Solaris Mortem: The New Patriots (22 page)

“It’s okay. Sit down.” He ushered her to the guardrail beside the road. “Let me get you some water. I’ll be right back, okay?”

“I’m so embarrassed,” Alisia said, shaking her head.

“Ah, don’t worry about it,” Terry said. “I’m sure if my mother was here, she’d be making a nuisance of herself, too.” He hoped he hadn’t just crossed a line. Sometimes, you didn't know until it was too late. Alisia laughed, so he guessed he was all right.

“I better go over and talk to her,” Alisia said and rolled her eyes.

After Diane’s sensitivities had been appropriately massaged, they got back on the road. No one talked. A few words here and there, but mostly silence.

When they made camp that night, Vince laid down extra tarps beneath the tent and draped them over the top as well. “So, Duncan…this cabin of yours… It has a wood stove, right?”

“That it does. Sounds pretty good about now, doesn’t it?”

“Fuck, yeah it does,” Vince said and smiled. He stared off into space for a moment picturing it; sitting around a wood stove and chasing the cold away from their bones. “Listen…I was thinking, and I’m not coming onto you or anything like that, but maybe we should zip our bags together tonight…awkward, I know.”

“Uh, sure. It’ll be a lot warmer, no doubt,” Duncan said and looked over to Terry and Alisia. “But I can’t help thinking…you and I got the short end of the stick.”

“
You think?
” Vince said. “Terry gets Alisia, and you and I get each other.”

They laughed. “C’mon, give me a hand with this tarp.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

T
hey passed North Bend and began the ascent up Snoqualmie Pass. All were hopeful that tonight, they would sleep with a roof over their heads, a meal in their bellies, and a fire in the stove. That hope was dashed five miles up the road.

All three lanes were blocked as far as the eye could see, bumper to bumper. Concrete jersey barriers blocked the shoulder.

“Oh my God,” Kat said from the back seat. “What do we do?”

“What, Mommy?” Tabitha said. “When are we going to
be
there?”

“
Shhhh
, we’ll get there as soon as we can.”

Diane scoffed.

Looking east, clouds were gathering, thick and gray, heavy with moisture. Terry wondered if they held rain…or snow. He hoped for the former.

“Should we turn back?” Alisia said. “Maybe find another way…. The westbound lanes may be clear.”

“No,” Duncan said. “They’d been working on both directions all summer. If this one’s blocked, so is the other.”

“And you just thought of that
now?
” Diane said. She started laughing. Jonathan and Tabitha stared at her, worry evident on both of their faces. “We’re all going to–“

“Mom! Enough!” Alisia said, cutting her off.

“We’re just going to have to walk,” Terry said. “If I was able to walk the two-hundred and fifty miles to get to Seattle, then we can walk these last forty.”

“I’m sorry,” Duncan said. “I just didn’t…think about the construction still being here.”

“It’s fine,” Vince said. “We can make it. Might even be faster. It hasn’t exactly been a
speedy
journey, anyhow.”

Diane was still chuckling to herself as if she enjoyed this, reveling in
being right.

“Let’s get moving,” Terry said, and he opened his door. “It’ll be best to get as far as we can before the weather hits.”

“So, that’s it? We’re just going to
walk
?” Diane said.

“Yes, Mom. We’re going to walk.” Alisia was visibly frustrated.

“
For now,
we’re going to walk,” Terry said. “Maybe once we get past this, we can find another rig. Just relax, okay?” He wished Diane wasn’t so pessimistic all the time. It was easy to see what it did for Alisia’s mindset.

“Maybe we should take the battery,” Duncan said. “If we find another car, the battery will probably be dead.”

“And who’s going to carry the battery?” Vince asked, arching a brow.

“We’ve got a wagon, and I’ll pull it,” Duncan said, opening the rear hatch. “Let’s grab what we can and go.”

They loaded up all that they could on their backs and in the wagon. “If we can get to the top of the Pass today, we’ll be doing all right,” Terry said. “There’s cabins, ski lodges…we can, at least, be out of the weather. Then, tomorrow, we can hike the rest of the way. Easy.” Only, he knew it wouldn’t be
easy.
Not with Diane, not with the kids, and it looked like snow.

“This campfire is still warm,” Rick said, letting the ashes fall through his fingers. “They were here…. Last night.”

He stood, and he smiled, turning around to face the men. “Who’s ready to hunt?”

They saluted and clicked their boot heels together. This power role suited Rick well.
Charles would’ve let these vermin escape and go on to infect others.
Not Rick, though. He was stronger than that. He
got
it. He knew what needed to be done, and he wasn't afraid to do it.

Snowflakes drifted down from a gray sky, and the New Patriots were closing in on their prey. A fine start for November. “Let’s go,” Rick said, clapping his hands together. He wondered how things were back in New Seattle. He’d have preferred to leave Trevor at the helm, but needed him more here. Surely, Stephen couldn’t fuck it up in two days. Could he?
No bother, I’ll be back soon enough.

They rolled down the highway at a steady clip and the snowflakes became snowfall. Trevor turned on the windshield wipers and glanced over to Rick.

“What is it?” Rick asked.

“The snow is just...really picking up.”

“So it is,” Rick said. “So it is.”

Ten minutes ahead, they were stopped by the gridlock the Antis had met hours earlier.

Trevor stopped the car. “What now, Sir?”

“Now, we get out.” Rick stomped to the last car in the pack, a blue Suburban. “This was their car. They were here this morning.”

Trevor noted the melt pattern of the snowflakes on the hood.

“We proceed on foot,” Rick said. “Gear up!”

The men snapped to action and were underway in minutes.

One man took the front, Rick and Trevor twenty paces behind, and the rest of the troop, another twenty paces behind them. They weaved through the vehicle graveyard like a snake.

“Chancellor,” Trevor said. “Permission to speak freely?”

“Go on….”

“I wonder if we should just let the weather take care of them, Sir.”

Rick’s eyes flashed with anger and then cooled. “Are you questioning me?”

“No, Sir.”

“Good.”

They marched on.

The wagon wheels were caked with snow. Occasionally one would lock up like a misbehaved shopping cart and pitch the entire business sideways. “We’re going to have to ditch the battery,” Duncan said, forced to concede. He stopped and rubbed his shoulder, a knot of fiery pain. “Wish I had a sled now instead of this wagon.”

The gridlock had broken up with wider spaces between the cars.

“I don’t think it matters,” Vince said. “I’m not seeing anything old enough to have survived the flares.”

“If it keeps snowing, driving’s out anyway,” Terry said. Eight or nine inches had fallen already, with no sign of letting up.

Diane clutched Alisia’s arm, baby-stepping all the way. They caught up as Duncan was unloading the battery.

“What are you doing?” Diane said. “Did you find a car?” Her tone smelled of desperation.

“No…I’m leaving the battery behind. It’s getting to be too much to pull.”

“
What?
You said we needed that battery to get another car!”

“We’re not getting another car, Diane,” Duncan said and took a deep breath. “We’re on foot from here on out.”

“I can’t do this! We’re all going to
die
out here.” Diane was an expert level drama queen.

“Mom! Stop it! You’re going to scare the children.”

“Maybe they should be scared,” she mumbled.

“Jonathan, Tabitha,” Kat said. “
Ears
.” They obliged at once and covered their ears. “Now, listen here, you old bag,” Kat said, marching up and into her face. “You,
shut the hell up.
Got me? You’re not helping anything, so just–shut–up!”

Diane began to huff. It looked like she might go into the hyperventilating routine again. Alisia was mortified, and though she didn’t like Kat talking to her mother that way, she had to agree.
Mom had to shut up.

“She’s right, Mom,” Alisia said. She found herself wanting to avoid eye contact but struggled to maintain it. “This has to stop.”

Diane gasped. “You, too? I raised you better than this, Alisia. I–“

“Mom–
no more
…”

“Fine! You want me to shut up? I’ll shut up!” Diane thought she was punishing her daughter, and while Alisia
did
feel a tinge of guilt, mostly she was relieved.

“Can we go now?” Vince said, rolling his eyes.

“Yes. Let’s go,” Alisia said. She grabbed Diane’s arm and dragged her forward.

They trudged uphill for another hour until blinding snowfall forced them to seek shelter.

“Up ahead!” Terry cried out. He had to shout to be heard above the wind. “There’s a semi with a sleeper cab! We can wait it out in there!” Inside were two dead bodies—flu victims.

“Oh, no,” Diane said. “I’m
not
going in there.”

“Suit yourself,” Vince said, hauling a body out by the coat collar. It was a light windbreaker. They’d probably been in here for a few weeks. The cold was welcome as it arrested the smell.

“We’ve all been immunized,” Alisia said. “It’s fine, Mom. And we can’t stay out here.”

“You’re the doctor,” Diane said, rolling her eyes.

Sometimes, I could just slap you,
Alisia thought.

Terry cracked the window open and lit a candle. “This’ll help keep us a little warmer.”

The blizzard raged outside, laying an insulating blanket over the truck and covering their tracks. For the latter, Terry was thankful. He didn’t think anyone was following, but if they were, he was happy to take a helping hand from Mother Nature.

“Who wants to play cards?” Terry asked, pulling a deck of cards from his knapsack.

“Go Fish?” Jonathan offered.

“Sure. Who else is in?”

Everyone was dealt in but Diane, who was determined to suffer.

Two hours later, cabin fever was setting in, and the snow continued to pile up.

“Ya’ know,” Duncan said. “We’re not too far off from the summit. Maybe I’ll scout ahead…. Find us better accommodations.”

“I don’t know,” Terry said, arching a brow. “Sundown is in two hours.”

“Plus, you’ll get hypothermic,” Alisia said. “That doesn’t help anyone.”

“No, no, I’ll be fine. I’ve got the clothes for it…and I can’t sit here anymore.”

“Count me in, too,” Vince said.

“We’ll be back before sundown. Don’t worry,” Duncan said. “Hell, we might be back with good news.”

“I don’t know,” Terry said again. “I don’t like it. Why don’t we all just wait and go together when the weather clears?”

“We’ll be okay,” Duncan said. “A little walk in the snow never hurt anyone.”

“
Really
?” Alisia said. “Because I can think of at least a couple of times when a
little walk in the snow
hurt somebody.”

“We’ll be careful…and we won’t be gone too long. Promise.”

“Wait,” Terry said. “Take the rifle. Just in case.”

“Thank you,” Duncan said. “And Terry, I’ve got something for you too.” He handed Terry a neatly folded paper.

“What is it?” Terry asked.

“It’s a map…to the cabin, you know, just in case anything happens.”

“Thanks,” Terry said, “but let’s make sure nothing happens, okay?”

It was almost dark and still no Duncan or Vince.

“Do you think they’re all right?” Kat said. “I hope nothing's happened.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Terry said. “They’ve got an interstate to follow. I can’t imagine them getting lost on I-90.”

“I hope so,” Kat said, stroking Tabitha’s hair. Her little head rested in Kat’s lap. Both kids and Diane were asleep.

Terry was glad to have Diane asleep so he didn’t have to hear her objections and skepticism. He tried to put up with her for Alisia’s sake, but it was tiring.

“Should we go and look for them?” Alisia said.

The snow had let up some, but the wind howled on. “
Shhh
…. Did you hear that?” Terry said, squinting his eyes. “I thought I heard voices.”

“Oh, good. It’s probably them,” Alisia said.

“No…I don’t think so. The wind is blowing from the west….”

“And?” Kat said.

“They went east. I don’t think we’d be hearing them,” Terry said as he pinched out the candle. “Listen….”

They strained to hear when a searchlight briefly illuminated the snow blanket covering the truck’s glass, then passed.
“Oh, shit–get down!” Terry said, quietly but forcefully. “It’s them…Rick, the New Patriots.”

They huddled down and heard voices for a few minutes. The light flashed back and forth a couple more times and then it and the voices were gone.

“Oh my God,” Kat said. “Was that really them? And, Vince and Duncan…they’re still out there.”

Terry nodded. “It was them, all right. I’m sure of it. No one else would be out in this. Not unless they were looking for us.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” Kat said.

“No, I don’t–not for sure. But it makes sense. And I thought I heard Rick’s voice. Didn’t that sound like him?”

Kat nodded reluctantly. “What about Vince and Duncan?”

Terry wished he could see out, but was glad they’d not been able to see in. “They’re on their own…. There’s nothing we can do now but wait.”

“I need to pee,” Kat said. They’d been cooped up now for hours.

“Okay,” Terry said. “Anyone else?” Alisia shook her head, no. “We go out on the passenger side.”

The truck sat in the right-hand lane, and he didn’t want to leave tracks or disturb their camouflage where it would be easily seen should Rick and his men return. “Let me peek out first.”