Charlie woke up. “Where are we?”
“Eastern Tennessee,” Jim replied.
“Is it cold back there?” Morgan asked Andy, looking content—happy even.
“Not really. There are some blankets,” Andy replied, holding hers up to show Morgan. “You guys sleep back here often?”
“When we have to,” Ben replied before hopping down to the ground.
“Charlie, do you want to ride in the front?” Morgan asked.
“No, I’ll stay here. I’m tired.”
Morgan reached over and tousled his hair. “Okay, but don’t snore.” She climbed into the back, along with Jim.
“You’re the one who snores,” Charlie accused with a yawn.
Morgan froze with embarrassment until Jim said, “Don’t worry. You can’t hear snoring over the engine or the wind.”
“I don’t snore,” she insisted.
It suddenly dawned on Andy that she hadn’t had anything to drink or gone to the bathroom in at least twelve hours. Thinking about it not only made her thirsty, but aroused the need to find a bush somewhere. “I need to pee,” she declared and headed directly toward the forest that lined the highway.
“I do too,” Morgan echoed, following her into the misty trees.
Charlie looked at Jim and Ben. “Take the other side then?”
Without a word, boys and girls separated to opposite sides of the road and reconvened at the truck minutes later. After a quick bite and some water, they were ready to move again. Andy joined Ben in the front of the truck as the others piled into the back.
“So how much farther until we run out of gas?” Andy asked Ben when they were underway.
Ben glanced down at the dials in front of him. “Probably another two hundred miles. We’ll make it to Nashville and stop at the airport there.”
Andy nodded and turned her attention to the passing scenery. As the early morning mist began to fade, the blue-green hues of the mountains became more vivid. “Beautiful,” she murmured to herself.
“Ever been around here before?” Ben asked as he maneuvered the truck around several sharp turns.
“No, never. You?”
“Once, when I was about eight or nine. I mostly remember the smell.”
“Yeah, it’s so fresh. These trees are…potent.” Andy turned her gaze from the window and stared sideways at him for a long moment. She opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated and looked away.
“Something wrong?”
“No…just thinking.”
“About what?”
“I was just thinking about the last time I took a shower,” she lied. “It’s been two days since I last rinsed off in the ocean. I’m starting to feel pretty dirty.”
“Well, get used to it,” said Ben unsympathetically. “Must’ve been nice living on an island and always having a place to take a bath.”
Andy nodded absently. “Just a matter of stepping outside and jumping off the dock.”
“Sounds amazing. Were there a lot of survivors?”
“I guess. For its size, I mean. Bermuda is a tiny island, and even though we lived far away from everyone else, things just got too dangerous. That’s why we left.” Though truthful, Andy would never reveal the real reason for their departure. That was Morgan’s secret to keep, not hers.
“Makes sense,” Ben replied. “Having your own space, your own corner of the world…it’s worth everything. Once it’s gone, it’s time to move on.”
“And that’s why you’re going to New Mexico? To find your own corner of the world?”
He shrugged. “Maybe.”
“So why are you headed west now? Why not sooner?” Despite the dim morning light, Andy could clearly see Ben’s body stiffen and his jaw harden, and she almost regretted asking the question.
He reapplied his grip on the steering wheel and cleared his throat. “Things weren’t always so bad. Life was pretty quiet for a few years after the outbreak. It didn’t get really bad until about…two years ago.”
“What changed two years ago?”
He released a hand from the steering wheel and ruffled his hair. It was a nervous gesture that she had noticed once already. “Probably the same thing that happened to you in Bermuda, but over a much bigger area. You know, kids fighting over food and water…gangs spreading and starting wars with each other…stuff like that.”
Andy knew Ben was holding back and that she wouldn’t get any more out of him, at least not now. But questions continued to enter her mind. “Do you and Jim have friends in New Mexico?”
He shook his head. “No, no friends.”
“It’s pretty dry there, right? Won’t it be hard to find water?”
“There’re lots of rivers…big ones, like the Rio Grande. ‘Grande’ is Spanish for big, you know.”
She let out a chuckle. “I know.”
“Sorry,” he said timidly and cleared his throat again. “Anyway, the winters are warm there, and it’s got mountains. I could never live on flat farmland like the middle of the country.”
“Yeah, me neither.”
Ben took his gaze off the road and turned to Andy. “Well, since you don’t seem thrilled by New Mexico, where would you rather live?”
She hadn’t really thought about it. Getting to the continent had been her only concern for the last month. “I don’t know, but if I could really go anywhere, I guess I’d pick somewhere by the ocean. I already miss the ocean, and it’s only been a few days. But not an island. I don’t want to feel that trapped again.”
“Maybe a bigger island then…like Hawaii?”
“Hawaii would be big enough, but it’s in the middle of the Pacific. I’d need a really big boat or be able to fly there. Hardly options.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I’ll bet there are a few people out there who can fly a plane.”
Andy looked at Ben with skepticism.
“What, you don’t think some rich parents ever gave their twelve-year-old son or daughter flying lessons?” he challenged. “You learned about medicine from your dad. Why wouldn’t flying be the same?”
Andy shrugged. He had a point. “I guess so. It just seems very risky.”
“And cutting people open isn’t risky?”
“I’ve never cut anyone open,” she quickly replied. “I’m nowhere close to being a surgeon. You could barely consider me a nurse.”
“Maybe, but I bet you could be a surgeon if you wanted to.”
“Sure, if medical schools still existed, but not now…”
“I’m sure you could figure it out.”
She scoffed. “Surgery is not like fixing a car. You mess up the slightest thing, and your patient is dead.”
Ben nodded slowly but countered saying, “True, but aren’t most people who need surgery going to die anyway? You’re just giving them a chance, even if it’s a very small chance. And after a while, you’d get better at it.”
“Yeah, after watching several people die in the process.”
“Well, isn’t that part of being a doctor? Even the best surgeons lose patients.”
“I know, but maybe I’m just tired of death,” she replied with a shrug and stared off to her right.
“Or maybe you’re just scared.”
Andy turned to protest when Ben reached over without warning and opened the glove box, grazing the top of Andy’s bare thigh in the process. “Sorry,” he mumbled as he fished inside and pulled out a can of peanuts. “Want some?”
She cracked a smile. Of course she wanted some. “Thanks.”
“Would you open it?” He asked, holding the can out to her with his right hand, his left hand on the steering wheel.
“Yeah, sure.”
The smell of roasted nuts and salt filled Andy’s nostrils the moment she peeled back the aluminum seal. She grabbed a large handful before holding the can out for Ben.
“Thanks,” he said and helped himself.
The entire can was gone in minutes.
“Is there any water?” she asked.
“There should be some water bottles behind the seat,” Ben said after finishing his last mouthful. “Can you grab me one, too?”
The water quenched Andy’s dry, salty throat. It was the best thing she’d ever tasted.
Chapter VI
M
inutes passed into hours as Andy dozed off. As Ben had predicted, the truck made it to Nashville without running out of gas. Just before reaching the city, he took the exit for the city’s airport. The decrease in speed was enough to wake Andy.
She rubbed her eyes and looked around. “Where are we going?”
“Getting gas,” said Ben. He followed signs for “Airport Services” and continued around the main terminal until reaching a restricted area where only airport vehicles were once permitted. Not surprisingly, the airport was utterly void of any sign of life.
“Airplane fuel?” Andy blurted aloud. “That works in cars too?”
“Some airplane fuel can run a car, but it’s such a high octane that it’ll ruin the engine,” Ben replied as he weaved around airplanes and other various support vehicles. “When gas ran out, people never thought to check out airports, but all these vehicles for moving luggage and stuff around needed gas. Even some of the really small planes use the same gas as cars.”
“That’s clever.”
Ben shrugged off the compliment. “Let’s just hope we’re lucky and that no one else thought to come here before us.”
They did have luck in the form of a full, untouched tanker truck of gasoline, direct from an oil refinery.
“But hasn’t this been sitting here for five years,” Morgan commented once everyone was out of the truck. “Doesn’t petrol get stale or something?”
“Nah, these tanks are vacuum-sealed. Gas only goes bad when it’s exposed to the air,” Ben replied as Jim headed toward the rear of the enormous tank carrying what appeared to be a small toolbox.
The others watched as Ben and Jim opened the valves at the rear of the tank and somehow managed to get the fuel moving into their own trunk’s tanks. Their speed and dexterity was impressive.
“I take it you two have done this before,” said Morgan.
“How else do you think we managed to keep driving all these years?” Jim replied, flashing her a warm smile.
As the precious liquid filled the truck’s tanks, Ben reached behind the front seats and retrieved three large, cylindrical plastic containers, each empty.
“How much do those hold?” Charlie asked.
“About eight or nine gallons,” said Jim, grabbing one of the containers from Ben. He began to fill it up. “They’ll give us another four hundred miles.”
“We should make it to New Mexico without having to stop again,” Ben added.
Andy looked at Morgan and Charlie to gauge their reaction to the plan, as they hadn’t discussed it yet. But neither seemed fazed by the notion. There was no better plan at the moment. There was no other plan at all. They were going to New Mexico.
When Jim topped off the last container, he screwed on the cap and put it into the back of the truck.
“That’s it,” he proclaimed.
“Let’s try finding some more containers around here,” said Ben. “It’d be stupid to not take more gas if we can.”
Together the group found anything that would contain even a few ounces of gas, filled them up, and continued on their way.
***
They drove. And drove. The landscape changed. The lush foliage of Tennessee thinned out as they moved west beyond the Mississippi River. Long, pale green grass, slave to the will of the winds, dominated the landscape. Crossing streams allowed everyone to enjoy much-needed baths to remove the film of dirt that clung relentlessly to their skin. On the second night, they stopped at an abandoned motel near the Oklahoma-Texas border. The beds were old and creaky, and the air was stale, but everyone was too exhausted to care. Andy was asleep before her head hit the pillow. Shortly after dawn, they were driving again, across the Texas Panhandle. The green grass turned to yellow, and the trees seemed to disappear completely.
If they ever once passed another person or moving vehicle, they never saw. The highway was lonely and desolate, and the random scatterings of abandoned vehicles only made it appear more so. During the silent stretches of time when not sleeping, her mind drifted to thoughts of how uncertain her future was. And Morgan’s.
Though they hadn’t talked about what had happened since leaving Bermuda, Andy had detected brief but unmistakable expressions of both fear and shame on her friend’s face as her mind struggled to come to terms with the fact that a baby might be growing inside her belly, something that would rely on her to keep living and breathing for its own survival? Or would she only think of it as a parasite; a reminder of the battered and bloody mess she’d been while lying on that filthy bathroom floor?
Ben was driving when they entered New Mexico, and Andy was once again sitting beside him. At one point, she noticed him yawning and offered to drive. Though grateful, he declined.
Reaching down between her feet, she lifted her backpack off the floor and placed it on her lap. She unzipped the small front pocket of the bag and fished inside for the iPod her parents had given her on her thirteenth birthday. It was the last gift she’d received from them. The battery was long dead, but she had a car adapter. It was the only way to recharge it now.