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  He shook his head no.

  Judd stood up. “Come on Dawson, come with me.” He paused and looked at the shelf. “How does something like this happen?” Judd asked. “It’s too big to fall on its own.”

  “It was a terrible accident,” Sister Helena answered.

  “It was no accident,” Father Basko said.

  “It was an accident.” She reiterated.

  “No, it wasn’t!” Father Basko insisted.

  Judd whistled. “Okay, Sister did you do this to him?”

  “What?” she said in shock. “No.”

  “Dawson said it looked like others were here. Were others with you?” Judd asked. “You said you were looking for survivors.”

  “We were,” she replied.

  “You found no one?”

  “Oh, there are many out there. They just are heading west and wouldn’t travel with us.”

  “Neither should you,” Father Basko said. “You and the boy go. Don’t let our burden be yours.”

  “What’s going on?” Judd asked.

  “You and I. We think alike.” Sister Helena said. “Father Basko disagrees.”

  “Sister, I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Judd said.

  “This way.” After touching Father Basko’s arm, telling him she’d be back, she walked from the office.

  Judd and Dawson followed her.

  She continued outside and pointed to the bus. “You have a man in the back of your truck. Why?”

  Judd looked to Dawson first. “He wanted to come. He saved Dawson’s life.”

  “You see a human being in him, right?” she asked. “To you he’s not dangerous.”

  “Right now. Yeah.”

  “Yes, well, I can’t see danger either. I can’t leave them. They’d die without me.”

  Judd was about to ask her to clarify, but she kept looking at the bus. Instead of asking, he walked to the open door.

  “Judd, don’t,” Dawson said. “I got a bad feeling.”

  “It’ll be fine. Stay here.” Judd walked up the first step and into the bus. When she brought up Tire Man, Judd pretty much expected to see a couple people like Tire Man in the bus, what he didn’t expect to see were children.

  About a dozen of them sat on the bus, all different ages. They sat there staring forward, until they noticed him and all of them, at the same time, looked his way. They stared at him, just watching, not moving.

  Judd stood there a moment, which was as long as he could stand to. Looking at them all, a chill shot through his spine. To him it was freaky. They were children, yet something about them scared the hell out of him. Judd left the bus immediately.

  TWENTY-NINE – REGRET

  What was Ross thinking? He wasn’t a coward. He never ran from problems. In fact, he was the guy on the force they said never thought of himself when running into dangerous situations. Yet, there he was, beating the pavement racing, it was a good two blocks before he stopped, turned around and ran back.

  The distance was short, however the guilt he carried weighed him down. All he could see was the SUV and the mob that completely engulfed it. They weren’t flesh eating creatures, but they were dangerous in a way Ross didn’t understand.

  Morgan had likened them to a boa constrictor, pressing and squeezing their victims. Ross didn’t figure out the why of it. Maybe they just wanted to eliminate what they thought was a threat.

  At the moment it was Morgan.

  Was his distain towards her so bad that he chose to let her die rather than deal with her? Instantly he became the bad guy, no matter what he did in the past, or would do in the future, leaving her forever defined him.

  He raged toward the mob, wielding the bat, swinging it to get through. None of them paid attention. A few fell from the hits, but he didn’t make a dent. He powerhouse blow was delivered with emotion and guilt.

  Like the regrets the mobbing people weren’t going away.

  Finally he realized he couldn’t do it. He was down. Defeated. He alone was responsible for the death of the only other living person.

  Arms and back aching, chest heavy with emotions and breathing labored, Ross dropped the bat and walked backwards. He turned when he was far enough away from the SUV, placed his hand on his knees, bent over slightly and caught his breath.

  There was a tap on his back.

  He stood straight, and turned around.

  Morgan stood there.

  “Oh my God,” he gushed out,

  “You son of a bitch,” she said with words deep and gutsy.

  Ross wasn’t expecting it, and barely saw it coming. The moment she spoke she swung out the bat and connected it to him.

  It was lights out.

  <><><><>

  Morgan didn’t hesitate. There were no regrets or guilt. Not a single smidgeon of her conscience was bothered by it. After nailing Ross, she left him. On the street, not far from the SUV and the mob of depraved people.

  She didn’t give him a second thought. Morgan was enraged.

  How dare he?

  There she was, fighting for her life, those … things grabbing for her, pulling her hair. She was injured, her ribs still hurt badly. Yet, Ross took a couple pitiful swings in the truck, then opened his door.

  She thought he was coming to help her and in her mind that was dumb, because the second he flew out, she was released enough to scurry to his door and get out.

  Once she made it outside of the vehicle, she knew he wasn’t coming to save her, he was running and leaving her to die.

  She stood for a moment in shock.

  He left her? He just ran and left her.

  In that few seconds she really justified what he did. Maybe he was scared, thought she was dead. Then it hit her that he was a coward and he just left her all alone and Morgan became livid. How dare he abandon her! She moved toward the closest building.

  She thought about running after him, then he turned around to run back.

  Even those actions didn’t stifle her anger, it fueled her emotions. He came back after the fact, when guilt hit him. She charged his way to verbally attack him, blast him for what he did, and then she saw him drop the bat.

  That bastard.

  She grabbed it and as he faced her, she hit him hard. Not knowing if he was dead or alive, or even caring, Morgan left him. Unlike Ross, she left him in the road, without a second thought and didn't care if those things to get him. He deserved it.

  THIRTY – FOUND

  “Can we just go, please,” Dawson asked as he stayed close to Judd, walking to the drug store, not far from where they left the sister and priest. He moved fast, probably faster than he should have. “I don’t want to be here. I want to leave.”

  “I know, Buddy.”

  “How did that shelf fall on him?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You heard him, he was scared. Never knew a priest to be scared like that.”

  Judd stopped when they entered. “It’s a new world, none of this ever happened. Of course, he’s scared. We’re all a little scared.”

  “Yeah, but he doesn’t look like he watched a scary movie scared, he looks like he’s living scared.”

  “That’s perceptive. Pharmacy is back there.” Judd pointed. “Why don't you look around for things.”

  “No. No way. I’m staying right by you.”

  “That’s fine, too.” Judd led the way.

  “I want to go. Let’s go back to the truck and just leave. Please.”

  “Dawson, we have to help the priest. Come on, I saw that Catholic school uniform. I would think you’d want to help the priest.”

  “No, I didn’t like the priest at our school. Besides…we can get him his pills and whatever else you want, then can we go. Please, can we just leave?”

  “You just want to leave them?”

  “You heard her,” Dawson said. “She wants to leave now. Get her the stuff and she’ll leave.”

  “Well maybe we help her and all
leave together. We still have a lot of daylight left and we …”

  “No!” Dawson snapped. “No, you seen them Trancer kids, right? They’re bad. I need to get away from the Trancer kids.”

  “Trancer?” Judd asked.

  “My name for them. Because they look like they’re in a trance.”

  Closed mouth, Judd bobbed his head from side to side. “That’s a good name for them. Easier to say, ‘look out there’s a Trancer’.”

  “Yes, and we need to look out,” Dawson said. “I got a bad feeling. Made my stomach flop. More than Tire Man. I think we should leave him, too.”

  “Whoa, Whoa. Wait,” Judd held up his hand. “Not an hour ago you were feeding him a peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Now you want to ditch him?”

  “That’s because an hour ago, he was by himself. What if they work like dumb animals? Like they do whatever the others do.”

  Judd walked behind the pharmacy counter. He grabbed a flashlight and looked at bottles. “I didn’t think of that.”

  ‘Ever see the movie Village of the Damned?”

  Judd laughed. “Yeah, and I can’t believe you did.”

  “I didn’t want to, yet I did. O was torn. All those kids had like a bug in them and when they were together they worked like one brain.”

  “I assure you this is not the case,” Judd said.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because this isn’t sci-fi shit, or aliens, this is … nature.” His hand moved about as he talked. “Something that caused people to drop dead, it didn’t kill everyone, the ones it partially affected are your … Trancers. Probably brain damage. We haven’t seen anything to make us think they’re dangerous.”

  “Liar.”

  “What the hell, Dawson.” Judd shook his head and then smiled when he found a bottle of pain pills. “This will work.” He faced Dawson. “Why’d you call me a liar?”

  “Cause you saw something in Tire Man. I saw your face.”

  “He just acted weird when I reached for his food.”

  “Like an animal,” Dawson said. “Please.”

  “Tell you what. I feel bad leaving that nun alone with all those kids and the priest, but you are my priority. If you look me in the eyes and tell me to leave and do so after we give them the pills and bandages, we will.”

  “Which eye?” Dawson asked.

  “What?”

  “I can only look in one eyes at a time.”

  “Wow that is so cool you asked that. They say when you look in a person’s left eye your lying. So the right please.”

  Dawson focused on Judd’s right eye. “I won’t feel bad, it’s the right thing to do, let’s leave after you give them the stuff.”

  “Then we will.” Judd rubbed Dawson’s head. “Let’s finish up and go.”

  Dawson exhaled a breath of relief that moved his entire body. He felt better, but that didn’t stop him from continuously looking behind him.

  <><><><>

  The trip to the drug store was a good thing and not just for medication. It was food for the soul. Dawson took a bag and loaded it with candy. Judd thought smarter, granola, crackers, juice, stuff like that. Not Dawson, he didn’t even get normal candy. He picked the stuff that old people usually ate. Butterscotch and chewy gummy candies.

  He moved a lot more lighter and upbeat as if the weight of the world was off his shoulders.

  The more Judd thought about it, the more he liked the idea of just him and Dawson on the road.

  “Thinking about it,” Judd said as they walked. “We got about seven hundred and some miles to Branson. If we hit a decent amount today, like a couple hundred, stop for the night, we’ll hit Branson by tomorrow.”

  “You think anyone is in Branson?” Dawson asked.

  “I don’t know. But it looks cool, right?” Judd asked.

  “It does.” Dawson agreed.

  “And it’s a goal. Something like this, we need a goal.”

  “What happens if no one is there?”

  Judd shrugged. “Then we pick another goal. Sadly, the world is ours. We can do what we want, right.”

  “We don’t know that. There might be people on the other side of the country.”

  “True. There might be. We just …” Judd noticed Dawson stopped cold at the school bus.

  “Hey, pal,” Judd put his hand on Dawson’s back. He looked up quickly saw the kids all staring out the windows, hands against the glass, then he looked away. “Don’t worry about them, okay? We won’t be with them.”

  Slowly, without saying a word Dawson lifted his arm and pointed.

  “What? What’s wrong?” Then Judd saw. He didn’t at first. In the middle of the short bus, staring out the window, was Tire Man.

  “He joined them,” Dawson said. “See?”

  “I see we just got a guilt free way of leaving Tire Man behind. Let’s go,”

  While Judd projected confidence, he wasn’t. The sight of Tire Man on the bus with the kids … scared the hell out of him.

  <><><><>

  “No!” Dawson screamed out. It was the first time that he acted in a temper tantrum manner.

  Judd pulled him aside. “Little man, come on.”

  “You promised. You promised.”

  “We are still leaving,” Judd then dropped his voice to a whisper. “We’re not traveling with the kids. I promise you that.”

  Dawson shifted his eyes to Sister Helena. She held on to Father Basko, supporting him around the waist.

  They returned from the store and handed over the medicine, then Judd helped clean up and bandage Father Basko. Dawson was alright with that, until Sister Helena said. “I’ll drive the bus. Can he ride in the back of your truck? He can’t sit up. He has to lay flat.”

  He saw the look on Judd’s face. He was caving in. Judd was a ‘yes’ man who couldn’t say ‘no'.

  So Dawson did. At first, he was calm and even tried to be mature. “No, Sister we’re leaving.”

  Sister Helena smiled politely. “We all are.”

  “No,” Dawson said. “We’re leaving alone.”

  “Mr. Heston?” She looked at Judd.

  Judd cleared his throat. “Sister, we have a destination and we kind of want to get going.”

  Sister Helena chuckled in disbelief. “You made me wait. I wanted to leave, get him help at another stop, but you asked me to wait until you got the medication.”

  “Now he is fit to travel,” Judd said. “He wasn’t before.”

  “Please.” She stepped to him and grabbed his hands. “Please don’t leave me to do this alone. I will if I have to. We are all survivors in this. We should be together.”

  Judd relented and Dawson freaked out.

  “Let them go,” Father Dawson said kindly. “Sister, let them leave. I’ll be fine here.”

  “No you won’t,” she looked at him. “You know what’s coming.”

  “Not for certain. The child is frightened and rightfully so. I’m frightened. I’ll stay. Take those … children and do what you need to do.”

  Judd held up his hand. “Father, you aren’t well enough to be alone. Let me talk to Dawson, I’m sure he just doesn’t understand …”

  “Oh, he understands,” Father Basko said. “Probably better than you. Probably better than us all. Whether you believe it is fate or God, either way, there is a reason those of us who survived, did, and are together the way we are. You and he are partners.”

  In his mind, Dawson whined an “Aw” then huffed a little. “Fine. Fine.” He quickly tried to change his brash behavior. “It’s okay. He can ride with us in the back. It ain’t him anyhow.”

  Suddenly, Sister Helena looked hurt. Her expression dropped.

  Dawson held up his hand. “It’s not you Sister Helena. It’s not. You seem nice. It’s the kids in the bus. Ever been bullied? I have. You see a bully and you know it’s coming. I see those kids and know it’s coming.” He grabbed Judd’s hand. “Let’s go get the truck.”

  Father Basko lay his hand
on Dawson’s head. “Thank you.”

  “Just don’t tell me to confess. I hate confession. I didn’t like having to go. Since we don’t have school anymore I wanted to say that.”

  Judd smiled as he looked down at him, told Father Basko and the Sister they’d be back and they left the main street of Lodi to get the truck. They had to drive around the Semi to get into town, it took about fifteen minutes.

  When they returned, they took cushions from the couches in the administration building, placed Father Basko in the back, and then using the tarp from the boat they created a tent over the back in case it rained.

  And it did. Not hard, but a steady drizzle.

  The last thing Dawson remembered was Judd telling him as long as they moved slowly, they could keep going on the highway until dark.

  The steady rain coupled with the rhythm of the moving truck, and with the fact he hadn’t slept much, made him tired. He started dozing off and on while Judd talked, then Dawson propped his head against the truck passenger door and fell asleep.

  Until the truck slowing down and stopping was like an alarm clock.

  He was dreaming again about that guy named Bill in Branson, waving his arm, yelling “Come to Branson.” He wanted to look at the brochure to see if Bill was on it, maybe that was why he was dreaming of the strange man.

  He thought that too, in his dream until he woke and sat up with a start.

  “Why are we stopping? What’s wrong?” Dawson asked.

  Judd pointed.

  Dawson couldn’t see over the dashboard, but Judd opened his door. “Judd!”

  Once Judd stepped out, Dawson did the same. He climbed down and by the time he walked around the truck he saw why Judd stopped.

  A woman walked towards them. She held her side, her brown hair was pulled into a pony tail, she looked beat up like Father Basko, but she smiled as she looked at Judd.

  Dawson hurried and ran around and caught up to Judd just as he approached her.

  “Thank God,” she said. “I ran out of gas. There’s nothing around. I didn’t think I’d see another person” She looked at Dawson and smiled. “Hey there.”

  “Hey.” Dawson lifted his hand. She looked harmless.