Sorrow's Gift

Chapter Forty-Eight: Crash

Tank spread the map on the table and pointed to a spot he'd circled in red. Crash leaned over him to get a closer look at the route.

"The hospital is over here," he said. "It's about six miles from here by car, but like I told Crash, the bridge is completely jammed up and unless you drive about fifty miles out of your way into more unpredictable territory, your best bet is on foot after you hit the bridge. We had some guys try to drive up north for a better way around to that side of town, but they ran into some large hordes of Z's and had to turn around."

"Does anyone in your group know much about that side of town?" Crash asked. "Anyone who might have gotten a good look at the hospital?"

Tank sighed and studied the map. He pointed to a subdivision a couple blocks south of the store. "One of the men, Jenkins, used to live over in this subdivision. He and his two sons did a pretty good job clearing things out at the beginning before they came here. They said they took care of a lot of Z's over by the hospital, but that they didn't risk going inside."

"We'll do the best we can," Crash said.

"Thank you," Tank said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "This really does mean a lot to a lot of people around here."

"We're glad to help," Parrish said. "Anything else we need to know about the surrounding area? Places we should absolutely avoid, things like that?"

Tank circled an area north of the bridge. "Last time I was out there, this section had a huge population of Z's. There's a area of public housing there, so there were a lot of people living in a confined space. I'd avoid it at all costs if I could."

Crash looked up and saw that Lily was studying the map hard, her burned hand touching her temple. Something tugged at the back of his mind and his pulse quickened.

"You feeling okay?" he asked.

She looked up. "Sure," she said with a wavering smile. "I'm just trying to think about the plan and how we're going to get in and out of that hospital without getting hurt."

"I thought you maybe had a headache or something from the way you're touching your head like that," he said. He glanced over and met Parrish's eyes. "Want someone to get you an aspirin or something?"

"No, I'm fine," she said. She hid her hand inside her shirt sleeve and backed away from the table.

Crash was sure she'd done almost the exact same thing the other day. He was probably reading too much into it, but his nerves knotted in his stomach.

"Well, we all need to get some rest, I'm sure," he said. "Tank, thanks for walking us through the route. I'll set an alarm for five so we have time to get up and get some coffee and breakfast before we take off, if that sounds alright with you."

"Absolutely," Tank said. "Some of the women, including Cheryl, volunteered to get up early and fix a nice breakfast of bacon and eggs to make sure you guys leave with energy and full stomachs. They're packing up some snacks and MRE's for you, too, in case you end up being gone overnight."

"That's very nice of them," Parrish said. "What about cell phones? If the electricity and internet is still working, does that mean phones are, too? That way we could call if something goes wrong."

"I wish," Tank said, shaking his head. "I can't explain why one thing works and the other doesn't, but cell service has been down for a good while now. We have a few sets of walkie talkies you can take, but the signal won't reach the whole way."

"That would be great," Crash said.

He folded up the map and stuck it in his backpack for safe keeping.

"I'm heading to bed," he said. "If you guys know what's good for you, you'll turn in early, too. I have a feeling it's going to be a very long day tomorrow."

He shook Tank's hand and said goodnight to the others, hoping that for once, his dreams would take the night off.