Found - 9
"What are we doing again?" Rick wanted to go over the plan one more time. Yes, they had discussed it and everything was ready.
Kate huffed out an annoyed breath and glared at him but explained it again. "Alexis is navigator and I'm driving. You and Martha are going to follow in the truck in case we get stuck and can't get back out. I don't want to almost get there and not be able to get back before nightfall."
"And we're not actually going there to get anything?" Rick had a problem with that.
"No, we're going to use the tow truck to clear a path all the way there and back again. Then during the next trip we'll know the path is unobstructed and the semis, if there are any there, will have a clear path all the way home.
"If we're lucky you'll drive one and I'll drive one while Alexis and Martha follow us home in the truck. Then we'll have 300 gallons of fresh water and maybe 300 gallons of diesel. If there's more than one we can do it all over again." Kate looked at him.
"Got it!" He just wanted to make sure that Kate was going to let him drive a semi, which was all he wanted to do.
They hadn't gotten all that far when Rick saw what Kate meant by creating space for them and the semis on the way back. He watched her crash into a car and send it almost flying into another car.
"Katherine means business," Martha declared.
They'd made it a little farther. Rick saw Kate slow down and then suddenly more than one car and truck was being pushed to one side. Next he saw a lot of black smoke come out as Kate put her foot down on the accelerator. He found out a moment later why, as yet another car was sent flying.
Alexis watched that car almost literally fly after Kate had slammed into it. "You having fun?" Alexis looked at Kate who was smiling broadly yet had all of her concentration on the road. "I'll take that as a yes." Alexis went back to watching.
So far it was pretty much a wash. It was either one car or truck that Kate would smash to one side based on how it was sitting, or she would slow down to push a number of them out of the way. It was during these times that Kate paid more attention to what she was doing. She didn't want one of them to give her a flat and lose their tow truck; she'd have to drive home and look for another one.
Bear mostly just laid there until Kate smashed into one of the cars, then he was up in Alexis's lap to see what was happening only to lay down again. He was happy right where he was. These people fed him, made sure he had water, and he really did like Alexis, a lot.
"Water?" Alexis leaned down a picked up a bottle of water and handed it to Kate during what looked like a long break between cars.
"Thanks." Kate worked at opening it with one hand and started chugging then put the cap back on and handed it back.
Alexis had the map out. "Next exit then turn right." Alexis watched as they went down the ramp. "Or not." She saw a mess at the bottom. Kate stopped to think about it.
Rick's voice came over their comms. "What's wrong?"
"The exit is a little blocked. I'm trying to think of what to do about it," Kate answered.
Alexis added, "It really is a mess, Dad."
The next they knew Rick was walking past them to look it over and then went down to it all. Kate and Alexis watched him walk around before coming back.
He stepped up onto the running board on Kate's side, waiting for her to lower the window since they had the A/C on much like what he had on in the truck. He shook his head and gave them the bad news. "Maybe if we have dynamite. There are even some first responder units down there. Police cars, ambulance, and a fire truck," he commented.
Alexis picked up her map again. "The next exit is 2 miles down. If it's clear we can take it and come back on this side street." She indicated at the road that FEMA was on.
"Back up and give us room, Castle. Maybe a lot of room." Kate looked down at the gear shift and feared ever having to put this thing into reverse.
Rick backed up and saw a lot of black smoke belch out out of the tow truck, yet it didn't move. What Alexis and Kate heard were gears being ground and the engine being revved, but not going anywhere.
A little more grinding of gears and some more black smoke, and Kate was finally backing up. "Let's try to avoid that again and don't tell your father." She knew Rick would drill her for this.
Alexis zipped her mouth closed and watched Kate drive.
Surprisingly, the side streets were in better shape than the Interstate and they had no trouble reaching the building. "Well I'll be…" Kate looked around as she applied the brake. Alexis was grinning.
There was semi after semi, all neatly lined up next to each other in what was clearly a staging area. Alexis pointed and smiled widely.
"Tide." Kate turned to look and saw it, too. It was a semi trailer that had Tide written all over it.
"Let's get busy. We want the ones that look like tankers. Babe, you take Martha and start on that end. I'll take Alexis…and Bear and start over there. We need the manifest sheets and keys. I doubt we can hot wire one of these." Kate waited until Rick and Martha had begun walking before she moved.
Kate watched Bear running around all over, happy to be out of the truck. "At least he's not barking. I'll take this one, you take the next one." Kate gestured to the next one for Alexis to take.
"Manifest, manifest." Kate started looking and found it on the floor on the passenger side. "DIESEL, YES!" She struck gold on the very first one. "13,000 gallons. I wonder how long that will last us?" She had no idea how much their generator was going to use each day. "Keys, keys." She had one of two. It was a small cab that didn't have a sleeper so it didn't take long to search it.
It took over an hour and they met in the middle. "What have we got?" Kate had come up empty. She had found diesel fuel but no keys. Kate watched as Martha held up a pair of keys as did Alexis.
"Great! Which trucks and what do they have?" Kate was fearing that they would have to go into the FEMA building in search of keys and while Bear wasn't barking, she still didn't like it.
"Mine's the nice shiny white one next to the Tide. The papers said 30,000 gallons of water," Martha smiled proudly.
Alexis grinned. "Mine's that dark burgundy one over there, 13,000 gallons of diesel."
"I'll trade you keys." Kate held out the keys to the tow truck to Alexis and took the keys to the burgundy semi. "Castle, take Martha's keys. We're going to move these two over to the Interstate ramp we used to get here and park them. Then we'll go home and come back tomorrow."
"Why not drive them home now?" Rick didn't see the need for all the jockeying around.
Kate sighed since she just knew Rick would argue with her. "Several reasons. Has anyone checked the tires, will they even start, and if they do start, how much fuel do they have? Do we have to find a way to fill their tanks so we can get them home?
"It's already past noon and what if one of us breaks down? Is it the one in front blocking all of us? Including the truck that will be trailing us in case something goes wrong? We don't have time."
Rick looked at Kate, looked at the truck Martha had found, and then turned to look at the Interstate. "Logistics are a bitch," he conceded. "How do we check tire pressure?" He didn't have anything on him for that.
"In the movies they hit them with bars. If one of them sounds different then it's flat," Alexis said.
Moments later Rick was walking down one side hitting tires with a metal bar while Martha was walking down the other doing the same.
They all ended up in front of their respective trucks. "Fire it up, Castle, and follow me to the ramp," Kate yelled. "Alexis, walk back to the trucks with Martha and follow us. You drive the tow truck while Martha drives the truck. If Castle has too much trouble with his then we need a new plan."
Alexis started walking while Kate climbed into her truck. "Just think what Derek Storm would do, Dad. More hands-on research."
"Research." Rick could get behind that. "With our futures on the line." He climbed up into his truck and watched Martha going to the truck with the keys he'd handed over.
"Big truck, wide turns," he muttered to himself, inserting the key. "Think Ferrari, just a whole lot bigger and slower." It had been a while.
Rick had it started and pressed on the accelerator, revving the engine and watching as black smoke went rolling away. He heard Kate on his headset. "Fuel, Castle, how much fuel?"
He scanned the gauges. "FULL!" They were in business.
"Then follow me. Alexis and Martha will be right behind you," Kate said and moments later he saw Kate drive right past him.
"Gears, lots of gears." He put it in first and started moving, only to find that he couldn't even turn the wheel before he had to change gears. Then he had to remember to make wide turns or end up hitting the truck parked next to him.
~[o]~X~[o]~
Rick was following Kate and Alexis in the tow truck with Martha next to him. "That went well, kiddo." Martha was happy.
"Yeah, not sure I want to do it for a living though." Still tomorrow they would have fuel and water for when the power went out.
Rick watched as Kate would occasionally brush up against a car or truck pushing it out of the way a little farther, creating a more open space to drive. "This might turn out to be easy." He was betting that once they got rolling he wouldn't have to change gears that often.
"I don't think you'll be going this fast, Richard. That will be a lot of weight behind you," Martha warned but Rick wasn't listening. This was going to be a snap.
~[o]~X~[o]~
Alexis was up and it was the middle of the night. "If you need to pee or poop you're going to have to do it in the truck bay." Going outside was out of the question as she looked down at Bear who was turning his head from side to side. "And what is that noise?"
"It's interrupting my beauty sleep," Martha complained and followed Alexis.
They ran across Kate and Rick at the entrance to the sleeping area. Kate and Rick each had a weapon. "My gun." Alexis kicked herself and ran to her room to retrieve it. It was dark outside after all.
"You too, Martha, just in case," Kate said.
They had guns and ammunition all over the building just in case, but it was best to have one in hand, especially at night.
"Doesn't sound like knocking or pounding. Sounds more like a big fan's running," Rick commented as they followed Kate who appeared to be clearing rooms while they walked toward the noise.
They ended up out in the truck bay where Bear took off to do his business while they all went to a man door at the back and looked outside. "It's dark," Kate said which she knew was stupid since it was the middle of the night.
"Too dark, actually. The lights in the parking lot aren't on and that noise is louder here." Rick was concerned but cautious.
"Be ready." Kate cracked the door open just a little. The noise got instantly louder.
"I think that's our generator running," Alexis announced.
"The power is out?" Kate asked. They all knew it was coming, but tonight? "If Disney's dark then all of the power is out." Kate closed the door and made sure it was locked. She went back inside and headed for a window that would look that direction.
"The power's out." Kate hung her head. Disney, which was just down the road, was dark for the first time since they'd got there.
"And I didn't get to ride any of the rides," Rick lamented. He was living right next door and they'd never been back inside after getting what they'd wanted.
"Sorry, babe. It was too dangerous anyway. Now we really need those trucks tomorrow or we need a new plan," Kate remarked. Those two trucks were now a necessity.
"We need to fill our refrigerators and freezers soon, too. Before all the food spoils," Alexis added. "Maybe even add a freezer or two if we can. We can plug them in out here in the bay. What about that appliance store we passed up one time? It had a wall of windows out front."
"Fuel and water tomorrow, food the next day, and appliances the day after that, followed by more food," Kate agreed.
"Followed by that small appliance store again. Only instead of a coffee maker, we want bread makers and anything else that will help us," Alexis added.
"Well since the fun's over I'm going back to bed." Martha padded off to her room.
The others stood there, looking out at darkness. "We're going to be the only noise in the area, unless Disney has any emergency generators that've automatically kicked on," Kate added. She saw blank faces looking back at her. "The infecteds may come to investigate at night now."
"SHIT! Pardon my French," Alexis added quickly.
Kate put an arm around her. "We may have to talk about going back to keeping a watch at night. Yes, I know this place is secure, but how secure, and how many infecteds are going to come look?" Their lives just got a lot more complicated.
"I'm beginning to not like this life. We should have picked a different door." Alexis escaped from Kate's arm, making her way to her room. "Come on, Bear, the fun's over. We should think about getting adult dog food soon, too." Bear was growing like a weed.
~[o]~X~[o]~
Kate was out front with Rick a little ways behind her and behind him were Alexis and Martha in the truck. So far everything was going smoothly. Though all of them were a little grumpy. Martha had been the first to notice. "NO WATER!" That had all of them trying a faucet somewhere to check.
"The power is out which means the pumps aren't working, so no water," Alexis had complained.
"No more hot showers?" Martha was ready to shoot someone or something.
Unexpectedly, Rick was the one beingsensible. "Kate and I did without a shower for years, Mother. You'll live."
"You're not helping, Richard," Martha had scowled back at him.
"No hot water, either," Kate had added and walked away feeling Martha's daggers in her back.
"Everyone okay back there?" Kate called out.
"Good so far. A little slow maybe," Rick responded. He looked at his speedometer that said he was just a touch under 30.
"All good back here," Alexis answered.
"You have food and water, Castle. Yell if anyone needs a pee break. That includes you, Bear." Kate smiled as she watched the empty road that they'd created for this yesterday.
"Petco is right over there. Permission to get Bear some adult dog food. We'll be quick," Alexis suddenly called out just as they began to pass it on the left.
Alexis was ready to ask again in case no one heard her. "Make it fast. Rick and I will wait here." Kate stopped her truck not really wanting to stop but they were going right past it. Plus they'd made it the other side of downtown Orlando so they were well past the halfway point.
"And you know the rules. Wall of windows or you don't go in and you go in with your weapons out and make it fast." With the power out that meant no lights and Kate didn't like where the sun was setting. The front of the strip mall looked to be facing east, not west.
"Thanks! Come on, Bear, let's get you some food." Alexis turned around and went down the ramp. She made her way to the very front of the store that was all windows. There was light inside thanks to the sun but it wasn't direct sunlight.
"Grams?" Alexis questioned as they all reached the front door. Martha still didn't like it but she pulled out her weapon and took the safety off like Kate had taught her.
"Let's go, Bear." Alexis opened the door and looked inside. According to the signs, dog food was a little toward the back and on the right side with cat food on the other side.
Alexis looked and pointed down each row while looking to see if Bear was barking. "Natural Balance." Alexis put her weapon away and lifted up a big bag. "Grab one, Grams." Alexis waited and together they went back outside.
They had done this three times now. "How's it going down there, we need to get moving." Kate called out.
"We're fine, Bear isn't barking and with this trip, we've got 8 big bags. This will be our last one," Alexis replied. However, the second both of them dropped the next bag in the back of the truck, Bear started barking.
"What, Bear?" She looked where he was looking and barking, but didn't see anything. "Get in, Grams, we're leaving." Alexis picked up Bear and shoved him inside, started up the truck, and headed back for the Interstate.
"Alexis!" Martha pointed at something she thought she saw.
It was a Dollar Tree store that had all windows on the front wall, but they could both make out that someone was just in the darker reaches. "Infecteds," Alexis said grimly.
Rick's voice came screaming out in their ears. "WHAT!"
"Where, Alexis, how many, and get moving." Kate was ready to jump out and start running.
"We're just leaving the parking lot. There was only one and it was in the Dollar Tree store, kind of next door. Bear spotted it first." Alexis took a moment to pet him.
~[o]~X~[o]~
Alexis parked out front and went inside with Martha. She went through the station then out back where Rick and Kate were going to park. Kate had the diesel so she stopped right next to the generator while Rick parked next to her.
Alexis found herself being crushed by her dad. "We're fine, Dad. It was just one and we were already leaving." She didn't see the big deal.
"You're never doing that again," Rick said fiercely and hugged her tight again.
Alexis blew him off. "Until I'm 30, yeah, yeah."
Kate had a more pressing priority at the moment. "Let's see what it takes to get diesel out of our truck and into our generator while we still have light." She would hug and chastise Alexis later.
"It's noisy," Alexis commented as she stepped up to what looked like a display panel and began pressing buttons. "It tells us how much power it's generating, I think. It also tells us how much fuel is in the tank. It looks like we're still over 90% full."
"Mother, go inside and turn off everything we don't need. Be sure and unplug everything we don't use, including the TV." Rick saw the looks Kate and Martha were giving him.
He rolled his eyes. "Okay, listen up. When you use the remote to turn on the TV, that means it's always on, just waiting for a signal. It's called Vampire Power. You're using power even if it isn't on.
"And check to see if the refrigerators are still working." If they weren't connected to the generator, they were doomed.
"Now how do we get fuel into it even if it doesn't need any yet?" Kate looked at the tanker and all she saw were tubes on this side. She was betting they held hoses to fill the underground tanks.
Alexis left her display and began opening panels. There was what looked like a door to the right, a small door under the panel, and a pair of really larger doors further to the right.
She started with the door and looked inside and then closed it. She thought about opening one of the really big doors but knelt down to open the little one at the bottom instead. "It's a hose connection." Alexis turned to them and smiled. It was a big one, too, about the size of the tubes on the side of the tanker.