Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own The Tribe. Kinda wish I did but that's another story.

Just after dawn, Salene slipped into Rose's room to wake her up. She was surprised to find Rose already awake, washing her face in the small sink.

"Time to go." She said cheerfully.

"Alright." Rose dried her face quickly and grabbed her coat on the way out.

Jay and Lex were waiting in the lobby for them. Lex shot Rose a small smile as Jay began talking.

"We should try to slip out through sector 3. It should be the safest." Jay led them under the grated entrance and out onto the street. It was slow going through the damaged streets. Burt our shells of cars blocked the streets and small fires dotted the sidewalks. It was obvious the tribes in this area were still rioting.

"I thought you said this way was safe?" Lex whispered as he stepped next to Jay.

"It is."

"Then why are you keeping your hand on your blaster?"

"Because safe is a relative term." He increased his pace.

"Lex, what's going on?" Salene and Rose caught up with him

"Seems this path isn't quite as peaceful as golden boy said it was."

"Well, let's just hope they sleep late."

He nodded, keeping his eyes on their surroundings. They all quickened their pace to keep up with Jay.

Soon they had moved beyond the wreckage and into the countryside. There was a dusty, broken road and they began to follow it toward the looming forest. The path seemed to stretch on forever. The wind was just beginning to bring hints of the coming winter as it whipped around them. As the day progressed, the sun began to shine making the landscape even more harsh and barren. The sun was just reaching its peak in the sky when they entered the forest. Salene insisted they stop and rest. There was a small open space off to the side of the road. The heavy trees blocked the wind and the sun seemed more cheerful. Salene dug into her bag and handed out a bit of food to everyone. They sat in companionable silence listening to the rustling leaves.

"Does any of this look familiar to you?" Sal sat in the grass next to Rose.

She snapped out of her reverie. "Um… yeah. The road, I think I remember it."

"Have any idea how much longer we have to go?" Jay finished his sandwich and brushed off his hands.

"I'm not sure. A while, I think."

"You don't know?" he looked at her incredulously.

"Back off." Lex spoke for the first time since leaving the city. He glared at Jay across the small clearing.

"Hey, I didn't mean anything…"

"Sure." Lex stood and stormed back to the road.

"I really didn't mean anything by…" Jay stood and tried to apologize.

"I know you didn't." Rose stood as well. "Don't worry about it." She chased after Lex.

"What's wrong with you?" Rose stepped out onto the road.

Lex paced back and forth across the pavement. Annoyance and anger seemed to radiate off him. "He had that attitude…"

"No," she cut him off, "you have been in a foul mood all day. What's going on with you?"

"No one asked them to come." He rounded on her shouting.

She spun on him. "You wanted to do this alone. Are you mad? What would you propose we would do if we needed to take more than two trucks back? Or if we needed to move anything heavy? You and me with a bad shoulder?"

"Well, I…" he stopped. He had forgotten they way only Rose had ever been able to yell at him.

"What, did you think you were going to sweep me out to some creepy forest and rekindle the romance?"

"I…" he suddenly looked very apprehensive.

"You did, didn't you?"

"Rosey…" he took a step toward her, "I just wanted to talk to you."

"We'll have plenty of time to talk back at the mall. I'm not going anywhere, Lex. And anyway, didn't you say yesterday you were going to get a couple people to go along?"

"I did say that, didn't I?"

She stepped forward and pushed the hair out of his face. "What am I gonna do with you?"

He brought his hands up and rested them gently on her hips. Lex pulled closer to his body. He dipped his head and brushed his lips across her jaw.

Rose pulled back suddenly, "No, Lex."

"No?" he sounded frustrated and annoyed.

"You just…" she turned away. "I'm not gonna be your rebound girl. We both know I deserve better than that." She turned and went back to Salene and Jay off the path.

Lex stood for several long moments watching the spot Rose had vacated thinking about her words. The other three emerged from the trees and the group continued along the wooded road.

The smell hit them first. They spent several hours after lunch walking down the forest path. It seemed the two men had called a sort of silent truce. Salene and Rose chatted quietly, occasionally earning glances from their traveling companions.

"Do you smell that?" Jay stopped in the road. The others gathered around him.

"What is that?" Salene wiped at her nose.

The odor was hard to describe. Heavy and sickly, like spoilt food but stronger.

Something seemed to dawn on Lex. "You said they left you for dead?" he turned toward Rose.

"Yeah, I thought so." She answered.

"Didn't you say there were others?"

Her face fell. "Oh God."

"We must be close than. Let's keep going." He turned and continued down the path.

The farther they walked the stronger the smell became. Soon, the long line of trucks came in to view. It was almost unbearable as they walked past the line of seven trucks. The bodies were behind the last truck, near the remains of a campsite. The sound of buzzing, crawling insects was deafening. It was too much for Rose. Lex caught her as she turned quickly away and held her as she buried her face in his chest. He led her away toward the front of the caravan. Lex helped Rose to sit on a log off the side of the road and sat beside her.

"I'm sorry, I…"

"Don't worry about it." Lex squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Are there any shovels or anything?" Jay crouched knelt down in front of them.

"Um… Third truck back I think, There should be tools and stuff."

He nodded and looked at Lex.

"Will you be ok while we…"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered Lex shakily.

"I'll stay with her." Salene sat beside Rose on the log.

Lex nodded and joined Jay walking toward their grisly task.

"We should move them off the road." Jay climbed up into the back of the transport truck and started digging about. He found a pair of shovels and handed them down to Lex.

"Then grab those tarps. I don't know about you, but I don't want to hang on to them that long."

"I didn't think of that." Jay grabbed the plastic tarps and jumped down. "We should find a place first." They left the plastic near the bodies and turned into the forest. A few yards in they found a clearing and began to dig. The tree roots ran deep through the ground and they made slow progress. After two long hours, they had finally dug a hole large enough for the two bodies. The two made their way back to the equipment truck, dropped off their coats, and shed clothing before turning toward the area at the end of the truck.

"Let's get this over with." Lex grabbed a corner of the plastic and pulled it toward the first body.

"Carry them both in together?"

"Yeah."

"Alright." Jay dropped his corner of the sheet on the ground. He looked at Lex and they both reached down and grabbed the cloth cover limb and lifted the body onto the corpse onto the covering. A great wave of insects and overwhelming smell rose up as the moved it. Both men stumbled backwards as it hit them. Jay stumbled toward the trees and emptied his stomach into the underbrush.

"You alright?" Lex called.

"Yeah," he spit, trying to rid the taste from his mouth. "Just wonderful." He slumped to the ground at the base of a nearby tree.

Lex disappeared for several moments. He returned with one of Salene's bottles of water. He handed it to Jay who quickly took a long drink.

"Some big, bad techno you are." Lex sat on the grass a small distance off.

"I've never seen… not like that."

"Don't worry about it. I'm actually surprised you lasted as long as you did. Most people wouldn't have."

"You did. You're still not sick." He tossed the water back.

"I'm just tougher than you. Accept it." He took a drink of water. "The girls are going through stuff. We need to get this finished. You ready?"

"Yeah, let's get this over with." He pushed off of the tree and turned back to their grisly task.

Comments, Criticisms, etc…

A/N: This and chapter 12 were originally going to be one chapter. However, as I wrote and flashbacks came into play I decided to break it into two chapters. It may even go into three before I'm finished. I already have the end in sight, though still quite away off, and sequel in mind. So stick with me, and I should have another chapter in a week or so.