“I know.”
I would like to report that was the end of Lee, that I never saw him again. That, sadly, is not what happened in the coming weeks.
I went to the gym again that night, but she didn’t show. I worked away some of the tension I had built up during the stand off in town. There was no way I would be able to sleep, as amped up as I still was, so I worked out until I was beyond exhausted.
I planned to ask Thomas about Katherine, but it seemed prudent to mind my own business. I’m sure she had her reasons, and they were none of my concern.
The next day, Thomas showed me the communication room where they were picking up a signal from Portland on a low band radio. There had been communication for a few weeks, although sporadically, about the work on the city to keep out the undead and the ghouls. I listened intently, because Allison might be there, if she was still alive.
They had been formulating a way to leave the compound.
I was taken aback at first. They had shelter, a way to protect themselves, and they had food and water.
“This won’t last forever. We have held out pretty well, but the supplies you see are all that’s left for miles around. A lot of people in the store don’t want to be isolated anymore. So many rumors out there about the cities being free of the dead. About the government being in control. They just want a chance at a normal life.”
Plans based on rumors. I wished I had a better idea on how to proceed.
The strategic exit was pretty basic—they didn’t need something with a million steps to get out. The hard part would be the distraction. Someone was going to drive a small tanker to the end of town, near the barricade through which I had blasted, and detonate the truck’s gas supply. The gas station in the parking lot meant we had a good bit of fuel for all the trucks, so we could spare a few hundred gallons to light up the day. When the ghouls went to investigate, the convoy would leave and head for Portland.
The problem was that someone had to be the bait to set off the distraction.
“Who might that be?” I wondered out loud. The other men in the room turned as one and looked at a form that had slipped into the room.
“That would be me.”
I turned and met Katherine’s eyes. She didn’t offer a smile, just a stony wall of non-emotion, just like her voice when she said she was going to create the distraction. I don’t know what was more surprising, her speaking up or my next words.
“I’ll go with her.”
“Not necessary. We have a capable guy. In fact, it’s Pat here, the guy who spoke up for you the other day.”
Pat was nervous, and looked away when I met his eyes. He nodded once to Katherine, and then crossed his arms, staring at the map laid out before the planners. They had a crude drawing of the Walmart compound as well as the street leading out of Vesper Lake. There was a line of cars and trucks drawn over it in red, with stick men manning guns on the back of trucks and SUVs. I saw some of the innovative things that the engineers in the group had created for the cars. Sunroofs turned into gun ports and one pump truck with a nozzle that spat gas. Probably a flamethrower, but it would also work well to lay down a stream of gas that could be lit.
“I have no doubt that Pat is a good guy, but don’t you need someone with some combat experience?”
“You are looking at a roomful of men with combat experience,” Thomas said.
“He can go if he likes. The more the merrier,” Katherine spoke up. “Besides, I hear he did good things yesterday.”
“The jury is still out on that one.” I whispered.
“Fine. We’ve run this place from the start with the help of volunteers. You want to go with, be my guest. But I want to say that a guy like you is very valuable, and I would prefer if you stayed with us. We may need your expertise later on.”
“You make it sound like a suicide mission.”
“What else would it sound like?” Katherine asked.
That night, we met and went over the plan. Then Katherine and I worked out in the gym. She told me she had been ‘busy’ the last few nights and unable to make it. I took her at her word. After we were covered in sweat and walking toward the shower room, she thanked me for volunteering to go along.
“I know you’ll be a big help.”
“Why do you want to be the one?” I asked her, looking out the corner of my eye to see her expression. It didn’t change.
“Someone had to do it. I have nothing left to live for. My children were …”
I let her trail off and didn’t say a word. I escaped relatively unscathed. Sure, I lost things, but I didn’t know the fate of Allison, so I assumed she was alive and safe in Portland. My own reason for going was the inescapable feeling that my fate was somehow tied up with Katherine’s. I’ve never been one to believe in a god or a destiny, but somehow it felt right when I was with her. Emotionless or not, she was the first woman to whom I had been attracted in years.
“I wish I could say I understand, but I don’t. I didn’t really have anyone before the event, and I don’t have anyone now. If I die, then it won’t be a great loss. Who will look for me years from now when the world is right again?”
“Is that why you agreed to go? Some gesture of futility against an insane world?”
“No. I volunteered because I wanted to be with you.”
She stopped walking and turned to stare at me.
“I’m not good at this kind of thing. I don’t know how to feel, anymore, so just …” She paused and looked past me for a few seconds. “Just watch my back and I’ll watch yours.”
I nodded, and we moved on down the hallway. At the shower room, we parted, and I went into the quiet space and shut myself into a stall. I tossed my clothes in a heap and wondered where I could get them washed. There was an abundance of pants and shirts, thanks to the store’s supplies, and people took from it freely when they needed items. I would raid it tomorrow and find something else to wear.
I splashed lukewarm water over my skin and shivered in the cold. A little soap went a long way toward making me feel human again after the brutal workout I’d had. I was washing the last of the water away when there was a tentative knock at the door. I turned to look, and a pair of slim calves was all I could see under the door.
“Huh?”
Katherine opened the door and gave me the first smile I had seen from her. It was tentative at best, and then it fell. She was dressed in a towel that covered her body from chest to thigh. She was pale, and goose bumps stood out on her skin. Her nipples poked out behind the light cover.
I rose and took her hand in mine and drew her to me. Her towel fell aside, and we kissed for a long time.
Morning was quite a shock compared to the last few. I woke to a dimly lit tent and the touch of a woman’s body against mine in the sleeping bag we had zipped together the night before. She stirred against me, her hand over my chest, her body curled against my back. Her hand slipped down and found that I had the typical guy’s reaction to waking up in the morning, so we made the best of it. Why not. We were probably going to die in a few hours.
We had a huge breakfast of pancakes, powdered eggs and powdered milk mixed with metallic water. Thomas felt that we deserved it, since we were going to have a strenuous day. At least fifty gathered to eat the fine meal. There was laughter and a hint of excitement that rippled all along the group. They were ready to move on, to get away from the constant danger, and head to town.
For my part, I felt a big goofy grin keep touching my lips whenever I caught Katherine’s eye and she smiled in return. Thomas looked between us a couple of times, but just shook his head as if he had seen something beyond his ability to comprehend.