Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

more messing around,” said Peter, not even looking at us as he pedaled off.
    “Boy’s gone bloodthirsty on us,” said Jamal, shaking his head as he pushed off to join him.
    “Boy’s gone realistic I think is more like it,” said Winky.
    “Boy is da boss,” said Bodo, straining with the effort of moving his bike with the extra weight on his back.
    I didn’t share my opinion with anyone. My thoughts on wrong and right, good and evil, and all the other moral issues I had always assumed would never change, could never change, were in flux right now. I felt like I didn’t know which way was up anymore. Something told me this was a dangerous place for my head to be, but I didn’t have the time or luxury to sort it out now. Maybe when we found our final home I’d be able to decide how far I would be willing to go to find happiness and security again and to deliver it to my new family.

CHAPTER SIX

    WE RODE FOR HOURS, TRADING bikes and their accompanying loads. Just when we thought we could go no farther, a small sign for the Everglades Correctional Institution came up.
    “That’s kind of funny, isn’t it?” asked Winky.
    “What?” I asked, huffing and puffing along, my legs on fire from the overexertion.
    “That it’s not called a prison. I mean, correctional institution? It sound like a school for learning manners or something.”
    “It was,” said Bianca. “It’s not polite to rape, murder, or steal, children .”
    That earned her a few weak giggles. I think we were too tired to do any better.
    “Keep going, guys,” cheered Peter, “we’re almost there!” He had only himself to carry, so he still had enough juice to fuel a burst of energy that had him well ahead of us in seconds.
    I turned and looked back at my load. Jenny hadn’t moved for the entire ride. The fact that she hadn’t even roused herself enough to go pee with us was sad. It meant she was beyond dehydrated. I hated to think we’d rescued her only to watch her die.
    Thirty minutes later we pulled into the valet area of the prison. It looked like a freaky ghost town, trash blown up against the fences, and weeds grown up high along all the buildings and in the center section in front. Even the cracks in the asphalt and sidewalks had grass growing out of them. It made me hopeful that no one had passed through here or decided to stay.
    Peter was waiting for us at the front gate. Bodo was next, pulling up beside him. The rest of us arrived soon after, Ronald and Jamal immediately getting off their bikes and putting them down once the girls were off. Both the guys and the girls who had been riding uncomfortably all laid down on the ground.
    “What are you guys doing?” asked Winky.
    “I’m just dying right here. Don’t worry about me,” said Jamal
    “Me too,” said Ronald. “Just let the Good Lord take me. I can’t move another inch. I really can’t.”
    Peter was off his bike and pulling on the fence. “It’s locked.” He put his hands on his hips and huffed out a frustrated breath. “And there’s barbed wire around the entire thing. How are we going to get in?”
    “Just give us a few minutes, Peter. We’ll go around the perimeter and see if there are any breaks in the fence. I can’t believe we’re the first people to break in here,” I said.
    “Maybe we are. Don’t you remember the news before it went off for good?” asked Gretchen, staring up at the sky.
    “No,” I said, trying to think when the last time I watched television was.
    “I remember,” said Ronald. “They turned the prisons into hospitals. Lots of the people who were dying were brought here.”
    “Oh, great!” I yelled, pissed I hadn’t realized this before. “You mean we came all the way down here to live in a friggin morgue?!”
    “Well, I guess that explains why this place isn’t being used by anyone else,” said Peter, shrugging his shoulders.
    “Peter, you are seriously scaring me with your complete lack of freaking out lately.”
    “I freak out when the time is appropriate. Right now I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ve picked the best possible place to set up our new home. All we have to do is move the bodies out, clean the place up, and move in!”
    “You are actually smiling at me right now,” I said, shaking my head at him. I looked around at the others. “Does anyone else feel the wrongness of all of this? Is anyone else worried about the friggin virus that could still be alive in there?”
    “Nope,”