Highway To Hell

Chapter 6

   Lori stares at me as I hold the plate to my mouth and use the fork to shovel the eggs T-Dog had made into my mouth. I set the plate down and look over at Carl. He laughs when he sees my egg filled cheeks that are puffed out like a chipmunk. I chew to the best of my ability and swallow. 

  "Mornin'," Rick says. Walking into the room. His eyes are squinted and he looks slightly out of it.

   "Are you hungover?" Carl asks and I snort. "Mom said you'd be."

   "Mom is right," Rick says, sitting down. 

   "Mom has that annoying habit," Lori says. 

   "Don't ever ever ever let me drink again," Glenn groans as T-Dog puts some eggs on his plate.

   "Eat," I say, putting a fork in his hand. "The protein will help the hangover. You should have at least drank a little water last night." Lori gives me a questioning look and opens her mouth to ask something. "Dean," I say before she can ask. "Alcohol and women were his two favorite things besides his family and car. Oh, and bacon cheeseburgers. Pretty sure he'd die if they didn't exist." But, then again, he wouldn't stay dead. 

   "Huh," is all she says in response. 

   "You'll have to tell me more about your brothers sometime, Ivy," Dale says. I smile and nod, hoping he wouldn't push the matter. 

   "Hey," Shane says, walking in.

   "Hey," Rick answers. My eyes zero in on three long scratches on Shane's neck. What happened? "Feel as bad as I do?" Rick asks.

   "Worse," Shane answers. 

   "The hell happened to you?" T-Dog asks. "Your neck?"

   "I must have done it in my sleep," Shane says. I look down a his hands. No way. His nails are way too short. 

   "Never seen you do that before," Rick says. 

   "Me neither," Shane mutters, then he glances at Lori. "Not like me at all." I follow his gaze and stare at Lori curiously. What had happened between them last night? She refuses to even look at him. 

   "I think I'm going to go find something to read in the rec room," I say, standing up. "Thanks for breakfast, T. It tasted great. Could barely tell the eggs were powdered." He chuckles and nods. I leave and pass Jenner on my way out. I nod to him in greeting as I walk by, but don't say anything. I know the others are all very grateful to him for letting us in, I am too, but I'm going to shower him with thanks. All he had to do was press a few buttons and it saved our lives. It's not like he risked his life or even had to do much. It was basic human decency. 

   I walk into the rec room and start looking at books. I pull one out and go sit on the couch. I love to read. I'm a bit like Sam in that way. Except he prefers non-fiction to my fiction. I especially like anything that has to do with the supernatural. I think it's funny to see how far off people's imaginations take them away from the real thing. Like the lady who wrote the books about the sparkling vampires. Boy, was she off. I vaguely register the lights turning off, but then dimmer ones came back on and I shrugged it off. I loose myself in the book and don't pay anything any mind. 

   That is . . . until a siren starts blaring around me. I look around in bewilderment, trying to understand what's going on. I get up and run out to the big room. 

   "What's going on?" I ask. A big metal door slides up and blocks off the hallway to the elevator. 

   "Did you just lock us in?" Glenn asks and I look over at Jenner. "He just locked us in!" He exclaims. Jenner ignores us as he sits at one of the computers. What the hell happened in the little time I was gone? I just wanted to relax a little, people!