We waited on the others who were going out with us today. So far it was Jace, Aiden, Myles and me. Everyone was geared up, ready to go when the elevator dinged and my girls stepped out with my mom.
Sofia ran up to me and I knelt down so she could hug me, "do you have to go out today?" she asked me.
"I do. I have to go find uncle Gabe." I told her.
"Why can't someone else go for you?" she asked.
"Because I promised uncle Gabe that I would come find him." I said. "I don't make promises I can't keep, remember that Sofia."
"I will mom." She replied. "Promise me you will be safe."
"I promise." I told her.
"Promise you will be back?" she said and I looked up at my mom.
"I can't make that promise but I can promise I will try." I told her.
She kissed my cheek and walked over to Jace and tapped him on his leg and he turned around, while Kylie hugged and kissed me.
She motioned him with her little finger and he bent down to her level.
"Are you going out with my mommy and uncle?" Sofia asked him.
"I am." Jace answered.
"Promise you will keep her safe?" She asked him and pulled a little knife out of her pocket.
"I promise." Jace answered.
"Take this." Sofia told him. "It'll help you keep her safe."
"Where did you get this? It's a nice knife." Jace said.
"I got it from Pawpaw before we came down here, I snuck it in my stuff." Sofia said. "Please keep my mom safe." She kissed Jace's cheek and walked over to me and grabbed Kylie.
"Love you Sofia. Love you Kylie." I said and my voice cracked a little bit.
"Love you too." They said together as they walked out of the room.
"Connect to Angie." I said after I touched my ear piece.
After the familiar beep I heard Angie.
"Yeah?" she said sleepily.
"Hey, could you go check on Doctor Kendrick please and give me an update?" I asked nicely.
"Yeah, I will here in a little bit and I will get back to ya." she said.
"Alright. Thank you." I told her.
"No problem" she said to me.
"Disconnect." I said and turned to face the men going out with me today. "Alright gentlemen. We have two objectives today. One: get to Thermopolis and find Gabe. Two: find any survivors we can and bring them back to the bunker. If you find a survivor, connect to Ben or Noah so they can do a background check, we don't want to bring people here that are dangerous or that threaten what we have here. We will split into two teams; Jace and I will check Erika's grandma's house for them and if we can't find them we will start checking all the houses around them. Aiden, you and Myles start at the hospital and work your way to us, we will meet up at the police department."
"Alright." Aiden said.
"I will take the armored van and you can take what ever you want; as long as it's armored." I told him.
"Sounds good." Aiden said. "I will let Myles pick out the vehicle we take."
"Hell yeah man!" Myles said and slapped Aiden's back.
"Let's get going. It'll take an hour and a half to get there and to get back." I told them. "Meet you down in the garage."
"Can I talk to you Laurell?" Jace asked.
"Sure, follow me." I said to him and whispered, "connect to Ben."
When we got out to the hallway Jace put a hand on my shoulder and said, "I am sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
"What's going on Lo?" Ben asked.
"What do you mean?" I asked Jace.
"Jake knows you are in Wyoming because I told him you were here, the week before the CDC released the neuroagent." Jace said.
"Why?" I asked. "Why would you do that?"
"Because he hired my brother and I to come find you, when I found you; I told him. But that's not it." Jace said.
"Okay?" I said.
"I've been in contact with him since then, I have a satellite phone to contact him. When I seen you yesterday, I called him and I am suppose to call him again today to let him know I have you." Jace said.
"What do you mean, to let him know you have me?" I asked.
"I am suppose to take you the Colorado border and give you to Jake." Jace said and hung his head. "I am sorry, I had to tell you. I didn't know he use to hit you; obviously I'm not going to call him but I wanted to let you know. Maybe that's what he's been talking to that Billy guy about. Telling Billy that he will get him and his friends out as long as they deliver you to the gate; that's what he told me and Kai."
"Wow." I said. "So why did you help me back in the alley?"
"Because I wasn't sure what Billy and those guys would do to you and now that I know the whole story with Jake, I can tell you that I swear I will do what I can to protect you." Jace promised me as he put left hand on right side of my face and rubbed my cheek with his thumb.
"Lo, be careful around him." Ben said. "I shouldn't have told you to trust him, even though he seems trustworthy. I mean come on, he didn't have to tell you about his deal with Jake."
"I know." I whispered and closed my eyes. "Let's head out." I told him and stepped away from him and pushed the elevator door button. Aiden and Myles walked up to us as soon as the doors opened.
"Alright boys, lets bring Gabe home. As always, we will all be connected to each other as well as Ben and Noah in security as we are out looking for survivors and more supplies. Be careful." I said as the door opened and we all walked out into the garage.
"Always am." Aiden said as he kissed my cheek, "be careful Laurell and you, take care of her."
"I will." Jace said.
Myles walked up to me and did an one arm hug, "be careful Laurell."
"Always am." I told him and kissed his cheek. "You be careful as well."
"Will do." Myles said to me and turned to Jace, "you be careful to man."
"I will. Thanks." Jace said, "y'all take care."
"Connect to Ben." I said.
"You are already connected to me." Ben said.
"I know." I said. "Connect us all together. Aiden, Myles, Jace, you, Noah and me."
I heard some typing on a keyboard and Ben said, "we are all connected."
"Thanks Ben." I said.
"You all stay safe out there." Ben said.
"Always am." Aiden and I said in unison.
Jace and I climbed into the van while Aiden and Myles climbed into one of the trucks and we headed out.
"Let's take 789 to Riverton, if we have any sign of survivors, we take a mental note of where and we will stop on the way back." I told them. "We don't stop unless we have to."
"Sounds good Lo." I heard Aiden say through the ear piece.
"What if they are being attacked by the Rotters?" Myles asked.
"Then we will stop but if they aren't being attacked, we keep going. We have to make it back to the bunker before night." I told him.
"Okay" was his reply.
We drove the rest of the way in silence.
About halfway to Thermopolis, I could tell Jace wanted to talk because he kept opening his mouth like he was going to say something then he would close it. He repeated that about three times before I decided to talk.
"You do know that we can mute the ear pieces, right?" I told him as I touched my ear piece, muting it to where the others couldn't hear what we were saying. "See, muted. You try."
We could still hear what the others were saying but they couldn't hear us, which gave Jace the opportunity to talk.
"We should talk about what happened in the shooting rage." Jace said.
"What is there to talk about?" I asked.
"I won't say I am sorry for kissing you, because I am not. I would like to get to know you better, if that is okay with you." Jace said and I let out a laugh.
"Sure why not?" I said. "What would you like to know?"
Over the next forty five minutes, Jace and I asked each other questions. You know, birthday day, how many siblings, favorite color and food, etc. It was kind of fun, it would've been better had we met and had this talk before the outbreak but it was okay now, I am glad we were doing it. There are things I know about him that I didn't even know about my ex-husband.
We were fifteen minutes away from the town of Thermopolis when Aiden said, "Lo, look to the right."
I unmuted my ear piece and looked the way Aiden told me to. Standing on top of a Ford Focus was a young woman with a baby in her arms and Rotters surrounding her vehicle.
"How are we suppose to know if it's a trap or not?" I asked. "She could do this to everyone who passes by." I rolled my window down and heard the woman scream like a banshee.
"Please! Please help us!" She yelled.
"Lo, I don't think it's a trap." Aiden said.
"Everyone arm up and watch the sides of the roads as well as the backs of the vehicles. Since the windows are tinted, Myles; you stay in the VEE and watch our backs." I said over the ear piece as I got out of the van and unsheathed my katana then made my way to the Ford Focus.
I swung my katana, beheading all the Rotters near me and the ones near the ford Focus.
After all the zombies were gone, Aiden helped the woman down from the top of her vehicle and checked her and the baby for bites.
"You weren't bitten, were you?" I asked.
"N-n-no." She studdered.
"And the baby?" I asked.
"No, h-he wasn't either." She said.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"My name is Willow. Willow Simmons." She said.
"I am Laurell, this is my brother Aiden, and our friend Jace. What are you doing out here with a baby, Willow?" I asked.
"My boyfriend and I were on our way to town to get more food for us and diapers for the baby. When our car broke down, Jeremy said he would be right back, that he was going to run to town for the food and I was to stay here with the baby and he'd meet us here when he was done." She told us.
"How long ago was that?" I asked.
"About eight hours ago." She said.
"So you've been standing on top of your car for eight hours?" Aiden asked.
"No. I was standing on top of my car for about six hours. Two hours after Jer left, some biters came up to the car because the baby was crying and they somehow busted the window. I grabbed the baby, trying to calm him down when the front window got busted so I climbed through the sunroof and have been standing up there since. Thank you for stopping. You saved our lives." Willow told us.
"Do you want a ride into town?" I asked. "We are headed that way, looking for survivors and my brother, to take them to a safe place."
"Yes, that would be nice." She replied. "Thank you. Let me grab his car seat and diaper bag out of my car. Here, could you hold him?"
She handed me the baby and opened the back door of her Ford Focus. I looked down at the baby and sucked in a my breath. He was gorgeous. He had light brown hair that was curly on the top of his head, he had light blue eyes, an adorable button nose and rosy red cheeks.
"How old is he?" I asked.
"He is two weeks tomorrow." She replied as she unhooked the car seat.
"So you had him after the outbreak?" I said.
"Yeah." She replied. "We had a little warning before it happened, so Jer and I went down into my cellar and covered the doorway with plastic. We had a tv down there so we were able to watch as the people we knew started dropping then rising again only to attack their friends and loved ones. My cousin Marie, is a broadcaster and she's been keeping everyone updated. They were going to use the police department basement as a safe zone but someone who had gotten bitten was down there and attacked everyone. Only ten people out of fifty made it out of the station alive, unbitten."
"Would you like to go back with us?" I asked as I handed the baby back to her so she could strap him into the car seat.
"I would like to look for Jeremy first, if I can't find him by the time you leave then yes. I would like to go with you." She replied.
"Okay. A, you take her with you and Myles. See if you can find her boyfriend. Keep an eye on her and the baby." I told him then said to her, "do you have a carrier so you can strap the baby to your chest?"
"Yes. It's in the diaper bag." She replied.
"Good." I said as I walked over to the van I was driving and opened the back door, grabbing a machete out. "Strap it on before you get out of the VEE, better yet, as soon as you get in there, strap that sucker on. It'll save time. Take this, if something happens and Aiden or Myles aren't able to help you, start swinging." I told her and as I handed her the machete.
"Thank you." She said again.
"Don't thank me yet, thank me when you are safe at the bunker." I told her. "Be prepared to defend yourself, you never know what or who you will run in to."
"Bunker?" She asked.
"Yeah, I am one of those doomsday freaks; which works out for us." I said with a wink. "Remember the meeting place A."
"I do Lo." Aiden said.
"Be safe A." I told him.
"Always am." He said. "See you soon. Keep her safe Jace."
"Always will." Jace whispered.
I looked at him and he looked away.
"Let's move out. The sooner we find Gabe, the better." I said.
"Gabe Mathison?" Willow asked.
"Yes." I said. "Do you know where he is?"
"I don't but I do know that Ms. Patsy was one of the first to change." She said.
"SHIT!" I yelled. "We need to find Gabe, now! Meet as soon as you are done."
I ran back to the van and jumped in. Jace, understanding the rush, jumped in a couple of seconds right after I did and as soon as he jumped in, I put the van in drive and hit the gas.
"Son of a bitch!" I yelled as I hit the steering wheel, swerving around the abandoned cars on the road, not stopping for anything; hitting the rotters that were in my way. I had to get to my brother, that was where my mindset was. He was my main priority today and everyday until I found him.