A/N An interesting observation: Almost all reviews occur in the first two days after posting even though 80% of hits occur after the 3rd day of posting. Curious.

Also I've had to re-plot the destination of our intrepid band of refugees after being advised that not much grows on the U.P. except rocks and trees.

Thought I'd make the road trip a wee bit more interesting for the flagging readership who remain. Thank you for your continued patronage. Have a nice day.

Chapter 25 Plague

The convoy was running low on fuel reserves – Sheldon's idea of reserves being at 120% of anticipated needs. The Ford's RV was a gas hog from the 90s but it was in excellent mechanical shape considering its age, but it still drained the convoy's gas reserves at an alarming (again for Sheldon's concerns) pace.

The original plan was to take I80 eastward but Penny's dad knew of a large fuel distributor located in Harrigan, just north of Avoca, Iowa, so they left the interstate and headed north on windswept secondary roads to check it out.

Penny sat in the jump seat between her parents and they talked about anything and everything – except what had happened at the farm before she and her friends showed up. Apparently her parents had reservations although she and her mom had spent hours talking and crying together over what had happened.

"So, Slugger, tell me all about you and this 'Whack-job' guy. When you and Leonard were here you told us some crazy tales about this Sheldon and now you're – "

"He saved me, Daddy. He made all this happen and he didn't even intend to come with me at all. He just wanted me to get home safely. Pasadena was a ghost town and then Los Angeles caught fire and – and I was wrong about him. We all were. There's more to Moon Pie than just his weird clothes and schedules and physics."

"Moon Pie?" her mother asked, with a laugh in her voice. "I suppose he drinks RC Cola, too?"

"His Meemaw called him that and…and so did I but mostly just to get a rise out of him. He always got so flustered."

"Well, your Moon Pie scared the crap out of me when I first met him. He misunderstood me when I said 'you can't stay'. It was like someone flipped a switch and he went all cold and I thought he was going to shoot me but he just told someone on the radio to pack your stuff and then get ready to leave."

Wyatt would never forget the brief surge of pain he read in Sheldon's features before they got all stiff and cold. His eyes…he'd never forget that look. The boy had serious mental health issues unless he was mistaken.

Penny blurted out, "I asked him to marry me, Daddy, just as we pulled up to the house. We've…we have this thing between us and it's real so don't lecture me on how it's this situation we're in. I felt it before all this but – ". She stopped, not really wanting to acknowledge the truth, even to herself.

"But what, honey?" her mother prodded her gently.

"I was ashamed of my feelings. He was…such an idiot about stuff even though he's one of the five smartest people on the planet – probably the smartest one now. He didn't fit into my worldview and I sure as hell couldn't fit into his."

Penny talked almost nonstop about all the things that they'd done together before the Chocker and after, giving them a 'sanitized' version of the Douglas episode but stressing how committed he'd been to getting her home or someplace safe. To getting them all somewhere they could start rebuilding in safety.

She almost whispered her last sentence. "I'd be dead right now, or worse, Daddy, if Leonard had survived and my Moon Pie had been the one taken by the Choker. We all would have been. Of that I have no doubt."

"So when do I get to meet my future son-in-law, Penny?" her mother asked, really smiling for the first time in ages.

A mile north of the Avoca exit they came upon one of the truck stops that served long-haul truckers during normal times and pulled in to spend the night. Bomber and Sheldon walked around the lot, making sure there were no 'surprises' while Penny and Winkle checked out the restaurant and gift shop.

There were four tractor-trailer rigs in the 'rest area' but the real treasure was a gasoline tanker truck that bore the logo and name of the distribution center they were heading for.

Penny and her mom hooked up with Leslie and Tasha and checked out the restaurant and 'facilities'. There was no power so anything in the reefers was spoiled but they hit the mother load in the kitchen storage area – canned goods in bulk sizes, potatoes and onions, still good and a welcome addition to their MREs and scavenged goods. Someone had obviously been there before them but had used very little and what they found was still edible. They started filling up boxes to carry back to the bus and the RV. Most of it would go into the trailers for later.

Jenny Ford immediately took Penny Blossom under her wing, talking to her and trying to prod the little girl with such huge eyes to say something. Tasha Myers just smiled approvingly and then went to see what else she could find that might be useful.

The older woman could be trusted and she felt further unburdened when Jenny had hugged her and whispered that 'any time you need to talk, Tasha, I'm here for you'.

Their eyes met and each knew that the other was a kindred spirit. The hug she got from Jenny surprised her but not as much as the whispered 'I know, Tasha, I know'.

She decided to check out the gift shop for coloring books or games for her daughter. Penny had filled up almost all the pages in the coloring book that Dr. Cooper had found for her and she would need new crayons soon. Dr. Cooper always praised her work, especially when she created 'aesthetically pleasing color contrasts', whatever the hell that meant.

Tasha forgot about Dr. Cooper's 'Rule #1 – do not go anywhere alone'.

Sheldon and Bomber were checking out the tanker truck to see if they could get it to start so that they'd have power to the gauges and determine how much fuel there was in the tanker.

They heard sharp 'Crack – Crack – Crack' of a 9mm pistol and ran to the restaurant, joined by Wyatt who had Sheldon's shotgun and looked ready to use it. His wife and daughter were in there.

Penny stood just inside the gift shop, not moving, her pistol still pointed at the 'thing' she'd killed. Her mom had Tasha in a death grip and was dragging her out of the gift shop when the guys ran in, ready to do battle.

"Some guy came out of nowhere and…Dr. Cooper, Penny needs you. She killed…" Jenny quit talking and led Tasha to the restaurant.

Sheldon eased up beside Penny and placed his hand over the pistol, not trying to take it from her but prepared to stop her from pointing at anyone else.

"Penny," he whispered in her ear, "it's okay, Penny. You stopped him rather effectively. Look, it's okay to feel bad about killing someone but if ever a man deserved it…it was this piece of excrement."

She let go of the pistol and it would have fallen to the floor if he hadn't had a grip on it.

Penny grabbed Sheldon by his open field jacket and jerked him as close to her as she could and wrapped her arms around him underneath the jacket and cried.

Sheldon hated it when women cried. He had no idea of the proper social protocols but he did know that 'there, there' and a pat on the back weren't going to cut it.

"Penny, please don't cry. I hate it when you cry. I feel useless when you cry over something I can't fix, not that I'd even entertain the notion of seeking medical help for this 'person' even if such help were available, and it clearly isn't. Please, Penny…"

"Shut up, Moon Pie, you're fixing me right now. Just hold on and never let me go. I – I never killed anyone before, Shel. This is how you felt outside of Barstow, wasn't it?"

"Penny, I'm not telepathic but if you're feeling guilty for taking a life, then yes, that's how I felt then. Don't let it drag you down, Penny. Stay in the light."

"You've been reading Winkle's trashy romance paperbacks, haven't you?" She wiped her nose on his BDUs and cringed but all he did was chuckle.

"I think a hot beverage is in order. Let's go back to the RV. Maybe you should talk with your mother. After all – "

"No, Sheldon. I don't need my mother. I have a man in my clutches and I'm not letting him go anytime soon – maybe not ever."

"But Penny, how am I supposed to use the bathroom or – "

She slapped his chest but quickly reattached herself. "Moon Pie, I was speaking figuratively not literally."

Bomber and Wyatt did a thorough search of the large building and found no other surprises.

The group spent two full days at the truck stop, going through the trailers and loading up everything of 'value' and headed out. Wyatt drove the tanker truck that contained about 600 gallons of diesel fuel and 1800 gallons of gasoline in its divided tanks.

Tasha drove the RV while Penny's mom rode with her and kept an eye on Penny Blossom who was diligently coloring in her new coloring book that her mother found in the gift shop.

Bomber drove the coach and Penny and Sheldon handled the army fuel truck – well, Penny did. Sheldon sat and did what he did best... he thought.

They headed south and picked up the interstate again and then headed east across Iowa towards Madison, WI. They planned to make the leg in one day but the weather soon made driving treacherous and the convoy stopped in the middle of the interstate highway for the night.

Penny showered and then crawled into bed beside Sheldon. She'd eaten dinner with her parents in their RV and then had a quiet talk with them about the future.

They made love slowly despite Penny's attempts to 'speed things up' but once Sheldon Cooper set out on a planned activity, he would brook no interference with his 'schedule'.

He tortured her, kept her hanging at the edge, never giving her the 'push' necessary to send her off into sweet chaos and she loved him for it. When it came, her climax was so intense that she thought she was having a heart attack and Sheldon gentled her back down into his arms and wrapped them both in blankets.

And then he started to talk, not lecture, about their future, his deepest fears and regrets, but mostly about how he was afraid that their chosen destination would prove 'inhospitable' to a future safe from the Choker.

"Penny, I don't want our children scrounging for food amongst the ruins of our civilization. We need to reestablish ourselves in an area that will allow us to grow a variety of food crops as well as provide a climate that doesn't prove a veritable Petrie dish for the plague to mutate."

Translation: Escanaba is too cold, the growing season is too short, and we need to rethink our destination while keeping the Choker mutations in mind.

Penny really stopped listening to most of what he said after he said 'our children'.

Next: Sheldon learns to drive