III - Executed Plan
-Next Day-
A crow was eating the fingers off a corpse's hand. It cawed before flying away as four vehicles drove past the corpse.
Ronnie Anne looked outside the window, appearing indignant.
"Hey, Ronnie, wanna join us?" asked Tabby. "Clyde's showing us how to play Palace. It's pretty fun."
"I'm good. Thanks."
"Are you sure?" asked Clyde. "I got three stacks of cards. That's three times the fun."
"I said I'm good."
"Geez."
"Let's just give her some space," said Lincoln.
Clyde nodded. However, Liam stood up from his seat and shifted over to Ronnie Anne.
"Hey, about your folks, you know they're gonna find us eventually, right?" said Liam.
"Liam?" said Lincoln hesitantly.
"I don't need you to make me feel better," said Ronnie Anne.
"I get it," said Liam. "Too much optimism is a bad thing. But I'm being real with you, Anne. Just think about it for a minute. Your people must have headed for Detroit as soon as they heard the news about the dead walkin'. And we know they ain't get captured."
Ronnie Anne looked around. Lincoln scratched his collar out of nervousness as the passengers all started paying attention. Some of them appeared confused. He then looked at Bobby, who was sweating immensely.
"Because Lori woulda' seen 'em, right?" said Liam. "Right, Lori?"
"Huh? Oh. I suppose so, yeah."
"So they woulda' headed for Royal Woods. Maybe you're at your old house. Maybe you're at the Louds'. Whatever the case, they ain't gon' find you there. But they will find the people who were fightin' the rogues in Ketcham Park. And they know you and Bobby are goin' to Houlton. So that's where they're gonna head next. And we'll be there waitin' for 'em."
Ronnie Anne was hit with a horrifying realization.
"But that means they're going to have to cross through New York," said Ronnie Anne, her voice becoming panicked. "And the Piranhas are going to-"
"Woah, easy there. First of all, not if George can get Sherry first. If he does, then the Piranhas are gonna fall like a row of dominoes. And second of all, you weren't too worried about that when you wanted us to go Albany to retrieve 'em or find a note telling you that they're gonna take the exact route I just told you 'bout. I'm telling you, once George does his thing, your fam' will be free to cross the state. Heck, George may even come with 'em to Houlton."
"Shouldn't we backtrack and wait for them then?"
"Well... we don't know what exact route they'll take. We could end up waitin' for months just for 'em to be at Houlton. Naw, we gotta be there before they do. Otherwise... we're leadin' em straight to rogue territory."
Bobby gulped.
Lori looked at him. She felt bad. Really bad. She knew the secret was eating him up.
"It's better to have hope than none at all," said Liam. "Right?"
Ronnie Anne rubbed her arm. She remembered. Liam's parents were not in the logbook. They're not in Houlton.
She nodded.
Suddenly, the van came to a stop.
"What happened?" asked Lincoln.
"I don't know," said Lori. "David just stopped all of a sudden. I think he wants us to cross that bridge, but... how?"
The RV was parked in the road by the arch bridge over a river. The water was rushing and flowing. The houses around seemed empty.
"Shit," muttered David.
"What happened?" asked Tad.
"That bridge is completely blocked by cars. It's gonna take a while to find another way across this river and the next bridge we find is probably going to jammed too."
"So what does this mean?" asked Wavehead. "We're not getting through at all?"
"Hold on."
David stepped outside of the RV as Richard and Missy followed.
Wavehead looked back, seeing Tad sitting by the booth table.
George stood up and walked out of the RV as well.
"Should we stay here?" asked Wavehead.
"I'm not," said Vonda.
Vonda walked out of the RV with Lynn and Dana walking out as well.
As Becky stood up, D tapped on Wavehead's shoulders.
"Let's go check it out, Wave," said D.
Wavehead nodded as he followed D out of the RV.
Tad sighed as he grabbed his sword and walked out as well.
"Why don't we circle back near Utica and take a different road?" asked Lori.
"May have to do that," said David. "Thing is, we'd be wasting a day's trip and maybe more. And we'd be risking another encounter with the Piranhas."
"Oi, maybe we can drive these wagons out the way?" asked Chunk.
"But most of these cars are abandoned," said Missy. "I don't think we're going to find a key lying around for every car."
"Strange," said George. "I don't see a single body here."
"A herd must have scared the drivers away," said Vonda. "Some of these cars have dents. And all the doors are open. So yeah. Herd."
Lisa exited Vanzilla along with the rest of the passengers. Almost every single group member were now outside of the vehicles.
"Shall I construct an explosive to push the cars away?" asked Lisa.
David shook his head.
"You create one strong enough to push these cars off the bridge, you create one strong enough to destroy the bridge itself," said David.
"Can't we just move these cars away?" suggested Leni.
"That's what they're trying to figure out," said Luan.
"Oh, I see."
The group members stood around, scratching their heads and pacing around as they tried to come up with a solution.
"Wait a minute," said Lincoln.
"What is it?" asked Lori.
Lincoln jogged forward towards the bridge.
Lori sighed as she jogged after him. The rest of the group members walked after them.
Lincoln slowed down and looked inside the cars as he passed by them. He nodded and stopped after inspecting his fifth car.
"So it's like I predicted," said Lincoln. "Most of these cars were abandoned because a herd, like Vonda said, probably scared the drivers away. However, most drivers would not take their keys with them when they're panicking. They would just leave the keys in the car. However, they leave their keys in the ignition instead of a random place. While the herd chased the drivers and their passengers, the cars remained on the bridge with their engine on. The idle cars would run out of gasoline eventually, but that doesn't matter. What we can do is set the car to drive, and we can push the cars out of the roads by ourselves."
Lori placed her hands on her hips and smiled.
"That's genius," said Lori.
"Hold on," said David. "Out of the road?"
"Well, just out of the middle part of the road. Just so we can have enough room to cross the entire bridge. It's not a very long bridge, thank goodness."
David chuckled.
"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, that's gonna have to work."
David turned around and faced the rest of the group.
"Who are our powerhouses?"
Lincoln looked around the group. He placed his finger under his chin and thought about who could push small cars by themselves.
"I would say, you, of course, then Richard, then George, and Chunk, and Sergei, and Lynn," said Lincoln. "Maybe even Vonda."
"Vonda?"
"If she can draw a 55-lbs bow, she can push a car by herself."
David looked at Vonda. Vonda nodded her head with a smug smile.
"The wheels are going to be doing most of the work," said Vonda. "All I have to do is give it a lil' push."
David shrugged and nodded.
"Alright," said David. "To all the people Lincoln just named- we're gonna get inside a car, turn the car into drive mode, exit the car, and push it towards the edge of the bridge. Is that clear?"
The group members named powerhouses all nodded.
"Lori, you head to the RV and start driving it. We need to see if the RV will fit with whatever space we make. Got it?"
"Got it," said Lori.
"The rest of you, check inside the cars and see what you can find. Food, medicine, clothes, anything useful you find- take it. Just keep an eye out for the roamers. People too."
"Not Derrick though," said Lisa. "Nor Missy."
"Of course. You two, just rest."
The group members began to get to work.
Lincoln stood around, watching the powerhouses like a supervisor watching his workers. He cleared his throat, hoping that his plan would work.
Becky walked over to D and sat next to him on the edge of an RV doorway.
"Hey, we're not supposed to be slacking off," said Tad. "Come on, Becky."
"Can you just give me a minute?" asked Becky. "I just need to-"
"It can wait, right?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Let's go then. Faster we do this, faster we can get back on the road."
"Not really. We're not the ones pushing the cars."
"Let's just go."
"What are you, my mother? You can't just order me around."
"It's fine, Becky," said D. "Go on and talk to him. I'm just gon' chill here for now."
Becky sighed and stood up. She walked forward as Tad followed her away from the RV.
Tad glanced back at D.
D simply smirked at him.
Tad groaned out of frustration as he and Becky walked over to a red car further down the bridge.
"I don't understand what you see in him."
"What are you talking about?" asked Becky, looking inside the car.
"Come on, don't play dumb. What is D to you?"
"He's just a friend."
"Oh, really? So that kiss you had with him- that's just something friends do?"
Becky opened up a glove compartment and rummaged through it.
"You sound really upset with me," said Becky. "Did I do something to piss you off?"
"It just feels like you're trying to make me jealous."
"Is it working?"
"You- what is your problem?"
Becky scoffed as she exited the car and stood up next to Tad.
"What is my problem?" she said. "What is your problem? I can do whatever I want. I don't need you telling me what to do. Why do you even care? Does that blonde bitch not satisfy you?"
"Stop."
"No, you were so annoyed that I didn't want you with that slut but now I let you do whatever you want and you're still mad?"
"That's the thing, you're not just letting me do whatever I want. You don't want me to just leave me alone. You kissed D in front of me to make me jealous. And don't deny it. Even Dana knows you still have feelings for me."
"Oh, don't involve Dana in this!"
Dana looked over at Tad and Becky. She grew concerned as she could hear Becky raising her voice.
"Alright, alright, just lower your voice," said Tad.
"Don't tell me what to do! I'm sick of you telling me what to do."
"Alright! Alright."
"You're accusing me of still having feelings for me. But what about you? Only reason you'd get this upset is if you still liked me. Tell me I'm wrong."
Tad sighed and looked at Becky, having a glare of anger in his eyes.
"You're wrong," he said.
"And you accuse me of playing mind games. Go to hell, Tad."
Becky walked away from the red car and headed back to the RV.
Tad stood there, huffing before he turned to look at the group members pushing the cars to the side. He then noticed Luna and Sam looking at him.
"What are you looking at?" he said.
Tad groaned as he sat inside the car, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Geez," said Sam. "And I thought he was chill."
Luna looked concerned. She wanted to talk to Tad, but didn't want to feel like she was picking a side. She nodded and kept quiet.
After the last car was pushed out of the way, the group members returned to their vehicles.
"Let's go! My plan worked!" said Lincoln.
"Awesome!" said Clyde. "If it weren't for you, we may have not gotten past this bridge."
Lincoln smiled. He walked inside Vanzilla with Clyde.
Carol looked at Tad.
"Things didn't go well with Becky?" asked Carol.
"Things went peachy," sarcastically replied Tad.
"I'm sorry."
"Yeah."
Tad looked at the RV. She saw Becky, who didn't look back once as she entered the vehicle.
"Me too."
As Tad prepared to enter Chaz's car, Carol grabbed his shoulder.
"Umm... I don't think that's a good idea," said Carol.
"Why not?" asked Tad.
"It's not a good look."
"For you?"
"For either of us. You don't want Becky to think you go to me every time you're upset at her."
"What, are you trying to get on her good side?"
"Aren't you?"
Tad scratched his head. He nodded.
"Yeah," he said. "Yeah, you're right."
Tad looked at Carol and forced a smile.
Carol forced a smile too. She then watched as Tad walked away.
"Hey," said Tad.
Sam turned around as Luna and Chunk looked at Tad.
"There's an open seat in the van, right?" he asked.
"That's right," said Chunk.
"You're thinking of traveling... with us?" asked Sam.
"Yeah," said Tad. "Sorry about earlier. Heh, just wasn't in a good mood."
"Well, you can come with us, but only if you're willing to jam with us," said Luna.
"Sure. I wouldn't mind that."
"Come on, then."
Tad nodded and entered Chunk's van through the front passenger door.
The vehicles drove through the cleared out path on the bridge, passing by all the cars that were pushed to the side.
-Day 42-
A squirrel was chewing on an acorn before dropping it and running away from the road. Four vehicles drove past the acorn, with one of the vehicles crushing it.
"But Lori wouldn't give me any of her earrings," said Luna. "I thought her of all people would be understanding. But no, she was just like my mom! So I had enough. I just grabbed two paperclips and put them in my ear. Turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made."
"Definitely," smiled Sam. "You look so cute with them. They really fit you."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah! Meanwhile, I'm still trying to figure out..."
Sam looked at Tad, who was glaring at them through the rearview mirror.
"Is something bothering you?" asked Sam.
"We don't have to talk about it," said Tad.
"Okay," said Luna. "I tried to not say anything for the past three days, but I can tell it's really bothering you. Tad, tell us what happened there with Becky."
"Nothing, we don't have to talk about it."
"It looks like you want us to."
"It's fine. You girls wouldn't be much help anyways. It's... complicated."
"Maybe you need a bloke's opinion," said Chunk. "Mate, I got you."
"Not... what I was-"
"Listen, you have to brush your hair, straighten up your shirt, and walk up to her and..."
Tad listened in closely as Luna and Sam wondered what advice Chunk had in store.
"...apologize your damn arse out."
"What?"
"Tell the bird you're sorry. Swallow your pride and apologize to her. Then tell her how beautiful or smart or whatever you find most attractive about her she is. Put a tad of effort in it, Tad."
Tad scratched his head awkwardly as Luna and Sam looked at each other nervously.
"Umm... I don't think..." stammered Tad.
"Oh, blimey!"
"What is it?"
"We're about to stop for a reason."
All four vehicles came to a stop.
Chunk stepped outside of his van as he looked at the road ahead. There was a line of wrecked and broken cars. Many trucks were part of the jam as well. There were guardrails around, making it impossible to steer off the road.
David and Richard stood outside of the RV.
"Well, fuck us," said Richard. "Another damn obstacle."
"Think the kid's strategy might work again?" asked George.
"You mean Lincoln's Traffic Removal Method?" said Lincoln with a sense of pride.
"Yeah, that."
"Don't know about that," said David. "Lots of these cars are destroyed. We can't just push them to the side."
"Hmm... let me think," said Lincoln.
Lori grabbed a pair of binoculars and saw a moving object. She looked at her binoculars to figure out how to zoom it, but when she returned to see the moving object, it was gone.
"We can't just drive back?" asked Chunk.
"We're straying farther and farther away from Albany," said David. "That means there are less roads that lead farther upstate. Backtracking could cost us a whole day or two. But if we can't come up with anything then... we don't have a choice."
"I got an idea," said Lincoln. "How about instead of moving all the cars to one side of the road, we move a group of cars all on one side and another group of cars onto the other side. When the cars get too cluttered on one edge, we start pushing the cars to the other side so we create a snake-like path for us! And we don't push the cars with our bare hands. We use the RV to push them!"
"Yeah... yeah, that could work."
Lori continued to look through her binoculars. She moved the lens towards the cars and looked inside them through the dusty windshields and windows. She then saw moving hands and glowing eyes.
"Oh my god," said Lori. "These cars aren't empty!"
David and Richard grabbed their sidearms and gripped them. They both walked towards a car and peeked inside, seeing a roamer.
The roamer was wearing a beautiful dress that was supposed to show off its wearer's hourglass figure. However, it looked very loose as the roamer's ugly, rotting face looked straight at David. It growled at David and slammed its pale hands against the door window, trying to claw its way out.
David placed his hand on the door handle and looked at Richard.
Richard nodded.
David opened the door and let the roamer out.
Richard grabbed his knife and prepared to stab the roamer before David shot the roamer's head, killing it.
The gunshot rang across the congested road.
"David!" gasped Lori. "What happened to not attracting nearby roamers?"
"We don't want 'em hiding and ambushing us," said David.
"We're on a timer now though, aren't we?"
"Doubt it. There isn't nothing around in the mile-radius."
A few roamers stood up from where they were hiding and started walking slowly to where the group is at.
Lori pointed her assault rifle at the roamers, but David held out his hand.
"Wait."
"What?" whispered Lori.
"One shot is enough. We don't wanna waste the bullets."
Lori nodded and turned her rifle around and struck a roamer's head with the butt of her gun.
Luna swung her crowbar at a roamer next to the one that Lori attacked, and Vonda shot an arrow at the one next to that roamer.
Lori kneeled down to the road pavement and took out a knife. She stabbed the roamer in the head with full force and killed it.
"More of them are coming," said David.
"Where did all these roamers come from, anyway?" asked Lincoln.
"That's a good question."
"A question we can ignore for now," said Lori. "Look, the roamers are starting to come together as a group. They're… merging into a small herd."
"Alright, move ahead. We don't want them to herd up."
Benny walked ahead of the group and took out the roamers that were straggling ahead of the group.
Sam grabbed her ice axe and swung it on one of the roamer's skull.
Bobby used a hammer to bash a roamer's skull in and destroy its brain. He then opened a car door and blocked a roamer from getting too close to him.
Vonda shot her arrows and almost hit every nearby roamer in the head. She jogged close to a killed roamer to pick up her arrows while Wavehead dashed to kill a nearby roamer with his knife.
Suddenly, Lynn flew past Wavehead and Vonda, carrying a wooden baseball bat.
"Lynn! What…" exclaimed Lori.
Lynn stopped close to a roamer and swung her baseball bat with all her might. The roamer's neck dislocated while its skull was destroyed upon impact. The roamer dropped to the ground, now twice as dead. Another roamer approached Lynn only to be killed off by another one of Lynn's powerful swing. Lynn placed a lethal blow to yet another roamer in the head, destroying its brain.
"Lynn!" exclaimed Lori.
Benny observed as Lynn continued to slaughter the roamers and kept his distance, killing the roamers outside of Lynn's reach. However, most of the roamers were within Lynn's reach, and even if they weren't, she would try as hard as she could to make sure they were very well within her grasp.
"Hey, Lynn, relax!" shouted Benny. "You're gonna exhaust yourself!"
Lynn looked back and growled.
Benny felt goosebumps as he flinched.
Lynn continued to slaughter the roamers. She then found a roamer with blood around its mouth. It wasn't blood that belonged to the roamer as it seemed fresh and wet. She kicked the roamer to the trunk of a small car and swung her baseball at its head. In a fit of rage, she swung the bat over and over and over. With each strike, the roamer's head became more deformed and messier with its brain spilling on the trunk. Lynn yelled with each swing.
Lori was choked up as she watched Lynn unleashing all her rage on the dead roamer.
"Lynn!" exclaimed David.
Lynn stopped smashing the roamer's head and looked at her leader. She panted with both exhaustion and relief.
"Jesus Christ. Was that really necessary?"
Lynn looked at the group, who were all stunned. She then looked at her bat, which had blood pouring from the end of it. She gasped softly in shock before looking at the roamer she killed. Witnessing the roamer's body without the head, she smiled.
"Yeah," panted Lynn. "I got all your roamers. Let's get to work now."
Lynn walked back to the vehicles to get a drink of water. Blood dripped down from her bat to the pavement, leaving a trail.
Lori gulped. She took a step forward before holding herself back. All she could do is stand there in shock.
Hours passed as the hot sun beat down on Richard, who was guiding David's RV.
Meanwhile, David used his RV to push more vehicles to the side, crushing them against the guardrail. He reversed the RV, then moved it forward as he repeated what he did for the last few hours. Lincoln was in the RV with him, watching his plan succeed.
Some of the group members were looking inside the vehicles to loot them, just like they did back at the arch bridge.
Lori walked back to Vanzilla holding a backpack full of water bottles. She opened the van, sighing with relief at the cold air blowing at her from the AC inside.
"Hey, I just found a backpack full of water bottles inside someone's car," said Lori.
"Nice! That's gotta be your best find so far!" said Bobby.
"Literally."
Lori looked over to the back seats, seeing Lucy looking down. She raised her head to see what Lucy was looking down at. She then saw Lucy writing into a diary.
"She alright?" asked Lori.
"Oh, yeah, she's quiet as always, but she's doing fine," said Bobby.
"Yeah. She looks fine in the outside, doesn't she?"
"Huh?"
Lori closed the driver's door and slid the passenger door open.
Lucy closed her diary and looked over at her.
"You're letting all the hot air in," said Lucy.
"Sorry, I just wanted to see how you're feeling," said Lori.
"I'm fine. Why?"
"Oh nothing, nothing. Just noticed you're a lot quieter than usual."
Lucy stared at Lori with a blank face.
"What are you writing?"
"Nothing you will ever lay your eyes on."
"I hope you're not mad at me."
"Why would I be mad at you?"
"Lynn is."
"She's mad at me too."
"About what she said the other day... I'm sure she doesn't mean it."
"She does. I won't take it to heart, though. She deals with grief her own way. As do I."
"Does it have to do with that diary?"
Lucy nodded.
"As well as other things," said Lucy.
"You know you can always talk to me, right?"
"I know."
"Okay. I'll leave you alone now."
Lori slid the door closed as she walked away from the van. She rejoined the group back in the road, following the snake-like path that the RV has created. Her eyes widened as she saw the group members circled around something.
"What happened?" asked Lori.
David stepped out of the RV. He walked next to Lori as the group members made way for them.
"I found something," said Lincoln.
Lincoln held a cylindrical canister. It had a sinister gray color to it and had drops of greenish liquid in the tip of its opening.
"Poison gas…" whispered David.
"Poison gas?" gasped Lori.
"Poison gas?" asked Lincoln.
"Kid, you might want to take your hands off the canister," said David.
Lincoln dropped the canister. He gulped as he held his hands up, frozen.
"Just stay calm, Lincoln," said Lori. "What's gonna happen to him?"
"Nothing if he washes his hands," said David.
"Here," said Luna.
Luna pulled out her canteen and poured it over Lincoln's hands, rinsing it.
Lisa walked over with gloves and picked up the canister. She looked around the canister, studying the residue.
"Chlorine gas," she said. "Seems like military equipment."
"Rogues?" asked Zach.
"Could be," said David.
"Ooh. I smell a conspiracy."
"Maybe the Piranhas got their hands on some military weaponry," said Richard. "Maybe we ain't so safe up here either."
"This isn't somewhere we wanna stay," said David. "Good thing we're done. Let's go back to our vehicles, everyone."
Lori and the others returned to their vehicles. As Lori closed her door, she saw Lana bothering Lucy.
"Hey, come on, I just wanna take a peek," said Lana.
"No," said Lucy. "This diary isn't for your eyes."
"But I saw Lola's name in there. What did you write about her?"
"Lana!" called out Lori.
Lana looked up.
"Leave her alone. Respect her privacy and don't peek into her diary. Got it?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Buckle up. We're leaving now."
"Finally..."
The vehicles followed the snake-like path that was created by the RV. They then moved ahead into the empty highway, leaving the empty canisters behind among the wrecked cars.
-Next Day-
Flies buzzed around a pile of corpses on the side of the road as the RV, Vanzilla, Chunk's van, and Chaz's car passed by them.
"It's easy, come on," said Sergei.
"It's not easy, what are you talking about?" sighed Carol.
"Listen. Zdravstvuyte."
"Zuh-dra-stoy-teah?"
"Zdrast."
"Z-Zuh-dra..."
"Zdrast."
"Zdra...st..."
"Voy."
"Voy."
"Tyeah."
"Tyeah."
"Zdravstvuyte."
"Zdrastvoytyeah."
"Eh," sighed Sergei. "Close enough."
"Close enough? No, I need it to be exactly right."
"It's fine. Stick to privet."
"I'm sorry. Russian is hard."
"I know. That boy... Lynn's son- he's really smart. He can speak basic Russian. What about Becky? She can say zdravstvuyte perfectly. She know Russian?"
"No, no, I don't think so... she's just really good at mimicking whatever you say. Or who knows, maybe she did pick up Russian. She's that smart..."
"You speak very fond of her. Even after everything she does to you. You even give up Tad just to be on her good side?"
"Tad is a good friend, but... I don't know... I just don't see myself dating him."
"Why not? He's a good kid. He's handsome. He's caring. He has good voice."
"I know. And it's not like I don't want to cuddle with him and have him wrap his arms around me and tell me everything is okay while caressing my hair... because I do. I very much want that. But my heart... it can't stop beating for Bobby. That's why I'm hesitant to even kiss him. I don't want to lead him along. I can't do that to Tad."
"So, why not make it clear? Tad think you like him back."
"Well, I do like him. But I'm afraid I'll never love him or anyone else. It's just... I'm afraid of being lonely too, you know?"
Carol sighed.
"If I can be Becky's friend again... maybe I can learn to move on from my past. Maybe... I can learn to move on from Bobby."
"I just do not understand," said Sergei. "She treat you like trash. What could you have done to deserve that treatment?"
Carol looked outside her window. She saw the passing exit roads, which were blocked by cars and barricades.
"Every year in school, we had an event called Spirit Week," recalled Carol. "It was the week right before our spring break. It's this thing where we got to dress up to match whatever the theme was for that day. For example, on Monday, the theme could be the 80s, and we'd have to dress up like we were in the 80s."
"Mhm."
"So, it was junior year. That Thursday... the day before spring break... it was the final game of our annual dodgeball tournament. The theme was sports. You could wear as something simple as a basketball jersey or get fully kitted out in a whole cheerleader outfit... whatever you wanted. I, being a golfer myself, just went with my gold uniform. Becky went with a basketball uniform. She had the tank top, the shorts, the shoes... but they were in my way of my plan. That day, Becky was supposed to commentate along with Chaz. But before they would start commentating, they had to go to the middle of the gym and announce the lineup, the teams, whatever, you know?"
"Yeah."
"Knowing this, I set my plan into motion. At lunchtime, right before the game, I had one of the boys 'accidentally' trip and spill their lunch on Becky's basketball jersey. She tried to get the stains off her shirt, but she couldn't. So I had one of my friends offer her a white cotton top and some new shoes so that she'd look like a volleyball player, that way she'd fit the theme. But while she was changing, I took her bra and hid it. She tried looking for it, but she had no time. The game was about to start and she had to get to the gym right away. Luckily, her shirt didn't reveal anything, so she was good to go. All is well, right?"
Carol took a deep breath.
"So there Becky was, standing in the middle of the gym next to Chaz announcing the players for both teams. I had another boy do me a favor and activate the sprinklers, but only the ones above Becky and Chaz. They both got wet, and the thing about that cotton top... it could be very revealing when wet. The whole stage saw her nipples through that shirt. And the thing about her shoes... they had a type of dry glue on the soles that would only get sticky when wet. So she was standing there, struggling to move as she tried covering her own breasts up. She then removed her feet off the shoes and tried to make her escape. However, her socks got stuck and she slipped, falling to the floor. The whole thing was so embarrassing for her... and I just stood there laughing with my friends. Eventually some of her friends helped her to the locker room, but the damage was done. She was exposed for the whole school to see and she even slipped at the end for a little bonus."
"Damn..."
"She was completely convinced it was my fault. And she was right. But the school had no proof. And I played cute. So I never got in trouble for it. Oh, Becky was livid. And what did she do to deserve that? Just being Lori's friend."
Carol wiped a tear from her eye and cleared her throat.
"So yeah. I'm not as innocent as you think. Becky has every right to hate me."
Sergei sighed and nodded. He then noticed the van in front of him coming to a stop. He braked the car and looked at Carol.
"What's going on?"
"Don't know," said Sergei.
Sergei and Carol stepped outside the car and looked as the drivers and passengers for the other vehicles did the same.
"Another roadblock?" asked Lori.
"Yeah," said Missy.
Trucks without wheels blocked the road. The grass next to it were filled with piles and piles of garbage bags and rusty tools and nails.
"Well... the smell is certainly pleasant here," said Vonda.
"Ugh... it smells like shit," said Richard.
"Richard," said David.
"I know, I know. Language. Sorry, kids."
"I'm climbing the truck. I want to see what's on the other side."
Richard nodded.
David went inside the RV as Richard turned around to see the group members chattering amongst each other.
"This one's more deliberate," said Lisa. "If I were to guess... I'd say a group crafted this."
"The Piranhas, you think?" asked Zach.
"This far up north?" asked Lincoln. "What purpose could they have being this far here?"
"I'm curious about that too," said George. "Normally, their activity is limited to the areas around the Erie Canal. We're practically at the Adirondacks, so I'm suspecting another group."
"Like that group back at the store in Utica?" asked Benny.
"Maybe."
David came out of the RV with a sniper rifle. It was the same M110 rifle he used against General Black back in Royal Woods. He put the strap over his shoulder and climbed up the ladder on the back of the tanker truck. He then saw a large field ahead of him as well as a lake in the far distance. Down the road was where the split was made before Lake George, one with a road in the direction of Montreal and one in the direction of Vermont.
He peered into the scope and looked at the lake. There were sailboats moving around, manned by people in blue, black, and purple-dominated clothing. They were armed.
He then moved the scope to the right of the lake. His eyes widened as he stared into the scope. He then lowered the gun and stepped down from the truck.
Ahead of the group, hundreds of yards down the road, right of the lake, was a herd of roamers stumbling around.
"That's it," said David. "It's over."
"The hell you mean?" asked Richard.
"It's over. We can't travel any farther than this."
"What do you mean?" asked George. "What'd you see on the other side?"
"There's an armed group at the lake. Probably Piranhas. And there's a herd blocking the road to Vermont."
"We can just go to Montreal, can't we?" asked Wavehead. "You know, just sneak past the group."
"They might be protecting something by the lake. If that's the case, then they probably set up more road blocks around this area."
"Fuck..." whispered Richard.
"So... what now?" asked Lori.
"We head south. And we go through Albany."
The group members all looked at each other. Many were uncomfortable. Some were scared. Few were unhappy. One was relieved.
"Really?" asked Ronnie Anne.
"Yeah," said David. "Might as well."
"How long will that take?" asked Lori.
"Maybe two days."
David returned to the RV.
Ronnie Anne sighed, finally getting to return to her city. However, a sense of impending doom washed over her all of a sudden. Now she was stricken with worry.
"And I thought I'd get to see Lake George one more time," said Vonda.
The group members all returned to their vehicles.
The vehicles turned around and headed southwards to Albany.