waiting to find out if Lana was inside or not, whether she was dead or not. This feels like that, but not as intense. Sad to say, she’s had many moments when she’s gotten her hopes up only for them to be thoroughly dashed on the concrete. She’s inured. Good word, bad thing to be. It makes her feel guilty, like she should be as on-edge as she had been at the start.
But being on-edge was tiring. It was a drain on resources.
Now all she can be is a bit sick to her stomach and grimly hopeful.
Please let them be alive.
They get within two blocks of her home and get stuck again, this time by a mob so big they can’t see the end of it. It’s too big to go around. They’ll have to backtrack for days and they can only do so much—her house sits at the end of a cul-de-sac. If the entrance is blocked, if cars clog the roads …
No, she won’t think that way, she can’t.
“Can we lead them away? Down the road to the west and then double back?” Gloria asks.
“It’s worth a shot,” Alex says. “What do you think, Dee? Peter?”
“Might as well try, though we won’t draw them all off with our horn or a car alarm. We’ll need something big.” Dee thinks again of her explosion that allowed her to get to the Complex. She tells them and they exchange glances.
“I know a place,” Peter says. “And it’s on the way. Plus, there’s a place we can hole up and plan. We’ll need to be sure we know where we’re going once the mob starts moving. You girls game? I know you wanted to get to your house today but—”
“I’m game if you don’t call me a girl again,” Alex says.
Peter gives her a salute. “Sure thing, boss.”
Dee nods and Peter backs us up, taking them onto a road heading west. They don’t get far before he’s having to lane-jump because of a bad wreck, but then they’re clear and free for a couple miles.
The place he takes them has two gas stations right across the street from one another. If they manage to blow them both it will make a hell of a racket. As long as they can get the hell away before the mob converges on the area, they’ll be okay.
It gives her a headache just thinking about it.
“Where are we going to stop and plan, Peter?” Gloria asks.
“Around the corner and up the
