Reset

“Let’s break it down. Look around you. Look at the grass. Yes, it’s high but it’s not vivid green. Which tells me it’s lived through a bad winter. Nothing here is vivid and fresh green. Nothing is new. Look at the trees. Things are just barely budding. That along with the size of the sun in the sky, it’s the month of May.”

“You really think it’s May?”

“I do.”

“We should bet on it.”

“And how will we determine the winner?”

“Once we find people. There has to be people. Somewhere. Somehow. Out there.”

Amy chuckled and turned her head. “Malcolm. Look. Slow down.”

Malcolm saw that she was pointing. “What is it?”

“Tire tracks.”

Malcolm brought the buggy to a crawl and looked. The highway may have not shown any signs that anyone had driven on it, but perpendicular to the highway was a set of tracks. They cut through the foliage, went across the field in their own make shift road. One that was worn… one that told them it had been used.

“Life,” Malcolm said and turned the wheel.

He drove off the road to follow the tracks.

<><><><>

Richmond, Virginia wasn’t that far and John had no problem heading there first. Meredith didn’t want to go. She had no family, anyone to look for and to her it was a waste of time.

“Head north,” she said. “You two need to find your loved ones. We should, however, aim for Washington DC. I think we’ll find answers there.”

“In our nation’s Capital?” John asked.

“Yes, if anything happened here, such as a war, there would be a telltale sign.”

Grant asked. “Don’t you think that we should avoid big cities? I mean, I would think they’d be the most dangerous. In fact, traveling the highway is dangerous.”

“It’s a straight route,” John said.

“But we’re easily spotted. We have things, that if people are desperate. They’ll want.” Grant said.

“If there are people,” John commented. “We haven’t seen a soul. One would think we would have.”

“It all depends,” Meredith explained. “There are people out there. Just a whole lot less. We need to find them. And it all depends what region was hit hardest by the virus. If the southern states were hit the hardest then people moved north. They ran from it. The traffic outside of the cities and Huntsville told of a desperate situation.”

“There were cars,” Grant said. “No bodies. Where did they go?”

Meredith shrugged. “Where would you go? Back to their homes.”

“Or there.” John pointed ahead.

Beyond them, set off the road at an exit designed merely to fuel the tanks and stomachs of travelers. A huge camp had been set up that took up most of the road and parking lots. It was so large, there was no denying what it was even at a distance.

White tents lined up for as far as the eye could see. Big tents, square in shape with windows. Military trucks were parked sporadically. The exit ramp ahead was jammed packed with cars and there was no way to get down there with the buggy.

John slowed down. “Should we stop and see?”

“We’d have to walk,” Grant said. “You think this will be safe.”

John finally stopped the buggy. He looked left to right. “I don’t see anyone. I’d say yes. It’s safe.”

“Then I’d say stop.” Meredith said. “Someone down there took notes. There has to be something.”

Grant asked. “That looks like a medical station. Is that something we want to see?”

“No.” Meredith shook her head. “Absolutely not. But it is something we need to see.”

TWENTY-THREE - 6522 Red

Dust was limited. For a camp that stood for an unknown amount of time, surprisingly there was no dust. Of course, that was still at a distance, and Grant kept looking back to make sure that the buggy remained untouched. He was obsessed with it. Fearing someone was going to pop out and steal it.

John had parked it in the deep grass, trying to camouflage it, but the solar panels were a huge reflector and flashed specks of light every time the clouds parted.

They walked slowly, past the cars that were abandoned.

“We should check these,” John said. “If we find nothing there.”

“We’ll find something,” Meredith replied.

Grant wasn’t as cool and calm as the others projected. He kept peeking in the cars, hoping each time he did, that he wouldn’t see a body. He ran his hand over the one car. There was dust, but not a lot. Not years’ worth.

When they were in Huntsville and Redstone Arsenal, the dust was so thick, that every time the window blew it moved and hovered over things before settling again.

Maybe they were too out in the open for the dust to settle. Grant looked down. It wasn’t on the ground. Why wasn’t the pavement cracked?

He followed behind John and Meredith, she led the way as if she knew exactly where she was going. From the highway, down the exit, toward the setup. The cars stopped long before the camp. A line of military trucks blocked all traffic.

When they made it beyond the trucks, the camp was more in sight.

Meredith and John moved steadily and focused. Like them, Grant wanted answers, but he wanted those answers to be about his family. He wasn’t married, but he had a mother, father, siblings and a slew of nieces and nephews.