Moving Out
We loaded up the mini-van with people that would do better with the smoother suspension. DaWayne took the reclining front passenger seat and looked as though he was instantly more comfortable with that seat than he ever had been with the truck. Jody and JJ took over the middle seat while Trisha, Dalynn, and Tomisha settled into the larger back seat. Yet again I saw how acquiring car seats was one of the best ideas ever as we buckled the little ones in. Tanya offered to drive so she could be close to her kids, and now grand kids.
Part of me felt guilty that we were not able to put everyone into a more comfortable vehicle. That feeling was mollified a bit when Drew cheered over being able to stay in the trailer. It seemed to be a fun adventure for him to ride in the trailer, and this was shared among his friends as well. I also wished that we could put Mercedes and Annali into a car, but at this point that would have to wait until we came across another find.
It was time to get moving again. It had been horribly slow going, our travels, taking significantly longer to get out of California. We passed a sign saying that if we took the next off ramp we would end up in Death Valley. Since the beginning of the zombie take-over, didn't all roads lead to Death Valley? The farther away from Barstow we were the better traffic was. We drove through Baker and noted that the world's largest thermometer was broken, the electricity running the display was out, making it the world's largest paperweight now. We continued to move at a slow pace, not wanting to risk damaging the vehicles on the roads that were in much disrepair. They weren't the greatest before the zombies. It seemed that with the end of the world, fixing pot holes just wasn't high on the to-do list.
Stateline
We saw the roads congest again as we approached Stateline. Tanya pulled the mini-van along side the truck. Tanya called out, "I'm going to drive ahead to see if there is a way around this mess." We slowly followed her. We got a bit farther in before the minivan backed up and pulled itself alongside us again. It was as far as we were going to get, we had to stop to start clearing the road, again. On a plus this was always an opportunity to gather more supplies. People took a lot of things with them when they ran for the hills. I will be forever grateful for the hoarding that happened because as long as we kept running into these snarls we would be able to replenish. We were going to have to repeat this process in a few hundred yards, so we had Trisha climb up onto the trailer to see if we were going to run into anything once we got there.
As it would turn out, we definitely were going to. She noticed an SUV that was pulled off the road. It stood out because there were billows of steam pouring from under the hood of the SUV. There were people standing on the right side of the car, partially obscured from view. A young teen girl occasionally peeked around the car to check us out, wary of the idea of people coming into their proximity. We pulled forward a bit further and Trent killed the engine to the truck. I got out of the cab, walked to one of the gun ports, and said to the group in low tones, "Stay in the trailer guys and stay quiet. Tyreese? Would you cover us from the trailer please?"
Trent and I walked up to the group, walking with our hands showing that they were empty. We didn't want to come off as aggressive in any way. Two men came out from behind their car. They walked with confidence, conveying that they were not about to be taken advantage of. Even with this stance there was something about them that said that they were good people. They were going to take care of their family, but that they were not of the shoot-first variety.
The slightly taller of the two men called out to us. "Hey there, man. What's going on?"
Trent smiled at him and replied, "Not a whole lot, just trying to get out of Dodge." He looked over to the SUV and added, "Looks like you have some issues on your hands. Need any help?"
The shorter of the two men sighed. "Nothing to be done about this one. It's deader than a door nail. We were looking over these other cars hoping that one of them ran still but they are either all run dry or they have dead electrical. We were talking about hoofing it over to that casino over there and start poking through the parking lot, but that's a bit of a trek."
"Do you want us to give you a ride over?" asked Trent.
The men looked over to the semi with skepticism. The taller man drew a breath and began to voice a concern. "I don't think you're going to get through any of that mess with a semi without some major road clearing."
"We have a scout vehicle," I started, "Perfect for just this."
The taller man offered a huge smile. "Really? Cool. If you really don't mind, we'd love to take you up on that offer. Oh, I never introduced myself." He put out his hand and said, "I'm Matt, and this is my brother, Lucas." We shook their hands warmly.
"I'm Trent, this is my wife Cali. We're part of a group of us that are heading out of here. Looks like you all have the same idea."
Lucas laughed an easy laugh. "Yeah you can say that. We were doing all right til the supplies finally dried out. Figured we'd take a gamble on Vegas." He winked at his pun. I chuckled.
"I'm going to go over to the others and let them know what's going on. I'm sure they are all curious about the stop." I said. With that I turned around to talk to everyone. I heard Trent continue to talk to the men and saw that the rest of their group started to come out of their hiding spots.
I rolled up the door to the trailer and said to everyone, "It's okay guys. Just people like us trying to get out of California. We're going to give the men a ride to the casino to get a car together." The relief was obvious on everyone's faces.
"Can we get out of the trailer for a bit mom?" Drew asked. They were all tired of being cooped up. I nodded yes and he about skipped out of the trailer.
I went over to the mini-van to give the same speech and to help get everyone out. Tyreese came up and offered to give them the ride. "I figure," he started, "that if they are up to no good I could probably have a better chance at taking them. All that training and stuff." I told him to tell Trent this thought. He wandered over. When we were done shifting people out I went back over to Trent.
"Cali, this is the rest of their group. This is Merideth, Matt's wife and their twin boys, Jackson and Justin. Lacey is Lucas' wife and their daughter, Lorraine."
"Call me Raine." Raine was a soft spoken girl and she never looked up from her feet.
"She is really shy around almost everyone." Lacey offered. "It seems to be more now with everything that has been going on." I totally understood.
"How old are you?" I asked.
"Thirteen," she said softly, "I just turned 13."
"We have a 14-year-old in our group," I told her, "her name is Erin. I have a 10-year-old named Drew."
"My boys are 15." added Merideth. She noticed the people milling about the trailer. "You guys sure do have a big group. We didn't think we'd see so many alive people in one spot ever again." She laughed softly, "I never thought I'd ever say that on a trip to Vegas." I laughed with her.
"Lace!" Lucas called out, "We're going. You gonna to be okay?"
"Sure baby. See you soon." Lacey smiled at her husband with total love written on her face. She caught me looking at her and blushed. "We never got out of the gushy phase." she explained. I smiled at her. We watched them get into the van and drive off. I waved the group of people over so everyone could get to know one another. Several conversations sparked up, everyone marveling over the idea of new people to talk to. When Lacey and Merideth met Jody they absolutely gushed over the baby. I noticed that neither woman asked about the father, almost like they knew that this would have been a sensitive subject. I liked them even more because of that.
After a while we noticed three vehicles coming our way, but none of the vehicles were our mini-van. I went on alert. "Hang back, guys." I said to the group and trotted over to where Trent was with the binoculars.
"Looks like Tyreese did a trade-in program." Trent said with a smile. He handed me the binoculars and I saw that Tyreese was driving a very new looking van. I was instantly relieved. The other two vehicles were driven by the brothers. Matt had a high end large SUV, the kind that environmentalists used to detest. Lucas had found a Hummer.
When they got to us Tyreese started to explain what they found. "We were talking on the way about how we'd do best on this. None of us know how to hot wire new cars. Lucas then had the most awesome idea; hit the valet cart. We had all the keys we could ask for with the alarm key fobs on them. We picked the keys up and started walking through the valet lot clicking the button till we found the right cars. When we go by there I want to go back and have Mercedes find a car and pick up another van so we can all get more comfortable and just use the trailer for storage and sleeping." He was absolutely beaming over his adventures.
The two groups of people happily worked together to clear the road. We shared supplies that were found. I think that Merideth and Lacey made it their personal mission to find as many things as possible for the baby and the little ones. When the road was clear enough we all took off together.
Entering and Leaving Las Vegas
It was nice to have more people to share the work load with. It was nice to have some new stories to hear. The brothers were genuinely nice and their wives were strong and courteous at the same time. I was going to miss them already when we separated in Vegas. I kept an eye on the road ahead and was greeted by the statue panning for gold. Tyreese was driving lead. When we got to the right drive way he stuck his arm out and pointed the way to the valet area.
We piled out of the trailer in the casino's parking lot, and Jody said that she wanted one of the vans to keep her family together in one car. "It's not like I want to separate anyone from us and I'm sure we'll all be playing musical passengers but I really need this. Having the family scattered to the wind is really making me crazy right now." The logic behind her having her brood together did make sense. It would also be an excellent system for head counts in a bug out; if every family group was assigned a car, there would be no question on if everyone was accounted for.
"Do you feel up to doing the driving? Not dizzy or anything?" I asked, making sure that she was feeling up to par.
She nodded. "I'm doing alright. Not going to be running a marathon any time soon but I'm okay."
I looked at her skin tone again, and pulled down her lower eyelid to see if she looked anemic at all, which then reminded me that at the next pharmacy run I needed to get iron supplements, and gave her a hug. I asked to make sure she wasn't bleeding too heavily, which she said she wasn't. "Okay, then. Just let us know if anything changes." Tyreese found the keys to a nice van, located it, and drove it over to where we stood. Jody smiled.
"I love it." Jody inhaled deeply in satisfaction. It was black with a dark grey interior. "It should hide kid spills, too. Always a plus. Is it silly to admit that I always wanted this kind of van? Never could justify the car payment." Erin claimed shot gun, Abigail claimed middle seat, as long as JJ was sitting there too, and Liam whooped over having the back seat to himself.
Mercedes found a small hybrid car that she wanted. I loved the logic in choosing that car since it wouldn't take as many fill ups. Kyle was thrilled that the car seat his sister rode in had to go in the back to make use of the LATCH system so he got to ride in the front seat.
We took the car seats and put them in the appropriate vehicles. Another win for that side trip, I thought. After that was done we talked about the arrangement of driving the semi. The new cars didn't take the usefulness of the semi away and it still needed to be driven either by Tyreese or Trent.
"Ty, why don't you take the other van with your family, and we take the semi. We can make a seat in the middle for Drew." I suggested. I wanted to keep my family together too, and this would be the easiest way to accomplish this. Drew had been used to riding in the space between the two bucket seats in the cab but I knew that would get old. For now the padding we put there would work and I planned on keeping an eye out for a more fitting solution.
Tyreese grinned. "That will give me more of a chance to make friends with my new grand kids. I like it. This set up also will give Trisha more room to not be squeezed between two car seats. She and DaWayne can share the middle, like when they were little."
"You mean Trish and I will share the middle." Tanya interrupted. "I want DaWayne to be as comfortable as possible." Tyreese waved his hand in a dismissive gesture that read, 'whatever' and laughed.
"Now I have an idea that I think is important. We haven't had this many cars and riding options before now. If there is an emergency evacuation of the area you need to go to your family car. That way everyone knows where everyone is and no one gets left behind. This rule only gets broken if there is no way for the person to get to the right car safely." I was met with approving nods to this plan.
As if to illustrate the point of the idea behind the rule, there was a sudden clatter coming from where the keys were stored. A zombie had come around the corner while we were talking and was making his way over to us. He was wearing shredded tatters of a valet uniform. His cheek was missing as well as large bites that had been taken out of both arms. Behind him were a few more of the undead shuffling just feet behind him, with absolutely horrible injuries. One was missing an arm at the shoulder, its face ripped to shreds. Another was missing a large section of the abdomen, rib bones were jutting out through the wound. It struck me how chewed they were.
I pulled my gun out of my waist band as a precaution as I said, "Guys, let's not fire if we don't have to. Each car is armed I trust?" Everyone nodded. "Alright, stay close to each other, we'll stop in Vegas." We all got into our respective vehicles and left.
As we drove through the rest of Stateline I watched the zombies mill about the streets. They heard the sounds of our little convoy on the freeway and all turned to watch the cars go past. Some were ambitious little things, trying to stumble towards the freeway while the rest looked like a puppy that got kicked as their meal drove away.
The desert stretched on as we left the town. Large, picturesque clouds, white and silver lined, hung in the sky over the desert landscape. Green desert plants dotted the tan sand, the mountains that held Vegas in a bowl were deep shades of greens and browns. The degrading gray asphalt stretched on in front of us, a ribbon through the scene. It looked like how I remembered it, just with less people. For a moment I could imagine that none of this happened, that we were just on a family road trip. I cautioned myself about being swept up in that fantasy. It wouldn't help anything. I think Trent was working at the same thing. Drew, on the other hand, hadn't been through Vegas since he was three. All of this was new to him. "Mom. Wow this is really pretty here. It looks different than the desert in California. I don't know how it's different, but it is." His eyes shone with the excitement of seeing a new world in front of him. It hit me that while trips to Disney were over there was no reason we couldn't see nature. The Grand Canyon and Mt. Rushmore were still there. A flicker of hope trickled from the corner of my mind. It wasn't all lost, was it?
The closer we got to Las Vegas the more we had to dodge the abandoned cars. It slapped us back into reality, this isn't a road trip. It's a mission. None of the other traffic clusters that we had run across had held a candle to what we saw when we went over the 215. The 215 took people to the airport. It was totally blocked, each lane, bumper to bumper. My heart sped up as I imagined the frantic, frightened people thinking maybe they could make it on a plane to somewhere. The dead wandered through the lanes aimlessly. They sniffed the air, searching for some sign of food in the area. We continued to drive on. We snaked slowly through the freeway until we could go no further. We should have gotten off the freeway at the last exit because we were now hopelessly stuck. We were spoiled driving through the desert because the freeway shoulders were wide and ample. Driving through a popular tourist location we didn't have that luxury. We had no choice other than to stop and begin pushing the cars off the next ramp.
Lucas was driving the last car in the convoy. He was looking thoughtful. "So, Matt and I were planning on coming here to settle in. I'm thinking we should do a scout. Hit up the casinos and see what they have in the food department. They used to do all these buffets here not to mention that there was room service in all these mega hotels. I bet there are a ton of supplies out there for the taking."
Trent raised an eyebrow. "You really think that any of those hotels are going to have anything that is usable? Those buffets were usually perishable items. Not to mention the zombies. Casinos were designed to disorient the normal person to keep them inside. The zombies that are trapped inside are going to be very hungry. The ones in the street are going to be the regular hungry. I wouldn't if I were you."
"But it's worth a shot. There is a chance that there is a huge pay out for the risk. I'm taking it. This is where we were headed. Might as well get the lay of the land." Lucas was unshakable in his plan.
Trent sighed. "That's up to you. Keep checking the freeway. You see where the next off ramp is. When we clear this lane we're going to take the off ramp and head west for a little bit and then run parallel the freeway until we can get past this. I assume that Matt is going too?"
"If I'm not back when you're done clearing the freeway, leave without me, and no, he isn't. We do solo trips in our group. Less people out the less you have to worry about bringing back." Lucas knew that this was a risk and I had to give him credit that he wasn't going to expect us to wait on him. I didn't like their method of runs either but that was on his shoulders. He went to Lacey and kissed her. "Don't worry, I will be back. No stone left unturned, right?" They embraced and when he pulled away, he got in the car, and backed out of the cluster of cars.
Trent and Tyreese went to check out the next off ramp to see how much space there was to move the cars. While they were gone I walked to the edge of the freeway to check out the strip. I leaned on the railing and sighed. There was a lot of carnage. It looked as though a great panic had taken the strip by storm leaving destruction in its wake. The pyramid of the Luxor had been on fire at some point and a big portion at the corner had collapsed in on itself. The Excalibur suffered similar damage, the castle was pillaged and burned in one of the towers. Every window seemed to have been broken at the Monte Carlo. There were remnants of some new hotel that I didn't recognize. Everything took on a shade of soot from the areas that burned a few blocks away. The strip really looked like a bad movie set, but made worse by its reality. The roads were crumbled under the feet of the undead that paced along the strip. It used to be drunken bachelor parties that filled the roads, acting like a wad of brainless zombies, now they were really zombies. The echoes of the past reverberated through this new world. I felt a rush of emotion all over again, returning to that wave that said that the world ended. I wasn't this dramatic when threshold hit.
We were so lucky to have been hiding out in our hole. The complex had protected us, not just from the zombies, but from the intensity of the end of the world. It was a cocoon, wrapping us in its safe walls. How were we going to survive in a world that looks like the zombie wars ended with humanity under the shoes of the dead? My eyes fell on one zombie in particular. It had been a young woman who worked in one of the night clubs. She still wore the uniform of her employer, a pair of short shorts and what had been a white tank top that would have hugged her curves. I could imagine her when she was alive, a young girl with her whole life ahead of her. She had probably been pretty but the time spent dead had not been kind. Her death had been brutal. Her blond hair was a latch-on point for a zombie hand. The grip had torn the scalp from her head on the right side, part of her face had been peeled away and still hung at the jawline, her right eye was missing. Her bones were exposed in her lower right arm, and her hand was missing. Her skin was shriveled and leathery. Her remaining left eye had clouded over but still seemed to scan her environment for food. I wonder if she fought when they came. Did she kick and scream and work to stay alive just to meet this end?
I was grateful that the guys came back with a plan so I could be distracted again. I called to Drew to stay in sight of Jody or Trisha. Lacey, Raine, Justin, and Jackson also stayed behind to help with the rummaging. I was a little worried that they were going to be caught off guard while riffling through all these cars for supplies. All the zombies that were trapped in cars in other traffic zones taught us a lot that the others didn't really have any experience in. I had to trust that things were going to be fine, that no one would find themselves stuck in close quarters. I had to believe that things were not going to fall apart. I know that Drew would know better than to try to grab something out of a zombie occupied car, I had to believe that no one else would end up in this sort of situation either.
As I walked up to where Trent and Tyreese were, I pulled back my hair so if the cars did contain the dead it wouldn't serve as a grab point like had happened to the girl. I thought about cutting it short but didn't really want to. It took a long time to get any length to it. Every once in a while I found myself clinging to the past. In the mean time, I needed to get my head focused on the job ahead. The plan was that we would run the cars off the ramp and drop them off on the east side of the street so we could use the west. I hoped that the momentum of the ramp would help get the cars off. I hoped that in blocking the road near the strip it would serve as an obstacle in the path of the zombies.
It felt like we had been moving cars around forever, one after another. It helped so much that there was Matt and Merideth to put on car duty as well. The occasional zombie was found trapped in the car and taken care of, almost like this was a routine we had established.
One car made me vomit as well as broke my heart. A lot. We had been clearing cars for a lifetime when we came on a car where the zombie was not buckled in. This was going to make things a bit more difficult, to say the least. A younger woman was in the car, her eyes were so clouded that I didn't know what color they had been, her brown hair was a rat's nest of tangles and knots. She was moving around a great deal so we were focusing on how to do this take down safely. Matt broke the window and Tyreese buried a large hunting knife in her to the hilt when she pulled her head through the opening. I checked through the windows before opening the door to make sure there were no surprises. There was. There was a car seat stained so dark brown it was almost black. On the floor was a pile of very small bones. The baby was the food supply for the zombie, she had no sense of what the baby was, her child. I had to adopt a mantra of at least it wasn't a mini zombie. At least it hadn't been sitting trapped and starving for the whole time. At least she didn't leave anything behind. It was little comfort.