Re-ans

Re-ans Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Escape

"Guys get in here." Luke jerked awake as the door banged against the wall. Jessica cried out in surprise beside him. She shot up, and he climbed out, following her at a run into the living room. Tavish was awake, setting up on the couch staring at Gavin like he was about to run through him, he seemed to notice the beeping on the radio had changed right about the same time Luke did. He sat down on one of the stools at the island that separated the kitchen from the living room.

"Tuesday September fourth. Today's evac locations will be as follows:" The voice on the radio said and they all listened intently. "West Central School roof, Piedmont hospital roof, the roof of Kleeman's sporting goods, and pierce central park. Evac times will begin at seven am, and will arrive on the hour after that. The last evac from the city will be at noon today. At twelve fifteen fighter jets will be deployed over the city to perform sanitation, to try to prevent further spread of the infection. No person's bitten will be allowed out of the city, no exceptions. Anyone who attempts to do so will be shot on sight, I repeat..."

"Oh god, they're going to bomb the city." Gavin practically shrieked out. Luke could hear Tavish's sobs coming from the couch, and Jessica's from beside him. He was simply numb. He listened to the message as it was repeated again then walked forward and kicked the radio into the far wall shattering it. He took a deep breath before he spoke.

"Everyone calm down." He looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. "It's just after four am, that gives us eight hours to reach the evac point before the city blows. We'll be fine."

"We have to get out of here now." Gavin said standing, he started packing up the weapons they had gathered into a bag. Luke walked over and ripped it out of his hand before taking another slow deep breath. It didn't make any sense for him to be so angry right now, it wouldn't help anyone.

"The first evac isn't for three hours Gavin, and it's dark. We don't stand a chance if we can't see those things." He walked into the kitchen and opened one of the drawers under the microwave. He pulled out the map of the city that he'd found the day before, he grabbed it and headed back into the living room. He grabbed Jess's hand as he walked past and pulled her along behind him. She seemed to be almost in shock.

Tavish moved the candles and Luke spread out the map using the candles to hold the corners down. He stared down at the map a minute before he spoke. "Okay the hospital was here." He said pointing to a spot on the lower left of the map. "Pike street." He screwed up his face. He knew they were only about two blocks away. "I don't know which way we ran."

"All the mail I found said 1458 Melburn." Tavish said pointing about two blocks east " We're about here." Luke felt a shifting beside him as Jessica pulled a pen out of her pocket and marked a dot on the map. He rattled off the evac spots in his head.

"The school is here." He said pointing, she marked down a dot, like them it rested in the southwest region.

"Piedmont's all the way up by the old waterpark somewhere near here." Tavish said pointing to the northeast region of the city, she put down a mark.

"I don't know where that sporting goods place is, but the park is dead center of the city." Gavin said, pointing. Luke nodded as Jess marked it down.

"I've never heard of that place either Tavish, Jess?" They shook their heads. "Okay Anderson chemical is or was up here," he said pointing. He reached for Jess's pen and put an x on the northwest section. "I assume they wouldn't put an evac spot that close to where this all started, so I'd guess that means that the store is somewhere over here." He said circling the southeast region.

"Looks like that means the school's our best bet." Jess said and stood walking away toward the kitchen. He nodded.

"We were there the day the lab went down, but everyone left before all hell broke loose, so if we get there between evacs hopefully we'll be able to find a classroom to hide in." Luke said and stood looking around. It was only four thirty am, still a good while before sunrise. "We should each pack a bag, food, water, weapons, anything we might need. Everyone eat as much as you can. We'll need the strength." He put a hand on his cousin's shoulder, he was practically vibrating. "We'll be alright, I promise." He turned to Tavish, his friend made eye contact with him for a moment then nodded.