The Great Wreck by Jack Stewart Read Free Book Online Page A

“No
Frigadoris?”
                “No such
luck dude,” I said fist bumping him, “We’re picking her up on the way out of
town. Hi, Greer. Come on in,” I said looking at the terribly young, frightened,
and pretty teenager standing nervously at my front door. She was short, maybe
five foot at the most, had dyed, platinum blond hair in a pixie cut, bright
green eyes that darted from side to side looking everywhere at once, and
probably weighed a hundred and ten pounds soaking wet.
                “Are you
sure it’s OK?” she said.
                “Yeah,
we’re cool,” I said thinking she was asking if it was OK for her to come with
us, “We’ll let your parents know you’re with us as soon as we can get a hold of
them. I’m sure they’ll be happy to know your with us instead of on your own.”
                “No, I
mean, is it OK in this area? Are the dead here yet?” she said as she came into
the apartment and I closed the door.
                “What
the fuck?” I said. Nicky and I both looked back and forth between Tony and
Greer. Tony held up his hand palms out and shrugged while shaking his head.
                “Don’t
mind her, man. She’s just freaked out. She thinks the people who have been
infected are dead, as in ‘walking dead.’”
                “Man,
keep that theory to yourself,” I said, “You will absolutely freak Dreysi out if
you say something like that.”
                “We’d
better get going,” Nicky chimed in, “I’ve be glued to the tube all day and it
looks like the government might impose a travel ban in the state on top of a
curfew. So if we’re going to get out of town, now is the time to do it.”
                We all
agreed and carried our stuff down to the Bronco and quickly loaded up our gear
plus Tony’s and Greer’s and were soon on our way. Again I stayed off of the
main roads slowly making our way past police and military checkpoints. Each
time the cops would stop us, ask us for IDs and if any of us were potentially
infected, then wave us through.   I
wondered what they’d do if they found someone who was infected.
                “Take
them into custody,” Nicky said when I asked aloud, “They have turned the
college stadium into a vast holding pen for the sick.”
                “Bullshit,”
Tony said.
                “It’s
true. I saw it on the television earlier today. The hospitals are all crammed
full so they’re taking stadiums, gyms, even hangers at the airport and turning
them into hospitals.”
                “You
mean morgues,” Greer said.
                “Jesus
Christ, Greer,” Nicky said, “They’re not morgues!”
                “No
yet,” she replied.
                 “Bucket of sunshine, that one,” I
whispered to Nicky as we pulled up in front of Nicky’s house, “Let’s go fetch
the princess,” I said as I shut off the engine.
                “Casey,
maybe you should leave the engine running,” Tony said from the back seat.
                “Not at
twenty dollars a gallon,” I replied, “But I will leave the keys, just in case,”
and got out of the car with Nicky.
                We
walked up to the doorway of her parents super huge McMansion and before Nicky
could even get the keys out of her purse, Dreysi had whipped open the door and the
next thing I knew was I was looking down the business end of a very large
shotgun.
                “Who the
fuck are you!?” she screamed.
                “Nicky,
could you convince Dreysi to remove the potentially lethal instrument of death
from the general vicinity of my face? Maybe?”
                “It’s
us, Dres! Jesus, put that thing down!”
                “Oh my
god, it’s you Nicolette!” she said crying and pulled her sister inside