Family Reunion "J" (35 page)

They spotted a few other survivors on the road out of Columbia. None showed any interest in them, hostile or otherwise, which suited Jay fine. She contemplated how it was that she had been untouched by the plague that had washed over the world. She knew that all those people who got the vaccine were about ninety-nine percent sure to turn into a crazy. Because she refused to go to the doctor, she was safe on that front. That aversion to doctors and needles had proven to be a healthy choice. She mentally stuck her tongue out at those who had always laughed at her for it.
Who’s laughing now?

Had she been lucky where the South African flu was concerned, or did she have immunity to it? No way to know now; the virus hadn’t taken anyone in the last week that she knew of. Whether it was good genes or pure luck, she supposed she shouldn’t question it. It did give her hope that Ryan was alive, or had survived initially. No way to know that either. Both the kids had not contracted the flu, or gotten the vaccine. For that she was grateful, and took a minute to send up a quick thank-you.

She was no longer a member of an organized religious group. She had been raised in a fundamentalist Baptist home. She blamed many of her quirks on that fact. They had bombarded her with guilt. It was the main tool used by the religious. She actually met Ryan at a Baptist college, which refused to allow them to date unchaperoned. The college had an actual dating parlor, where couples could sit and talk as long as they remained six inches apart. She remembered the first time they’d kissed. It was in the yearbook room; they were working on laying out the sections of the book for that year. Ryan always tells the story that Jay was the one who initiated that kiss. She always denied it, even though it was true, and boy was it a good kiss.

Her daydreaming ended when she saw a familiar sight ahead. She slowed and called out to the other vehicles. “We got a roadblock coming up.” Jon had acquired some cheap radios from a sports store in Columbia; it made a big difference for the group.

The caravan came to a stop well short of the roadblock. There was a concrete barrier between the east and westbound traffic lanes, so without backtracking several miles, that was out. Whoever set this up knew what they were doing. They had used an overpass to give them a superior position from which to oversee the two tractor-trailers blocking the roadway. The two rigs were parked next to each other sideways across the road. One had backed all the way up to the concrete barrier, the other’s nose was against the embankment under the bridge.

The message painted on the side of the closest trailer made clear what this was about: THIS AREA PROTECTED BY THE CITIZENS OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY – COMMERCIAL VEHICLES WILL BE TAXED AT 25% OF YOUR LOAD – SAFE PASSAGE FOR TRAVELERS MAY BE BARTERED

“They’re probably monitoring radio traffic. Let’s meet up at your vehicle to discuss our options.” Jay said this into the mic while keeping her head on a swivel, looking for trouble. She took her AR15, got out of the SUV, and went back to Auddy’s truck. “Come on, let’s go back to Jon’s ride,” Jay said as she passed Auddy. Auddy nodded and followed, shotgun under her arm.

When they got to Jon’s truck, both he and Gwenn were waiting. Both were armed. Gwenn had surprised Jay a little at how quickly she caught on to the gravity of their current situation. She was looking behind them, which was a really good idea. “I can’t see anyone hiding behind us,” Gwenn said as they walked up. “Thanks Gwenn, and keep covering that direction. It’s where they’re most likely to come from,” Jay said.

Jon nodded toward the rigs under the overpass. “I don’t see any signs of life that way either. You think it’s abandoned?”

“It could be,” Jay responded as she looked around them for any telling signs, “but we’re going to have to pretend it’s defended by highly trained and motivated professional soldiers, just to be safe.”

There was no sign of life at all. “This is where the guy in the movie usually says, ‘It’s too quiet,’” Auddy said.

“Yeah, then all hell breaks loose.” Jon sounded a bit stressed.

“Everybody calm down. As I see it, whoever they are, they’re trying to funnel us down the off-ramp. That means we’re okay for the moment,” Jay said as she kept looking. “We really need some binoculars.” Jon reached in the truck and tapped Jay on the shoulder with a pair. “I got these when I went looking for the radios.”

Jay took the 10x42 Nikons and chuckled, “What else did you find?”

“Oh, just some stuff,” Jon said noncommittally.

As she glassed the area on both sides of the off-ramp, Jay thought she saw some movement. She kept moving the binoculars without stopping on the spot. “There’s someone about halfway down, under that oak tree. Don’t everyone look at once.” And of course everyone looked at once. “I could put a round in there to see if we could flush them out?” Jon said as he shouldered the .308 rifle Auddy had liberated from Charlie’s gun shop.

“No, if we do that then we are the hostiles, and they know that for sure. If by some strange stretch of the imagination these people are legit, then we don’t want to start a firefight.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Jon asked.

Auddy looked from her mom to Jon, then at Gwenn. “I say we get back in our vehicles and turn around, find a way around to the west. We won’t die if we don’t get in a battle, right?” She continued to glance at each of them, judging their reaction. To Auddy’s surprise, they not only looked like they were contemplating her suggestion, they looked like they might buy into it.

“If they let us go from here without a fight, then yes, I agree,” Jon said. “But we need a plan if they attack as we’re turning around.”

Jay nodded her head. “How’s this sound?” And she laid out a planned retreat.

Gwenn went to Jay’s SUV and Auddy went to her truck. They both got in and started the engines. Jon was standing behind his open door with his rifle at the ready. Jay was standing in the bed, scanning the surrounding area. Jon gave the signal to Auddy and she performed a three-point turn and drove up to where Jon was standing. Gwenn did the same and pulled up on the other side of Jon’s truck. In this position, both Auddy and Gwenn were facing east, and Jon’s truck was facing west. No one moved and Jon talked to all three of the girls in a low voice. “You see anything Jay?”

“I got nothing moving.” She paid close attention to the tree where they thought they saw movement before. “Auddy, Gwenn, how about your way?” They both replied negatively. “Okay, I’m going to ease into my truck in just a second here and we are going to head back the way we came. If anyone starts shooting at us, just keep driving. If your vehicle becomes disabled, get out and take shelter and wait for Jay and I to come get you. Everybody ready?” You could almost smell the adrenaline in the air. Jon slid into his seat and both Auddy and Gwenn drove back up the road. “Get down in the bed of the truck Jay,” Jon said loud enough for her to hear.

He leaned a little right to look into his sideview mirror on the passenger side when the windshield exploded. He didn’t bother turning around; he hit the gas, the back wheels spun an instant before catching the pavement, and the truck shot backward. Jay held on as best she could but her head banged into the front of the bed.

Two people rose up on either side of the road and began firing at Auddy and Gwenn. The guy on Gwenn’s side of the road stood behind a guardrail. He must have thought that it provided him with protection from being run over. He was half right. Gwenn was going about forty when she plowed into the guardrail where he stood. It was a glancing blow but it sent the man flying through the air. It smashed the left front fender of Jay’s SUV, but it kept rolling, so Gwenn just kept rolling too. The person on Auddy’s side was behind a four-foot-tall concrete abutment; even if she drove into it head on it would probably do worse to her old truck than it would the gunman. She was not beyond a bluff though and the guy had already seen his partner go flying. She steered toward him and laid on the horn. The guy turned and ran.

Jon drove in reverse for a couple hundred feet, then yelled through the back window, “Hold on!” He hit the brakes and spun the wheel to the right. The truck whipped around in a violent sliding skid that ended with the truck on its two left tires before banging back to the ground. Jon hadn’t seen Jay fly out, so he hoped she was still on board. He jammed the selector to drive and tried to stick his foot through the floor.

He looked in the rearview mirror just in time to see a shooter standing on the overpass. Then the rear window blew in and the mirror disappeared with it. He couldn’t imagine that Jay had held on through all that and began screaming for her. He almost peed his pants when someone grabbed his shoulder.

When Jon had told her to get down, Jay did. She slid underneath the tie strap that Jon had used to hold down the gear in the bed. When he pulled the high-speed bat turn, she folded in half around the tie strap, thinking the entire time that it would break and send her flying. It didn’t though, and other than a nice-size knot on the back of her head she was okay.

She was about to sit up when the rear window shattered and Jon hit the accelerator again. She recovered and sent a couple of shots downrange toward the guy on the overpass, but was sure she didn’t hit anything. She crawled through the back window and landed on the glass spread out all over the back seat.

Jon was yelling for her when she reached up and grabbed him by the shoulder. The truck slew from one side of the road to the other and nearly crashed. “AGwaAwushEAbgb!” he screamed at her. Or something like that, it was incomprehensible at best. When he finally got control of himself and the truck, he turned to see her laughing hysterically.

“What the fuck is so funny!” he yelled over the sound of the wind rushing through the truck. She just shook her head, pointed up the road, and continued to laugh. Ahead they saw Auddy and Gwenn, pulled off the side of the road with their rifles pointing back toward them.

Jay quit laughing and looked back. A single motorcycle was bearing down on them with a passenger. The passenger had a gun pointed at them. Jay rested the AR15 on the back of the seat, drew a breath, and slowly exhaled, squeezing the trigger throughout the process. The AR bucked just a bit and the driver’s head went back, smacking the passenger behind him. They both came off the bike, which remained upright and kept coming. The guy who’d been on the back got up and started running back toward the roadblock. “Stop,” Jay yelled to Jon.

Jon slammed on the brakes, throwing her into the back of the front seats. She watched the bike go off the road into the grass and fall over. “Back up, back up!” Jon had no idea what was happening as he couldn’t see shit with his mirror gone. He threw the truck in reverse and hauled ass backward again. “That’s good, stop!” Jay had made it back into the bed of the truck while he was backing up. Jon eased to a stop and watched as Jay ran off the road, bent over, and struggled to pick something up.

“Woo-hoo!” she yelled, and then Jon saw her coming back onto the road riding a Harley. It looked like one of the handlebars was a little bent, but she roared up the road and flew right past him. He looked back toward the roadblock and saw no other pursuit.

He put the truck into gear and drove to where all three women were hugging each other. After a few minutes, they decided which way to detour and set out on the road, Jay leading the way on the somewhat gnarly Harley.

Abe took off his pack and sat down on a handy log. He wondered if Dr. Pearson had figured out that he had loaded a virus into the computer system back at the CDC. He smiled to himself. That pompous ass had gone off project. Abe had been installed in his position to make sure that certain secrets remained so.

Dr. Pearson was part of those who were read into the project, but he’d become a liability. The entire complex was compromised; the mission no longer mattered, as far as Dr. Pearson was concerned. Dawson basically pulled the plug.

Brian kept looking at the screen as the turned kept massing. Something wasn’t right. He had specified that twenty cage doors be released. That would be sixty more of the turned that would be freed. What he saw on the monitor was more than sixty. The general would have his ass if he let them all escape. They needed subjects to do research on. He ran out of the command center and said over his shoulder as he went, “Lana, stay here and monitor the cameras.”