Things calmed down a bit after that and we hammered out the details. Sarah insisted and got a concession regarding timelines. I was to be gone three days, no longer, regardless of what I found or didn’t find. I was not going alone, as Charlie and Tommy were coming with me.
I wanted things done as well. I assigned Trevor and five of his crew to go out to State Center Alpha and see if there was anything left. They were to seek out and report, find out if there was anyone else out there, maybe find some more answers about the state of the country, if possible. They were going to be going cross country, but since it was in the middle of farm country, they should actually have little problems. Trevor had come a long way and his men worked as well together as Charlie, Tommy and I did. I could have sent more of them, but in all honesty, if the expedition went south, I wanted to minimize the losses.
Charlie, Tommy and I would head out first thing in the morning, and we would take the pontoon boat. I had looked over the map and saw that the canal was the way to go. We would head north until the canal forked, then we would head north farther until we could see what we could see. The eastern portion of the canal made more of a direct route to the lake, which might have been useful later, but not now. The northern route actually led near where my brother used to live in the city, so if he made it out, he made it one of two ways: he took the canal or he took the railway. I wasn’t sure about the railway, since it went underground and in a zombie infested city, the last place I would go is underground. My brother and I tended to think alike in a lot of things, so I was hopeful he made the right choice. I was going to find out.
I spent the rest of the day getting ready, making sure I had enough ammo and supplies. I spent a brief time with Trevor, talking to him about what I found at State Center Bravo. Trevor was all ears, taking in each detail and committing it to memory. I drew him a route that should take him to the center without too much interference. I warned him about what we had found on one of the farms and what we had done to the renegade group. Trevor’s eyes had widened, it was something that Tommy and I hadn’t talked about. I also warned him about the glowing eyes of the zombies and he was sufficiently seasoned enough to appreciate what kind of effect that could have on his men.
When I had finished, Trevor and I shook hands and he gave me what amounted to high praise. “You sure are one high-octane son-of-a-bitch.”
I waved off the comment. “I just do what needs to be done, nothing more. You’d have done the same.”
“Not sure about that, boss. Walking at night with sixteen women through dark country-whew! No thanks.”
“Get moving,” I said with a smile.
While I was getting things together, Sarah, Jake, and I had a visitor. Dot came by to talk. We caught up for a while, then Sarah went off to feed Jake his lunch, leaving Dot and I on the porch.
“Been busy, hey?” Dot asked.
“Yeah, it’s been a trip. Several, as a matter of fact,” I said, shaking my head at the rush of memories.
“You’re doing fine,” Dot said. “As a matter of fact, I’d say you’re doing ten times better than anyone could have hoped for.”
“Thanks.”
“Tell me one thing, though, John.”
“Sure, anything.”
“Why haven’t you told Sarah the other reason why you are taking this trip?” Dot asked, seeing through me better than anyone had ever done before. It was downright creepy.
“It wouldn’t be fair to her and might cause feelings to get hurt. Besides, I need this closure. I thought I had it at my house, but over the last few months, it’s been like a cobweb in my head, tickling me from time to time, never letting me forget it’s there.” I looked down. “I hope you won’t tell Sarah,” I said.
Dot smiled at me. “I won’t on one condition.”
“What’s that?” I asked, giving her the same look I give a zombie right before I plant a chunk of metal in its frontal lobe.
“That you marry that girl before you get much older,” Dot said, standing up and patting me on the arm. “No telling how much time you have, especially these days.”
My mind was paralyzed for a moment, then I managed to speak. “Deal,” I said, before I fully understood what I was saying.
“Good. Tell Sarah I’ll be by to help her with Jake while you’re gone.” Dot walked off, whistling an old Irish tune, her rifle slung over her shoulder like she was heading off to war.
I had the feeling I had just been bamboozled, but in all honesty, couldn’t find a downside. I finished packing up and joined Sarah and Jake, trying to squeeze in as much quality time as possible before I headed out. I was sure Charlie and Tommy were doing the same.
22
In the morning, we packed up the pontoon boat and shoved off. The enclosed space had been taken off and the deck was surrounded by a small wall of wood secured to the railing. The wood only went waist high, but it was sufficient cover if we needed it. It wouldn’t stop bullets, but it would allow you a small measure of security in case things got ugly. We each had our packs, rations, and weapons. I was back to the M1A and Charlie and Tommy were carrying their AR’s. Charlie had done some modification to his AR, swapping out the carbine upper for one with a flat top and lengthened bull barrel. He topped it with an ACOG site he had recovered from State Center Bravo, so he was clearly ready. I preferred iron sites myself. Tommy did as well. We had enough ammo for defensive killing and escape, not eradication. I carried a lighter and small squeeze bottle of kerosene for that.
We drifted north, the purr of the motor moving us at a decent clip. It hadn’t rained in about ten days, so the canal wasn’t moving as fast as it could have. We were all quiet, each of us tucked away in his own thoughts, wondering what this trip might bring, wondering if we had sufficiently said our goodbyes in case this trip was our last. I had left before Jake had awakened for the day and as usual, I had made my promise to return to him. Despite all the progress we had made, he was still my whole world. Sarah had gotten up with me to send me on my way and the way she was smiling made me wonder if she and Dot hadn’t cooked up something between them.
At first we didn’t pass anything of interest and for the most part, couldn’t see that much beyond the foliage on the banks of the canal. After about a half hour, we reached the split in the canal that would take us east and to the lake. There was a refinery on our right, the silent storage bins seeming to watch us pass on the canal. I didn’t see any activity on the ground, but that wasn’t much of a surprise. Big refineries and places like this weren’t attractive to zombies as a source of food. There just weren’t enough people outside of a skeleton crew to watch the gauges and make sure everything was running smoothly. Besides, when everything went south, anyone who worked here would have tried to go to their families.
The sun climbed higher, throwing a wave of brilliance that promised to be a beautiful day. Because of the depth of the canal, we were still in shadows, which helped us move relatively unseen. We couldn’t do anything about the noise of the motor, but a pontoon boat was meant for quiet cruising anyway, so the motor wasn’t that bad.
We moved on and in a little ways we found another industrial area. This one looked like a power transfer area, but I couldn’t be sure. There were actually zombies here, and they shambled over in our direction, but we were going to be past them long before they reached the canal banks.
The only real indication of zombie activity was the roads that crossed the canal and through our binoculars and rifle scopes we could see several of the cars that were occupied by the undead and several other zombies wandering among the vehicle debris. They raised a forlorn moan at our passing and one actually fell into the canal and disappeared beneath the dark waters. We kept a close eye on that situation, since we were pretty certain the zombies stayed away from water for a reason, although we weren’t entirely certain it killed them. If it did, it probably took a long time, so caution was necessary.