Buzzkill (A Lesbian Story)

19: I Love Highways

  Nothing.

  How could she say nothing? How come there was literally no words that came out of her mouth? That just boggled my mind. Sure I wasn't expecting a full blown confession, but she had to have said something. I wanted either confirmation or rejection. None of this wondering bullshit. I'm dealing with a zombie apocalypse and I don't need this too.

  I walked ahead of everyone, keeping a good distance between Max and I. I just couldn't look at her right then. I felt like an idiot.

  Steve jogged up to me, "What's wrong?"

  "Nothing." I said evenly, keeping my eyes forward.

  That only made Steve scoff, "I know when you're lying. What happened?"

  I sighed, "Max is so frustrating. She won't give me a straight answer."

  "Well, she is gay." Steve joked, making me shove his shoulder. He just laughed, "Seriously though; I think she just needs a little bit of time to process. She's not the sharpest tool in the shack."

  That was true. Max was smart, but not with feelings and all that. She was thick. Maybe she didn't understand what I said earlier. That was a possibility.

  As we kept walking, we went under a bridge that had a sign saying the next town was in two miles. Was that what we were looking for? I pulled my jacket tighter and breathed out. My breath came out in a steamy puff. This weather sucked a lot and the clouds above were grey and thick.

  "I think it's going to snow." I said to Steve.

  He nodded, "Let's hope not. We don't need to freeze our asses off while on our way. We must be close, however." He pointed to an abandoned National Guard humvee and jogged towards it. I was right behind him. Steve looked in the windows, one hand on his shot gun just in case. He pounded his hand on the windows and waited. Nothing.

  "Yeeah buddy!" Steve exclaimed and opened the driver's side door. "No keys. There's a radio, however."

  I walked over to the passenger side and opened the door. There was a ham radio on the dash. It looked like it would still work. Therefore, I sat in the seat and switched it on. There was static for a second then silence. Max appeared at the opened driver's side door, looking under the wheel to probably hot wire the car. I kept my eyes on the radio, grabbing the mic. I put my finger on the button, "Is there anyone?" Took my finger off and there was static. I pressed it again, "Anyone?" Silence one more time.

  I sighed and put the mic down. My fingers went to the nobs and I turned them to check the other channels. Static. Static. Static. Static. Before I started to turn it again, I heard a voice. I zeroed in on the signal a bit, trying to get it cleared up. The static was gone and I heard a man's voice, "The water tanks are running low in section B. You got it, Hawkeye? Over." Another voice: "Yeah, I gotcha, Thor. I'll head that way. You hear that, Hulk? Over." One More: "Copy."

  "Is this the Avengers?" I asked myself and pressed the button, "Hello? Can you hear me? Over."

  There was silence for a few minutes. I sighed and started to lean back into the seat. Then, there was a response, "Who is this and why are you on our radio? Over." It was the second guy. Hawkeye.

  "My name is Ashley." I quickly responded, "My group is on the highway and found one of your cars. No one was in it. Over."

  "Shazam." Hulk said, "He was supposed to be back yesterday. Over."

  "I don't know who you are, but you're close to us." Thor said, "How many of there are you? Over."

  "Six of us. Two girls and four guys. Over." I looked over to see Max just sit in the driver's seat and look around the wheel.

  "It just has a switch." I heard her say to Steve. She flipped the switch and nothing happened. "Not working, man."

  "Can you get the Humvee to start?" Thor asked, "There's a button by the steering wheel. Over."

  I shook my head, "It's not starting. Over."

  "Look in the back." Hawkeye said, "Are there duffle bags? Over."

  I looked behind me and there were duffle bags. Three to be exact. All were National Guard brand. They looked stuffed to the brim. I poked at one and it was hard. "There are 3. Over."

  "Beautiful." He said, "Okay, so, want to do us a favor, kid?"

  My eyebrows furrowed at his usage of the word 'kid', "Let me guess, you want us to take the bags to you. We heard about a refugee camp to the north. On this highway. Is that where you guys are? Over."

  "Yes ma'am." Thor said, "Take exit 14 and you'll find us. Over."

Exit 14. We passed Exit 13 last so it had to be not that far. So we were close. Fantastic. "We'll most likely be there by night fall. Over."

  "We'll owe you, ma'am. Over." He said.

 "We'll see you guys soon. Over and out." I put the mic back on the holder and looked over at Max. She was already looking at me readily, "Okay, so let's get the stuff and head that way."

  She just nodded and got out of her seat, going to the other door. And, nothing to say. I sighed and stepped out, shutting the door behind me, before opening the backseat door to get a bag. Max picked up one and handed it behind her to Steve. I looked up and caught her eye. Her's almost looked dull and sad. Regretful. Guilty. Looking away, I slung the duffle over my shoulder. These were pretty heavy. I almost wanted to just unzip to see what was inside, but I was afraid that it would explode with it's contents. I stepped back and closed the door. My eyes lifted and, in the reflection of the window, I saw someone standing behind me. I quickly turned as I was pushed against the window, black blood splattering onto my face. A zombie in army fatigues. Probably Shazam. I pushed back him, trying to reach for my pistol, but he had me pinned against the door. He gnashed his teeth and I pushed him away by the neck.

  "Help!" I screamed. "Get off me, asshole!" I shoved at him. He made a gutteral growl. His eyes stayed on me, his pupils like pinpoints. I shoved him back again and his head went to the side to my neck. I screamed and the glass behind me suddenly shattered as a gun went off. The body in front of me went limp and he fell to the ground, unmoving. There was a bloody hole on his temple. Clear headshot.

   I caught breath and looked behind me. There was Max, her pistol pointed towards my direction. She slowly put it down, "Are you alright?"

  I felt around on my neck. No stinging. No pain. No red blood. I nodded at her with a sigh, "Yes. I'm okay. Thank you."

  Steve ran around the other side of the humvee. He looked from the body to me, "Shit, Ash. Are you okay?" His eyes went to my neck and he quickly started to inspect.

  I rolled my eyes, "It's not my blood. He got too close."

  "Good." He nodded and pulled me into a hug. "Thank God." Stepping away, he looked down at the ex-army man. He crouched down and took the pistol strapped to Shazam's hip. He checked the cartridge. "No ammo." He studied him, "Looks like the poor guy got surrounded and ran out of ammo. There's a big chunk taken out of his shoulder. Must've tried to make it back to the Humvee, but never did." Steve stood back up. "I wish we could get the Humvee started to get his body back."

  Something shiny on Shazam's neck caught my eye. I bent down to grab a silver chain. His dog tags. I pulled them off and stood back up to read: Rodney Shannon. I slip it into my pocket and followed Steve around the humvee. "Okay guys. All we have to do is take exit 14 and just keep going until we see it."

  Blake furrowed his eyebrows, "See what?

  I just looked at him, "The camp." 

******

Author's Note: Almost there, dear readers. Give me a like or comment if you want. Thanks for reading! Xoxo