Free Revelations - 02 by T. W. Brown Page A

into an absolute panic. Suddenly there were screams, shrieks, and crying.
    Randi didn’t need to be prompted any further and floored it. The sudden force caused a couple of the people in back to fall on the large open floor back there which only raised their wailing to another level. We were reaching the tee-intersection at the end of this long two-lane road, and I knew we would be taking the left turn fast enough to likely spill a few more of our passengers onto the floor.
    “Hold on!” I yelled.
    We power slid, our ass end coming around easy. Like magic, we seemed to straighten out relatively smoothly and take off for the road that would take us on a winding path up into the hills.
    “Nice,” I commented.
    “ Cars ,” Randi said with a smile.
    “Huh?” I didn’t get it.
    “The Disney move, Cars .”
    “What about it?” I wasn’t any clearer as to what her point was.
    “The scene where the old car teaches the flashy red one how to corner on a dirt track.”
    “Ka-chow!” a tiny voice from in back hooted.
    “That’s right, baby.” Randi glanced up in the rearview mirror and smiled.
    I didn’t have any kids. I guess you had to have children to understand. But whatever it was that taught Randi to accelerate through the corner like that was okay by me. I looked in back for the source of the tiny voice and took the first actual headcount of the folks we’d just rescued: four women, three men, one child—a boy about six or seven, not much older than Thalia.
    “We’ve got Melissa and she’s fine,” the radio came to life.
    I grabbed the headset and keyed the mic. “That is excellent news!” I made no attempt to mask how glad I was. “We are en route to the rally point with eight survivors. Any sign of Barry or Jamie yet, Teresa?”
    “Saw two figures running through the smoke, but the cloud got thicker and we lost ‘em,” came the reply. I noticed Randi’s grip tighten on the steering wheel.
    “Well,” I touched Randi’s arm, trying to provide a small measure of comfort, “keep your eyes open and have everybody scanning for them. We stay put until we are absolutely certain one way or the other.”
    “Okee-Dokee,” Teresa answered.
    The rest of the ride was in silence. When we reached the turn-off, I could see Teresa had already arrived. Everybody was present except Jamie and Barry. Dr. Zahn climbed out and helped everybody from the Hummer with help from Dave. Teresa, Melissa, and Aaron only turned and waved to acknowledge us, then went back to scanning with their binoculars.
    “Is anybody bit or scratched?” I heard Dr. Zahn ask as I walked over to the waist-high stone wall that was intended to let people look into the valley below while protecting them from tumbling down the hill.
    “Got something!” Aaron crowed. “Left of that large red brick building.”
    “See ‘em!” Melissa and Teresa chimed almost simultaneously.
    Randi ran to the trio. Aaron handed his binoculars to her and pointed. I actually saw the tension leave her shoulders.
    “That’s my Barry!” she laughed. “What in heaven above is that man doin’?”
    “Haulin’ ass on a motorcycle,” Melissa answered with a hint of laughter in her voice.
    “He’s gonna break his fool neck!” Randi snapped. Now that it was clear her husband was safe from zombies or explosions, she had a new thing to worry and fret over.
    “I imagine that sidecar keeps him stable,” Teresa chuckled.
    “Not if he don’t slow his ass down on the corners,” Randi snapped.
    “Steve?” It was Dr. Zahn.
    “What’s up? I turned, and the smile I’d allowed myself to have melted away at the look on her face.
    “One of ‘em’s bit,” Dave hissed. Dr. Zahn shot him a withering glance—I now know what one actually looks like—and he dropped his head and stepped back.
    I looked at the doctor. She nodded and I felt a new sensation of nausea. What was I supposed to do? It’s not like we loaded out the “toxic cocktail” used back in