Daughter of the Fallen

Reunions part 2

We were checking cars on the road to see if any of them worked.

My dad approached one and a walker immediately started pounding on the glass.

"You got him?" he called to me, my mom, and Rosita, referring to Eugene. We nodded. "I got her."

He opened the car door and stabbed the walker in the head.

He got in and tried to start of the car. It worked. "Gonna have to air this baby out," he called.

"Good," Rosita complied. "It'll give us some time to figure out how to get back on track."

I sighed and walked to the front of the car. Some thing had been written on the windshield.

LET MOMMA BE

Well, we sure didn't do that, did we?

Probably feeling bad, my dad turned on the windshield wipers, wiping the message away.

My mom got in the passenger seat to talk to my dad so I went over to Rosita and Eugene.

Rosita picked up the map and Eugene tried to take it from her.

"No, Eugene," Rosita argued, taking it back.

"I'm the navigator," he shot back, his voice in its normal monotone state.

"Then learn to navigate," she told him. "You remember Thompson?"

I chuckled as I remembered. Eugene had been driving for hours when he realized he was just driving us in circles.

Eugene looked embarrassed. "I'm formally requesting a straight up do over on that one."

I walked forward. "Well, neither of us are gonna grant you that request, Eugene. None of us wanna relive that day."

He sighed. "I guided us from Houston to northern Georgia without incident."

My parents got out of the car.

"I wouldn't say without incident," my dad corrected.

"Me neither," my mom agreed.

"Minimal incident," Eugene corrected himself. "Navigation-wise, at least."

Rosita stood there, her gaze unwavering.

Eugene sighed. "Please? I cannot abide a reality where you are the chosen navigator over a son of the South who has successfully negotiated the travails and vagaries of journeys both real and virtual."

I stood next to my mom, rubbing my eyes, thinking about how I would do anything to get him to shut up.

Thankfully, Rosita abided.

She handed Eugene the map.

"Alright," she told him. "We're going North, got it?"

He nodded and, while my mom, Euegene, and Rosita got in the car, my dad pulled me aside.

"I, uh," he started. "While I was on that run, I found something I thought you would like."

I raised my eyebrows curiously. He got something out of his pocket and put it in my hand, closing my fingers around it.

I opened my hand. It was a necklace. It had a huge, metal, sparkly leaf on it. It looked like diamonds had been embedded in it.

While I usually hated shiny or sparkly things. this necklace was gorgeous.

I smiled up at him. "Thanks, dad."

He smiled and got in the car.

I put the necklace on, its shine and elegance strongly contrasting my laced boots, jeans, plain gray shirt, and army-like jacket.