Dead Highways (Book 2): Passage (22 page)

Robinson sighed. “Well, this one definitely looks like he’s patrolling.” The person with the blond hair and blue shirt disappeared around the back of the building. “Where did you go after you left here?”

“Um, first I went back home, just to make sure they hadn’t come back. Then I left again, drove around for a while. There’s a Publix across the street. I was pretty sure it had a pharmacy too. I thought maybe they’d gone there instead. Nope. I checked another Publix further north. Still no sign of them. I kept going back home, hoping they’d returned. I was driving around to do another check of the area when I saw you pull into the Winn-Dixie parking lot. I had just been there maybe thirty minutes earlier.”

We sat in silence, hunched behind the white Toyota, waiting to see if blondie would come back around the corner.

He didn’t.

“Can you help me?” Cathy whispered. “Without Brian, I’ve got nothing. Nobody.”

“You realize…” I started to say and then stopped myself. I was going to tell her the bad news. That he was probably dead. Who am I kidding? He
was
dead. There was no
probably
about it. And I had my doubts that the armed men patrolling the Walmart had anything to do with his disappearance—his death. My guess was Brian and Theo got a little too close to a pack of infected and—bada bing, bada boom—that was the end of the story. Either way, what did Cathy really expect us to do about it?

“Let’s get back to the others,” Robinson said.

We got in the car and headed north to the Winn-Dixie. The rest of the group had piled into the other SUV, awaiting our return. Peaches, holding Olivia in her arms, immediately hopped out when we pulled up beside them. Bowser stayed in the passenger seat opposite Ted.

“I’ll have to talk with the others before we make any decisions,” Robinson said to Cathy.

“I understand. Please come to my house and think about it. I promise it’s not far. You can follow me there.”

Robinson thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “Okay, that’ll be fine.”

Cathy jumped out of the car and got into a gray pickup truck. Peaches hopped into the backseat with me.

“What’s going on?” Ted asked over the radio.

“We’re gonna follow Cathy to her house,” Robinson said back. “It’s not far.”

Ted: “Why?”

“I’ll fill you in when we get there.”

Ted: “Okey dokey.”

We pulled out behind Cathy, Ted behind us.

“You’re not really thinking about helping her, are you?” I asked. “You know her husband’s dead.”

“I know.”

“Then why are we going to her house?”

“Because we gotta do something, Jimmy. We can’t just leave her all alone.”

“What then? What’re we going to do?”

“I don’t know. Something.”

“You have a nice house,” Peaches said.

I couldn’t agree more. Cathy’s house was nice and spacious, two stories, and judging by the number of empty lots in the neighborhood, it couldn’t have been built more than a few years ago. It still had that new house smell. Ooh. Ahh. New paint. New carpet. Everything was ultra clean and organized. The furniture was modern, with bold colors and sharp lines. The art on the walls was abstract and full of wonder and life. Big windows along the rear of the living room let in lots of sunlight, and provided a good view of the canal that led off into the Gulf of Mexico. Somebody had a good job. Cathy, Brian, or both.

“Thanks,” Cathy said. “We just moved in a little over a year ago. It was our fresh start.”

Peaches sat next to me on a black leather couch, holding Olivia. Cathy sat across from us. “I’d say you did pretty well,” Peaches said.

Did
being the key word. These days doing pretty well meant you were still alive, with a functioning brain.

Behind us, Robinson was chatting with the others in the kitchen, finding out where they stood on helping Cathy find her deceased husband. He already knew where Peaches and I stood on the issue. We’d made our case to him in the car on the way over. I thought it was highly unlikely that Ted or Bowser would think it was a good idea, and damn near impossible that Aamod would. What Naima thought, of course, didn’t matter. Her father made all the decisions for her.

“She’s so young,” Cathy said. “The baby. How old is she?”

“A few days old,” Peaches replied.

“Oh my God. You’re kidding. How … how did you have a baby just days ago?”

“No, she’s not mine. We found her at a hospital. We’ve been taking care of her ever since.”

“That’s incredible. She’s so lucky.”

“She is,” Peaches replied. “And I think we are too.” Peaches looked over at me and smiled.

“What’s her name?”

“We named her Olivia,” I said.

“Aww, you mind if I hold her?”

“Not at all.”

Peaches carefully handed the baby to Cathy.

“Brian and I had a baby girl. We named her Gwen, but…” Cathy began, looking down as she gently rocked Olivia. “But she was born with a severe immune system disorder. It was like her body was constantly fighting her … wouldn’t give her a chance. She’d get sick all the time…”

Somehow, I had a feeling this story wasn’t going to end well. By the front door, there were photos of Cathy and what I assumed was her husband Brian. In many of the photos was a baby.

“Finally, she got a lung infection, and she had to be hospitalized,” Cathy continued. “She lasted a week before … before she left us.”

The sadness permeated every note of Cathy’s story, yet she was smiling down at Olivia. Smiling through the pain of having to retell the tragic loss she’d suffered. Like just seeing Olivia, holding her, rocking her, was bringing back good
and
bad memories.

“I’m sorry,” Peaches said. “I can’t even imagine what that must have been like to go through something like that.”

“It was tough. Even today, it still is. I think about her all the time, wonder what she’d be like if she was still here.”

“How long ago did this happen?” I asked.

“Almost two years ago now. Gwen would be turning four next month. That’s what I meant by me and Brian getting a fresh start. After she left us, went off to be in heaven, we moved here. We had this house built, relocated jobs, all to try and forget. To try and put it behind us.” Cathy wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. “As you can tell it didn’t really work. And now everything, the whole damn world has gone to hell. Makes my little story seem insignificant.”

“I don’t think so,” Peaches said. “It’s significant to you. That’s all that really matters.”

Cathy finally looked up from Olivia. “Now you see why I have to find Brian. I … I can’t go on without him. I would have never made it this long.”

Peaches and I both nodded, glanced at each other. I suddenly felt like a huge selfish jerk for not wanting to help her. I think Peaches felt the same. However, Cathy’s hopes of finding Brian would come crashing down mere moments later.

The others joined us in the living room, and Robinson delivered the bad news.

No.

The answer was no.

Cathy had only a one word response. “Why?”

“Basically, from our experience in the last few days,” Robinson began, “the likelihood of your husband still being alive is slim to none. He said he’d be back in an hour. And like you said, that was at least five hours ago. If there was something to find, I don’t know where we would even begin. We’re not from this area, and you already spent the last few hours searching for him yourself. I know it might be hard to admit, but I’m really sorry, I think your husband is gone.”

“So you can’t do anything for me?” Cathy asked, glancing around at each of us. All silent. All letting Robinson be the bad guy. “You’re right. He may be gone. It’s not something I want to think about, but I know it’s a possibility.” Cathy finally lost it. Her voice shook as tears began running down her cheeks. The verdict was probably made worse, made more emotional, given she’d just finished talking about the child she’d lost. She bowed her head. Her long, wavy red hair fell forward and shielded much of her face. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what more I can do.”

We all remained silent, let her cry it out. It was the first step toward healing, shedding off denial and accepting that it was what it was and there was no way to change it. We all knew what she was going through, because we we’re all going through it too. This new world was not a place for happiness to bloom, and I think we all anticipated more sorrow to come.

Robinson stepped forward, knelt down next to Cathy. “There is something we can offer you Cathy.”

Cathy slowly raised her head, brushed her hair out of her face. “What?”

“You can come with us. I know we just met, but we’re all good people. And we’ll try to protect you, best we can.”

“Where are you going?”

“New Orleans. To look for my son.”

Cathy sniffed back snot. “But why should I leave here and go with you all to New Orleans?”

“What reason do you have to stay here?”

“There’s still a chance Brian could come back.”

“That’s true. He might,” Robinson said. “But what if he doesn’t? Are you gonna be okay here all by yourself? You know how dangerous it is out there.”

“We have a boat,” Cathy said, seemingly out of nowhere. She looked at each of us trying to gauge our reaction. “We have a boat. Well … it’s Brian’s boat.”

“Okay,” Robinson replied.

That was my reaction as well.

Okay. You have a boat. Who cares?

“You said you’re going to New Orleans. We have a boat. We could take you there. It would be a lot safer than going by road.”

“I don’t know much about boats,” Robinson said. He turned to the rest of us. “Anyone have experience with boats?”

Ted was the only one who answered.

“A little,” he said. “Mostly small boats.”

“You don’t have to worry about any of that,” Cathy said. “Brian can drive the boat. I’m sure he’ll have no problem agreeing to take you if you just help me.”

“I can tell you love Brian a lot.”

“So much,” Cathy sobbed.

“But he’s gone, Cathy. I wish he wasn’t. I really do.” Robinson stood up. “I’m sorry. Think about my offer. You’re welcome to come with us.”

After a moment, Cathy got up and headed for the front door. “I need some fresh air.”

Robinson, Ted, and I converged at the sliding glass door. It looked out on to the covered dock, where the boat Cathy had mentioned sat suspended out of the water.

“So Ted, you think you can drive that thing … or one like it?” Robinson asked.

Ted shrugged. “Maybe.”

“It’s not a bad idea, right? Taking a boat. It would be a lot safer than staying on land.”

“Probably even get us there faster,” Ted added. “Thing is, I don’t know how many gallons the boat has or how long it’ll last even if the tank is full. Don’t wanna get out there and run out of gas.”

“I say we ride up the coastline anyway. That way we’ll never be too far from land. Case something does happen.”

“You think she’s gonna come with us?” I asked.

“I hope so,” Robinson replied.

Ted smirked. “Yeah, we need her boat.”

“I’m sure we could find another boat,” Robinson said. “This neighborhood is on a canal. Most of these houses probably have docks. We don’t need
her
boat.”

“She just won’t last long out here by herself,” I said.

Robinson nodded. “That’s why I hope she comes with us.”

Cathy came back inside five minutes later with an answer, or more like, a proposition.

“I can’t leave right now,” she said. “I’m sorry I just can’t. I feel like he could still be out there. I need to keep looking for him.”

“If that’s your decision,” Robinson said. “I have to respect it.”

“I wasn’t done,” Cathy said. “I have an offer for you.”

“Go on.”

“I know it’s dangerous out there, and you’d be risking your lives for someone you don’t even know … but if you help me look for him, at least until it gets dark, I’ll let you take the boat. You can spend the night here, and in the morning you can leave. In fact, if we don’t find him tonight, and he doesn’t return by morning, I’ll go with you.”

Robinson glanced around the room. We all sat still, in silence, offering him nothing in the way of a yes or no reaction. Except for Aamod, naturally. He turned his back to us and walked into the kitchen.

Guess that’s one vote no.

“What time is it?” Robinson asked.

I checked my watch. “Quarter to five,” I said.

“That would only give us two and a half to three more hours of light,” Robinson said. “I don’t know how big the area is, but that’s not a lot of time.”

“At this point, I’ll take whatever I can get,” Cathy said. “If our search turns up nothing … then I’ll have to deal with that. But I can’t move on knowing I didn’t try everything I could.”

“I understand.”

“So you’ll help me then?”

Again Robinson looked around for objections. “Anyone got any problems with the deal?” Everyone shook their head. “I guess it’s a deal then.”

“Thank you so much,” Cathy said. “Really … thank you.”