With six buses and a minivan now in the train leaving Flagstaff, the team set out to continue the journey to Dallas. The GS2 and the Hummer along with Carl on his motorcycle, took up the front position. Isaac, Zach, and Chris with their vehicles brought up the rear. The signal for trouble in the back would be to honk at the last bus, then the honking should be continued by that last bus up the chain until it reaches the first bus which would honk at Tom and his team.
"In theory, we should hear the honking long before the first bus honks at us, but this way we can be sure they are all listening and repeating it to us," Derek had explained when asked about how to communicate between the vehicles.
"We don't have radios and cell towers are still not working, so we don't have many other options," Tom had taken up explaining after formulating this plan with Derek. "We have to do what we can to at least warn of issues."
Everyone had agreed with the idea and so they had set off. Nothing was in their path for the majority of the trip back to Albuquerque. There were a couple of goblin barricades, but nothing like the tower, and the vehicles and buses left nothing but bloody splintered messes where their foes had once stood. Everyone was warned not to stop for the goblins or they would be attacked, and it appeared they all took that message to heart.
Once they reached the outskirts of Albuquerque, Carl took the lead to show them the easiest way through the city. On their way through the heat of the town, a group of people stepped out into the street to bar their path. Not wanting to hurt humans without cause, The motorcade stopped to see what they wanted.
"Get out of the fekking road!" Carl yelled at the people gathered before them.
"Are you Tom?" One man, appearing to be in his mid-thirties with short brown hair and piercing blue eyes yelled back at Carl.
"No, now get out of the damn road, we need to get moving," Carl shouted grumpily.
"I'm Tom," Tom yelled from behind Carl.
"We need to talk to you! It's very important!" the man yelled to Tom.
Carl rolled his eyes, let out a huge sigh, and turned off his motorcycle so they could hear each other better. Tom stepped out of the GS2 and walked over to talk to the man who had been calling for them.
"What is it you want?" Tom asked, a little more forcefully than he meant, but he was trying to stick to a schedule.
"We heard about what you did to the cult and to Jimmy..." The man said when he was cut off by Carl.
"Jimmy...." Carl growled at the mention of the name.
"...anyway, we heard what you did and we want to join you. This world isn't safe and we heard you have a guild that is helping people." The man almost begged.
"We only help people who are willing to pull their weight," Tom said looking the man up and down. "Are you someone that pulls their weight..."
"Andrew, sir." Andrew replied.
"Andrew? We can't just take care of people who are looking for a free ride. That is only for small children and the elderly." Tom continued after being supplied the man's name.
"Of course! We are all willing to do whatever we need to so we can help. Some of us can even fight!" Andrew exclaimed, looking back to the others gathered who were now nodding enthusiastically.
"You also need transport. We can't fit anyone else in with us." Tom said looking back at the long caravan that held the passengers from Flagstaff.
"We can figure that out. If you can just give us a small bit of time we will be ready to go." Andrew replied quickly, hoping that Tom would not turn them away if they took some time.
Tom turned to look at Derek, who just rolled his eyes and gave a "fine, whatever, you're just going to do it anyway" hand gesture telling him to continue.
"Alright. But you have one hour and we leave again." Tom said with finality.
"You got it!" Andrew said and turned running back to the group. "He said yes! We just have to get vehicles to carry us all!"
Cheers erupted from the crowd that had gathered and people ran off in every direction at once like ants at a picnic. Tom walked back to talk to the rest of the people in the train. He told each of them to let people out for an hour and then they were to load back up to head out. Everyone disembarked and stretched from sitting. They took the time for bathroom breaks, and to have some light snacks before getting back on their respective buses.
Forty-five minutes later, the people from Albuquerque had an assortment of vehicles ranging from buses to a Mini Cooper all ready to drive to Dallas.
"There are really almost too many vehicles in this group now. We can't promise to protect them all." Derek expressed his concerns to Tom.
"I know that. I've already sent each of our teams to the vehicles to relay the danger protocol but to also let them know to tell them they might have to defend themselves until we can get there." Tom replied, trying to calm Derek down.
"I don't like this," Derek said, crossing his hand over his chest.
"Fine, then you go tell them they have to stay here and fend for themselves," Tom said also crossing his arms over his chest.
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"Ugh! Fine. But when we get there I don't know how we will support this many people." Derek huffed as he walked back over to the GS2 and got in.
"Love you too!" Tom called after him. "Wait....am I James now?!"
Once everyone was loaded up, the line of vehicles began the procession again down the road. Leaving Albuquerque behind them, they set out on the open highway again. After they had been driving most of the day, the team pulled off to the side of the road to refuel with the supplies they had brought and to stop for a meal.
Each of the groups had set up amongst themselves to ensure they didn't need to take supplies from another group at this leg of the journey. They had been warned they needed enough food for a several-day journey. Sitting and eating the people all talked amongst each other. Their spirits seemed incredibly high as talk of moving somewhere new and safer ran through the hundreds of people now making their way to Dallas.
"We can't just stop here for the night. We need to switch drivers and keep making for Amarillo. When it was just us, we were fine to camp out. But with this many people to protect? We're fucked if you think we are capable of handling that." Carl said looking at the large groups of people sitting and eating a meal.
"I hate to admit it, but he's right, Tom," Derek agreed reluctantly. "We need to keep going."
"Are you suggesting we try to hit Amarillo by morning?" James asked, a huge shit-eating grin on his face.
"Really? You are so desperate for attention you are resorting to that level of humor?" Derek asked.
"Gives me all the attentions!" James said in a Gollum impression. "We wantses it, precious!"
"I didn't think it was possible, but He must have had it because he just officially lost it. James needs a nap." Derek said looking at Tom.
"Hey! I am doing just fine thank you. You're the one with something stuck up his ass about all of this." James retorted.
"Ladies, you're both pretty. We just need to focus on getting done what needs to be done. Derek, I agree, we can't camp out. Get some people to tell the teams they need to have someone fresh to drive now because we are driving through the night. I can't believe I'm saying this," Tom said with a sigh as he slumped slightly. "But we need to hit...Amarillo by morning."
"HA! You know you love it. Join the dark side....we have cookies!" James paraded around for a moment like he owned the world then went back to the Tahoe to check on Squirrel.
Derek whistled loudly, putting two fingers in his mouth.
"Alright, people!" Derek yelled out over the crowd. "Start getting ready to hop back in your vehicles! We can't stop here, there's too many people to protect! Time to get loaded up and head for the next major town!"
Everyone eagerly got up, stored their items in their inventories, and climbed into the vehicles without a single fuss or complaint.
"That...went way easier than I thought it would," Derek said extremely confused.
"That's the difference between people happy to go somewhere for the promise of safety, and the old world where people felt like they had no control over their lives and kept being forced down certain paths. These people all chose this freely." Bob said, walking up to stand next to Derek.
"Hadn't thought about it that way," Derek admitted, musing to himself about the situation.
"I know this is tough and it's not something you normally want to do, but I must say, your team's willingness to help these people makes me proud I chose to be a part of Vanguard. Others would have turned away an impossible task like fitting all these people into their guild. But Tom and by extension, you, took on the burden anyway." Bob continued.
"What choice did we have really?" Derek asked.
"Oh, you all had a perfectly good choice to tell these people to stick it where the sun doesn't shine and just go back without them. But you didn't, and humanity is defined by moments like these where you have the option to show kindness. Those who do see a greater return in the long run than those who don't." Bob replied, putting his hands behind his back in a wise old man's stance.
"Alright then, sensei. What say you about how far we can take this? There are still several more towns we stopped in on the way back. Think we can take everyone?" Derek asked, looking sideways at Bob.
"I don't know. But I feel we are going to find out." Bob replied, smiling at Derek in return.
The two chuckled lightly and then moved toward their vehicles. Before leaving this time, the teams split up the vehicles from the front and back of the line to intersperse them more in the line. With so many now, it was going to take a long time to get anyone moving anywhere. But it would be worth the hassle not to need to run to the middle of the group from either end.
With a loud honk that continued backward from the front of the caravan, Tom began moving the line forward. They drove down the road like some wild funeral procession. With so many in the line, it was difficult to keep track of who was where. At one point honking started coming from the rear of the caravan to the front. Everyone came to a complete stop and Tom turned the GS2 around and raced to see what the issue was.
When he arrived, he found that it was just a case of driving too long and needing a bathroom break. Tom had to admit he hadn't been thinking about that situation and they would need to address stopping more often. It made him uncomfortable stopping at night in the dark though, so everyone was hurried back onto the vehicles and they set off again.
Just as the eastern horizon was beginning to turn a beautiful shade of pink with the morning sun preparing to crest over the curve of the earth, the sign showing they made it to the city limits of Amarillo came into view. Tom let out a sigh of relief that they made it to the town. They were tired and needed somewhere to rest.
Tom pulled off of the highway and they began to drive down the streets until they found an old hotel that looked to be abandoned. Pulling into several surrounding parking lots, all vehicles found a place to stop and let passengers off.
"Let's go in and see what we are working with here. Hopefully, there will be enough rooms for everyone." Tom said as the team leads all gathered together.
"I'm sure we can manage. The only tough part is going to be opening all the rooms. Well, maybe not tough, but time-consuming." Derek stated, thinking over how they would handle the situation.
"Leave that to my team. We will do a sweep breaking open each door and leaving them open so everyone can come in as they please." Isaac offered, taking a good bit of the burden off of everyone else.
"That's great! Go ahead and get started. We will begin to get people headed in that direction once you have given us the all-clear." Tom said grateful to have people so willing to take on the grunt work when he needed help.
Isaac and his team moved off to the building and broke the glass to get inside the normally sliding doors. They began going down halls kicking doors in and propping them open. Tom, Chris, Zach, and Derek were all attempting to organize people into groups who could stay in the same room together. Families, close friends, etc would all be grouped together first to try to save space. Then if there were rooms left over, people could spread out a bit more.
As the groups were divided, they were shown inside by a member of Isaac's team once they had completed their task of opening the rooms. There were just enough rooms to fit everyone except the members of the teams that had been at the Grand Canyon. Which they were okay with because they had brought camping gear and set themselves up in the lobby to guard the entrance.
Everyone was settling down to sleep for the day, which felt odd to even say, when a scratching noise began to come from the walls of the hotel.