“No kidding,” Henry asked.
“Would I joke about a thing like that? Besides, you know I don’t like lying. It’s going to be fine. Mr. Clary will be so happy we went when he got back that he’s going to be happy that we took the lead on it.”
Henry looked at Jon and remembered vividly the ass chewing which he’d gotten. Having a man with Clary’s temper and anger upset with him was not on his list. Henry asked, “How about I let you guys through and then we can put up the poles and shut the fence and lock it.”
Ellie wasn’t sure what he was getting at and simply asked, “Is there more to this or are you just wanting to make sure if we come back in a hurry that you’ll be able to take your time opening things and will let us be torn apart while you watch?”
He replied, “No, that isn't the reason at all. I figured if I go with you, then I can make sure that you guys all come back. You have room in there for one more don't you? It isn't like we get a lot of people trying to come up to the gates, anyways. I kind of think Larry just puts people here that he doesn't like.
Joey, always the optimist, pushed his door open yelling, “Come on in, Henry. We got all kinds of room in here. We're going to do something great today.
Henry, who wasn't necessarily a pessimist but also wasn't the most optimistic person in the world said, “How far is it that we are going to go?
Ellie said, “Well... It kind of depends on how you look at that. You see, we are only going to go into the middle of Des Moines. But the difference between normal miles and zombie miles can be a drastically huge difference. So, we're going to go down by Drake College. We figured that they would have the largest science lab available that we could get into.
Henry replied as he got in, feeling sick to his stomach, “So we're going somewhere because you've never been to college a day in your life and you think that we are going to find what you think we need? Do you have anything that actually backs up your hypothesis here?”
“Sure, the science nerd, Mark, thought a school would have what we need. He gave me a list and made a bunch of copies and I figured, if it isn't there, then we could hit a different college or possibly we could go to somewhere that might have a research lab.”
“You been to a lot of research labs, have you?” Henry asked.
“Oh, I can smell me some smart ass from a mile away, Henry. No, outside of the facility that Shaun's dad worked at, we don't really do a lot of science things. Basically, we're hoping. If you can't have just a little bit of hope, then what the hell can you have?”
Joey said, “If we get lucky, we could have cookies. I don't even care if they're stale, you put those suckers in some milk and they're going to taste delicious.”
Ellie held up a finger and Joey stopped. Joey knew when Ellie was being serious and this was that time. He figured he could keep his expectations about cookies on the down low and everyone could thank him when he came back with a giant backpack of everything they needed and then on top of that had some sugar sweets that would make everyone feel like they were in a different place in time. He also thought on a side note that if nobody realized he'd found a vending machine that maybe just maybe he would keep a little extra for himself. He wouldn't want anybody getting too many sugars in their diet is what he told himself. Joe drove forward slowly and Henry jumped out putting the poles back up and leaving the gate open.
As Henry was walking back, Kya yelled “Oh, shut the gate! If they are coming back, they'll have a radio they can ask somebody to open it up. I know it doesn't seem like you do much at the gate, but what you are doing is letting us know if someone bad is trying to get in, alive or dead. The last thing that we are going to want to have to come back to is another massacre, given there's another group, of course, around this vicinity that would do something or want to do something to us.”
Henry knew all too well about what had happened and was in no way going to put anyone in this circumstance if he could avoid it. Within a few minutes, they were headed in the direction of Drake College.
Joe drove at a slow pace. He was a motorcycle guy in his free time and the one thing that he practiced more than anything else while riding a bike was always having an escape route. Given the fact that he was currently living in a zombie apocalypse the absolute last thing that he wanted to worry about was not having a way to get out. Driving through cars with either side blocking you in, going down an alley not knowing if the door you want to go in is open, he could think of a million different scenarios where you needed to have an out. This was no different, especially given the fact that he had absolutely no idea where he was. He was in a state he had not been to before, a road he’d never been on and the last thing he was going to do was die driving a borrowed Humvee with a bunch of kids and whatever it was that he would classify Yassa as.
Ellie looked around as they drove and
