"Never, he said it was a sign of weakness." When everyone turned to him he hurriedly said, "that's what HE said. He always said he didn't have time for the niceties of life and his work was the most important thing to him. Family was just a nuisance, something to interrupt him."
"He said to read Georges letter, do you have it?"
"Damn I nearly forgot." He said digging in his pockets. Finally he came up with a small disc. "You can't be serious. She put it on a disc?" I said, taking the disc and putting it in the computer. Lacy did her thing and George appeared. A short, pixie look alike, her blond hair was cut boxy square all round her heart shaped face. A turned up nose and small pout y lips made her adorable, and most men noticed, she however, didn't. Her most repeated phrase was 'I don't know what all the fuss is about'. She was wearing a white lab coat, and her reading glasses hung by a string round her neck. Her eyes kept darting somewhere behind the camera, so she was afraid of being caught.
"Hey JD, It's been awhile hasn't it? We're in trouble here, kinda like when you fell down the well and we had to call 911 three times to get you out. Remember how we hounded dad to secure that thing?
Anyway, I never had that kind of problem unless you count the time I wrecked that 1973, 2-door Ford. It was a pain in the ass every time you got in and out the back.
You're probably wondering why we just don't leave on our own. To tell you the truth, we're just too scared. I'm scared in here and scared to leave. Please JD, help us. Please.
We need you, JD. I know you don't live at 2216 SW 14 St. anymore but Ken said he could get this to you anyway. Be careful.
Hurry
06-25-12
"Play it again, Lacy, and I'll write down all the numbers she mentions."
While I got pen and paper Lacy prepared to re-play the video.
"What's going on?" Mason asked.
"Well, Northern Uncle Bill, used to play mystery games with us. We hated it because most of them didn't make sense, but we did it or cleaned the basement. George always won. She's talking about things I have trouble remembering so it has to be the numbers. Give me a minute to write this stuff down." While the video replayed, I wrote the numbers down, Mason came in with the chalk board from the check-in desk in the great room. He leaned it up against the wall under the monitor. When I was done he wrote the numbers on the chalkboard and stood staring at it.
"Does this letter have anything to do with the pictures on the camera?" Flynn asked. Seems like we were all getting in on it but that was good because we needed as many perspectives as possible to figure out what was going on.
"Knowing him, I would have to say yes. It is out of character for him to be smiling and friendly so it means something. I just haven't figured out what yet." Ken started mumbling as he went from one picture to the next. Every monitor in the dining room had a picture on it. Eight in all. Lacy and him continued to move from one to the other, almost like a dance, stepping forward and back to avoid bumping into each other but never taking their eyes from the monitors. I read the letter over and over, putting the numbers down in rows up and down, backwards and forwards, till I was cross eyed.
"Excuse me, please", said Sarah. "I have a question."
I turned to her and waited. She walked over and tapped Ken on the shoulder, making him jump.
"I was just wondering how you got away and where you got the briefcase."
My eyebrows climbed up my forehead as I looked at Ken. His mind was still on the photos so it took a moment for the question to sink in. When it did, he grinned and sat at the table.
"I was to get sanctuary at the facility because I was related and could fly a plane. But I got to there a bit late..my plane had engine troubles. Anyway, when I arrived, they wouldn't let me in. The blast doors on the entrance were already closed and you needed a code to get in. I didn't want to be too far away and the walkers were everywhere so I settled in a fire rangers observation tower about a mile away in case Northern Uncle Bill and George got away.
It was a miserable place, hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Walkers were milling around the bottom of it but I had taken out a section of the stairs at the bottom and used a rope ladder that I could raise to keep them from reaching me. I had to make raids into town for food and batteries but I watched the entrance the whole time. Soon the guards disappeared, I have no idea where they went. I started to see people come out and dump bodies every so often. There were only four or five bodies at a time so I would go down and check them out, to see if I knew them. I did some, so I got to checking them for addresses of loved ones...I don't know maybe I thought I could let them know about their loved ones.
Anyway, one day when the bodies were dumped a black briefcase was placed right in the middle of the parking area. They knew I'd been checking things out I guess, so I got the briefcase, found your address and ran to town for my plane. Here I am."
"Did you happen to see a key pad of some kind near the entrance?"
"There's a box on the right side so that might be it."
"I have it," shouted Duke.
We looked at each other and waited for Duke to tell us what he had.
"That 'get in and out of the backdoor' thing got me thinking so I checked the satellite feed and found the back door of the facility. It is camouflaged in the rock of the mountain near the base, but it's there. See?" We looked and I didn't see it at all.
If we park at the back door, ride up to the entrance in a four wheeler we could come out the back door, get in the truck and drive away. Sounded like a plan to me. Now if we could figure out the codes.
I was brain dead by supper, so I wandered outside to clear my mind. There were arguments and discussions going on between everyone it seemed, so I was content to sit on the bottom step and watch Mandy and Bubba fight over a rag. It was a tug of war, between a little girl and a small dog and she was letting him win. Then he would take off, wait for Mandy to catch him and the tug of war was on again. The nonsense of it helped me ground myself again.
Supper was all talk not much eating. We were getting things figured out with very little input from me, so I wandered outside to get some fresh air. As I stood there a star streaked across the sky and flamed out. I was in the rocking chair watching the stars, when Mason came out and sat on the stool next to me.
"You ok?"
"Yea, just watching the stars."
"We could do that upstairs." What a hopeful heart.
"Yea, we could." I continued to rock slowly.
He sighed, and stood, then bent and put a hand on each arm of the chair. Leaning down he kissed me gently, then with more meaning. I put my arms behind his head and he stood with me in his arms. Using the outside stairs, I nibbled his neck as we went in the upstairs door, and then into our bedroom. I managed to kick the door shut just as things got interesting.
Chapter 3
My butt hurt. Kens butt probably did too but I didn't care, I was so not riding in the bunk. So we suffered in the passenger seat of the Volvo, riding on the edge of the seat for hours. I had to brace myself on the dash and the gear shift rested between my legs which made it even more fun. Not in the 'yippee this is a good time' kind of fun either.
We'd argued about the seating arrangements for nearly 15 minutes before Mason, exasperated beyond sane, just started the truck and drove out of the small parking lot in front of the lodge. Ken and I continued to haggle until we both just settled into the position we were in now. Me staring at Mason, who ignored me completely unless he had to shift gears, Ken staring out the window. Occasionally Ken tried to push me from the seat, so I was bracing my feet against the base of Masons seat. It was gonna be a long, exhausting trip. I tried not to sigh so much but my rear end was smarting.
We were on the interstate headed south, somewhere in northern Idaho, I think. We were what the truckers called 'bob tailing' or without a trailer which made the ride bumpier. Mason was driving around 60 mph to hurry things along because of the tension in the cab. Every once in a while, he would glance at me but mostly just watched the road. We were looking for a fuel tanker. We had found two on the way from Florida to Montana last year so the idea did have some merit. The problem was when the virus hit, there was mass panic. People tried to escape to where ever and the result was clogged roads and gas stations. The off ramps were a traffic jam from hell. Even with the giant snow plow welded to the front of the truck, we couldn't push them clear enough to get to the pumps. Most of the time the pumps wouldn't work anyway or there wasn't any fuel so we just looked for fuel tankers.
One concession to the miserable ride was the beauty of the countryside. Winding through the passes you could see for miles. Cloudless blue skies sat on the snow capped mountain tops while green, pine trees that looked blue from a distance crowded the side of the mountains for sunshine and willows and cottonwoods lined the creek running full at the bottom. The snow was melting causing the creeks to fill to overflowing. A good rain and we would have floods for sure. We followed the creeks around the curves which seemed more like a roller coaster ride than a highway. Sometimes the walls of the canyons were so tall you had to stick your head out the window and look up to see the tops. Winding around up and down would be dizzying and then we would find ourselves dumped into a town or city. The quickness of the transition was a shock because the traffic jams was suddenly just there. We'd take the opposite lane or even drive down the median if we had to, too get around the mess.
We finally found the needed fuel tanker late in the afternoon. We had to drive into the ditch and over two driveways to get to it. I was glad I'd made Mason wait till I was safely in the bunk before he began the transition or I'd have been thrown through the windshield. The guys hooked the tanker up, then we used the shade of some trees to eat lunch. Sarah had packed fried chicken, peach pie and homemade bread. We did it justice then enjoyed the quiet of the afternoon for a few minutes till we finally got back into the truck.
I'd planned to drive but Ken jumped into the drivers seat before I could and sat grinning like crazy while I climbed into the bunk. Mason was surprised I wasn't sitting with him so I waggled my eyebrows at him and pointed to the bunk trying to make him laugh. He did, and while shaking his head, grabbed the curtain and closed it on me. We drove the frontage road for quite awhile before we were able to get back on the interstate. I lay down and soon the motion of the truck and my full belly soothed me into a restless sleep.
I hadn't slept well the night before although Mason had done some serious 'work' to ensure I did. I can remember waking and looking at the stars through the window several times. I just didn't want to leave the lodge. I was being stupid about it but I didn't know of another way to handle it.
I was snoozing pretty good in the gently rocking truck when I was nearly thrown from the bunk and an angry dragon started growling at me. Took me a minute to realize the Jake brake was the dragon. We managed to stop without wrecking the tanker, but just barely. Some pretty inventive cussing was coming from the front, so I pulled the curtain back to see what the fuss was about. About that time, I was nearly thrown through the windshield when the truck was put into reverse backing up quickly. A strong arm just managed to brace me from falling into the dash, but I grabbed the arm and slid under it falling on my butt and nearly breaking my nose in the process.
"Dammit Ken, what the hell are you doing?" I griped, as I crab walked backwards towards the bunk.
"Don't look now, JD, but we have a wall of walkers in front of us. Ken, I don't think that tanker will go much faster in reverse."
"I know it, and I'm not real good at backing one of these things either. Tell me when we have enough space between so that I can safely turn around." He said, as he watched his side mirrors intently. I stared open mouthed through the windshield at the 'wall of walkers' hurrying our direction. There looked to be hundreds but adrenalin has a tendency to make things worse than they are. I hope.
Mason gave the word after a few minutes, and we turned around and headed back towards Idaho Falls, putting as much space as possible between the walkers and us. We found a rest area where several other trucks sat and pulled in to,well, rest. No one said anything for a while until I giggled. I can't help it sometimes when I'm under stress.
The guys turned slowly and stared at me. I just laughed harder. Soon they joined me and the tension just slid away. After we managed to get ourselves under control it was beginning to get dark and I had to use the restroom. No way was I getting out of that truck in the dark, so I put the boys, who had the same idea, to work watching from each end of the truck while I took care of business. I did the same for each of them and we quietly climbed back into the truck and pulled the curtains closed so we could study the map.
We were south of Provo and since the interstate was obviously not going to work, we were going to have to take a state road around it south to interstate 70. Then we could go east till we came to 163 which is the same road we traveled on the way to Montana. It looked like a clear shot from there since we cleared that road last year, right? Yea, I know, nothing is what it's supposed to be.