It wasn't until I checked the map this morning that I realized how daunting our trip to Rhinelander would be. It was more than 500 hundred miles. Even a full push at three miles an hour from sunrise to sunset would only net us 33 or so miles a day, and that was provided we didn't encounter any problems. Zombies were easy to avoid now with the leather suits, but who knows what else? It's been my recent experience that humans are actually worse than zombies nowadays. Then, it was the trek back to Terre Haute and if we deemed Rhinelander to be safe, another 500 miles back.
I did the math, and I already knew the results were ugly. On foot at full pushes each day with sunlight, we're looking at 45 days of travel. This would put us past November and into December. There's no doubt snow would fall during those weeks, and that would really put a hamper on traveling. A decision had to be made. Either Wallace and Temperance come with us and we risk Hector's health, or they stay behind for the winter while we stay in Rhinelander, and that's even assuming Rhinelander's safe.
We talked with Wallace, Temperance and Hector, and after debating all the pros and cons, they reached their decision. They would stay behind. Kat, John and I would stay in Rhinelander. We'd try to brave the winter and when spring hit, we'd head back to Terre Haute and get them. However, if anything changed, say if we found transportation, we'd head back to them immediately and grab them.
So the six of us had one final breakfast together. It was a peach cobbler made with a jar of peaches we brought and the left over biscuits Temperance made. I'm not a fan of a peaches, or her biscuits, but honestly, this was a very important meal for us. I could have been eating a plateful of night crawlers with rotten eggs and still eaten it graciously.
Wallace left the table after breakfast to go upstairs and he came back down with something to give me. It was a box of ammunition for my handgun, but I told him to keep it. They would need it more. We most likely weren't going to encounter problems with the suits we were going to wear. I held up my mask and he wrinkled his nose at it. He said it was so disgusting, and he didn't know how we could do it. I told him we made it this far. Sometimes you have to do extremely unpleasant things, because there's nothing more unpleasant than being eaten alive. I also suggested to him if he killed leathers (I just don't like the sound of alphas), he should try doing the same thing. He said he'd rather die than wear their skin. I said survival has a great way of changing one's mind.
We said our last goodbyes and we headed out. Kat's wheelchair needed a bit of work, though, as the bullet that hit the wheel the other day bent the rim. Johnathan was all too happy to straighten it out and we were on way.
Our journey started by heading west on I-70 until we reached HWY 41. We took it north, which lead us straight through downtown Terre Haute. There was evidence of military occupation here as well. We saw everything from gas stations being stenciled with "DRY" to bullet holes in cars and shopfronts to crumbled walls from tank blasts and even collapses triages. Some cars were crunched, forever imprinted by the treads from the slow moving behemoths. Surely, if you had tanks, you'd want to stay in a city and try to defend it, right? I remembered Indianapolis, though, how huge the perimeter was. It wasn't about the number of tanks. It was the number of personal needed to man them. So, some cities simply had to be abandoned.
After about eight or nine miles, HWY 41 branched off into County Road 63, which we took. 63 was littered with cars and vehicles. We saw an overturned school bus, and we only hoped it wasn't full of kids. It also had scorch marks, which made us wince all the more. Five miles up, we noticed a leather off in the fields who was acting like a lion stalking its prey. We tried to see what it was studying and all we saw was a freshie. The leather then took off like a brown streak and tackled the unsuspecting zombie. He bit him and then took off and into the distance. The freshie got up, looked around as if wondering what just happened and then went about wandering aimlessly in the fields. I stroked my chin thinking, and then realized my beard was getting rather thick. I may just keep it. I'm sure it will come in handy for warmth during the cold weather.
Seven miles farther, we came across South Vermillion High School. It was roughly four o'clock and we were debating whether or not to check into the school and set up camp there, but we we still had a few more hours worth of daylight and I wanted to keep moving. Kat said she needed a break from the wheelchair to get up and walk around. so I let her stretch her legs. Jonathan sat on the road and pulled out a pad and began drawing in it. I took a break myself and sat next to him and asked what was drawing.
He was drawing a house. I asked him if he had any inspiration for the house, and he replied no. He was just drawing whatever came to his mind. He said writers sometimes do what's called free writing. They shut their brains off and then let their fingers do the typing. They just start typing words and then one word leads to the next and without thinking, the writers have a story. He was doing the same thing with architecture. It was his way of letting his mind relax. One line lead the next. One angle begat another angle. Ten minutes later, Kat returned from her stroll and Jonathan had a wonderful looking house drawn. It was a three story Victorian with a half circle porch protruding from the front. Two massive chimneys adorned each side of the house, and the slanted roof had three triangular rooms jutting from them. I said I was rather impressed by his talent to draw houses, and he thanked me. It was the kind of house he wanted to start building if he ever got his license. I said I wouldn't mind living in it. At least I would know it wouldn't fall over in a storm. We laughed a good deal about that.
We traveled six more miles until we got to HWY 36, and the sun was setting. No buildings were immediately visible, so we took a gamble and got off on 36 east. We only had to walk about 500 feet until we came across a barn. The doors were latched with a flimsy looking pad lock and chain, so I waved my hands cuing to Jonathan who then broke the lock with a swift swing from his fire ax. The noise was much louder than I expected, and if any zombies were around, they'd be sure to hear it and come to investigate. We wasted no time getting in the barn and we closed the door behind us. I turned on the Solar Flare so we could look around.
There was a hayloft in the back of the barn, so we went to it. We climbed the ladder and we immediately assaulted by cobweb after cobweb. Poor Kat was screaming uncontrollably having a severe fit of arachnophobia. I actually had to cover her mouth while I hugged her to keep her from screaming any further. I reminded her that there are worse things out there than spiders, and she'd be drawing them to us. She took a deep breath and started calming down, but I kept holding her tight motioning to John to clean up the cobwebs as best he could. I turned Kat around only when I thought he cleaned up the majority of webs. We fashioned mattresses out of the hay and placed our bed rolls on top of them.
We talked while ate jerky and nuts. The conversation followed a random path, changing from missing bananas to no political ads being a good result of the apocalypse to the hope of ever having children. Johnathan said he wanted four. He came from a big family having two sisters and three brothers himself. His ideal family was two boys and two girls. I said I'd love to have a son of my own, but the world needed to improve far more for that to happen. Kat didn't bother speaking when it was her turn. She just nodded in agreement to what I said.
Johnathan dozed off first. Kat and I had our bed rolls merged together and yes, I still managed to keep that comforter with me that I found a month back, which we had over us keeping us warm. I started to ache for Kat, actually. John was resting only a few feet from us, but I wanted to start rubbing her body so badly. She picked up on my heated breathing and took the initiative. She slid her hand down my shorts and I did the same with her panties. We stroked each other softly, kissing slowly in one locked kiss, breathing through each other's nostrils. We tried to remain as still as we could, but my fingers finally triggered something within her and she wriggled more than she could help, my mouth trying to muffle her moaning. That excited me to the point of moaning myself and I released into her delicate hand.
Our wonderful intimate moment was ruined with, "GET A ROOM, YOU TWO! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!" John rolled over and buried his head in hay. We nearly jumped out of the covers, startled by John's objection, and then giggled. We apologized to John and blushed so hard we started sweating. As our heart rates slowed down, she looked into my eyes, sparkling from the dim light of the Solar Flare. Her mouth was partly open, as if she was going to tell me something. I asked her, "What is it?" She looked off to the side for a bit and then back at me. "I love you," she answered. I hugged her close and whispered it back.
"ROOM! NOW!"
Dammit, Johnathan. I'm going to punch you first thing in the morning.
Until tomorrow.
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