To be Seen or Heard

Chapter Four: Moving On (pt2)

Mamí -surprisingly- was the one leading the other group of vehicles. She said that it was because she was leading them towards our old neighborhood. There was a car rental lot a block from our house. They'd had a few RVs for rent and sale there for a couple of years now. My mother, the smart woman that she was, convinced the other group that it would be more than worthwhile to check it out because the group could exchange a couple of their cars for the RVs... or at least take some of the stored gasoline that was kept inside of the store. Apparently, these places always had gasoline inside so that people could take the cars for a test drive... which meant that the group would at least be able to get something from the trip.

The fact that the place was so close to our house also meant that for the first time since this whole disaster started, we would actually go home. Sure, we wouldn't be staying... Mamí just wanted to grab her hospital bag, medications, all the food from our cupboards that Papí hadn't grabbed the first time, and all of the clothes we would need to last us a good long while.

Watching the adults break into the rental lot was nerve-wracking. Not because it was stealing, and I'd been taught all my life that it was wrong, but because the metal fence creaked so dang loud when they opened it. Mamí drove through the gate once it was wide enough and parked by a brown RV so quickly that it made my head spin. The other cars quickly followed her lead so that Rick and Shane could close the fence once more, probably as a small safety measure.

"You guys stay put here." Glenn said after tapping my mom's window, "We're going to go get the keys and gas from inside."

My mom nodded, "I think the office was towards the back on the right."

"Thanks." he shot her a tight smile before jogging over to the other men getting ready to break into the store.

"Okay, chamos, when they get back with the keys, we are going to very quietly get out of the van and bring our things inside of the RV." my mother said seriously as she looked at us each in the eye, "Understand?"

The chorus of "Si Mamí/Tía," filled the air.

"Good. Isabella, I want you to sit with the little ones inside the RV, Camila you are going to help Izzie with Olivia, okay mi amor? Alexander y Pillar, you are going to help me get everything out of the car. No fighting, you hear me. If you don't listen, you don't get to come with me when we get to our house." her voice was hard and serious, Mamí using our full names only made me shiver and feel like I'd already done something wrong and was in need of punishment...

I just mumbled, "Yes, Mom." before nudging Isabella to take off her seat belt and pull on her backpack like me.

The transition from van to RV left my legs feeling like jello and adrenaline hammering in my chest... but we did it with minimal fuss. The only real heart-attack-inducing moment was when Eva woke up from her car-ride-induced nap with a loud whine while my mom was carrying Olivia and Camila into our new RV, but that was quickly put to a stop by propping a pacifier into her lips and softly humming Palomita Blanca under my breath. I still almost cried in relief when my mother came back out to bring Eva inside.

As soon as all the little kids were safe, I started grabbing everything in reach and sprinting up the stairs of the RV to dump them in the middle of the floor so that I could go back out and do it again. Between me and Alexander, we got the job done in under five minutes. The only things left to do were to help my mother carry out the bases of the car seats and reinstall them in the RV.

The RV itself was huge and brand new.

It also wasn't the first time I'd seen it.

About three or four months ago, when it first went on for sale, Papí had brought us all here to take a look around. He'd wanted to check out the RVs and their prices to see if it would be cheaper to rent a mobile home than get plane tickets and hotel rooms if we decided to actually go on a vacation.

This was the RV the salesperson had shown us. It was pretty huge because it not only had a master bedroom and two bathrooms, but it also had bunk beds, a magical bed that came down from the ceiling, and the couch also turned into a queen-sized bed. Mamí and Papí had both taken turns test-driving it... and I knew that they'd both been practicing for a while since they really had wanted to take us all out on a family vacation again, just like they did four summers ago. My parents had rented an RV back then as well, but it hadn't been quite as large or tricked out as this one. Then again... our family had grown since then.

Mamí put us to work, making us put our clothes away in the closets of the master bedroom... mostly so that she could deal with installing the car seats in the diner-style dinette set in peace. She outlined the plan for going into the house very clearly as we worked. Camila was to lock the door of the master bathroom and wait quietly with Olivia and Eva in the shower until Mamí came back and told her to open the door. My four-year-old sister was both thrilled with the responsibility and terrified, but Camila promised that they would be nice and quiet until we got back.

Alexander, Isabella, and I would be allowed to accompany my mother inside. Our job is to get all the clothes we can get our hands on, from underwear to sweaters and jackets... because it wouldn't be summer forever, and of course better shoes. After that, Alexander was supposed to grab all the bathroom things from the cupboards while Isabella grabbed the first aid kit under my parent's bed. I'm supposed to go into the nursery and grab all the diapers, wet wipes, and baby powder in the room.

There were so many other things that we needed to take, like the camping gear from the attic, but Mamí said that those were the most important bits... since she would be getting the bigger first aid kit and doctor's bag from the hallway closet, before filling the laundry baskets with all our canned and dried food from the pantry... so we'd need to get our butts into gear and work quickly.

The other group had chosen the blue version of our RV, and the two other ones that had solar panels like this one and weren't 'gas guzzlers.' All of the other cars had been abandoned except for the old man's junky RV and the archer's motorcycle. Once all the gas had been siphoned from the other cars, a skill that had made Alexander chortle when the only black man in the group started choking on the gasoline flowing into his mouth, Mamá once more led the other group through our neighborhood before parking in our driveway.

The street was abandoned by both cars and people. Eerily quiet in a way that made my skin crawl and paint the once warm and familiar street in an ugly, unfamiliar light. Isabella and I were quick to jump up and help Camila out of her seat and start pushing her toward the bathroom. Before Mamí could even unbuckle her seat, the men of the other group were once more flooding out of the vehicles as the sheriff and Glenn both knocked on their door. Mamí didn't hesitate before letting them in.

"We're going to take a quick look 'round and make sure there ain't any walkers around before you get out." the sheriff explained.

My mother nodded before reaching into her back pocket and tossing him her keys, "Here, you'll need these to get in."

The man tipped his head before following Glenn to our front door. The second they were gone, we all burst into action. Mamí got Olivia and Eva situated in the bathroom with Camila, while Alexander hissed at me and Isabella to dump everything that'd been inside of our bags out so that we could fill them up again with our new things. The whole event took no longer than five minutes before we were ready to storm my childhood home.

If the sheriff's group was surprised that Mamí brought us kids with her outside the RV, they didn't say a word... instead they just helped my mother start raiding the pantry while us kids sprinted upstairs.