Rough Road Ahead (In Progress)

Chapter 30 - Epilogue

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            It was three months of living in jail before our first trial. We were all surprised that the CDC hadn't killed all of us right away, but Good and I had come to the conclusion that it was because our news broadcast had become so public, if we just went missing the public would mutiny. The scientists were working on a cure using the gold under the town. As it turns out, in lab tests the gold proved to work. They were creating an injectable cure that could be put in the flu shot this coming year. There were protests going on about the fact that we were still in jail, but the CDC was working hard at keeping us in prison for as long as possible. They were powerful, and I doubted that we would see the light of day again. They had given us a false criminal record, saying we were in cahoots with Good and Luck.

            Good was wearing a smirk on his pale face. It was as if he could see the future through some sort of crystal ball. Ever since last week when the guard had called upon him and lead him out of his jail cell, he had been wearing that smile. Brad and I had begun to think the worst. Inmates were easy targets for murder, no one would miss them and if anyone began to ask questions they could say that the inmate attacked the guard. But when he returned he said, "I got a phone call." But when we asked from who, he just ignored us, his smirk growing across his face. "Don't worry," he said, kicking his feet up and putting his arms over his head, "help is on the way."

                                                            *Epilogue*

            Luck had come during the trials, shooting out the window of the white van and killing the driver. His drag racing skills had come in handy yet again, and the four of them escaped with ease.

            They had left the van on the side of the road, just in case it had a tracker in it. Luck still had the truck that Brad and Iris had stolen during the night they had escaped quarantine, so they switched to that truck and drove to the hide out.

            Luck had found a place that was totally abandoned. The last place that anyone would look for escaped convicts. GoldTown. Iris had been wary about going back there, her heart jumping into her throat. That was the last place she wanted to be. A ghost town where all those people had died.

            But they continued forward, and in a day and a half they had made it. As it turns out, there was still one house standing after all the explosions, and that was the one they chose to inhabit.

            Iris walked out of the car, her legs moving over the red covered dirt. This was home sweet home she thought glumly. This was it. Her eyes moved over the flat land with a sigh.

            She walked from one end of the town to the other, her feet stumbling on a shattered doll, the face half caved in. She recognized it. It was the same doll she had spent the last six months fearing. The same doll that lady had held to her breast as if it were real. That dead lady, she thought. And although Iris thought of leaving the doll in the dirt to rot and turn to dust like her mother had, she felt sympathy for it. That lady was gone now, everyone was gone now, but that doll had survived. It didn't seem right to leave her there. And so Iris picked up the doll, no longer fearing it, and cupped it in her arms, holding it to her breast and whispering sweet nothings. She needed a new mother, she thought.

            Out of nowhere Iris began to hear barking, her head turning to meet a sheep hoarding dog. "Hello, buddy." He smiled, leaning over and petting him, her mind jumping back in time. This was the same dog that had tried to warn them as they rolled into GoldTown all those months ago. The dog barked happily and rolled over, allowing Iris to rub his belly.

            He survived, she thought and suddenly she was reminded of the horrible thought she had had a few months prior. The thought that all those people in that town would live on in her memories, haunting her in her sleep. Suddenly that thought didn't seem so bad. Those people would never grow old and never die, they were a memory.

            Suddenly the town didn't seem so scary, it seemed like a utopia. Her own town. Everyone here was her family. They were part of her. Living on in her memories forever. Good and Luck and Brad, this doll and this dog were hers. The family that she had always wanted. The family she never had.

            The therapist had been right in a round about way, this road trip had helped Iris to find a family that cared about one another. All the turmoil of their past had brought them closer together. It helped them stay together.

            "You ok." Brad asked, standing behind me.

            I smiled, petting the dog one last time before turning around, "yeah. Yeah. I think I am."