Free America The Dead Book Two: The Road To Somewhere by Lindsey Rivers Page B

was a well here
somewhere?" he asked hopefully.
    A few minutes of searching found the water
where it bubbled up fresh and cold and ran down into the trough.
They all got cleaned up before they left.
    ~
    Janet gratefully accepted the chickens when
they handed them over to her.
    "I had thought of that as well, but I couldn't
find two men willing to take me down there," she said.
    Bob kissed her on the cheek. "We saved you the
drive," he said.
    "Why, Bob," she said, embarrassed.
    "Everybody's going," Bob said, "With us.
They're all coming with us."
    Janet grabbed Bob's face between her palms and
kissed him hard, pumped one fist in the air and said,
"Yes!"
    "Jan," Bob said, surprised. Then they both
laughed and hugged. "We are going to talk it over tonight. We're
not sure of Molly and Nell. Other than that, everybody else is
in... including Jeff's people."
    "I'm so happy," Janet Dove said. Her face
glowed. She couldn't have smiled wider if she tried.
    "Thought you would be," Bob said.
    "Go get some clean clothes and get cleaned up,"
Janet said. "I'll take these from here," she said indicating the
chickens.
    When they reached the stream after stopping off
to pick up clothes, Tom was just getting there himself.
    "How did it go?" Bob asked.
    "Come out good. That Molly can work. We left
everything there. Didn't know what we'd do with most of those tools
anyway," Tom said.
    "Yeah, best place for them," Bob
said.
    "The rest of us have decided to go," Mike
said.
    "With Bob?" Tom asked.
    "Yep," Mike said.
    Tom exhaled. "That's good news.
Everybody?"
    "We don't know about Nell and Molly," Mike
said.
    Tom nodded, "They want to go. It is all Molly
and I've been talking about as we worked. She's so enthusiastic. As
for Lilly and I, Lilly got me to look at it harder, she's... Well,
that will come later, I guess. But I was thinking about safety...
For her," Tom said.
    "That's not fair, you can't almost spit it out
and then not say it," Ronnie said.
    "What," Tom said.
    "Like you were about to say something, but
decided not to," Jeff said.
    "Yeah," Mike added.
    "That's it exactly," Tom said. "That's me. It's
not a secret; we just haven't told anyone is all. Lilly is...
pregnant," Tom said.
    "Wow," Ronnie said. "Fast work, Bro," he
clapped Tom on the back.
    "Congratulations," Mike said.
    "It's not mine," Tom said. "I'm only saying it
to say it. She was pregnant when this happened. She was afraid I
wouldn't want her, but I do. And the baby... well, I'm pretty
excited about it," he smiled hugely.
    "All right then. Congratulations, Tom," Bob
said slapping him on the back.
    "Hey, the first one," Mike said. "That's a big
deal."
    "Awesome," Jeff said.
    "Hey, it's our future," Ronnie said.
    "That's why I wanna go... for Lilly and the
baby," Tom said.
    ~
    The Dog showed up just before dinner with a
companion. She was every bit mutt as The Dog, and very nervous
around everyone.
    Everyone ate with gusto, slipping bits of
chicken to the two dogs, and fussing over Angel, which somebody
immediately named her.
    "It's not right," Mike said. "Angel here shows
up and gets a name immediately and The Dog is still The
Dog."
    "Yeah, but he's The Dog ," Janet said
laughing. Everybody joined in.
    "The Dog probably wouldn't know
what to make of a new name," Tom said. "Probably thinks The Dog is his
name."
    "Well, it is," Lilly said. "It is his name.
Angel and The Dog. Now The Dog has somebody too."
    ~
    Dinner passed by quickly, and Mike broached the
subject that had been on their minds and that they had spoken of
earlier.
    "Some of us talked today about
going with Bob and Janet. By some of us I mean, Ronnie, Patty, Kate
and myself, Tom and Jeff. We decided to go, Lilly," he looked at
Lilly, "had already told Tom she wanted to go. If I have it figured
right, we have it
figured right, the only ones who didn't say for sure yet are Nell
and Molly. But," he held his hands up, " this is for every one of
us," he looked to Jeff's group, "those of you who have been here,
those of