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~ 13 ~

 

 

 

 

 

The Long Walk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place:  Outside of Philadelphia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

+ Howie +

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just one more step Howie, you can do it…one more….

 

 

 

 

 

If I were to walk into an office of a regular business and start talking to myself, I’d be considered a nut case. It’s different when you are a celebrity. When you’re in the music business it’s all about mantras and chanting to yourself to get psyched for a performance. Whether it’s a “Let’s do this!” or “Backstreet’s Back All Right!” to the more obscure, “Did everyone shit before they dance?” ß long story how that one came about, but yeah, it actually became a chant for a good month after the ‘Nick ate too many burritos’ incident. Anyway, mantras have become a very natural and almost soothing thing for me.

 

 

 

Just one more step Howie, you can do it…one more….

 

 

 

That was my new one. I needed it because if I didn’t keep saying it to myself, chances were I was going to just lie down on this never ending road and die.

 

 

 

After finding all those dead birds, we figured out it was best if we just left the car and walked since running over a ton of dead carcasses didn’t seem like an option we all wanted to take.

 

 

 

Having to walk through so much death is something that will haunt me until the end of my days. Every time I close my eyes, I will hear the sound of crunching bones under feet. There was so many of them, it was almost impossible to not have to step on them to make it through.

 

 

 

I can’t even tell you how long we were walking before we actually cleared the birds. My guess is over two hours. I wish I knew what was going on. Why were there so many dead birds and where were all the other animals? Just that thought alone sent a huge chill down my spine. Birds I could deal with, walking through a dead sea of deer or furry creatures, not so much.

 

 

 

And what about the people? We haven’t encountered any since the ones hiding in the woods, weird how none of us would even discuss that. After we started our walk, we all just kind of stopped talking. There are no words for what we are witnessing today. Why bother harping on it. Besides, we’re all probably busy saying our own mantras in our heads to focus on anything else.

 

 

 

I looked over at Brian who was walking even with me. His head was down and he was biting on his bottom lip as he had his arms wrapped around himself. The weather wasn’t really helping any of us. I found myself sniffling to prevent any more mucus from running out of my nose.

 

 

 

“Do you think they’re dead?”

 

 

 

What a somber way to be broken out of silence. I turned to AJ as he caught up to me. His nose all red and eyes all watery, white smoky breath came out of his mouth as he continued, “Everyone we left home. You think they are dead from whatever this was?”

 

 

 

“I doubt it. I mean for all we know this is just something weird happening here.” I wish I believed myself.

 

 

 

“Really?”

 

 

 

Brian cut in, “What good is it to even think that way? We need to stay positive.” The sharp tone in his voice told me he was yelling at himself for doubting what he had just said. I’m sure we were all thinking it.

 

 

 

On impulse, I reached for my phone yet again. I had checked it less and less because the disappointment wasn’t worth the few seconds of hope I felt while waiting for a signal of any kind.

 

 

 

“My battery is dying.” I shook my head looking at the one bar of light. Of course it didn’t even matter because once again, there was no signal.

 

 

 

This realization was followed by more silence. The three of us continued to walk in a line together. Just having them on either side was a little comforting. Kevin was still leading the way occasionally looking back and stopping while we caught up.

 

 

 

Nick was slightly behind us, only by a couple of feet, but occasionally we would do the same for him.

 

 

 

One more step Howie…you can do it…one more…

 

 

 

I started shivering about an hour after the last conversation we had. At first it wasn’t a big deal but now I was shivering so badly that it was actually making my jaw hurt. If we didn’t find shelter soon, I wasn’t going to make it. None of us were. I could tell by the way we all slowed our paces, except for Kevin who kept getting further and further ahead of us.

 

 

 

“We need to find somewhere warm.” I finally managed to blurt out once he stopped and waited for us again.

 

 

 

This time he let us catch right up to him before he spoke, “I am aware of that D, but I don’t see anywhere to stop, do you?”

 

 

 

His lips were slightly blue and his face just like the rest of us was rosy. Under other circumstances, you’d just think we all had bad sunburns. That would make most sense since it was May after all.

 

 

 

“I’m just saying…”

 

 

 

He nodded and then glanced behind us at Nick who was now walking at a snails pace. We all turned and watched him slowly make his way even with us. His legs were red and shaky as was his entire body. I forgot the kid was just wearing shorts. He had his arms wrapped around him and tears running down his eyes. He might not have even been crying. It could have just been the weather, but doubtful.

 

 

 

“We need to get ourselves warm.” He said now witnessing Nick up close.

 

 

 

“Are you okay Nicky?” I asked him once he finally caught up to us.

 

 

 

He didn’t say a word and just shook his head.

 

 

 

“I can’t believe we haven’t even passed one single abandoned car.” Brian said through a small shiver. Talking was becoming a chore for us which was another reason we were all being so quiet.

 

 

 

“Maybe we should venture into the woods again. It’s possible someone else is hiding who can help us.” Kevin actually sounded hopeful as if the last people we encountered invited us in for tea and biscuits. He did have a point though and I was so cold and exhausted, I was willing to try anything.

 

 

 

We walked over to the guardrail. “I’m going to go check it out. You guys should stay here.”

 

 

 

“No way are you going by yourself. I’ll go with you.” Brian said, not allowing his cousin to go alone. I was grateful because if he didn’t say it, I would have and I am too tired to even think about moving.

 

 

 

He nodded, “Okay, you guys stay here. We’ll be right back.”

 

 

 

“Be careful.” I urged as the two of them went over the rail and into the woods.

 

 

 

I sat on the guardrail knowing how cold it was going to be but not even caring. I needed to rest and I quickly motioned for the other two to do the same. Nick sat next to me and by instinct I put my arms around him and started to rub his arms as if he was a baby and I was toweling him dry. I was really beginning to worry about him when I saw how much he was shaking. He was almost convulsing.

 

 

 

“Don’t worry Nicky, we’ll find shelter soon.”

 

 

 

He nodded as he continued to shiver. I then glanced at AJ who was watching with a look of horror on his face. I have never seen him this scared before. We were all terrified.

 

 

 

“It’s gotta stop snowing soon.” I said under my breath.

 

 

 

It needed to stop snowing soon. Something good needed to happen. Any kind of break would be just what the doctor ordered.

 

 

 

“Maybe we need to get off the highway and walk on a side road.” AJ suggested.

 

 

 

“The last sign we passed said the next exit was about 5 miles away.” That seemed like so far away to me. There was no way I’d make it ten feet, let alone 5 miles. Not in the condition I was in now, we were all in. Hunger was also starting to set in, which wasn’t a good thing. I had been trying to ignore it for the last hour but now that we were still, the growling was there.

 

 

 

Not sure how long we just sat there in silence before AJ spoke up.

 

 

 

“What time is it?”

 

 

 

I glanced at my watch and noticed the second hand wasn’t moving. “Don’t know. It stopped at around 9:00.”

 

 

 

“It has to be late afternoon by now, don’t you think?”

 

 

 

I shrugged. “If I had to guess, I’d say it was around 3 maybe?”

 

 

 

“Yeah, seems about right.” AJ glanced back at the woods, “You think they found anything?”

 

 

 

I was getting annoyed by the constant questions. I knew as much as he did, I wish he’d stop asking.

 

 

 

“No idea.”

 

 

 

“How long have they been gone?”

 

 

 

“I don’t know, thirty minutes maybe?”

 

 

 

“What if something went wrong? Maybe we should go look for them,”

 

 

 

I sighed, wanting to send him so he’d shut the fuck up! Yes, when I’m overly stressed I lose my cool. It’s not something I’m proud of, but it happens. Instead I took a page from my mother’s book and calmly answered, “We’ll give them a little longer and if they’re not back I’ll go looking for them.”

 

 

 

“We all should go.”

 

 

 

“No, Nick needs to stay here.”

 

 

 

“Not alone.” The blond whispered; his first words in over an hour.

 

 

 

Luckily it didn’t have to come to that because Kevin and Brian emerged from the woods a few minutes later, looking tired and dejected. I didn’t think they’d find anything out there, but part of me was semi hopeful.

 

 

 

“We need to get moving again.” Kevin said as he made his way over the railing. “There’s nothing out there, but we did see a few dead squirrels. They look like they just dropped dead right where they were standing.”

 

 

 

“One even had a nut in its mouth and looked mid chew.” Brian added as a grim footnote.

 

 

 

“AJ thinks we should get off at the next exit and I’m inclined to agree.”

 

 

 

When I stood I almost fell back down as a wave of dizziness swept over me. I felt someone’s arm grab my own. It was Nick, “You okay D?”

 

 

 

I nodded at him, “Just stood up too fast. Thanks.”

 

 

 

“No problem.” I tried to give him a small smile, but it probably looked like a grimace.

 

 

 

“What did the last sign say about Philly? We should be getting close.”  Kevin glanced at his wrist and then rolled his eyes.

 

 

 

“Did your watch stop too?”

 

 

 

He nodded, “At 9:10.”

 

 

 

“Same here.”

 

 

 

“I think the last sign said maybe 10 miles?”

 

 

 

We had walked about that much already, halfway there yet so far left to go. You know, 20 miles wouldn’t be all that big of a deal if the weather wasn’t so horrible, but I’m honestly not sure if I could do another 10 miles.

 

 

 

“We’re not going to make it before it gets dark, I don’t think.” Brian said, grabbing a handful of clean snow and putting it into his mouth.

 

 

 

“Don’t! What if it’s contaminated?”

 

 

 

“We need to stay hydrated Howie, you should take some too. We did it in the woods and are still alive.”

 

 

 

I nodded and quickly did the same, grateful for the feeling of something going down my throat besides cold air and mucus.

 

 

 

“I think we’ll be able to get to the next exit before nightfall and then maybe the first house we see we can get some help.” Kevin started walking up the road, “We need to get moving though.”

 

 

 

“Don’t you think you need to rest?” I worried about Kevin because when he was this focused he often forgot about his own health and well being.

 

 

 

“I’ll rest after we find shelter. What about you Brian?”

 

 

 

His cousin nodded while staring at Nick, “I think we need to go.”

 

 

 

“Let’s go then.”

 

 

 

As we all started the trek to the next exit, once again a silence took over. New thoughts looming like would we reach our goal before dark, because we would all freeze to death if we didn’t? It’s not like we could just start a fire out here, not in the middle of the snow which had started to pick up slightly in intensity. Also what if there was no longer any food available? And what about that weird buzzing noise? What if that returned?  Being out here in the open we were just sitting ducks. There would be nowhere to hide.

 

 

 

I bent down and took another scoop of snow into my mouth, afraid it might kill me, but also starting to welcome the idea.

 

 

 

One more step Howie…. You can do it…just one more

 

 

Chapter End Notes:

Hope you enjoyed! Nick is up next! :O)