Chatter

Chapter 13

Hours had passed and the ride was mostly quiet. They all were mourning Keiko, especially Cade. They had bonded both emotionally and physically. He loomed in the back of the camper alone.

Meg had kept her distance from her brother giving him space. She didn't like to see him in pain and this was about the roughest time yet. He sat with his knees to his chest on the back cot, riding alone, deep in thought or memories. She approached him slowly.

"Hey bro, can I sit with you," said Meg.

He glanced in her direction and nodded to the cot. She sat next to him and rubbed his shoulder. "It's ok to cry you know." Cade frowned and looked at her from his cradled position. "I'm not gonna cry Meg. So much has happened the last few days that I think I'm immune to tears." Even as he said this Cade was squeezing his eyes tightly to fight the tears back.

"The thing is Meg, I think I did love her. I sure as hell miss her."

His sister moved in and gave Cade a tight bear hug and didn't let go. "Things will get better soon. We are close to Canada now." Meg held his cheeks and looked in Cade's eyes. "We just have to start new lives. We mourn the past, celebrate those we lost, and try to move on." Tears rolled down Cade's cheeks, "You killed our parents and their friends, how are you ok?"

Meg looked down at the cot. "I just try to think that they weren't mom and dad anymore. They would have killed me if I didn't get them first." She sniffled, "I put on a front because I'm a tough bitch you know?" They both chuckled and finished the hug.

"Thanks sis, I feel a little better."

"That's what we do," said Meg smiling.

The camper approached a pileup on the interstate. "Guys, what do you want me to do," asked Dwayne who had been driving. The interstate had cars, trucks, and semis scattered about in a metallic mess. The undead walked slowly between the mess as if they didn't even realize. 

"Everyone get yer tools out, we gotta clean this up to get through," said Vick.

The others grabbed all the knives and blunt objects and exited the camper. By now they had done this several times and were used to the drill.

Autumn was the first out of the camper and had a large knife in each hand. She swung for the fences and attacked the three closest to her. She had picked up a little training from Vick and was holding her own well. She went low and sliced knees. She stabbed high as they fell and buried the knife hilts to the skulls of each chatterer.

Dwayne followed Autumn out the door. He had an oar they found in the boat earlier in the adventure. He swung it like a ball bat, knocked them down, and curb stomped faces.

The others followed and they cleaned up a section of the road. "Take this a little at a time guys," said Vick. "We don't want to bite off more than we can chew and get overwhelmed."

The men worked on getting the cars moved to one side of the interstate. The women cleared out any straggling undead that appeared. Dwayne drove the camper up about 100 feet and stopped. The road was blocked again. The others repeated what they had done before.

Time passed slowly and everyone was getting tired. Autumn walked too far ahead of the group and found herself blocked by a truck. She turned to go back when seven undead surrounded her. She let out a yelp but fought on.

Autumn turned to her left and brought a knee up in a chatterer groin forgetting it was dead already. It looked at her blankly and she shrugged, "hate to be you ball-less boy" as she drove her knives into its stomach and upward exploding guys all over them both.

The other two had closed in during the action and one grabbed her shoulder and spun her. She screamed and the others heard her. They all came running in a hurry, quickly downing any walkers in their way.

By the time the group had reached Autumn she was soaked in guts and standing over the three lifeless undead. They were a sight to behold. She had gutted one, beheaded one, and pretty much sawed off every part of the last one.

"You ok girl," asked Trina.

"I'm fine, sorry for screaming." She looked down, "The one looked like my dad, it freaked me out."

They all got back to work on moving the cars. Finally they had enough room to drive through the traffic jam without stopping again.

"Where in hell did the foreman go," asked Cade. "He must know a quicker way to Detroit."

"Hey Cade. Wanna know whats in my bag," asked Vick.

Cade looked over at him and smiled, "We friends now?"

"Yeah I figure we are."

Vick opened his bag and pulled something out. Cade moved closer, eyes widened.

"This is the NJAPW heavyweight title. That's New Japan All Pro Wrestling. I'm the champ over there. Used to wrestle in the states and Canada but steroids got me in trouble. Japan offered me a shit ton of cash so I took it."

He looked around and noticed the others listening in, "I go by the name Vick Michaels, but it aint my real name. That's Victor Russo. Anyway, I fly back and forth from Canada to Japan about three times a year, staying a few months each time."

"This time I happened to accept a match in Indianapolis for some extra cash so I ended up on your plane." He chuckled, "My luck huh?"

Dwayne not being very smart asked, "Isn't it all fake? You know rolling around with another guy in undies?"

Vicks frowned, looked at Cade and gave a tiny smile. With that he punched Dwayne square in the jaw knocking him over the kitchen bar and onto his ass unconscious. "That feel fake?"

The rest laughed and took turns holding the belt and trying it on. Then they put Dwayne on the cot and took off towards Detroit and freedom.

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