ALARMING BEEPS disrupted the placid tranquillity at the serene lake with the three floatplanes. The echoing din scared the birds sitting on the planes' wings; one of the planes was the nude artwork image of The Lady of the Lake.

A pale-looking Laura Jensen was in the main lake-house, on the king-sized bed, in her deep sleep—she was not affected by the distressing sound happening outside the bedroom of the Howdys. The four Intersexuals were seated around at the dining table with the two Howdy skeletons—all of them stared at the source of the beeps coming from the laptop, with its rococo of peeling stickers of Pakalolo images that once belonged to the now-dead Jamaicans...

Everyone except for Joe had a bruised face on the table, but True Bob's and Troy's swollen countenances were in pain, in bandage wraps, sustained from the Jamaican beatings and by secondary burns—while Reeve's black eye was inflicted by his 'butch-uncle' at the hospital underground car park last night encounter in LA.

Joe chuckled, looking at the screen with the constant blinking Skype icon...

"A moment ago it was Hajja, now it is Li Chi the fucking Leach calling again—I guess they will soon be trying for us because they can't get through to those Rasta-fuckarians!"

The Wesleyan uttered out with no respect for the dead. He was acting skittish and safe with that aspect of last night's threats had gone—but only Reeves knew that the danger was far from over...

Reeves was deciding, looked defiantly at Troy beside him, who was in charge of communication...

"We don't answer it—let them presume that we are all are dead."

True Bob sighed and addressed the consequences when the beeping suddenly stopped...

"Yeah, for how long, Reeves? Sooner or later, Hajja or the fucking Leach is gonna figure out what is going on; and they will send spies over only, to find us with a woman in a coma in that room...

"I was against this idea all along of you going for your mother in LA but you went out walking the walk, yakking the yak, and you did it anyway—now how are you going to take care of her?

"Tell me, do you know how to feed a patient who is in a coma? What, are you going to starve her to death? Maybe she is also dependent on some medication, have you ever thought of all those things before you took off to LA last night?"

Reeves was now pressured by the incoming blames. He ran his fingers into his dark hair...

"Okay fellers, I made a bad choice when I took that decision and I am fully responsible for it. I had used my heart to think not my head; Laura Jensen is my responsibility and I will deal with it, Bob."

True Bob was not finished yet, and he went on ranting...

"What shit are you trying to slide away with this time, Reeves—so you decided to starve her to death? You even got her killer-cop sister pissed mad and she is gonna retaliate big-time like last night; now we got to run away from her and top of our very our own army with Li Chi putting a hit on us—and that fucking Snake-woman Cory too wants us dead! Fuck us all here, everybody wants us dead!"

The half-Cherokee chuckled nervously after his rant.

Joe, the presumed weakest link in the team was surprisingly the only one being amiable, giving his view on Reeve's behalf...

"Hey Chief, have we forgotten that we all were supposed to be dead last night in the hand of those niggers—you said it so yourself that we don't stand a fighting chance against their expert guerilla warfare skills—but Reeves here diverted those fucking Jamaicans to L.A. and Roberta Jensen did the clean-up job for us, man.

"I say, 'let's be grateful, dude, that we are still breathing and walking another day,' and those were the same words the fuckin' Preacher used to say to us in his sermons back in the desert, right? Do I hear an Amen?"

Troy then spoke, "that is true; let's pay the price for surviving last night by deciding together about what we do with Laura Jensen for now—so let all the 4 of us share the responsibilities and the consequences on this one; so are you with us, Chief?" Troy requested but Bob looked away, still disgruntled.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

Reeves appreciated the offer but it was not fair for any of them because Laura was his mother—she was his accountability and he was also wary of his own haste actions...

"Let me speak guys, let's all vote on it. All I can say is that I made a stupid blunder—and now I want to return Laura back to the hospital."

Joe was now vexed. "What? Are you going back to the store to return her like she is some broken goods, is that what you are saying, Reeves? Damn you man, after all those hairy situations we gone through last night!"

The fat Wesleyan looked back at Troy, "I say, we now find a quick way to Canada, and get her treated over there—she will survive!"

Reeves intervened after a long sigh. "Hey Joe, you are not being your rational self here—you clearly heard Roberta Jensen yelling that Laura has a heart condition, and maybe that is why I don't think she can make it—it is gonna be a rough shitty ride north on the road to Canada."

"No, but I still feel we have a chance, guys!" Joe stood his stubborn ground.

He wanted one of the other two guys to back him up, but they both were either hesitant or disagreed now. Even Reeves still thought it was a bad idea...

"No, she will die on the journey, Joe! We don't know what lies on the road ahead too, and furthermore, it is the time-frame—it may take either days or several weeks or maybe a month depending on ducking the roadblocks in Cory's cracking down operation on rebels travelling on the roads—it will surely kill her..."

True Bob spoke again in accord. "I am with Reeves. We give her back or else that poor woman will die—it is 2 votes now."

"2-1, I am still against it—Yo Troy, what's your vote, man?"

Joe now placed him now in the spotlight for the deciding vote but Troy responded back with hesitation...

"Give me more time, fellers; I need to think this one out."

His reply chafed True Bob who spoke back aloud...

"What, you, moron? Are you going to find a DIY website online on how to treat a coma patient? This, not the same as fixing damn fucking planes, man!"

Reeves knew that Bob was the most eager to hit the road. Bob was supposed to take off with Troy last night to return to his home in the Biesterfeldt Village, the Cherokee reservations in North Dakota. That was before the bungle with the teetotaler Jamaican; the one who was immune to the hooch spiked with Ayahuasca—who then fought back and took both him and Troy as hostages.

"Come on, chill Bob," Reeves said, but his eyes were focused on Troy, "it is just a simple decision now, Troy—should she stay or go?"

Troy gazed at all seated and responded. "She stays with us."

Joe laughed and rejoiced. "It is 2 against 2, and it is a tie, Chiefo!"

True Bob slammed his fist on the table—both the Howdys' skeletal hands on the table jumped.

"Shut up or I will beat you blink, you fat ding! Do you think this is a joke?" he barked at Joe before he turned to Troy...

"What's wrong with you, Troy; you are making no sense like this nut case?

"Come on, that woman is sick out there, and she needs attention!"

Even Reeves who was also taken by surprise by Troy's vote—he was curious to know...

"Why Troy, why should she stay?"

Troy cleared his throat and opined...

"Why I am saying is that we still have a chance if we use The Exodus Trail."

Now everyone gave Troy a confused look. Joe gawked and asked back like it was an unfamiliar dish on a restaurant menu card...

"I am a little lost here, bro—what's this Exodus trail?"

Troy shed light on the ambivalence; of what he had been researching before on his exit route options to get back to his hometown in Chicago...

"When the Medusa Virus attack first started less than 20 years ago, this was the trail the government then used to evacuate victims from the west coast to the east and the north; practically, it is just a network of old roads passing in a few states up North. I have also learned that the trail is currently is the least populated-belt with low regimen activities...

Many of it is going through deserted ghost towns and abandoned cities—well, we can take that trail to Canada because there will be fewer roadblocks by the army—which is my also main concern, with now that we are taking Laura along with us."

True Bob intervened quickly while Reeves was digesting the thought...

"Back off a little here, this is a no-zone area with radioactive fallout—we don't know things like radioactive levels and what not?" Troy was now grinning back...

"Wake up, Chief, the Medusa attack was bio-viral warfare; and we all know that because we are the product of it—the new breed species."

Joe laughed out aloud and he bantered further. "Are you afraid you will end up as Freak-kin-stein?" Even True Bob joined in and chuckled at his mistake.

It has been a long time and even the Intersexuals have elapsed and have forgotten the root cause of their specie origins that the reproduction new-breeds by nature were not analogous to the contaminated Y chromosome males that were currently extinct.

"How long will we be on the road, Troy?" asked Reeves, still serious-faced among the jocular laughing guys. "All we gotta do is to keep Laura alive and we will be at the Canadian border in a week or less," replied Troy.

"That sounds like a plan. Let's do it, guys!"

Joe cried out and he hugged Troy's back; while Reeves and Two Bob looked at each other, the half-Cherokee nodded favourably that he was in—and they both shook hands to the armistice plan to keep the team together for a higher chance of survival.