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| Dead Men Walking | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Nov 28 2014, 02:20 AM (70,969 Views) | |
| DoctorYerishi | May 22 2015, 10:27 AM Post #1606 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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Annie had to seriously consider Willow and then Brandon’s offer. Going back was definitely tempting. It was what Connor would want, and Brandon was probably right to say that Randall wouldn’t have blamed them. But she had to ask herself – what had changed? Had the quest grown less important? Had she been rendered less useful? She didn’t think so. “There’s a large part of me that wants to turn back,” she said. “But I’m sorry. As difficult as it is, I think we have to see this through. You might still need me.” She directed the ‘I’m sorry’ part to Connor. The choice to forge ahead was truly a difficult one, and she knew he wouldn’t understand. Not right away, at least. “If you’re going, I’m going,” Annie added after a moment’s reflection. “That’s the way it has to be.” She and the others looked to Jen. * * * Emmett sucked in a breath as he knocked on Eli’s door. He wasn’t sure he was going to answer, and if he did, Emmett was less sure about what he was going to say. He wasn’t one for pep talks – he wasn’t one for much talk at all. There was no response, so he had some time to think about it. He knocked again, a little more forcefully. “Eli,” he said simply into the door. He rapped his knuckles against the door once more. When Eli remained silent, Emmett felt the littlest bit of frustration. He knew Eli was in pain – and he personally knew that pain all too well – but he could have at least offered a ‘Go away’ or ‘Not now’. Instead, nothing. “Eli?” Emmett asked, louder. Still no response. Was Eli really ignoring him, and Willow before him? Or was he sleeping? Or…” Emmett turned the knob on the door, finding it unlocked. Tentatively, he turned it all the way and gently pushed it open on its hinges. There was no cry of protest from inside, so he pushed past it. Eli’s room was a wreck. Everything that wasn’t nailed down was lying broken or shattered across the floor, and the walls hadn’t fared much better. Emmett noted at least one hole exposing the insulation. What he didn’t note was Eli. The room was empty. Emmett ventured further in, looking through the open door of the bathroom. No Eli there, either. Emmett picked up his pace as he moved inside of it, scanning around the shower for any sign of him. There was nothing. Not even any luggage. Emmett narrowed his eyes. In any other context, this kind of discovery – a trashed room and a missing person – would be horrifying. It was scary in this context too, but for a different reason. Emmett instantly knew where Eli was going and why. As he wandered back into the room proper, he noticed a note on the nightstand, hastily written with a pen. It confirmed his theory. Emmett grabbed it and shoved it into his pocket. Then he turned and broke into a run. He had to stop him. * * * The cold breeze against his skin was bracing, or at least Eli chose to take it that way. He needed all the strength he could get, and from now on it’d all have to come from within. There was no more Randall to inspire him by example. He was leaving from the fire exit in the back, gripping the straps of his pack around his shoulders. It felt heavier now, weighed down by the extra supplies and by the importance of the cure. He moved north. His plan involved cutting across the highway then finding a car in a parking lot or driveway. For now, it just had to be one that worked. He’d use it to escape the area, would drive around enough to throw the others off his scent, and he’d keep an eye out for something better. The second part was important. If Brandon or Willow didn’t take his note seriously – if they chose to try and follow him anyway – they had to fail quickly. They had to realize he meant every word. They had to give up, go back to Flint, and raise Kelsey in safety. She deserved that. They all deserved that. Eli arrived in the wooded area by the interstate. He was about to sidestep around a tree, and make himself invisible from any window of the lodge. “Eli!” The voice belonged to Emmett, and it made him feel disappointment and a renewed feeling of failure. He was almost successfully out of there. He thought about running, but then imagined Emmett might chase him. With this pack weighing him down, he’d probably lose that race. No, I have to talk to him, Eli resolved. I have to make him understand. He turned around to face the bearded man as he approached, walking now that he knew Eli wasn’t going to run. “Go back inside,” Eli said. “I left a note – it explains everything.” “I know,” Emmett said simply. He reached into a pocket on his leather jacket and produced the paper. Then he frowned, and with surprising sincerity in his voice, said simply, “Don’t do it.” Eli frowned back. “I have to,” he responded. “Read the note. And just… look after everyone, at least for a little while. They’re going to need you.” Emmett shook his head. “They need both of us.” He came to a stop a metre or so away from Eli. His soft brown eyes were harder than usual, more determined. They met Eli’s eyes directly. Eli couldn’t help but flash back to the last time they faced off like this, one-on-one, by a farmhouse in Ontario. Emmett had a gun to him at the time. Eli was pretty sure he was going to die. Goddamn, so much can change in a week. “Enough people have died.” “I know,” Emmett said, unrelenting. “Then help me stop it,” Eli said. “Right now. Right here. Turn around and go back to the hotel, buy me half an hour. Then you can all get back to rebuilding your lives.” Emmett shook his head softly. This was getting a little bit infuriating. “I got this!” Eli yelled, a little louder than he meant to. “An’ this is how it’s gotta be! How it shoulda been from the start.” “You’re wrong.” “Then I’m wrong!” Eli shouted again, then forced himself to take a calming breath. “But let me be wrong. Jus’ let everyone else be alive. Don’t follow me. Please.” He turned around, breaking eye contact, hoping the simplicity of his plea had been enough. He took a step forward, and was encouraged when he didn’t hear Emmett take another step after him. “You want to be alone,” Emmett called out instead. Eli’s encouragement faded. He looked back, determined. “Yes.” He was just about to look away again when Emmett spoke again. “It’s not the answer.” That froze Eli in place for a second. “Maybe not,” he said, after taking a moment to recover. He started walking again. I’m gonna try anyway, he left unsaid. He took a few more steps into the wooded area beside the interstate. “I know,” Emmett said, once again stopping Eli mid-stride. “I know because I tried.” Eli slumped his shoulders. He didn’t turn around, but he didn’t keep walking. He decided to hear him out. He owed him that. |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | May 22 2015, 01:11 PM Post #1607 |
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Is that so?
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Willow nodded at Annie's response. She still wanted to come along, even after everything she had seen. And she still wanted to bring Connor along. Willow wasn't sure she could bring herself to agree with that choice. And yet here I am dwelling over that same choice. Taking my man and my charge, my family, to California when safety is just around the corner. Guess that doesn't make me any better. "I'm still in, too." Jen's voice broke Willow's mental monologue. "I admit we've seen some seriously messed up crap. And running back to Flint seems like a really good idea a lot of the time. But... I can't. I just can't. Now that I've seen how royally fucked up everything is, nothing seems the same anymore. Not even Flint." Willow had been hoping, just a little bit, that at least one of them would want to go back to Flint. But neither of them seemed to keen on the idea. It made her own choice seem a little harder. Now that she knew Annie and Jen were still in the game, she needed to talk to Brandon again. Later though. "You realize you have no right to call us nuts anymore after not turning back here, right?" "Yeah, yeah... I know." Jen admitted without any levity in her voice. "I guess it's contagious." |
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| DoctorYerishi | May 22 2015, 03:11 PM Post #1608 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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“When the outbreak happened, I tracked down my brother,” Emmett said. Just the word ‘brother’ made Eli flinch. It brought back memories of that pale, scared kid, telling him to wait just before Eli squeezed the trigger and ended him. “Our mother was already bit,” Emmett continued. “She didn’t last long. I had to put her down. After that, I wanted Evan to be safe. We found shelter at Old Fort Erie, and I thought he was.” Eli flinched once more, as more memories bubbled up to the surface – memories of finding and sneaking into that place alongside Randall, memories of people returning there with boxes of stolen supplies, fresh from killing Mac and doing their damnedest to kill the rest of them too. “The fort was full of people by the end of the first week. By the second week, individual supplies were running low. We started combining and rationing our resources. Too late. By week three, food and water was extremely limited. That’s when Leland arrived.” Leland – Eli didn’t recognise that name. He wasn’t one of the people he and the others had killed or knocked out on their heist. “He came from Ottawa, he worked on Parliament Hill. He delivered the news that the world was… fucked.” Eli blinked, surprised. Quickly, he realized he had never known Emmett to use that kind of language. He was usually so measured and controlled. Slowly, he finally turned around to observe Emmett’s expression. His eyebrows were sunken and his frown was deep. This story clearly wasn’t easy for him to tell. “It happened almost overnight – the capital was overrun, the military was in disarray, and the news out of America was just as bad,” Emmett kept going. “It was everyone’s worst fears confirmed. The problem wasn’t temporary. Help wasn’t coming.” Emmett’s jaw seemed to tighten as he recalled the next part. “There was a… militant group among us,” he said. “Leland’s news tipped them over an edge. They noticed on their supply runs that people were fleeing across the border in Canada, sweeping through the area, looting our ‘valuable local resources.’” The last part was clearly a quote, and a bitter one at that. “They said they couldn’t keep letting this happen, we had to protect what’s ours,” Emmett said. “Some of us argued. More agreed. So we secured the border crossing.” At that part, Eli felt a surge of anger to mirror Emmett’s. That decision had led to the group’s first disastrous conflict with people, not rotters. It was that kind of thinking that had made the world an infinitely more dangerous place. “The day after, a group tried to come through. We had agreed we’d just order people to turn around. In the moment, someone went a step further. They demanded a portion of their supplies. Said we needed them. I tried to step in, I was outvoted. I should have done more.” Emmett shook his head, obviously disgusted by the memory. Eli shared that disgust. “When we returned to camp with the stolen goods, some people cheered,” he continued. “There was a push to do it again. Paul was the man in charge, the one everyone looked to. He went along with it. That’s when I left.” A short silence descended, long enough for Eli to remember how cold it was and realize how rapt he had been with the retelling. Emmett had grown slightly more talkative and less brusque every day – but he had never spoken at this kind of length before, especially not about his past. “Where’d you go?” Eli prompted him. It was something Eli had always been curious about, but it had so far seemed beyond inappropriate to bring up. Now, though, Eli figured Emmett had invited the question. “Away,” Emmett answered, leaving it at that for a couple seconds before moving on. “I refused to believe that things were as hopeless as they seemed. I thought if I rode far enough, I could find help or supplies. Something I could use to stop what was happening. I came up short. I found nothing but death and destruction. I had to turn around. A week later, I returned. You know what I found.” Eli did. A wave of guilt washed over him. He didn’t know what to say. Emmett’s expression was conflicted now. There was anger there, understandably, and immense sadness. Somehow, though, he was pushing through it into something else. “As much as I blamed you, as much as you deserved it, I also blame myself. I left him there. I told him to stay behind the walls. I told Paul to protect him. I told myself it wasn’t safe on the road… and I left him there.” A puzzle piece clicked into place, and Eli realized with a frown where Emmett was going with this. “But he was a wilful kid, and he wanted to prove himself, and…” Emmett trailed off. He took an unsteady breath. “I thought I had to go. When I got back, and I found him like that… I thought that meant I was right. I was ready to keep going. I wanted to do what I had to do and just… keep going.” What he had to do, Eli remembered as his frown deepened, was kill me. He had to take a breath himself. “What changed your mind?” he asked after exhaling. “I’ve seen a lot of terrible things, even before I met you,” Emmett said, taking the long way to an answer. “I’ve also seen how you and your friends care about each other. How you have each other’s backs. How far you’ll go for each other. I don’t know how much I can trust anything anymore. I don’t know if I can trust myself. Too much has happened. But I know I can trust that.” Eli was silent as he absorbed those words. He knew he felt exactly the same way. The world was so fucked up. He didn’t know what was safe and what wasn’t. Basic concepts like right and wrong had gotten fuzzy for him. He no longer knew where the line was or when he went past it. But he knew those people back there – people like Brandon, Willow, and Kelsey – they were his family. He knew that. “Don’t give up on that,” Emmett said. It was the first and only thing he had asked of him since they’d been standing out there. Maybe even the first thing ever. Eli let it sink in. Well shit. * * * Eli arrived in the spa, Emmett trailing behind him. From the door, he quickly scanned all the faces in the room, all of whom had turned to look at him with surprise. “We’re going to San Francisco,” Eli declared before they could say anything. “And our first stop is Iowa City.” |
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| Strompy | May 22 2015, 08:01 PM Post #1609 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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That was the formalities out of the way it seemed. Everyone had stubbornly agreed to keep going. They had three capable fighters with them, and Annie seemed to be rapidly adapting. Connor was still green, but by virtue of being older than Kelsey he was physically more capable than her at least. That just left Willow, Kelsey and himself. Staying behind meant doing the one thing he felt strongly they should never really do. Split the group. In light of recent events though he was finding it increasingly difficult to validate that mentality. Desperately he looked to Willow, feeling like a coward. His eyes were pleading for her to help. |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | May 22 2015, 08:12 PM Post #1610 |
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Is that so?
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Willow let out a silent sigh of relief. He had been so broken a couple of hours ago and he hadn't spoken to anyone. She secretly worried that he would be out for a long time. They were all close to Randall, they all looked up to him. His death hit everyone hard. It was taking everything she had to focus and move on right now; if she stopped to think about Glenda, Julie, or Randall it was soul crushing. Wearily, she looked to Brandon. She knew what he was thinking because the same thing was on her mind: What about us? "Wouldn't it make more sense to avoid Iowa City?" Jen asked flatly before Willow could think of something to say to Brandon. |
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| Strompy | May 22 2015, 09:02 PM Post #1611 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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That was something else Brandon couldn't ignore. Kelsey may have living family. If she was really their responsibility didn't they have to do everything they could to preserve that? "Kelsey's brother was in Iowa City." Brandon explained. It didn't mean they had to go. It certainly didn't mean they had to bring Kelsey either. All Brandon knew was that if he found out Kyle might be alive out there it would be the most important thing to him. |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | May 22 2015, 09:27 PM Post #1612 |
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Is that so?
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"Nolan is there." A small voice echoed through the room. Willow's attention was drawn to the spa's entrance as the room fell silent around her. Her skin was pale and there were heavy bags beneath her red eyes; her arms were hanging limply at her sides and all the strength looked like it had been sapped out of her. But it was still Kelsey. She slowly drug her feet over to Brandon and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I want to go see Nolan." Her voice was flat and empty. "I want to see him." Willow had been kind of hoping to return to Flint -- she would worry less about Brandon. Julie had already proven how one mistake could end it all out here. What the two of them had was something special, she was convinced of that. She didn't want to lose that to a mistake too. But how could she say no to Kelsey like this? So soon after losing her father? She knew there was almost no chance of finding Nolan alive, but that didn't make her plea and less valid. He was potentially the only real family she had left. Willow looked at Brandon in the eyes, smiled sadly, and shrugged; "We did promise we'd stay together, didn't we?" |
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| DoctorYerishi | May 22 2015, 10:04 PM Post #1613 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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Eli nodded respectfully to Brandon – glad that someone else had picked up on that so fast didn’t seem conflicted about it. His heart ached when Kelsey entered the room and confirmed what he was thinking. He nodded again. “So we’re going,” he restated. “An' we’re gonna find Nolan. One way or another.” Fuck probably, Eli remembered saying. His whole conversation with Randall the night before leaving for Argonne echoed in his mind. If they were sticking together after all, he had a promise to keep. He and everyone else owed that to Randall and they owed it to Kelsey. |
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| Strompy | May 23 2015, 12:19 AM Post #1614 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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Brandon sighed heavily. He placed a reassuring hand on Kelsey's head. She'd made the decision for him. "Together then." he confirmed. No looking back now. "First thing's first. We need wheels and we need a map, see if we can figure out the best route there. Gonna have to cross the Mississippi, we know what to expect there at least. What do you guys say? Head out on foot now and grab the first car we find, or stay here another night and head out early?" Brandon asked. He knew they were tired as well, but he was eager to put this place behind them. |
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| DoctorYerishi | May 23 2015, 01:02 AM Post #1615 |
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Dude, wake up! We've got a world to save.
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“I got a map,” Eli jumped in. Or more accurately, Randall had a map. Eli dropped his bag on the cork floor of the spa, and then leaned over to dig through it. He produced a large folded up sheet of paper – the same one he had personally discovered in the wine shop at Mount Kisco, the one with the thick black circle around the exact area the group was at now. Randall had actually packed a couple more paper maps from the lodge, but that one would do. They had already arrived and departed Argonne, after all. There was no need to be precious about it. “As for wheels, we probably still need more than just the four,” he added. “No point in us all wandering around the cold looking for them. Brandon, how ‘bout you an’ me head out now, see what we can do? In the meantime, everyone else can get thinking about that route.” |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | May 23 2015, 01:38 AM Post #1616 |
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Is that so?
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"All this running around the past few days has me running thin anyway." Willow huffed from the comfort of her chair. "As long you promise to be careful, I'll let you guys handle the cars and we'll handle the map." Jen glanced at her with a little bit of awe. It had only been four days ago that Willow was carried into Flint on death's door and her survival through the night looked like nothing more than a coin toss. Yet with the way she'd been acting, Jen had almost completely forgotten about that; she found herself almost surprised when Willow announced she was running thin. But now that they were relaxed and she looked, she could see the subtle signs. The way she put more weight on her left leg. The way her face would cringe in pain if she took too deep a breath. The way she even just looked more tired than most. And that was before Jen even considered the emotional weight that must be on her shoulders as well. And here she was now, pushing through all of it. I can help too. "Hey, Kelsey?" Jen knelt down next to the little girl as she pulled away from Brandon. "How about we do a little shooting practice while they find everyone some wheels?" The weary girl looked at her blankly. She was normally so chipper and enthusiastic, but all of that was gone now. The change in demeanor was a little creepy. But right now, Kelsey needed a distraction. Some shooting practice was both practical and distracting. Plus, Randall had wanted her to learn how to shoot his M9. "I bet Nolan will be impressed." She tried adding in, almost desperately. "Okay." She finally said quietly. |
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| Strompy | May 24 2015, 01:00 AM Post #1617 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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It was good that somebody else was taking steps to prepare Kelsey. He enjoyed teaching her things but if something happened to him or he otherwise wasn't around at least she wouldn't be left left unprepared. It reminded him of what he had spoken to Annie about. "In my bag there's a .22 with two magazines and three boxes of fifty rounds. I was planning on showing Kelsey and Connor how to use a pistol. Think you could take another student?" he asked as hd picked up his carbine and got to his feet. |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | May 24 2015, 02:45 AM Post #1618 |
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Is that so?
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"Of course." Jen nodded to Brandon and sneaked a glance at Connor. "As long as he is willing, but I won't force him if he isn't comfortable with it." |
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| Strompy | May 25 2015, 12:37 AM Post #1619 |
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More posts, more Busey.
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Brandon and Eli headed out a few minutes later. Normally whenever the group was seperated, nomatter how briefly, it was a cause for worry in Brandon. As they walked away though Brandon felt completely secure. It wasn't because the others had Emmett and Jen to protect them, or Willow who even sore and tired was still capable. It was because he felt nothing more ciuld go wrong. They'd suffered more than enough for one day. He looked over at Eli as they headed into the residential area nearby with the hope of finding a decent sized people-mover. He was easier to read than normal. He looked blank. Brandon knew the feeling. Eli and Randall had been firm allies. Eli didn't say much but his actions spoke pretty clearly. When Glenda died he'd made Max suffer horrifically. When Mac died he went out of his way for avenge a man he'd just met. Eli cared. A lot. Maybe more than any of them. Then there was Julie. Brandon didn't know what to make of that. If there was anything between them Brandon had never caught wind of it before. She was as big on sharing as Eli or Emmett, just more talkative. Eli was with her at the end though, so he must have meant something to her. Now more than ever he supposed Eli needed to be reminded he had friends still, if such a thing were a comfort to him or not considering everything he didn't know. It was a mixed blessing for himself. "Hey. I've been meaning to tell you. What I said the other day, after you told me about Emmett's brother. I'm sorry about that. It wasn't my place to offload on you when I knew you were already messed up over it." he said contritely. |
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| Make-7-Up-Yours | May 25 2015, 02:05 AM Post #1620 |
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Is that so?
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Willow couldn't really express her gratitude to Jen enough for offering to help Kelsey and Connor both shoot. Some shooting practice might help Kelsey muscle through her heartbreak right now. It wasn't much, but any distraction available could be a big help. Willow knew this firsthand. After Brandon and Eli had left to find a car and Jen had taken the kids somewhere to practice shooting, Willow found herself alone in the spa with Annie. She didn't need to look at the map very long to come out with a few plausible routes -- there were only so many freeways that would take them to California. "Hey doc- er... Annie." Willow handed the map over to her. "I don't know too much about this area, but do you think the more direct Highway 80 would be better or the more northward Highway 90?" The 80 would take them through Iowa City and directly into San Francisco, but there was more large cities positioned along it. They they could be circumnavigated, large cities were always riskier propositions. The more northward 90 could be accessed by heading north from Iowa City; it would definitely add a few hundred miles to the journey at least but there were a lot less big cities positioned on it. "I mean, there are also a few more southern routes we could try too, I guess, but to me they don't seem very good. I could be wrong though. I really don't know anything beyond the East Coast too well, to be honest. I could totally have the wrong idea here." |
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