At sunrise, Hugo woke up to the sound of revving engines and footsteps outside the tent.
Mordecai spoke up, still laying down in his bed, “Bro, do they gotta wake up this early?” he whined, putting his hands to his cast. Genesis was still sleeping on the floor beside him.
Hugo sat up in his bed. The wound in his chest still hurt but not as much as yesterday. “Goodmorning,” he said to Mordecai.
“Where you going?” Mordecai asked from his bed.
“I’m gonna see my sister,” Hugo said. He lazily shuffled over to the door of the tent.
“Good luck,” said Mordecai, “Gonna need it.”
“I know,” Hugo responded, and he left the tent.
Outside, half of the people in the camp were climbing into trucks. Most of which seemed like members of the group, rather than refugees or survivors. Hugo found Dylan helping some people into the bed of a Ford F-150.
“Hugo!” Dylan said with a smile. He pulled Hugo in for a hug. Letting go, he kept his hands on Hugo’s shoulders and smiled almost proudly. “How lucky are we? We’re safe now.”
Hugo saw the look in Dylan’s eye; it was unclear if Dylan knew Hugo was leaving.
“Yeah, I know,” Hugo said. He paused. “I have to go…” His hand slowly raised and pointed to the truck.
Dylan lowered his hands. “What?” His smile dimmed. “You’re going to see your sister,” he said. With a slight accepting nod, he looked away and back to Hugo. “Good luck out there. Be safe.” Hugo nodded, and Dylan nodded back, but Dylan’s eyes looked past Hugo to someone else. “Carmen?”
Carmen had walked up to them, holding a small travel bag. “Hi Dad.”
“What ’cha got there?” Dylan asked.
“Oh, just some stuff for the guys,” Carmen said, holding the bag.
“All aboard!” Martin announced. His voice thundered throughout the camp. He stood at the center of the camp in the open and made direct eye contact with Hugo after shouting. “Hugo! Come here!” Martin wore shorts with big pockets, a somewhat tactical vest and shades, as some of the other camp-goers did.
Hugo stepped away from Dylan and Carmen. Dylan waved goodbye and turned to his daughter. Hugo watched them for a second from the corner of his eye, curious at what Carmen had to say, but then turned to Martin who towered over him.
“Walk with me,” Martin said. The two started walking toward the biggest truck in the camp. “Because you’re coming with us against doctor’s orders, we expect you to perform at tip top shape. Talking big game may have got my respect, but now you need to back it up.”
“Got it,” Hugo answered. He was walking in a way that imitated Martin’s upright walk, but not too noticeable.
“Huh. Okay.” Martin smirked. “Let’s see what you got.” He took a breath. “Leaving in 30 seconds!” he screamed. Engines started revving even louder.
“Who are you guys?” Hugo said.
“Hugo, welcome to the Spine,” said Martin. The two of them stepped into the truck. Martin sat in the driver seat while Hugo sat in the back. In the back seat was Jacob and another Spine member. The passenger seat was occupied as well. Hugo looked back at the camp seeing the remaining Spine members wave bye to the trucks. Dylan stood alone with his arms crossed and a frown, watching as a truck began to drive off.
Jacob looked happy that Hugo was coming along with him, but Hugo didn't acknowledge him.
Martin’s truck was already on, so Martin hit the gas and they drove off. They led a caravan of trucks, cars, and SUVs onto the highway 99 North. As the morning sun burned on, the heat picked up as well.
The spine member who sat in the back seat at the opposite door turned to Hugo. “Are you the guy who got shot that other night?” he said. He wore shades and a buzz cut.
“Which one?” Jacob joked.
Hugo pointed to his chest where he was shot.
“Oh! That was crazy! You're really lucky we were there!” said the member. “I’m Omar.” He stuck out his hand to Hugo and they shook hands.
“Do you guys know who shot me?” Hugo asked.
The woman in the passenger seat spoke up, she also wore shades and a buzz cut. “We have an idea, but it's still unclear. We rescued an old military veteran that we found to be mentally unwell. He claimed to have someone following him and it looked like he thought we were in a war.”
“Oh, I know him…” Hugo said.
Omar and the woman turned to Hugo, with looks of concern.
“What?” Hugo asked, hesitantly.
“After he shot you, we tracked him down,” said the woman. “He stole one of our guns and said he had to finish the job, but he got away before we could do anything else. So he’s still in Bakersfield, just unarmed and alone. How do you know him?”
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“He stole my sister,” said Hugo.
“Your sister?” said Omar. “Was she one of the girls on the helicopter?”
Hugo nodded. “Lila,” he said.
“Yup,” said Martin. “That’s why he’s coming along with us.”
“What are you gonna do after you get her?” said the woman in the passenger seat.
“I don't know. Keep surviving I guess,” Hugo said. Jacob gave him a side-eye.
It was quiet for a moment. Hugo knew what he wanted to do after he found Lila but didn't think it was right to say it in the truck. Highway 99 seemed pretty desolate. With an occasional car or two and a random family of wanderers here and there. It was still mostly farmland out into the horizon, with a distant mountain range in the west and east.
Martin spoke up. “Jacob tells me from Los Angeles. How’d you get out of the city?” he said to Hugo.
“Luck,” Hugo said. He thought of the first few days of the outbreak. “I was with my brother in his apartment the day before. There was a mob outside so I stayed there that night, but his neighbor came in all drugged up and attacked us. We killed the guy but he bit my brother. He started getting all sick so he sent me to get some medicine, but when I got back, he had already turned. I shot him right there.”
The others in the car were silent, listening to Hugo’s story.
“What about your sister?” said the woman.
“Well, the next morning, I got back to my parents’ place. I didn't find Lila, but my parents were just dead. So I left. But when I left I met this lady who taught me some parkour to get around the city and we were following this car that I saw that I could only assume had my sister in it. We had to stop at Dodger’s stadium where I met the Dodgers-”
“You met the Dodgers?” said Jacob with surprise.
“Yeah,” Hugo nodded, unamused. He looked at Jacob with the ‘bad news’ look. Jacob’s expression quickly faded.
“We left Dodgers stadium when it got over-run by wanderers. Ingrid, the lady, she had a prosthetic leg-”
“Prosthetic leg?” Martin chuckled. “Doing parkour? Wow.” He nodded with respect.
“Yeah, she lost the prosthetic. I don't know why, but I think she thought she would hold me back so she told me to go on. I didn't have a choice. I was with one other Dodger who led me to Griffith Observatory, but it was turned into a military base. They shot the Dodger on sight and I barely survived, but they quickly left in a helicopter and they left one of their soldiers behind. That guy almost killed me, but he didn't. But after all the military left, they started bombing the city.”
“I heard about that,” said Omar. “Some guy at our Delano base escaped the military. Told us about the emergency protocols and secret radio frequencies. Said that it wasn't just LA, but San Francisco too. Did you hear about Yosemite?”
“No, what’s going on in Yosemite?” said Hugo, intrigued.
“Said that the fires were intentional too. The whole thing.” Omar made an explosion noise with his mouth and his hands imitating flames.
“All of it?” Hugo said, with a sense of shock.
Omar nodded, “It's what he said,” he shrugged.
“Dang. Well, are we just trapped in the valley?” said Hugo.
“That’s one way to put it,” Martin said. He opened the glove box and took out a walkie talkie. “Stopping in McFarland. Do what ‘cha gotta do.” Click
“Why are we stopping?” said Hugo.
“Fuel,” the woman said. “You think gas stations just disappear in the apocalypse?”
Martin drove the caravan through an off-ramp into McFarland, another small town in the middle of nowhere.
“We got a good six months until most of the gas everywhere starts to expire. Less cars on the road means more gas for us,” said Martin. “We’re looking into how to make our own gas before that deadline.”
“Or maybe use horses,” said Omar.
“For gas?!” the woman said with disgust.
“No! To ride them!” Omar said. The group let out a chuckle.
In McFarland, the caravan drove into a parking lot of a gas station. Across the street was a cluster of homes that a camp of survivors was set up in. Martin got out of the car and spoke to one of them.
The others started stepping off. Omar left the car with Jacob getting out to stretch his legs. The woman began to step off when Hugo spoke up.
“How many camps do you guys have?” Hugo said.
“Here up to Visalia. Past that you get the more violent gangs,” said the woman. “I’m Elle,” she said, holding out her hand to Hugo.
“Nice to meet you,” Hugo said. He shook her hand.
“Hey, so what happened after they started bombing the city?” Elle asked. She sat herself toward Hugo.
“Oh, I don't remember exactly, but that guy that was left got a car and drove off. I held on as the bombs started dropping. He drove into a barricade of cars and we escaped into Universal Studios, which somehow wasn't hit. That’s where we met the old man and where my sister was. It was actually my aunt that took her.” Hugo didn't want to go over every detail, so he sped up the story so as to not bore Elle. “And well, the man was crazy, he flew off in the helicopter with my sister and the kids. I chased him down with the people I met on the way.”
“Wow. That’s alot,” said Elle. She seemed not bored at all. “For me, I was in Visalia when everything happened. Just riots and panic. I drove off…no clue where I was going, but I met Martin and the crew…and they helped me,” Elle said. “We’ve just been growing ever since.” Elle smiled, seemingly thinking about her story.
“That’s really cool,” said Hugo. “I’m glad they helped you out, and that you guys helped me out.”
“Elle!” Martin shouted.
Elle jumped in her seat, almost surprised. She waved bye to Hugo and left the car. Hugo turned to his door and opened it, revealing Carmen was waiting for him on the other side.
“Carmen?” said Hugo. His eyes opened wide, and noticeably did not smile to see Carmen. “What are you doing?”
“Wow, okay,” said Carmen. “Thought you would be happy to see me.”
“I am. It’s just. Your dad. You just left him…” said Hugo.
“I know, but it’s my choice,” Carmen countered.
“Yeah, and you made the wrong choice. I can't have you doing this kind of thing, I don't want to have to worry about you,” said Hugo, more aggravatedly.
“Did last night not matter to you?” said Carmen, her face wrinkled up.
“It did, but-” Hugo was interrupted by another voice.
“All aboard!” Martin shouted. Carmen turned and left Hugo as Martin walked to the driver door. “Sheesh, what’s her problem?” Martin asked.
“It’s nothing,” Hugo said. He sat back in his seat and closed the door. As the rest of the group came in, they could hear the walkie-talkie going off with a muffled voice in the glove box.
“How long has that been going off?” said Martin to the others. No one answers. He opens the box and answers the call. “It’s Martin, hello?”
The man on the other end spoke but was interrupted by static, “Uprising…Visalia…help…” he said. Guns and screams could be heard in the background.
Martin stuck his head out the window, “Let’s go! Emergency! Go! Go! Go!” he screamed. The caravan drove off onto the highway north, even faster than they were before.