Preservation by Phillip Tomasso

Author:Phillip Tomasso [Tomasso, Phillip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781925047660
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Severed Press
Published: 2014-03-23T16:00:00+00:00

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Locker room showers sprayed refreshing hot water. I was careful not to wet my new stitches. Allison helped redress the wound on my side afterward. We all looked battered and bruised. A few stitches up my side wasn’t much of anything, considering there had been car accidents and gunfights. We’d battled zombies and survived inclement weather. There was the obvious, also, crash landing a plane just yesterday.

We even spent an hour using the football team’s washer and dryer before meeting everyone back in the cafeteria for breakfast. Powdered scrambled eggs, sausage links and buttered toast. The best part was the coffee. I enjoyed two cups, despite the still nagging urge to smoke a cigarette. At this point, I was game for lighting up anything and just smoking that.

“Okay, Chase.” Gene stood next to his wife, arms crossed over his chest. She had hands stuffed into the pockets of her jeans. “Melissa and I, we’re with you. We’re ready to go.”

“Me, too,” Megan said. Her face lit up with a smile. “And--I spent some time in the library last night. I found maps and compiled a list of directions and alternate directions in case we run into blocks we can’t get around.”

She held up folded maps and a notebook with a ton of words written on it. She wore a huge smile, and I knew she’d spent the night working on directions and not sleeping. If she’d have been wearing knee-high socks, a pleated skirt, and orange turtleneck sweater, I’d have sworn she’d pass for Velma.

Thankfully, Allison stood next to me, so I cleared my throat. I was an opening-mouth away from making myself look wishy-washy at best. “I’m not sure Mexico is the right place to go.”

Andy sighed. I couldn’t tell if he was relieved to hear the words said, or annoyed with me. Either way, he did not make eye contact, so I had no way of better assessing his sigh.

“Look,” I said, and yes, felt immediately defensive. Dave and Charlene even looked at me, and the confusion they must have felt was apparent on their expressions. “I am not the leader. I don’t have answers. I’ve said this from day one. I am just winging this--all of it. I’ve made so many bad choices. I go left when right is obviously the better way. I just try to pick what I think is best at the time. I’m not going to lie; at the beginning, when all of this…exploded, I didn’t really care about much else other than getting to my kids,” I said, and stopped. I missed Cash. I failed him. My little boy. I lowered my head. I felt the heat in my face. My eyes were wet. “I don’t know if Mexico is right. I just, I think it might be a mistake.”

“So, what are you saying?” Megan said.

“I’m saying, I’ve done little else except focus on Mexico. But Mexico might not be the answer. It was just a means to keep me centered.

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