Sam chuckled. “It was about the same at our house. My parents went to the Presbyterian church until dad hit the road chasing pipeline jobs all over the Midwest.” Sam stared out the side window and was silent for long seconds. “I sometimes wondered if he was faithful to mom while he was gone. Things were said that made me think not. There were many loud arguments on the subject that I wasn’t supposed to hear. That was about the time mom gradually stopped attending church. She died a couple years later. Looking back, I suppose she lost faith in him and rejected religion for letting it happen.”
“How do you feel about him maybe fooling around?” JR’s voice barely carried across the cab as she stared straight ahead at the road waiting for his opinion.
Sam hesitated long moments as he glanced at the passing fields without seeing them, then finally said, “It’s difficult to face. I loved my dad and respected him on most levels. It’s understandable how and why people cheat when they’re lonely. Being alone with a bunch of guys can’t replace the affection of a wife or girlfriend. I don’t know. . . . Then over the past few years, I’ve often wondered if he took the traveling work so he could be away to fool around with other women. I don’t like to follow that line of thinking because it demeans his character as a husband. And when I deal with his perceived behavior honestly, I have to accept it demeans his image as a father too. He was a handsome, outgoing guy with a fit body and rugged looks and a line of bullshit women liked. After mom died, I paid more attention and saw how easily he charmed women and brought them home overnight. Sadly he didn’t wait very long after she passed before he was playing the field in earnest. I want to think he loved mom on some level, but I also think he was a confirmed honky-tonk man. I finally learned and accepted he was comfortable with cheap bars and cheap women. That makes it extremely hard to have a high level of respect for him overall.”
JR increased speed before signaling for the left lane. A motor home and a pickup pulling a large gooseneck trailer were on the right shoulder. As they passed, they witnessed two men wrestling on the ground throwing punches and two adult women pulling hair and kicking each other as several children stood by watching. The pickup’s front left fender was damaged.
They looked at each other, and JR shook her head as she changed lanes to slow to their normal speed to drive through North Platte and on to the north edge of the city.
JR said, “It’s a little past noon. Are you ready to drive again?” Sam nodded. “I’ll pull over at that truck stop up ahead to fuel, then you can take over. It must be open because the parking lot looks almost full even though the gas price is two and a half times what it was in Oklahoma. From here on you’ll have to pay cash as long as it’s accepted. When it’s not, what will you do?”
“Then we’ll barter with whatever they’ll take. We’ve got things we can do without, especially where we have multiple items of the same thing.“
“That was a quick stop, thirty-five minutes to eat and fuel. We’re getting good at this,” Sam said.
“It helps when you pump fuel while I order for you. Like most young guys you could live on cheeseburgers, fries, and a Coke or a beer.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Good food at a reasonable price; at least the prices used to be reasonable. I don’t know how much higher prices can rise before people revolt and refuse to pay the outrageous prices. But when you get right down to it, there’s not much choice: you can either pay the price or go hungry. Luckily we still have several thousand excess dollars to be rid of, so the high prices don’t affect us. We’ll likely have money left over even after the food and fuel supplies are exhausted.”
They rode without speaking for another hour. The radio played softly, the tires hummed, and a heavy breeze blew intermittently. Neither wanted to face up to Breyna’s plight as her condition deteriorated.
Finally, Sam said, “I’m worried about Breyna. She didn’t eat anything at breakfast, and she refused food again at the last stop.”
“I know. She’s content to just sit and stare . . . and she’s moving less and less too. Her body is cold against mine. I guess that’s part of the slow transition.”
Sam continued the thought, “Her eyes have a pink cast, and she shows no emotion; plus, I’ve noticed her lower jaw quivering. I hate to push this, but I’m positive she’s starting to turn. Her body is too cool. Unnaturally so. It’s much faster than I anticipated; her face and hands were splattered with zombie matter when we found her. I guess she may have ingested some of the zombie’s body fluids for it to be working this fast. We’ll have to do something soon before she turns. We can’t wait until she bites one of us. Can you handle that?”
JR silently nodded agreement, but a tear dribbled its way down her cheek. “Got to, no other choice,” she said. “Breyna was such a pleasant, curious child when we picked her up. I looked forward to raising her.” Her mind evaded dealing with the child’s future . . . or lack thereof. She’d never been big on religion. All that ‘God works in mysterious
