If Tomorrow Never Comes- A zombie novel

Chapter 35

Skylar's head was all over the place, she needed to find those keys but where would bikers keep keys to their vehicles? The club house maybe. Her face lite up when she seen the building but she was quickly filled with dread when she peered through the window. A decent amount of bikers were in there gathered around the pool table. They were laughing and joking around. Which was good for Skylar and Britney at least. That meant they hadn't caught onto what their little rag tag group had just set into motion. She needed to get closer to check if the keys were in fact in there.

Max had taken such good care of her since the start of all of this. Cottled her was a better choice of words  for it, but now Skylar was quickly being thrusted into new roles. Bigger roles. Nobody's life has ever depended on her before and now so many did. Despite everything she was feeling, she was confident. That confidence started back in the library when they were trapped before Oliver showed up. She tried to her best to keep everyone positive and together down there. Made a couple of meals, maybe not homecooked but they were good enough to keep everyone's hunger at bay. Being down there with those people made Skylar realize that she didn't always want to be on the end where she needed the saving. This new world was about team work and helping those who can't help themselves and there was no way she could do that if she just waited around for her older brother to come in and save the day every time. So, although she didn't know where Max was and she wanted nothing more than to be with him, Skylar had to help these people get out of here alive.

Now that she was closer, she could see there was a bulleten board with a bunch of different keys hanging from hooks. Some of those had to be for the vans. The challenge was figuring out which ones. And getting them without those bikers finding out.

Skylar sighed. If only she knew how to hot wire.

A burst of static from the biker's walkie-talkies came from the inside. It was followed by a voice. "One of those dead guys got in some how and bit Josh. I need everyone to meet at the pit."

The idea of what the "pit" might be made Skylar's skin crawl.

The bikers exited the clubhouse and headed for the pit. "How did one of them get in."

"Probably one of those people Bishop stole that boat from."

She waited until they were out of eye sight before entering the building. A wave of whisky and stale cigarettes smacked her in the face. She swatted it away before hurrying over to the keys. Couldn't they just have van keys written on them. Or something helpful like that. Skylar began taking as many keys as she could and stuffing them into her pockets. She noticed a set of keys that looked like they might be to Andy's boat and pocketed those too. The front door opened but she didn't have enough time to hide. She slowly turned around and to her suprise, it was a little girl with two dirty blonde braids and blue eyes. She couldn't be any older than six. 

"Where's my dad?"

"Uhhh...he was just here but had to go take care of something. He'll be back soon."

"Can I wait here for him?"

Skylar mentally kicked herself. Why did she have to go and say that.

"Yeah. Sure. Just take a seat over there." She pointed to one of the arm chairs over in the far right corner but the girl opted out for a stool at the bar. She climbed up and plopped down on the seat as if she's done that a handful of times before. Skylar just rolled her eyes and grabbed a couple of more keys before going to leave.

"You're not going to wait with me?" The little girl called after her.

"Sorry sweetie, but I have to get back to my boy." She offered a smile. "But wait here. Your daddy will be back soon."

She didn't even stick around to see the girl's reaction. As soon as Skylar got outside, she booked it for the vans which weren't parked too far away from the clubhouse. She tried the different keys on each van until one worked. After a small victory dance she made her way back to the house they were being held in. She had to get the others to the van. Hopefully Britney and the other two women found those guns. Once Skylar got back into the house, she explained how they had to go one at a time to the van, that way they wouldn't attract attention. She also went over how important it was to lay down on their bellies in the backof the van once they got there and to be quiet no matter what.

Kaleb felt anxious and began crying. Skylar wiped his tears and grabbed his face with one of her hands.

"I need you to be brave for me more than ever. More than when we were in the library. More than when we left the school. These people are dangerous and if you don't listen to everything I say, we could die."

It probably wasn't the best idea to tell an eight year old they were going to die, but Skylar felt it was important for him to know that his actions could cause lives to be lost. If he misunderstood her one bit, it could be over for them. Kaleb was the youngest but that didn't mean he didn't have the right to understand what was going on just like everyone else present. He nodded his head and Skylar hugged him and let it linger for a few moments longer. It reminded her of when she would hug her little sister. If Hannah were here right now, this is what should would say to her. She would explain the situation. This is how she would make sure Hannah would make it out of this alive.