The Long Road Home

Chapter Twenty Seven

When Page woke, she thought she was still dreaming. The sky was passing by overhead and she was bobbing as if she was floating on a raft. Sitting up, she realized she was on a stretcher being carried by two of Ty's men. Ty and Kidd were walking beside her.

'Welcome back to the land of the living.' Ty said amused. 'How are you feeling?'

'A little confused.' She admitted looking around. They were on the interstate and there were thick woods on either side of the road, which meant she had been out for quite a while. 'What mile marker are we on?'

'Don't worry,' The man holding the back of the stretcher said 'We talked to Mouth and he told us about the ponds he is sending you too. We haven't hit the mile marker yet.' She nodded frowning and looked to Kidd.

'Are you okay?' He signed worried. 'Yeah tiger.' She assured him 'I'm fine. Sore, but I will live.' He nodded.

'You understand those hand signs?' The man said. 'We couldn't get what he was trying to say.'

'Course she dose.' The man in the front said amused. 'She's his mom. All moms understand their kids.' Page could not stop the smile and did not bother to correct him. The thought of Kidd being her son filled her with warmth and joy.

Theo joined them smiling. He stopped the men so he could check her over.

'You're looking better.' He assured her. 'Not fit to walk yet, but we have a solution for that.' He pulled a wheel chair off her cart, which one of the men were pulling. Page wanted to protest, but as she stood the pain in her side and arm cut her short. She sat down in the chair with a sigh. 'Since your up, let me introduce everyone. You know Ty. You may call me Theo, that is Baker,' He pointed to the black man who had been excited to be a fugitive. 'Beside him is Jones.' The short stocky Asian man nodded his head and resumed scanning the woods. Page liked him right off. 'Monroe,' The woman he pointed out was also watching the woods not bothering to look to Page. 'Ryan,' the reed thin white male nodded to her as he folded up the stretcher. 'and Castle.' The other man who had been carrying the stretcher accepted his gun from Ty and smiled to Page before scanning the road.

Ty took the job of pushing the wheel chair. Kidd walked to Page's right and Theo to her left. Page frowned up to Theo.

'Any idea why this happened?' She asked and he sighed.

'No.' He admitted. 'I have worked hard to find the answer. Ty's team were my hunters and gathered specimens for me. The few, what was it Mouth called them? Rippers? I had only been able to examine a handful before they went south for the winter. I discovered copious amounts of adrenaline and an unknown substance in there systems. Whatever is causing this has made them as dangerous and uncontrollable as a professional athlete on pcp.'

'What about that base you were at?' She asked 'What's the story there?'

'It's a government fallout shelter.' Ty told her 'It was meant to house high ranking officers in case of a nuclear or biological attack. It is one of several top-secret faculties spread all over the country. Seeing as most of the former government ate each other though, I don't think anyone will mind us telling you about it.' Page frowned nodding.

'So you are all safe down there while the shit was hitting the fan up here?' She asked annoyed.

'Yeah.' Ty sighed. 'Not by choice however. We were at the base north of here when we were ordered to the shelter. Had no idea what was happening topside until eight months ago when they said it was safe to leave.' He frowned gaining a hunted look. 'I thought it was a terrorist attack or something.' Ty shook his head 'Then we encountered the first group of rippers. They took out Mason's team before we realized they were attracted to sound.' He shrugged.