Here We Stand (Book 2): Divided (Surviving The Evacuation) by Frank Tayell Page B

up, and Tom caught sight of the edge of a regimental tattoo.
    “There was a plan in case the airfield got overrun?” Helena asked.
    “Yeah.” Kaitlin turned back to the cab. “Close the door. Now!” The door reluctantly closed. “Yeah, there was a plan. Kind of. If the airfield was overrun, get in the cars and trucks, and drive away. Stop here and wait for everyone else.”
    Tom looked back at the airfield, at the flames, the wreckage, and the distant specks shambling up the road.
    “No one’s coming,” he said, voicing what the woman must be thinking, knowing that the sooner she accepted it, the sooner they could all continue an escape that was only half done. Helena, he noticed, wasn’t looking at the airfield, but at the cab, and with a thoughtful expression.
    “Give it five minutes,” Kaitlin said. “We can wait that long.”
    The cab’s door opened. This time it was a boy in the doorway. He was a little younger than the girl, perhaps eight or nine, but like the girl, he bore no resemblance to the soldier.
    “Katie,” the boy said, “after the crossroads, we have to go to the farm, remember? Do you remember what they said? The farm with the red water tower, that’s where we have to go. Do you remember?”
    “I know,” Kaitlin said. “Close the door, we’ll be going in a moment.”
    “The red water tower,” the boy said, closing the door with no sense of urgency.
    “They your kids?” Tom asked, though the woman looked too young, perhaps in her early-to mid twenties, and the children too dissimilar to each other and her.
    “No. I mean, yeah. Sort of,” Kaitlin said. She turned her eyes back to the airfield.
    He understood. She’d offered them a ride out of immediate danger, but was trying to find a way for them not to travel together any further. A dozen persuasive lines jumped to the forefront of his brain, swiftly followed by just as many lies, any one of which he was sure she’d believe. That was how he’d have secured a ride a few weeks before, but the world had changed and so had he. He opted for honesty instead.
    “My name’s Tom Clemens. I worked for the president. We were trying to get to Washington to give him some information he really needed to know.”
    “About the zombies?” Kaitlin asked, giving him a more considered examination.
    “Sort of. There’s a conspiracy at the heart of all of this, and I was trying to stop it. Did you hear about his address to the nation? After the broadcast, we decided to come here. I thought I could enlist the help of the Air Force personnel stationed at the airfield to hunt down the conspirators.”
    “Oh? What agency are you two with?” Kaitlin asked.
    “Oh no,” Helena said. “I’m a teacher from New York. I… We sort of ended up traveling together.”
    “You have any I.D.?” she asked Tom.
    “No, and I didn’t work for an agency. I do have proof.” He took out the tablet. “But the battery’s dead. The journey to this farm with the red water-tower should be long enough to charge it.”
    There was another muffled explosion from the airfield.
    “The zombies are getting nearer,” Helena said. “They’ll be here in another twenty minutes. We should get moving.”
    “Yeah.” Kaitlin gave them both another brief but thorough inspection before reaching some internal decision. “Yeah, we should. Get in.”
    When Tom reached the door to the cab, he saw why this woman was so reluctant to offer assistance to two people who’d helped her escape the airfield. The back of the cab was filled with children.
    Helena paused in the doorway, making eye contact with each child in turn. “You know,” she said brightly as she climbed in, “this will be the third time I’ve ridden in a fire truck. The other two times were when they brought one to the school where I teach, to show my pupils what a firefighter does. Now, let me see, my students are about… your age. What’s your name?”
    “Soanna,” the girl who’d opened the door