Sometimes We Ran (Book 3): Rescue by Stephen Drivick Read Free Book Online

folded piece of yellow paper. “Michael told me to give this to you before you went out. It's a list of things he thinks we need.”
    I unfolded the paper, and scanned it. Michael's list was a list of the impossible - cough medicine, honey, aspirin, coffee and tea. It was unlikely our friends at Pine Grove had any of it. “What is he thinking? We're not going to the grocery store.”
    Lisa shrugged. “I don't know. I'm just the messenger.” She went to open the gate.
    I pulled the van through the gate with a salute from Lisa. I waited for a few minutes for the gate to be closed and latched before taking the right turn toward the state highway and our market spot. It wasn't too far away. The van was warm, and the road was clear.
    After reading the impossible list again, I handed it to Claire so she could read the unobtainable items. “Sometimes I wonder what goes on in Michael's head,” I said.
    Claire scanned the list, shaking her head. “Here's something to think about. He's second in command. If something happened to Denise, he'd be in charge.”
    “May God have mercy on our souls,” I said. Claire could only giggle.
    We found the state route and took a left. The old supermarket was just a few miles away in an intersection. We drove in silence, looking out for bad guys on the road. The road and the surrounding areas were deserted and broken. The Red-Eyes were sheltering themselves from the cold. They hid in the woods and abandoned buildings, waiting to swarm out on their victims. They also loved to come out at night for short periods in the deep cold. You tried to stay indoors at night. It belonged to the dead and the dogs.
    Claire stared wistfully out the window, and then started playing with the radio again. Her futile attempts at finding something on the dial turned up nothing. Sometimes, there wasn't even static. Just nothing. Even the automated emergency broadcasts had stopped long ago.
    The wind began to pick up again, and more flurries fell from the sky. I wanted to get this over with and go home before we froze to death. “Been a while...you and I. We haven't been outside together in a long time,” I said.
    Claire turned away from her window. “Busy with Alex and helping out the teachers.”
    “Not to mention we've both been sick.”
    “Yeah,” Claire said, retrieving her bat from behind the seat. “We should get together more often. I forget how well we work together.”
    Claire was an old friend. I did miss her, even though we lived across the street from each other. Our friendship was pushed aside sometimes by the struggle for survival. “I'd like that,” I said.
    The first part of our little trip was almost over. The car wash across the street was a landmark that told me the supermarket was close. We rounded the last curve before the entrance, and a wrecked car suddenly appeared in the van's huge windshield. I stood on the brakes, and we slid to a stop.
    “What the hell is this?” I said. Claire and I exited the van with weapons ready. Someone had crashed a car into a light pole near the entrance to the supermarket.
    “Was this here the last time you came out?” Claire asked.
    “No. My last visit was a few months ago. This wreck wasn't here.”
    We approached the broken car as quietly as possible. Claire approached the passenger side, and I moved to the driver's door, which was open. As we got close, I could make out a body hanging out of the car. “Body hanging out the driver's side,” I said. Claire nodded and she to look in all directions at once to keep tabs on our surroundings. It could be a trap, or many Red-Eyes could be watching.
    We reached the car, and began to look around. It had been a heavy impact. The large sedan was crumpled all the way to the firewall, and car parts littered the ground. There wasn't much to salvage. Even the battery looked like it was destroyed.
    Claire took a look in the passenger side. “Not much here.”
    I walked from the back of the car to the