Reese helps me pack the remainder of my supplies, including the water pitchers, remaining seeds, and sleeping gear. We only have two sleeping bags, so Tobe and I will have to settle for blankets, and hope that the ground isn’t wet.
While preparing, I notice that Ryder watches Tobe like a hawk. He refuses to let her out of his sight for long, and it starts to worry me. When Tobe heads back up for one more armful of things, I corner Ryder and keep him from following her.
“What is your deal?” He ignores me, trying to shove his way past. “Dammit, Ryder! What are you doing?”
“I don’t trust her,” he snaps, glaring at me. “We don’t know this girl. She could be a spy for the Warriors. She could take off and lead them right to us. And neither you nor Reese seems to realize that we could be in serious danger right now.”
I snort, earning another glare. “Ryder, have you seen this girl? She looks more pathetic than I do, and that’s saying something. Besides, we have to trust someone.”
“How do you know we can trust her?”
“How do you know we can’t?”
We just glare at each other until Reese come back down and intervenes. “Alright, you two, nock it off. Now is not the time to be fighting. At least wait until we get away from the city.”
He and I turn away from each other, and start packing more stuff into the back. Tobe comes back down–wearing a clean pair of my sweats, boots, and an old t-shirt–with the last of the stuff, and I help her load it into the back. When we close the hatch, she gives me a small smile, and I feel like jumping for joy.
She hasn’t done much in the two hours since her rescue except cry and tremble. I was beginning to think she might be damaged, or on the verge of a psychotic break. Feeling better, I climb into the backseat with her, and Ryder starts the car. I buckle myself in, and we leave behind my apartment of almost a year.
There’s a cooler sitting at my feet, and I open it. Inside are the remaining vegetables from my rooftop garden: four cucumbers, six tomatoes, and three green bell peppers. Tobe’s eyes widen. “You have fresh vegetables?”
I nod. “Yep. I grew them in boxes on my roof. Here,” I say, handing her a cucumber. “Freshly picked and washed.”
She tears into it like she hasn’t had anything edible in months. For a second, I just watch her ripping it apart, fascinated by her behavior. “You know, the rest of us are hungry, too,” Ryder says from the driver’s seat.
“Should you be eating while you’re driving?”
He reaches a hand back and snaps his fingers twice. I sigh, and hand him a cucumber. It’s the easiest of the three to eat with one hand and little to no attention. “I’ll take a pepper, if you have one,” Reese says, flashing me a smile. “Unless you were planning to save them.”
I hand him a pepper, and sit back with a tomato. As I eat, I start to think about my family again. My grandpa used to make sandwiches out of tomato, mayonnaise, bread, and pepper. Nothing more. When I was little, I thought they were the grossest thing ever but now, as I’m eating, I think it sounds pretty good.
It’s a shame he’ll never make me another one…
I down part of a bottle of water from my apartment, and hand Tobe one. She guzzles it, and for a second I’m worried she’ll make herself sick. When she stops, she wipes her mouth, and looks at me. “Thank you, for not leaving me there. A lot of people would have.”
I glance discreetly at Ryder, and his eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. He looks quickly away, but not before I notice something on his face that just might be shame. He would have left her there, but only to ensure that Reese survives. Nothing’s more important to him than his brother.
He’ll do whatever it takes to keep Reese alive, including leave helpless people to their fate. Would he leave me behind?
Something crinkles from the front seat, bringing my mind back to the car. I lean forward and look down at a map in Reese’s hands. “Michigan’s about a ten hour drive from here. Think we should drive through the night?” Reese asks.
“No. Today was trying,” he says with a pointed glance at me. “I don’t wanna risk us going off the road. We’ll find a safe place to stop before sundown, and we’ll pick back up in the morning.”
Reese doesn’t argue. He just keeps looking over the map in his hands, oblivious to everything else. There’s nothing to do except stare at the window at everything as we drive by. I haven’t traveled this far from my apartment since the infection hit, and it’s a little saddening to see my city in ruins.
Blood covers everything, body parts line the streets, buildings have been destroyed and burned by looters, and zombie’s wander aimlessly through the streets. Ryder doesn’t stop or go around; he just goes right through them, apparently not caring that they used to be people capable of thought and feeling.
By the time we reach the city limits, it’s almost two in the afternoon. Michigan is a little more than nine hours away, and Ryder plans on stopping before nightfall. That means that we should be at Beaver Island some time in the afternoon tomorrow. We’d be able to set up a semi-permanent and safe life.
I sigh, rest my head against the window, and close my eyes.