“I don’t think they will make it that far. They’ll get sidetracked before they make it down that way.” Claire was uneasy about leaving them wandering, but Sophie was the boss when Henry was not around. She didn’t want to cause any waves so soon in their trip back to his apartment.
Sophie drove like a maniac back to the highway. It was the proverbial white knuckle ride. Everything looked the same as it did when they had passed through there the first time not all that long ago. Across from the convenience store, where they found Thomas holding Henry hostage after he bit Nick, was the off-ramp. Sophie decided to get on the highway by going up the ramp.
“What are you doing? This is the off-ramp!” Good ol’ Claire. Always trying to walk the straight and narrow.
“Do you think that I don’t know that?”
“You can’t go up this! It’s against the law!”
Sophie cackled. “Against the law!” She howled. “Who is going to stop me?” Claire just let out a noise of frustration. “I’m going to get on the highway, and cut across the median between the north and south lanes.”
“Great.”
“What are you worried about?”
“Getting hit by another car!”
Sophie rolled her eyes. “I don’t think we’re going to see anyone, Claire.” Then she pulled up onto the highway and drove a little ways down until she found a division. She drove the truck onto the opposite side of the highway and began to head back toward the city.
***
It took most of the night, but they finally made it to the exit to get to Henry’s apartment. There were a few traffic jams that they had to push through. There were some moments scarier than others, but for the most part, things went well, considering the circumstances.
The nighttime was always eerie. With nothing but the moon and their gore-covered headlights lighting their way, it was difficult to see. Thomas and Claire hung out the windows of the truck, looking for any signs of life…or unlife. The chilly autumn air was cutting through them.
Slowly, Sophie navigated through the city streets, dodging several herds of staggering undeads. Finally, they made it to the street Henry’s apartment was on. It looked just as they left it…corpses rotting in the streets, cars pushed aside, and that limo parked right in front of the building.
When Claire saw that the limo was still there, she flashed back to Marc getting bit at Elaina’s wedding. She went into a zone. Her mind was flashing through all their moments together. Everything from the day they met, until his very end, until the end of them.
She felt guilty giving herself to Nick, wondering if she had properly mourned Marc. It had been only a few weeks since his true death, but it seemed like an eternity.
After she met Marc, Claire had envisioned a life with him. She had given up on her fantasy about Nick and her…for the most part. It was always alive in the deepest parts of her heart. She wanted to marry Marc, she wanted to have his children, she wanted to have a happy life doting on the very man who saved her from falling into a deep depression when her parents died. If it hadn’t been for him, she would never have gotten out of bed again.
Then, suddenly, she flashed forward to the moment that Nick first kissed her. It made that flicker of life stir deep in the pit of her stomach. She always had a crush on him.
Claire and Elaina became friends in middle school. The first time she went over to the Cooper’s, Nick was lounging on the couch, playing his guitar. She remembered being lost in his rhythmic movements. He was singing with his eyes closed, not knowing he had drawn in the audience of one girl, who quickly became smitten with her friend’s older brother.
She would never forget the song: Going to California by Led Zeppelin. Nick played it with such ease, such talent, and such grace. When the song ended, Claire softly applauded and he was jolted out of his somber trance. He looked at her with a soft smile. Then Elaina grabbed her arm and pulled her upstairs to her room so they could do what fourteen-year-old girls do best…gossip.
From that moment on, she had a yearning for Nick, but she couldn’t confess her feelings, fearing that he would reject her. Every time she saw him with his next fling, a jealous streak would run through her body. Claire could never understand why Nick only saw her as Elaina’s friend and never as much, much more.
After Nick’s graduation, he went away to college. Claire’s feelings simmered down when she wasn’t seeing him several times a week. Then, in her senior year, she ran into Marc…literally. She ran into him with her car, bumping into him in a parking lot. Once he saw how beautiful she was, he forgave her.