Shaking her head, Stewart said, 'No. No way. I am all for saving people, but we have to keep the larger mission in mind.' She pointed to the bomb. 'If we take out the big guy, the rest will fall like dominos.'
'That's what I am afraid of. Without the big guy keeping them in line, who's to say what will happen to the people in the camps?' Ruben asked.
'It's my call.' Bill said, 'I can pull rank if I have to. But…as we are 'special' forces I want your opinions too.'
'We should find them.' Ruben said firmly.
'Kill Sentry, come back here and help them.' Stewart said.
Max looked like he was thinking things over, he knew what he would do if they were his kids. 'Where are they? Did they say Ruben?'
Ruben shook his head.
'We can't be running all over trying to find them and who knows how many zombies there are? I think we have to go on.'
'Javier? You have an opinion?'
The young man, nodded, 'Yeah. I keep thinking, what if it were my family? My little brothers or mom and dad? I think we have to try and help if we can. Like Max said though, we don't know anything. We can't fight an army.'
'We barely managed to fight out of this mess.' Stewart said, waving her hand around the front of the hotel.
'Okay, let's get back in the truck. I didn't want to travel at night, but we are heading further down the road.' Bill said, when everyone stared at him he added, 'That's an order people. Let's move.'
Ruben stood still, as if contemplating saying something. Javier stood behind the old man, then brushed his shoulder with one hand and turned away. Shrugging Ruben gave Bill a sloppy salute and turned to get into the truck.
'It's gonna be a sucky ride with no windows. Do you want to try and get a different vehicle first?' asked Max.
'No, we need to get moving before the zombies over there get organized and come after us. Can you see them Max?'
Max looked towards the other hotel, 'They are there. More are coming from the west. Fast. Maybe in cars.'
'Then I'll risk driving this. How many Max?'
'Fifteen. Twenty. Enough. If this is what they are sending our way, imagine how many they have in town. No way we could rescue those people Bill.'
'That is about what I figured. Still, it hurts. We gotta keep our eye on the prize.'
Chapter 18 — Katie
'I had to drive through the night.' Katie berated herself.
Katie had been careful to avoid the many wrecks along the highway, however, the deer that jumped out in front of her was a surprise. She swerved to avoid it and ended up smashing into the guardrail and wrecking the van. The front of the vehicle was smashed in and the driver's side front wheel had been broken off and pushed up into the wheel well. The door on her side was crumpled so badly from the impact that Katie had to get out of the van on the passenger side.
She looked at it and shook her head in disgust. 'Why am I even out here? What am I doing and where am I going?'
'Now you are asking the right questions.' came Randy's voice from the side of the road. He was dressed casually, in his old leather jacket that was a size too big for him. He was smoking a cigarette and looked like he was enjoying the night air.
'When did you take up smoking?'
Shaking his head, Randy answered, 'Don't get distracted, that's what they want. I haven't smoked since high school.' He took a final drag off the butt of his cigarette and flicked it over the guardrail into the median between the twin ribbons of concrete highway.
'You'll start a fire doing that.'
'Pretty doubtful, don't you think?'
She smiled at that, then hefted her bag from the van and started walking down the road. 'I suppose so. For someone who is dead you are looking pretty good.'
'Thanks. You too.'
'Ouch. I cleaned up at the rest area, you saw me.'
'Here we go with the not thinking again. I liked your first question the most.'
Thinking about it, Katie's brow furrowed and she repeated, 'Why am I even out here?'
'It bears thinking on.'
Katie trudged down the road in silence for a few minutes. Finally she asked, 'What else am I supposed to be doing? Crying? Hiding in a house somewhere? Heading back to die in Iowa with the rest of humanity?'
'I don't know that answer. But you still haven't answered your own question. Try not to get sidetracked.'
'Okay. I feel a need. Yeah, a need to go this way.'
'Is that so? Hm. I wonder why Katie. Don't you wonder why?'
She waved her hand in the air and answered, 'Why? I don't think it is too important. I am following my instincts. I will survive.'
'If you say so.' Randy walked towards the shoulder of the road, away from Katie at an angle.
'You don't have to get pissy about it.'
'You're wrong about that.' He called back, trudging down the grassy embankment by the side of the road and out of sight.
'Fine. Be that way. You're just my imagination anyway.'
'If you say so.' called his voice as he disappeared from sight.
'I could make you come back if I really wanted to.'
However, as hard as she tried, Katie couldn't make him come back.
She walked for over an hour before she finally came upon a vehicle she could use. The clear night showed the outlines of the wreck perfectly. Before she approached she pulled out her rifle. Seeing no one she crept forward a few yards, then stopped. She continued to make use of this stop and watch tactic all the way to the wreckage.
The vehicles had been towed to one side of the road and left. Once she assured herself no one was around she poked into each until she found a vehicle in drivable shape, a black sports utility vehicle. Lucky for her no one had taken the keys out of the ignition. She tossed her bag into the back seat, hopped in and tried to start the vehicle, but it wouldn't turn over. When she got out and looked the car over she noted that the dome light didn't come on. After some experimentation she found the lights were not working either.
'Battery needs a jump.' Randy said, startling her.
'I hate it when you do that.'
'I hate it when you are ignorant.'
Shrugging Katie smiled and replied, 'Lotta hate in this neck of the woods then.'
Katie sighed and pulled her bag out of the back of the car.
'You gonna walk?'
'Car won't start. I'm not a mechanic. If it were a rifle I could strip it and have it working in a few seconds, a minute at most. But a car? Nope.'
'The battery is dead, all you have to do is jump it.'
