I reached in and began checking every compartment and place that she could have possibly hidden things. Henry walked around to the back and opened the liftgate.
There wasn’t much in the truck, just a few needles and a couple rogue bullets. Both would be useful. We didn’t find any personal effects. I think Henry was hoping to find something he could hold on to besides the one piece of luggage with her clothes, and her pack. Something that would always make him think of, and feel, Sophie.
“I’m sorry we didn’t find what you were looking for.” He didn’t say anything, but got in the driver’s seat and started the truck, checking the gas gauge.
I watched him work diligently. He shut every emotion out. Every move he made was methodical. It was sad to see that he was still so programmed. I don’t think he would ever be able to just relax and let his guard down.
Once he finished, he put both sets of keys in his pocket. Henry then grabbed my hand and we went back inside. I opened the door, and found Claire and Nick on the floor organizing supplies.
Claire looked up and frowned. “Elaina, I have no idea how we’ll fit all of this in one truck. It’s nearly impossible. We need to decide what to weed out.”
We all sat down and went through everything until we had our supplies paired down enough to fit in the truck. I was surprised when Henry said we should leave Sophie’s clothes behind.
Once we were satisfied that we could fit the supplies that we wanted to take with us, we loaded up and got the hell out of there. I didn’t want to spend another minute in that townhouse. It was just one more place with bad memories.
With a deep breath and a calming silence that filled the inside of the truck, Henry safely navigated back to the highway. We continued forward to our destination, where I presumed we would make more bad memories.
Chapter 33
-December 2014-
I
t had taken us well over a month to get to Virginia. There were a few times when I didn’t think we were going to make it between coming close to running out of gas, the undeads, congested roads, and other survivors trying to take our supplies. Henry got into a few fist fights with other survivors. The last fight, I had to have Nick pull him off of the douchebag before he killed him.
We spent about half of our ammunition. Henry was worried that we wouldn’t have enough to get us to Gunther. The meeting point was supposed to be at one of the ports in North Carolina.
I was almost hoping that Gunther wouldn’t be there. I didn’t think I could handle another Kellan situation. I had already seen Henry and Gunther duke it out once, and it wasn’t pretty. Gunther was bigger. Henry’s speed did give him a run for his money, though. I snapped out of my thoughts when I realized Henry was pulling the truck over to the shoulder of the highway.
“Nature calls. Nick? Thomas?” They both decided to go with him. I looked back at Claire, who looked worried.
“Don’t worry. They’ll be back in a minute.” I was trying my best to be comforting. I wasn’t very good at it, but I had to keep trying.
“Oh. Yeah.” She fiddled with her fingers. I could see there was something really wrong.
“Claire, what’s going on? Did you and Nick have a fight?” She shook her head. “Tell me. I can see you’re upset.” There was a long silence.
Just when I thought I was going to die from curiosity, she said, “I think I might be pregnant.” Her voice was so quiet that I thought I misheard her.
“Pregnant?”
She nodded. “Even through all this bullshit, I’ve been on time. I was supposed to get it two weeks ago.” I didn’t say anything. Frankly, I didn’t know what to say. “I don’t know what to do, Elaina.”
“You have to tell him.”
“I know, but we can’t bring a baby into this crazy, fucked up world! We’re barely surviving ourselves.” The tears flowed down her cheeks. She put her face in her hands, and I reached back and rubbed her knee.
The three men came back, relief written all over their faces. Nick opened the door and saw Claire crying.
“Claire? Hey. Hey. What’s wrong?” He pulled her close, and she pushed her face into his chest. “Claire…?” He looked at me with his eyebrows raised, asking me what was going on.
“She’s just worried.” I turned around and faced the front. I took a deep breath, hoping Nick wouldn’t ask me anything.
“Claire…tell me what’s going on. Please. You’re scaring me.” I knew he had to be truly worried because he would never admit to being scared. She shook her head. Nick opened the door. “Let’s go outside, and you can talk to me in private.” He guided her out of the truck and walked her to the back.