Elliott watched Junie with concern. The coffee had run dry and the strain was beginning to show on her face. Her tactical mug rested on her knee, the handle clutched in one quivering hand. Dark circles were showing under her eyes, as though years of caffeine induced insomnia were finally catching up with her.
The SWAT van was stuffed with silence; no one was speaking or even moving. They were headed north, back home. The idea of home seemed to have calmed the savage beast in Shavian; she sat quietly, a small genuine smile on her lips, her ear pressed against the wall of the van as though, in the absence of windows, she could hear when they crossed back into Washington.
Higgins seemed pensive; Washington wasn’t home to him and not for the first time, Elliott wondered what he was leaving behind, what he had lost.
Elliott was glad to be going home. The last couple days had been more than enough adventure for him. He was done being the heroic leader.
Aubrey suddenly stood and headed to the back door. Without looking at anyone she said quietly, “Please stop the van.”
All eyes turned to her. “Why?” Higgins asked.
“I don’t want to go to Washington,” she said. “I don’t know what’s there.”
“It has to be better than Portland!” Roger cried from the driver’s seat.
“I was fine at the beer festival, with the Brewmaster. I was safe. I want to go back.” Her voice was soft but unyielding. “I won’t ask you to endanger yourselves to drive me back. Just pull over and drop me off. I can find my way.”
“You’ll never make it!” Shavian cried. “This place will be crawling with zombies once the sun goes down. You’ll get eaten alive, literally!”
“Suicide,” Higgins added.
Aubrey smiled. “I know the risks,” she replied. “But I was just supposed to show you the mall But I can’t ask any more of you guys. I may have been in the thick of things for a little longer but I think you guys have been through more.” She glanced at Junie and frowned. “And I think your friend there is about to implode. Or she needs to go to the bathroom.”
Roger reluctantly pulled the van over to the side of the freeway. I-5 was all but abandoned, a ghost road. Roger looked back at Aubrey, then at Elliott. Elliott shrugged to his silent question. Shavian banged her head against the wall.
“Let’s just talk about this for a second,” Elliott said. “Aubrey, you really won’t make it. It’s hell out there.”
“I’m not going with you,” Aubrey said, opening the van door and hopping down to the asphalt. “And I’m not getting back in that van.” She turned and started back south, her hair whipping around her in the breeze off the Columbia River. They’d stopped right before they crossed that great river; in the absence of the noise of traffic they could clearly hear the rushing of the water below.
Roger jumped out of the van, his face set as he ran to catch up with Aubrey. “You’d not be the first person we’ve kidnapped, lass! Now get back in that van!”
Everyone trooped out of the van, watching the scene unfold. “Roger, I appreciate everything you’re trying to do for me, but I can’t leave. I don’t want to.” When he caught up with her, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek. Both Spot and Pat turned and looked north, across the river. Pat’s head lowered and a growl rose in his throat.
“What is it, boy?” Shavian asked, burying her fingers in the fur of his neck. A tiny wag of his tail acknowledged the affection but the growling continued. Rog and Aubrey continued a hushed conversation that Elliott couldn’t hear. Junie wandered past, her gait a little unsteady. Fipps trailed behind her, worried. As she passed Shavian and Pat, Spot trotted up beside her and nipped at her heels. Junie yelped in surprise. Spot circled around in front of her, his head low, his eyes intent on her. He slunk towards her and when she didn’t move, he gave a little yelp of warning.
“Is he… trying to herd her?” Fipps asked, smiling.
“Because he’s a herd dog? Yeah right, good luck with that, “ Shavian said sarcastically, addressing the dog. Spot’s whole attention was focused on trying to push Junie backwards. Junie seemed oblivious and she moved to go around the shepherd. Spot lunged at her, his teeth bared but he didn’t bite. He whined at Junie in an almost imploring manner.
Junie pursed her lips and mustered her determination, marching past the dog. Elliott had no idea why she was so determined to keep walking north, although it was possible she could actually smell all the coffee in Washington. Spot, not to be deterred, caught her pants leg in his teeth, alternately whining and growling. Pat was still snarling at something northward.
Junie was only a few feet from the pedestrian walkway across the Interstate Bridge when a deafening noise shook the ground. Elliott was thrown from his feet; Aubrey staggered into Roger. It wasn’t until the noise shook them again that Elliott realized it was actually an explosion as the heat washed over them. He sat up and looked northward. There was a short moment of calm as the bridge did nothing more than creak. Then as Elliott gaped in horror, a section of the Interstate Bridge crumbled in a cloud of dust and debris and fell into the Columbia with an enormous splash. Fipps grabbed the back of Junie’s shirt and jerked her back from the bridge just as a final explosion, this one dangerously close, ripped the southerly end of the Interstate Bridge apart.
They gaped as debris fell into the river and pattered on the pavement in a never-ending stream. Elliott covered his head with his arms. Shavian screamed behind him. The dust was so thick that Elliot could hear them choking on it, but couldn’t see them.His eyes watered and he pulled his shirt up over his mouth.
“What the hell?” Roger bellowed from somewhere behind him.
When the dust cleared, Junie was still standing at the edge, staring blankly down at the glittering river.
The others staggered to their feet, blinking. They stared at the empty space where the road home used to be.
“Well,” Roger said conversationally, turning to Aubrey, “I guess I’m winning that argument.”