Earth(61)

As they argued, Clay slipped away behind the growing crowd of people.

The other doctor rooted in his bag. He held up a foil-wrapped bar. "I've got chocolate."

I buried my face in my hands, shaking my head, trying to keep everyone from seeing the smile I could not get rid of.

David's whole body shook, but clearly for a different reason. He stomped toward me. "Get up – we don't have time for cramps! That's not a real medical condition, anyway!"

"What's not a real medical condition?"

David turned to address the questioner.

Erika stood in front of the crowd, arms crossed, clearly not amused. "Well?"

David stuttered, "I didn't mean…" He gestured toward me. "She just…"

"She just what?" More women, many I recognized from Erika's camp, emerged to stand around David.

David pushed his glasses up on his nose. "Listen – we have a schedule to keep." He held up his notebook, pointing to an open page. "I'm just following orders."

"You aren't going to make it if people start dropping like flies; female problems or no." Erika dropped her pack. "Break time!" she shouted.

Her announcement was met with a few approving whistles, some claps, and a 'Hallelujah'. She stepped toward David, and snatched the notebook out of his hand.

"Hey!" he protested.

She glanced at the open page. "I'll be making a few adjustments to the schedule. If you want the group to get there as a whole; I suggest you follow it." Erika walked past David and took a seat on the ground next to me.

I handed her a pencil, no longer bothering to hide the smile on my face.

David was still stuttering, "You…you – I'm going to report this. Give me back my—"

"We've got flats!" A bellow from the back of the line cut David off.

"Oh, for Christ's sake. Flats?! As in more than one?" David shouted as he headed toward the truck bed gardens.

"As in all of them!" the voice answered back.

"How in the world? Get some Airs over here!" David ordered.

My eye caught a short figure slinking away from the truck beds. Clay. My smile grew wider.





Chapter 38





The Best Thing





By the time we reached Denver, one month from when we started, David was a hot mess. After the first few incidents, Clay, Erika and I had very little to do with it. People caught on, making a game out of trying to drive David insane.

Very quickly our thirty miles a day had dropped to twenty, often falling even below fifteen. Half the camp developed the stomach flu – something I still couldn't determine was real or fake. We were now two and a half weeks behind schedule.

Shawn's river group had long since reached the mile high city, or so said the scouts. He sat waiting not-so-patiently for the rest of us. Word of the prisoner's escape also reached him. Something else for David to deal with.

Train would be the transportation of choice over the Rockies, and word on the trail was Shawn needed certain people from our group to help with steam technologies.

Excitement buzzed up and down the long line of people as we entered downtown Denver, and the 16th Street Mall. It was an outdoor mall, running the length of several blocks with stores on either side of the cobble-stoned street. Despite the self-created slow gait of the rest of the march, everyone was now picking up the pace – many had an actual spring in their step. This was home for some.

I gravitated toward Erika.

"I can't believe how much I missed this weird place." She wouldn’t stop talking. "Every year at Christmas the entire capital building was lit in color. I never missed the Parade of Lights – every float, band member, and clown was decorated in actual lights by portable battery packs."

Despite the lack of batteries, 16th Street Mall was alive and illuminated, cutting through the dull, black night with a light all its own. The promenade of red-and-gray granite, running through the center of Downtown, wasn't cracked and crumbling. It wasn't run over with plant life as we had seen in the concrete jungles of most big cities. Except for the glow of lanterns lining the path, it probably looked much the same.

"It's almost like Daybreak never happened, here. Look how happy everyone is," I said aloud.

Erika smiled. "Come on, let me show you." She took my arm and we broke rank, crossing the pedestrian path to the other side.

I looked back to the rest of the group. People noticed, but no one cared – Erika could do what she wanted, after all. The rest of One Less turned right, off the street and in between two glass-walled skyscrapers.

"You might appreciate this as an Earth." She winked at me. We approached a large planter in the middle of the sidewalk. "These are up and down the length of the mall. They used to hold decorative trees, shrubs, and flowers – you know, useless stuff."