“Sure.” I blink my eyes and tilt my head down. He goes back to his bike and puts his helmets on. His spouse gets behind him.
“They won’t leave us alone,” Kathleen says while I roll my window up. I nod and tell her about my conversation with Crypto last night while driving out the parking lot. We speed up on the street with all bikers following us. I slow down while passing by the Chinese place. I don’t see Crypto around, but I am pretty sure that he is hiding somewhere here.
I pull over the truck. The bikers stop right next to us. Gus is on their first row.
“You’ll laugh at us but… We forgot to fill up our containers with water. We have to go back to the hotel,” I say. They all chuckle. I am not sure if they do it for real or they are just faking it.
“Yeah, you may need some water during a road trip in the desert,” Gus says with a scoff. I see his silver teeth one more time. Hopefully, it’s the last time.
He leans his head forward to see Kathleen. Then he shifts his gaze to the backseat. I wonder if the briefcase is visible from his angle, but I can’t turn my head to check it right now.
He looks back at me.
“Nice meeting you, young folks. Have a safe trip,” he says. He glances through the back seat one more time before rotating his bike’s handgrip and moves the loud motorcycle forward.
I smile and raise my hand. They pass one by one. I make a U-turn and drive back on the street. I watch the bikers disappearing in the rearview mirror. Getting rid of the tailgating biker convoy was easier than I thought.
I make another U-turn and stop the truck in front of the Chinese place. I scan the surroundings of the restaurant, but I don’t see Crypto.
“There.” Kathleen points to the other side of the street. Crypto comes out of the bushes while smiling and waving his hand. He opens the backseat door and jumps in the truck.
“I thought you guys left me,” he says with a smirk.
“No friend left behind!” I accelerate the truck, then I realize that this is not true after remembering the couple at the hotel. “Unless they want to be left behind,” I add. I feel like I already miss Carlson and his wife.
Crypto put the briefcase on his lap like somebody who is holding a pet. He opens the briefcase to look through the documents and bottles. I think he is trying to find out if anything is missing.
He closes the bag while I drive on the ramp to get back to the highway on the Westbound.
I look at the rearview mirror and see Crypto giving me a brief look. I wonder if he noticed the missing vaccine.
Chapter 38
We are excited to be in the last stretch of our trip. The California border should be only about two hours away. It means we will be entering the Highland Republic’s territory soon.
Crypto tells that the people in the West live with the increasing fear of the dictator, Weck Highland. He and his generals rule the entire coast under an iron fist. There is growing civil unrest against him.
Weck Highland was a colonel in the US Military before the pandemic. With his practical knowledge about martial law and post-apocalyptic survival, he quickly united some of his fellow officers around him to rule the streets. With the supplies and human power he had gathered, he outranked his superiors and established the new so-called Republic.
Even though his propaganda team shows him as a leader who does everything to make his people feel safe and thrive, a majority of others know that he is a monster behind an angel mask.
He implemented a new type of slavery system to provide free labor for the food and supply factories to keep working. His militia either threatens to kill those who don’t want to work in factories, or they keep their loved ones hostage to make them do what they want. That’s one of the reasons why many people think he is a cold-hearted dictator and a monster.
Crypto is one of them forced to work against his will. Even though his sister didn’t do anything wrong, she’s held hostage in Alcatraz. He was promised his sister’s freedom if he comes back with Paizen’s documents and vaccine. This is why he has been holding the briefcase close to him all the time.
“What is the first thing you want to do when we are in San Francisco?” Kathleen asks. Her question changes the topic and scatters my worries about our next destination.
“After reuniting with my family? I want to go to that famous chocolate factory in downtown and try every single flavor!” I say. I have always been a big fan of their chocolate. I used to buy a few chocolate variety packs at the airport before returning to my city from family visits.
I can see both Kathleen’s and Crypto’s eyes lighting up after they hear the word chocolate.
“How about you?” I ask her.
“I want to have a beer by the ocean while listening to the waves and seagulls,” she says.
Even thinking about that scene relaxes my nerves.
“Seagulls are hard to hear now because of their masks.” Crypto chuckles, and we both laugh. A good mood is what we need before entering Western land.
I stop laughing as I see a distant black object in the rear mirror. It keeps getting bigger. Then it multiplies. The bikers are closing in.
“Oh, no!” I say. Both Kathleen and Crypto look behind to see what I saw.
This can’t be good. There is no way they went to Salt Lake City and rode back all the way to us. They probably changed their mind right after we got separated, or they came across somebody who told them about the museum explosion.
I speed up to increase the distance in between, but this heavy
