The Reanimates (Book 2): The Highway (3 page)

Making Camp, Making Out

We drove though Victorville and were excited to see that there was an open space of flat desert. Trent was wiped out. I think we all were. We pulled off the freeway and decided to make camp here until tomorrow.

I went around back to present the camp idea to everyone. I heard a chorus of woo hoo's from everyone. We were all beat. I think the only person who did get any sleep on this trip was DaWayne, and that was from a drug induced stupor, not a true sleep.

It was the middle of the day when we made our stop but one of the perks to having a trailer like this was that running some sort of cover over the vent holes and gun ports would block out a great deal of light.

We all felt grime crusted and hungry, and most of us were coming down from that little sugar rush we had enjoyed after the mini mart, so we set up a wash area and Mercedes set to cooking on one of the camp stoves we had put in the truck.

Wash area probably was too grand a description for what we had set up. It was a bucket with a little bit of water in it,  a couple wash cloths and a bar of soap. We were able to take a small layer of filth off of our faces and hands, which was better than nothing but I would have sold a kidney to be able to shower right then. I looked at my shirt for the first time since the night started. My favorite sweatshirt was painted in blood, and I had no idea who the blood belonged to. I’m only a little embarrassed to admit that I freaked out. This shirt could have borne the blood of many friends. I ripped it off of my body in tears. How could I possibly be wearing the blood of my friends? I wanted to fling it into the ditch and bury it, but once I began to settle down, I realized that I didn't want to lose that final connection to them. I didn't want to lose the connection that it had of going out with friends that are long passed by now.

With the sweatshirt off of me, it struck me how cold January in the desert was! I focused on the cold air, clinging to the distraction that the cold offered. If I was thinking about the cold, then I couldn't be thinking about the rest of the stuff that threatened to take over my brain. I climbed up into the trailer, folded up the sweatshirt, put it in a small white plastic grocery sack and put it with the rest of my stuff. I sorted through the piles of sweatshirts in the community property pile and found one that was reasonably clean and in the right size. I took a deep breath and went back out to where everyone was. I saw that DaWayne was walking round, aided by his mom since he was a bit unsteady on his feet between the blood loss and the medications. Jody was holding JJ close to her. It was as though she was shielding him from the world.

Drew saw me watching Jody and the baby. “Mom? I just realized something. All the new babies in the world are never going to know any other kind of life besides this one. They only are going to know that there are monsters that we sometimes have to run away from. This is going to be normal to JJ.”

I nodded in agreement.

“
Mom, I've been trying to figure out if that’s a good thing or not, that he thinks the world was always like this. Sure he won't be as scared but he also will never know that the world could be a pretty neat place to be. He won't have the good memories.”

“
Well, best I can figure is we'll hold those memories in a safe place in our heads and hearts. Sometimes we'll be able to tell stories about places like movie theaters, or going to theme parks. I think JJ is going to show us a lot of things too since he'll be able to accept the things that can't be changed, like a ton of zombies. We are going to learn how to be brave for him, because even if it is the new normal, those zombies can be freaky. We can teach him about being strong when you'd rather not be. He'll be able to accept it all quicker than we will, but that’s something we can learn from him.”

Drew wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me for a little bit. When he let go he said that he wanted to go play for a bit. I told him to go for it, but to stay close.

I was starving, I had decided, right up until I saw that we were having spaghetti. I get that its easy to grab and cook and fast to make, but I still hate it. I didn't think that there was any way I could have hated it more until the zombies came, looking and sounding like spaghetti but here it is. I am in the minority when it comes to the spaghetti is nasty camp and I've learned to accept that. Trent handed me a dish with the spaghetti on it and I regarded it. I finally decided that food was more important than my psych case hatred and ate it. Every last bit.

With a full belly I was even more tired than I had been. I looked around at the faces of others and it seemed they were all together on this. A cold wind started blowing past us, carrying dark clouds. It really was time to get the sleeping arrangements set up.

When we were building the trailer up I think we had some concept that people could sleep in shifts. It was why we only built two bunk beds. This was not how things played out in the real world. Instead we needed to figure out where to put everyone. There were a lot of kids in our new family. Not counting the baby or the teens there were seven children. We puppy piled them in the top bunk above DaWayne. Mercedes took the other lower bunk bed, knowing that her body would object to the climb up onto the top bunk or to sleeping on the floor. Jody took the top bunk over Mercedes. We created a padded area along the top bunks on the trailer walls so no one would roll over and hit their heads on the sides.

Tyreese and Tanya opted for sleeping in the cab, mostly as security in case zombies or people with an agenda came up to the truck. I think they wanted some alone time. They had a lot to process themselves.

Everyone else claimed a bit of floor space. We piled pillows and blankets around as padding and we pulled out all those sleeping bags we had gotten when we did our very first supply run. It felt nice to be all together right now.

I wondered if anyone was going to actually get any sleep like this, but it was only moments before we all were out. I remember JJ fussing in the night for a minute but that was very short lived. On demand availability of baby food is a definite perk to breast feeding. I wonder if Jody even really woke up all the way for that. I had set a cell phone up as an alarm (it was all a cell phone was worth now) to wake me up to change out the antibiotics on DaWayne, but other than those two instances, I slept like a rock.

When we all got up it was just before dawn. We still had a lot of ground to cover.  We hurried to pack everything up.

Drew had decided that he wanted to ride in the back with his friends. Trent and I agreed that it would be okay.

It didn't take long before everyone was settled and we were on the road. Happily heading down the interstate. I was looking at the abandoned world when suddenly I told Trent to take the off ramp.

“
Why? Is there a problem?”

“
Nope. Please, though, just pull off.” I grinned a very large grin.

He did this for me, though the confusion was evident across his face. I pointed in the direction I wanted him to go in. As soon as we went under the freeway's overpass it was clear where my brain was heading.

There was a baby supply super store. The lot was abandoned. The gates were still down. We stopped in front of the store. I got out of the cab and ran around the back to the trailer door and ran it up.

“
Tyreese?” I called. “Will you come with me?”

He jumped off the edge and walked over to the side of the trailer with me to where Trent was standing.

“Ty, Trent, check this out.” I pointed over to the baby superstore. “It's closed. Not a car in the lot. I'm thinking it's pretty safe. I think that if we do a sweep, just to make sure everything is fine, that getting to shop for the babies and getting what they need could be a huge emotional boost. Jody hadn't been able to prepare at all for the baby and Trisha adopted two kids with very limited supplies. Annali will need stuff too. Then, if all goes well, the older kid store in this chain is across the parking lot. We could totally make a nice little run here and bring some joy to people. Don't you agree?”

Both Trent and Tyreese seemed to really like this idea. We broke the glass doors and ran up and down every aisle making sure there was no one there. We blocked the back storage rooms to make sure that if something was hiding out it couldn't get out. Everything looked fine.

We came back out of the store and went to the trailer. Trent and Tyreese went in to watch the kids while I called out my friends. “Trisha, Mercedes, and Jody? Would you come out here for a little bit?” They climbed out. Jody handed JJ to me to hold while she climbed out. Patting JJ on the back, I explained the thought in my head.

“
We need kid stuff. Like stat. This little guy has nothing he needs, Tomisha, Darlynn, and Annali are running on threadbare rags. Let's fix that. Get as much as you can think of that we can use. Unfortunately we don’t really have major furniture storage space right now, but when we get to where we're going we'll hit up a place that does. Go nuts. I'll put it on my tab.” I said, with a playful wink.

Trisha was super excited. She knew the girls didn't have a lot of new stuff in their life. Mercedes looked pleased. Jody had a single tear rolling down her face. She wiped it off and explained.

“I didn't think I'd get to do this with this baby. I kept having the feeling like I was short changing him, that he wasn't going to have anything. I didn't even think he was going to get real diapers anytime soon.”

“
Well, we need to get busy then.”

Running though the store was fun. Each of us had a basket. I paired up with Jody and Mercedes and Trisha worked together since Tomisha and Annali were in the same age group. I saw them tossing cute outfit after cute outfit into the cart while I helped grab tons of packages of diapers in newborn to size two while she loaded cans of formula.

“I plan on still breastfeeding, but just in case something happens to my milk supply.” Jody rationalized. Made sense to me. We moved on to infant clothing, having decided to grab many clothes in many sizes. Packages upon packages of socks and shirts that snapped at the crotch were added to the cart. Tons of play clothes and pajamas joined the pile. We went over to the infant carriers that doubled as a car seat and grabbed the one that was patterned in bright colors and had jungle animals all over it. We also got a car seat for a larger child for when he outgrew the carrier one. We found one of the mini play pens that could double as a crib and some bedding for it, which matched the car seat perfectly. We found baby wipes and the disposable washcloths that came with the soap built in and a small tub for baby bathing. We got an assortment of rattles and battery free toys.

Jody was grinning with everything she added to the cart. She was thrilled. She was a mom on a shopping spree. We bumped into Trisha and Mercedes who looked as though they were feeling the same way. This was a nice, mostly frivolous run, and we needed it so badly.

We decided that there was little left that was needed and forgotten, and we wanted to hit the other store before we left. As we walked back to the trailer I asked Mercedes and Jody if they wanted me to pick up clothes for the boys, likely with help from the others that go with me, and they totally agreed.

“
Jody? Do you mind if I take Erin with me to get Liam's and Abigail's clothes. I know they won't have any clothes for teens so that will take away some of the fun, but I know for sure she'd like running through the store.”

“
That sounds awesome, Cali. I know it will make her feel important to be involved with that. Thanks for thinking of it.” She gave me a hug. We got to the trailer where the kids were playing just outside of the doors. Everyone marveled over all the baby clothes. Darlynn, Tomisha, and Annali squealed with joy that they were going to be princesses. I looked at the outfits in front of them, each with a different graphic of different fairy tale princesses on them. I made the appropriate oh's and ah's as the little ones showed me the various toys they all had gotten. They were super excited. I hoped that Daniel was looking down from the other side and was seeing his girls happy and loved.

It looked like the older kids were feeling a little left out so I let them know they were next on the list of purchases, and I pointed to the store across the lot that catered to kid clothes. I apologetically explained that I needed them to stay behind and keep an eye on things here. Liam groaned for a second. Jody glared at him with the infamous mom look, silencing him immediately.

“Trent and I are on the way there right now. Erin? Would you like to come to help pick out clothes for your sister and brother?” She nodded with joy.

Liam yelled out, “You better not make me look like a nerd!” and we all laughed. He did too, once he realized it wasn't as though there were a band of people judging his clothes like there had been at school.

In a moment of super sweetness, Erin leaned over to where her brother was and said, “Liam, after everything that has gone to crap there is no way I'm letting you look like a dork. This may be the only chance I will ever have to make you look awesome, so I am going to take advantage of it.” She gave him a hug. Jody and I looked at each other and we both had the look that said this is better than perfect.

I wanted someone else to come so they could partner up with Erin since Trent was coming to partner with me. Tanya looked like she needed to get out so I asked her to come. She leaped at the chance. Now that the kid clothes run crew was set we made our way across the lot. Trent broke the glass for a second time and we all took off to get clothes in a mix of sizes again. Denim jeans were going to be a high priority item and we grabbed so many pairs, starting in Abigail's size and ending with the largest they had, that I was a little surprised there was still room in the cart. We grabbed many different t-shirts, both short sleeved and long. We got a boatload of socks and underpants, pajamas with all the latest characters on them, though it hit me, these were the latest nine months ago. No new movies meant no new characters. We got them all booster seats. I had been thinking that while the trailer has been awesome for sleeping when stopped and a great thing to carry stuff it may not be the best thing for transporting every person every time. Even if it was on a rotating schedule. I was looking out for a van or a super large sport utility like the Navigator by Lincoln to present itself and when it did I wanted to know the kids would be safe in it. We found a couple magnetic travel games and those interlocking building bricks in an assorted tub. We figured that it would give an opportunity for the kids to use their imagination.