Walking Among Us

Chapter 29: Starting the Engine

"We are all here today, to pay tribute to the lives that were lost in our past few days here," Melissa preached to the group, while they were having a make-shift funeral in the backyard, "They were important parts of our group, no, our family, and it makes me very sad, to know that they have been taken away from us, before it was there time to leave this world. We can only hope that there spirits will stay by our side and keep us safe, in the years to come. Now is there anybody else who would like to say a few words?"

"I do," Pablo spoke up, in tears, "I knew Martin since I was a toddler, and he was like a dad to me. He helped raised me, made me feel better when I was sick, and put my needs ahead of his own. I just wish I could have done something to save him, like he has come to my rescue so many times. I will miss him."

Pablo paused for a bit, as tears poured down his face, "Then there is Sarah. Though I didn't know her for a while, she was a good friend, and it was nice to have a kid my age to hang out with for once. So I'm gonna miss her."

"Does anybody else have any words?" Melissa asked, "Do you have anything to say Nathan?"

"No, I said everything I had before this funeral," Nathan answered.

"Okay, then let's have a moment of silence, before we wrap up the ceremony," Melissa said, then bowed her head. The rest of the group put their heads down and everything went silent, then they walked away one by one, still keeping silent. The silence didn't break until Jessica and Pablo got into the kitchen.

"Are you okay, bud?" Jessica asked sympathetically.

"Yeah," Pablo lied as he wiped tears from out of his eyes. He started to cry again and ran up to Jessica and hugged her, then cried "Why did they have to die?"

"I don't know," Jessica answered as she brushed her fingers through Pablo's shaggy hair, "But I'm sure that they are going to a better place, you should be happy for them."

"It's just so hard," Pablo wept, squeezing Jessica tighter, "After my dad died, Martin was all I had left. He was the closest person I had, and now he's gone."

Jessica started to cry a bit as well. The boy wrapped around her, had his whole world taken away from him, he was heartbroken.

"Don't worry, Pablo," Jessica said in tears as she embraced Pablo as well, "I've got you. I will take care of you. Nothing will happen to you, I promise."

Jessica looked down at Pablo, and finally realized that he was her family. That this was what she was meant to do, she needed to raise this boy, and keep him safe, no matter what. The two of them fell to the floor, still embracing eachother, and cried together. The rest of the group walked in on the commotion, and joined in on the hug. First was Randi, then Ray, then Nathan, and finally Melissa.

The groups stayed huddled on the ground for a while, then dispersed. They all went to bed, except for Pablo, and Jessica, who stayed huddled on the ground, while Jessica tried to calm Pablo down, by combing her fingers through his hair. Eventually he fell asleep in her arms, so she picked him up and brought him to the couch. She layed him down on the couch, and pulled a blanket over top of him. She sat at his feet for a bit, watching over him, and eventually fell alseep as well. When she awoke in the morning, everybody else was already up and moving around.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," Ray joked when he saw Jessica's eyes open, "Do you like sitting up while you are sleeping?"

"I didn't even realize I fell asleep," Jessica replied as she wiped her eyes, still half asleep, "What time is it?"

"I would say about noon," Ray answered, "You slept for a while. We actually already went and scoured a few houses."

"Did you find anything good?" Jessica asked.

"Well we did find a working truck, and it even has a full tank!" Ray replied, as he jingled a pair of keys, "We plan on leaving here today. The map says we are just outside of Sault Ste. Marie, it shouldn't take very long to get to Toronto from here."

"Well that's good news," Jessica stated as she stood up, "I'm just about ready to get out of this hell hole."

"Aren't we all?" Nathan asked from the other room, over hearing the conversation.

"When do you think we will leave?" Jessica asked as she walked towards the kitchen.

"We have just been waiting for you," Nathan replied, "We are all packed to go. We can leave as soon as you eat some breakfast."

"Well don't rush me!" Jessica joked as she poured herself a little bit of cereal to eat.

"Haha! We won't," Ray assured as he and Nathan walked away, leaving Jessica alone in the kitchen.

"Good morning, Jessica!" Randi greeted as she walked in to the room, "How was your sleep?"

"Good, I guess," Jessica replied, "I'm surprised I slept in so late though."

"Well it was a rough night for everybody. You needed the sleep."

"Yeah, I definetly did," Jessica agreed, "How come you are so cheery?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to be happy today, that's all," Randi answered.

"Well I'm glad that you can just change your emotions at a moments notice," Jessica said, "It probably helps you to cope with things though."

"I don't know. I would just rather be happy then depressed, makes time go by faster."

"That's true," Jessica agreed as she finished up her cereal, "Well let's get going, I would assume that everybody else is outside already."

"Yeah, probably," Randi said as she and Jessica got up and walked to the door. They got outside and saw Ray and Nathan packing up the truck with the supplies they had collected. Jessica and Randi walked towards the truck.

"We are already to go," Jessica stated when she got to Ray and Nathan.

"That's good, we have just finished packing as well, so we should be on the road in no time," Nathan answered, "There isn't enough room in the front, and myself and Melissa are sitting up there, the rest of you will have to sit in the back with all of the supplies."

"That's fine by me," Jessica said as she hopped in, "I would rather breathe the fresh air anyways."

"Okay," Nathan laughed as he opened up the truck door, "Glad that's settled then. Let's get out of here."

He got into the car and placed the key into the ignition, and tried to start up the truck. The engine revved for a few seconds, then the truck stalled. Nathan tried again but it still wouldn't work. Nathan opened up the door and said,

"Hey, the truck keeps stalling. Ray and Jess, can you push it to try and get it going?"

"Yeah, no problem," Ray said as he jumped out of the truck. Jessica followed right behind and they started pushing. Nathan put the key into the ignition again and pushed down on the gas. It revved again and stay in place. The sound of the truck was attracted walkers, and soon there were lots of walkers coming on to the street towards the group.

"You guys need to hurry!" Pablo shouted when he saw the walkers, "There are walkers!"

"We are trying," Ray said back, as he started pushing again, "Let's try this again Nathan!"

"Okay!" Nathan said as he started he pushed down on the peddle again, "This should work, we just drove it this morning."

The truck revved again, but finally moved a little bit, Ray and Jessica kept pushing to try and give the truck some more momentum and Nathan kept his foot on the peddle. The walkers were now getting very close to the group, and the tension started rising. The truck slowly moved a bit more, and then again and finally it started going, and Jessica and Ray lost their grip on the truck.

"Slow down!" Ray yelled as he and Jessica tried to catch up to the truck. Nathan slowed the truck down a bit, but didn't completely stop it, to try and avoid the truck stopping completely and not moving. Jessica and Ray jumped in to the back and they drove off, leaving all of the walkers behind. They drove out of the town towards their destination of Toronto. Their journey was almost complete.