Dead Highways (Book 2): Passage (15 page)

“Already,” she said, without moving. Olivia lay next to her, bundled in a blanket.

I had thought the same thing when Robinson woke me. We all needed sleep so bad, and the beds were like sleeping on clouds. Waking up was hard.

She sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. “Will you sit with me for a minute … until I start to feel awake?”

“Sure,” I said, sitting next to her on the bed.

She immediately got up and went to the restroom. So much for sitting with her. She came back a minute later.

“I’ve got an hour right?”

I nodded. “Yeah, till three. Need my watch?”

She nodded. I took off my wristwatch and gave it to her.

“Who’s on after me?”

“Aamod.”

She smirked. “Great. I gotta wake
him
up.”

“Least you only have one hour. He’s got two straight. He took Naima’s shift.”

“Wish I had someone to take mine. I’m kidding. I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll be back asleep in no time.” I pointed to Olivia. “You gonna wake her?”

“No. You don’t ever wake a sleeping baby, they’ll wake you.”

I showed her to the wooden chair up front, and then regurgitated the same spiel Robinson had given me. Hear anything. See anything. Wake us up.

“Okay, you can go to bed,” she said. “Unless you want to stay and talk.”

“No, I just got done confessing my sins to Robinson. It took a lot out of me—out of both of us.”

“What sins?”

“I told him about Diego.”

“Really? What made you do that?”

“He asked.”

“Do you feel better now that you told him?”

I thought hard about the question, and then said, “No.”

I waited for follow up questions, but she had none. I was glad. I was emotionally and physically exhausted.

“Night, Peaches,” I said.

She grabbed me by the arm, preventing me from walking away. “Come here.”

“Huh?”

“Come. Here.” She put her hand behind my neck and pulled me down toward her.

Next thing I knew our lips touched for a brief moment. Just a peck.

“Do you feel better now?”

“Sure.”

She gave me another peck, and then smiled. “How about now? I’d give you a better kiss but I’m not so sure about my breath.”

I smiled back. “It smells fine to me.”

“You would say that. Now go to bed, Jimmy. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Morning came roughly four hours later. The sun smiled down on me through the big front windows, yanking me from sleep. Everyone else was already up. I could hear them moving about behind me, talking softly. I’d join them soon. But for a brief moment, I stayed in bed marveling at the new day, happy that we’d made it through the night without incident.

I made my way over to the opposite side of the building and sat down next to Naima. She was snacking on crackers. Peaches sat on a bed nearby feeding Olivia.

“Can I have some?” I asked, staring at the crackers.

Naima handed me a small stack that I ate quickly, wishing I could have more. I could have eaten the entire pack, plastic and all, if they let me. I was
that
hungry, but I wasn’t the only one, and we only had a limited supply of food to go around. I don’t think Jax understood this fact, however, as he lay nearby slobbering on himself, watching us consume each cracker with great satisfaction.

“Where is everyone else?” I asked.

Just as the words left my mouth, Aamod came out of the back, shotgun in his hands, and gingerly walked across the store. He stopped at the front entrance, next to the wooden chair, and peered out at the parking lot. It was the same spot he’d been when I’d arrived last night. His perch, you could say.

“My dad is right there, obviously,” Naima said. “The others went to check something out.”

“What?”

“The Turnpike,” Peaches said.

“Where’s that?”

Peaches shrugged. “Not sure. They said it was real close though.”

“How long have they been gone?”

“They just left not long ago,” Naima said.

“Yeah, maybe five minutes or so,” Peaches added. “Not long enough to worry.”

I guess Aamod had been left back to guard the fort, and he was taking the job ultra seriously. He stood at the front, shotgun on shoulder, head slowly scanning the street, doing his best Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 impersonation. Also known as,
The Terminator.

He’d die to protect us. Or do something stupid and get us killed.

One of those two things.

Peaches changed Olivia and then handed her off to me so she could go use the restroom.

“So how have you been doing? We haven’t had a chance to talk since my triumphant return.”

Naima smiled. “I really missed you and Peaches. It was tough being the only girl around.”

“What are you saying … I’m girl-like?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I meant.”

“Okay, just checking.”

She flashed a smile again. “Seriously though, I spent most of yesterday crying. I thought you both were dead.” She looked down at Olivia snuggled in my arms. “Her too.”

I wouldn’t mention the little infected girl Peaches and I had come across in the woods—she who had later woke from the dead as little
zombie
girl—and how she had picked up Olivia by the throat. That was more of a bedtime story.

“Can I hold her?” Naima asked.

I handed Olivia over, and for the next minute we huddled over her, making the most ridiculous sounds we could think of. Anything to bring a smile to Olivia’s face. When I finally looked up, I realized Aamod was no longer gazing like a sentinel out the front window. Instead, he was staring at me like he’d caught me with my hand up his daughter’s skirt. And she wasn’t even wearing a skirt.

Luckily, Peaches returned from the ladies room and broke some of the tension. Still I slid a few feet away from Naima, just so that he would see that I wasn’t a threat. Eventually, he stopped staring at us, and I thought no more of it. He’d meet me in the men’s room minutes later to remind me.

I was in one of the stalls because I had a problem peeing at the urinals. Even if there was no one else in there, I still couldn’t go. I was pee shy.

I was almost done when I heard the door swing open and someone step inside, the sound of their shoes stick against the dirty restroom floor. I hoped the other guys had returned. Let it be Robinson or Ted or Bowser. Anyone but—

“Eh,” Aamod said, knocking on the stall door.

Thankfully, I had just finished peeing. “Yes,” I said, tucking my junk back into my pants.

“We need to talk.”

Hell must have frozen over. Pigs must have learned to fly. Aamod wanted to talk to me.

I opened the stall door and slowly stepped out. Aamod stood between me and the restroom door. My eyes instinctively darted down toward the shotgun in his right hand, held down by his side.

“What do we need to talk about?”

“About the rules,” he said. “With my daughter.”

“What do you mean?”

“Shut up and listen. I’m no fool. I know you think I am, but I’m not. I don’t trust you with Naima.”

“Why? There’s nothing going on between me and Naima.”

“No, because she wouldn’t have you. She deserves better than you. But still you try…”

“But I’m not—”

“I told you to shut up. I saw you out there, shoulder to shoulder.” He took a step closer to me. “I’ve seen the way you look at her. Yes, I’ve seen it for a long time now. You’re not fooling me. I see.”

Beyond the sound of Aamod’s scolding, scathing voice, I thought I heard car doors slam shut.

“From now on, you keep your distance,” he continued. “Naima is mine, not yours. Understand?”

“No, I don’t understand. I don’t think I’ll ever understand you. Naima might be dead right now if it weren’t for me. Have you forgotten about Jerry … your fucking pedophile neighbor?”

I was determined not to back down, no matter how much Aamod aimed to intimidate me. I wasn’t some piece of trash he could kick around. He didn’t scare me.

Aamod huffed and took another step closer to me. “I don’t forget anything. I remember quite clearly you lying to my face. I remember you not having the guts. And I certainly haven’t forgotten the look on that sick bastards face when I killed him. I smile when I think about it. I wish I could do it again for what he did to my Naima.”

Okay, now he was starting to scare me.

“Imagine what he could have done had I not been there to help stop him?”

“He did enough. More than you know.”

Suddenly the restroom door came open and Bowser stepped inside. I looked over Aamod’s shoulder at him. Aamod, however, didn’t take his eyes off me.

“We’re back,” Bowser said. “What’re you doing in here?”

“Nothing,” I said. “Just talking.”

Bowser’s body language said he wasn’t buying it. And how could he? The tension between Aamod and I was more obvious than a botched boob job.

“Okay, well, we’re leaving soon,” Bowser said, and then slowly exited the restroom.

Aamod continued with his hard stare, and then finally said, “Stay away from her. She’s not yours to have.” He backed up toward the door. “I will be watching you.”

I left a few seconds later, angry at Aamod for thinking he could bully me around. Sure I’d gazed at Naima once or twice or a hundred times in the past, but things were different now. She wasn’t just some girl at the convenience store I gawked at while she rang up my fucking hot dogs. She was my friend. And that was it. Nothing more. A friend. But more than angry, I left the restroom feeling confused. It was something Aamod had said regarding Jerry the rapist, who had kidnapped Naima just two days ago.

He did enough
, Aamod had said.
More than you know.

What did Jerry do that I didn’t know?

Bowser stopped me in the hall. “What’s going on? Is he fucking with you?”

“He thinks I’m trying to get with Naima.”

“Are you?”

“No.”

“Did he threaten you?”

I shrugged. “Sort of.”

“He threatened me.”

“Yeah, I heard.”

“You let me know if he steps at you again. I’m gonna take care of his ass … don’t you worry.”

I nodded and walked away. I felt confident I could fight my own battles, when and if they came, but if there was anyone I wanted to have my back, it was the six foot five, two hundred and fifty pound black guy.

It was just after eight in the morning when we loaded up and left the Mattress Barn. None of us had been too quick to get moving after spending the night reloading on sleep, but now that we were back in the car, we could at least enjoy the ice cold air conditioning. Even better, I didn’t have to drive. I sat in the backseat of the SUV next to Peaches and Olivia, soaking up the cool air, gazing out the window at the abandoned, and often looted, businesses as we rolled by. Robinson drove, while Bowser rode shotgun. Robinson’s German Shepherd, Jax, sat in the third row, occasionally resting his head on my shoulder, begging for attention.

We had, as a group, officially embarked on the first leg of our journey to New Orleans.

Plan A had been to take the Florida Turnpike up to I-75, but dead cars and soon to be dead people lined every lane, all pointing northwest. The closer we got to the center of the city, the more congested the streets became. With some careful maneuvering, we managed to get within eye shot of Highway 50, and could see it was no better than the Turnpike. Disappointed, Robinson pulled over and got out to discuss a Plan C with Ted, who along with Aamod and Naima, had been following behind us in the second SUV.

I watched from the backseat as Ted unfolded a map out on the hood of the car. For a few minutes, they stared at the map, talking, strategizing, though I couldn’t hear a word they were saying. Then Robinson climbed back into the captain’s chair and we were off again, doing a U-turn and heading back south.

“What’s the plan?” Bowser asked.

“Go south out of the city, and then cut west to Highway 27.”

“Where does that go?”

“It goes north south.”

“And you think it’ll be clear?”

“No, I didn’t say it would be clear. But it runs outside of the city and so hopefully should be less crowded. Of course we won’t know for sure until we get there.”