First Activation

The satellite navigation system chose a route that would keep us on Interstate Highways all the way to Hermitage. Killers were seemingly no longer a problem, so the main obstacles were stationary vehicles and other debris that lay on various parts of the road. The smell of decomposition filled the air in waves, but became almost unbearable as we approached Scranton. We decided to keep the windows rolled up and just use the air conditioning.

As we picked up Interstate 81 away from the city, the highway ahead was blocked with a demolition derby style pile-up. Jack turned the Range Rover around and took us back to the previous exit, there was no chance now of a head on collision. Daylight had completely vanished and the vehicle lights were on full beam.

The Sat Nav automatically recalculated our route and we ended up looping around on the Pennsylvania turnpike and joined Interstate 81 again just past Dupont.

“Jack, are you still okay driving? Shall we stop for the night?” Lea asked.

“No, I’m fine. I grabbed some decent sleep last night, so I can go for another few hours at least.”

“I’m alright as well, you and Bernie let us stay in bed, remember?”

Despite what I told Lea, I was beginning to feel tired. The adrenalin for the last few days was ebbing away and concentrating on the road at night was hard, I could only imagine what it was like for Jack at the wheel. But Lea and Jerry were still a concern. Lea’s story was believable, but being linked to Genesis Alliance and Ron’s niece, made me question what decisions she might take. If it came to Jack and me, or Genesis Alliance and Martina, I still wasn’t sure which way she’d go. Jerry was a snake, but we needed him, he knew Hermitage and probably a lot more.

We joined Interstate 80 and I hoped there would be no major blockages from here to Hermitage.

“Pull in at the next station, Jack, we can get some cigarettes, Red Bull and maybe some food,” I said.

“Sounds good to me,” Jack replied, “although the last two we’ve seen have been smouldering ruins.”

Half an hour later, I saw a sign indicating a station one mile ahead.

This was going to take some planning. Jerry couldn’t be left on his own, and neither could Lea, we still couldn’t trust her one hundred percent, but we were nearly there.

“Jack, pull over.”

I decided on a plan and briefed the group.

“Jerry, I’m going to tie your legs together, you’re staying in here. Jack, you take Lea, go into the store, and grab as much stuff as you can. See if you can find a tube so we can syphon petrol and a flash light, use your imagination. I’ll have a look around outside to see if I can find anything.”

Jack and I exited the vehicle, took the rope from the trunk, held Jerry down, and bound him tightly. He screamed protests through his gag, but we ignored him as we placed him in reverse foetal position on the back seat.

I thought this was a good time to give Lea her Beretta back. Jack raised his eyebrows but said nothing, as we all climbed back into the vehicle and continued down the road.

The Range Rover pulled into the forecourt a couple of minutes later, and stopped by a pump, I had no idea why Jack did this, probably out of habit as they wouldn’t work without electricity.

Jack and Lea disappeared into the night heading towards the store.

I patted Jerry a couple of times on the shoulder, made sure he was securely tied up, then stepped out of the vehicle and scanned the immediate vicinity for anything of use. Finding nothing, I decided to relieve myself against the side of the Range Rover.

Jack and Lea emerged from the store opening and jogged over with four large bags.

“What have you managed to get?” I asked.

“Everything we need, including these,” Jack said.

He opened his bag and I saw a long plastic tube, cigarettes, nachos, and cans of Red Bull.

A light shone on my face. I pulled my rifle into the alert position and swung it round in an arc, but couldn’t see anything.

“What the hell was that?” Lea whispered.

We all crouched down and I peered into the gloom.

“Get behind the Rover,” Jack said.

Jack pointed to the right hand side of the store.

“I think it came from around there.”

“Hello? Who are you?” I shouted. “We don’t mean any harm.”

There was no response.

“Were you trying to signal us?” Lea called out.

After a few seconds, a male voice called back, “Drop your weapons and we’ll come out. We don’t know if we can trust you, and we are unarmed.”

“How do we know if we can trust you?” Jack replied.

“We only want to talk,” the voice answered.

“How many of you are there?” I asked.

“There’s two of us.”

We all looked at each other.

“Come out,” I called. “You’re safe. We just want to meet other survivors.”

Slowly, from behind the store, two figures appeared. As they inched towards us, I could see it was a man and woman, both in their mid-twenties. They walked to within ten yards.

“This is as far as we’re coming. What the fucks going on?”

“Do you want the long version or the short version?” Jack replied.