"Good, good. We're all here," Tejada said. "Let's get down to business." Tejada plopped down a book on the table and pointed to a page filled with lines and labels. "This is a map of the surrounding area. Now, I've been catching wind of some dissension among your people. It sounds like they don't want us here any longer."
He addressed this last part to Diana. She didn't deny his words, but instead said, "I gave you my word. You kept your part of the bargain. You're safe here until spring."
"Yeah, well, by spring, food's going to be mighty short in supply, and there are more of you than there are of us. I don't need a kite to know which way the wind is blowing."
"Where do you get all of those earthy sayings?" Diana asked, not confirming or denying Tejada's suspicions.
"I got a book. I read it every night." Allen didn't know if Tejada was joking or not. He continued on, never breaking his stride. "Now, you know this area better than we do, so maybe you can help us out. Rather than sitting here waiting for people to get starving and desperate, I figure it might be a good idea to do something about it. If you could point out the closest supermarkets and shopping centers on this map, maybe we can find some food."
Diana leaned over the map, pausing for a second to orient herself. "The nearest supermarket is here. Fred Meyer."
"What the fuck is a Fred Meyer?" Whiteside asked.
"It's everything you're looking for," Diana said. "It's got food, guns and ammo, clothes, toilet paper… that is, if it hasn't been looted to the shelves."
"Even if it has, we ought to take the chance. There's probably a lot of stuff we could use," Tejada said.
After that, Diana briefed him on what lay between the Nike campus and the Fred Meyer, other than thousands of the dead. Having done that, Diana asked, "Do you want any of my people?"
Allen almost spoke up then. He most definitely didn't want any of those people along, but Tejada beat him to the punch. "It's better if we go alone. We've been out there. While your people did a crackerjack job of cleaning up the buildings in here, I don't know how they'll react out in the real world. And if we come back without some of your people, well, it kind of undermines the time we're buying. Don't ya think?"
Diana nodded her head and said, "I wish you the best." She almost sounded like she meant it. As she left, she trailed a hand across Allen's arm and said, "I'll be waiting for you."
Allen blushed red. The other men in the room grinned at him, and he knew he was in for another round of ballbusting from his friends. Once Diana was out of ear-shot, they went over the plan. It was a good plan. Hopefully, they would all be coming back. As he turned to exit the room, Tejada clapped him on the back and said, "Don't be up all night now. We got work to do in the morning." Allen blushed some more. That night, he spent the evening with Diana, trying to figure her out. But she was gone in an hour, and he fell asleep, tossing and turning, wondering why he felt so damn uncomfortable.
****
Rudy didn't hesitate when the word went out. He readied his rifle, making sure it was good and clean. He had come to rely on his weapon. Sergeant Tejada said he wasn't a half-bad shot. He wouldn't be winning any marksmanship contests any time soon, but he could kill what he was aiming at. The dead were easy. They didn't bob and weave like a human did, but he was hoping there would be no humans to shoot at on this excursion.
Amanda entered their shared bedroom, more of an office with the desk removed, and she wrapped her arms around him. There was less of him to hug than when this all started, but she could still barely get her arms around him. "It's going to be alright," he said. He believed the words that came out of his mouth, but she didn't.
"You don't have to go," she said.
"I know."
"We could just break away from them, stay here. If you go with them, we might not be able to stay."
Rudy sighed. They had been over this before. He would do anything for Amanda, but he wouldn't let her come to harm. And if they stayed here, that's exactly what would happen. She had dreams of staying here, growing food, and trying to live something of a normal life. But they both knew that was over now. All he had to do was bring up Portland, bring up the fact that there might be a million of the dead just ten miles to the west of them. If the wind blew the right way, they could show up at any moment… and then there was nothing they would be able to do.
"You know we have to leave," he said. "Whatever we are, we aren't one of them."
"So then wait. Wait for the spring. Wait for when they leave. You don't have to do this now." She buried her head in his chest, and he held her tight. She was hard to argue with when she was like this. Feeling like an asshole, he disengaged her arms and held her so he could look her in the eyes. God, they were beautiful eyes.
"I'm going because they'll need the help. I'm going because, even though they could have left me behind, they came back for me.
