"Here on the level sand, between the sea and land, what shall I do or write against the fall of night?" - A. E. Housman
Without apologies:
Chapter 8
"There's a rest stop north of here. Let's plan on pulling in there and if it's unoccupied, we'll overnight there. It's been a long day and I wouldn't be the courteous host if I didn't suggest that you two open up one of Penny's bottles of wine or other spirits once we settle in. You both did a lot of driving and I think the phrase 'kick back and relax' applies."
"What about you, Sheldon?" Penny knew he was as keyed up as the rest of them and deserved whatever relaxation he could find.
"I'm going to retire to one of the Pullman berths and try to maximize my REM cycle. If the roads remain clear, I might even take a turn at the wheel tomorrow, properly supervised, of course."
"Shel, I don't think the highway patrol is giving out many tickets these days."
"I wouldn't dream of risking a hair on either of your heads by making an error. I've made enough thus far. I will drive only if properly supervised. Consider yourselves…copilots."
"Um, Sheldon, there's a large bed in the master stateroom. I won't bite ya." She didn't want to be alone and certainly didn't want to cuddle with Winkle. Besides, she didn't think it was a good thing for him to be alone tonight.
Sheldon smiled shyly. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.
"Let's haggle over sleeping arrangements once we're certain it's safe. I'll clean this up while you two get prepped and underway."
"Aye, Captain," snarked Penny, with a big smile. She liked the idea of getting a little tipsy in this 10-wheeled boudoir that Sheldon had contrived. She could tell by the look on Leslie's face that she felt pretty much the same way.
The trio watched as the mile markers and green signboards counted down the distance to the rest stop. There were a few cars on the interstate but most were pulled over onto the breakdown lane and they only came across a few in the actual lanes. All were abandoned.
"I think there's a set of thermal goggles somewhere in the junk I took from the National Guard armory. I think we should stop just before taking the exit to the rest stop and I'll slip out and see if there are any infrared heat signatures. Easiest way to avoid people, don't you think?"
He was looking at Leslie as if seeking her approval and Penny felt a frisson of something like jealousy for an instant but dismissed it as nothing important. Winkle was the obvious candidate to do the recon but Sheldon was still playing alpha-male. Did that make Winkle his alpha-female?
"Moon Pie, I don't think – " Penny started but Sheldon held up a hand, not to rudely silence her as in 'talk to the hand' but because he wasn't finished. He hated being interrupted but didn't see anything rude when he did it.
"It makes sense for me to do it, Penny. I can't drive and you two are both tired and tense and might miss something due to fatigue."
Winkle looked at Penny and the look on her face said 'let him do it' so Penny just nodded her reluctant acceptance.
"Okay, Shel, but take something with more bang than that wimpy pistol of yours. Maybe take one of the bombs you made? You never can tell what you might run into in the dark." She shuddered at the thought of him slinking around in the dark looking for trouble and finding it.
Winkle walked back to the 'armory' area of the bus and rummaged around in the footlockers he'd used to carry the loot from the armory and came back with a nasty-looking automatic weapon.
"This is an MP-5 machine gun used by SWAT teams. It's got a 30-round magazine and fires single shot and automatic. If you see something that's a threat, Cooper, point it and unload on your target. This is how you change the magazines and this is the safety."
She finished her demonstration just as they came to the off-ramp to the rest stop. Penny pulled the big rig over to the side and started to shut down the engine but thought better of it.
"Sheldon, I'm going to back up 50 yards or so after you get out. I don't want to have to back this down the ramp if the shit hits the fan. Might panic and end up off the road. We'll be waiting for you, honey. And whatever happens, we will not leave you behind so save your breath."
It was cold and damp and the air smelled like it was going to get colder. He stuck to the cement drainage ditch that paralleled the on-ramp and flipped on the goggles and slowly panned the area looking for a heat flare of an idling engine or a human being. He could hear coyotes howling and it comforted him, bringing back memories of night hunting coon and Javelina with his Pap-paw.
'Shelley, as long as you hear coyotes, there's nothing bigger to fear like a cougar or a black bear. Well, hasn't been a cougar around here in a hunnerd years but you get my point. WE are the biggest thing to fear.'
Sheldon needed to pee so damned bad. It must be the body's response to stress: void the bladder to reduce infection in case of injury. He almost chuckled at how efficient the human body was at survival.
Penny and Winkle were using the NVGs but didn't see Sheldon at all but they both heard the coyotes. "Are there wolves out here, Penny? Don't see many wolves in New Jersey – well, just the two-legged kind."
"I don't know but I don't want to find out. This place is creepy in the dark. Jesus, maybe this wasn't such a great idea. He's a fucking physicist, for Christ's sake, not Rambo!"
"Let it go, Blondie. He needs to do this. He needs to boost his confidence and this is a pretty safe way to do it."
"I don't think he needs to go all Rambo on us to prove anything. He's proven himself to me more times than I can count since the Choker hit. This is totally fucking unnecess – "
Sheldon could see the bus. The thermal signature stood out like a red flare against the cooler background. He sat back on his haunches and mulled over just what to tell his two traveling companions. There were two 18-wheelers with dead drivers and a bunch of cars full of bodies. It looked like a fight had broken out over something and there were a few bodies lying in the parking area.
"It's been 30 minutes, Penny. I'm going to get suited up and go find him. It shouldn't have taken this long to – "
Both women let out startled screams when Sheldon knocked on the coach door.
"Bang, bang, bang, Penny? Bang, bang, bang, Leslie? Bang – "
Winkle opened the door and he climbed in. The outside air was damp and cold and it made her shiver.
"Well? Took ya long enough!" Penny had been scared and her irritation was caused by fear and worry.
"Pull up to the parking area and then follow the signs for the truck park in the back. Anyone there is dead and there might be some things of value left over so we need to allow time tomorrow to do a little picking."
Penny started the coach and eased it onto the ramp when Sheldon causally said, "Try not to run over any of the bodies, Penny. There's no telling what pestilence might be breeding in those corpses."
Both girls looked at each other, neither one wanting to say 'YUCK' but they were thinking it very loudly.
"Bazinga! No bodies. I dragged them out of the roadway. We'll burn them tomorrow."
"So, Penny, has our fearless leader shared a destination with you yet?" She was on her third Rum 'n Coke and feeling no pain.
"Nope. Well, he did say he was going to try to make it to Omaha but I figure that's a bust. I mean, why bother going to another dead city." She knew he had this 'mission' to get her 'home to family' but she hadn't been able to reach any of her family since the Choker hit and they'd never been that close.
"He wants you safe, dingbat. Can't you see the man loves you? I mean, it's like so obvious." She was slurring her words and there was a wistfulness in her tone.
Penny stared at Leslie for a second and then started to giggle. She was a drink ahead of Winkle and had made hers pretty strong.
"Don't laugh, Blondie. It's true and you should be damned happy he does otherwise we'd both be lying in the street dead or worse, being fucked to death by some mob of thugs. I sure as hell wouldn't kick him out of bed now. He's more of a man than I ever thought possible. Certainly more so than Leonard…and we both know his 'shortcomings', don't we?"
Penny started to tear up at the thought of Leonard. Sure, they'd had their times together but somehow he always managed to screw it up and finally she just couldn't handle his neediness and so ended it for the last time.
"Hey, I didn't mean to make you cry. I guess I meant that Leonard wouldn't have been this – resourceful – yeah, that's the word, resourceful. If it had been Leonard and not Dumbass who survived, we'd be deader than doorknobs and you know it."
"Quit calling him 'dumbass', you bitch!" Penny flared up and was fixing to go all Junior Rodeo on her ass.
"Sorry. Habit. So, if you're not going to take a turn at that, can I?" She was only half-joking. She was stressed out and sex had always been a tension reliever.
"I – I guess so. I mean if you really had to have sex I guess I – well…" She wanted to say 'hell, no' but just couldn't find the words. She loved her Moon Pie but wasn't ready to announce it to their little world. They were in a non-sexual relationship and except for that one emotional time weeks ago, been just friends without benefits. None of them needed the complications it might bring.
"Maybe we could share him?" She smiled and then giggled at the thought. Penny giggled, too, and the subject was closed when Winkle stopped and looked up at the roof of the coach.
"Rain…bet it freezes. It's cold enough." She shivered and pulled the blanket she'd wrapped herself in closer around her shoulders.
"Ladies, I turned on the hot water heater so you can each have one 2-minute shower."
They both jumped at the sound of his voice. He was standing in the galley entrance wearing sweat pants and a CalTech sweatshirt. His hair was mussed from the shower and he was barefoot. He blushed at the looks on their faces…almost hungry…and even he could see it.
"I'm turning in. The timer will shut off in 15 minutes. Please be brief since our fresh water supply is limited to 100 gallons and I don't know when we'll be able to refill our tanks."
Leslie motioned for Penny to take her shower first and watched the look on Sheldon's face when Penny smiled and then giggled conspiratorially.
"We'll talk about sharing arrangements when we're sober, okay?" She eased by Sheldon and headed to the shower.
"Don't peek, Moon Pie," she whispered and then disappeared.
Sometime in the wee hours of the morning someone whispered, "Move over. I'm cold," and eased into the narrow bunk and snuggled up against him. He fell instantly back to sleep without caring who was sharing his warmth. He was exhausted and the sound of rain drumming on the roof of the bus lulled him back to sleep.