Apocalypsis 03 - Exodus

said Bodo. “Not me. I like dat dis place is like a haunted house. Dat means no one will come here and bodder us.”
    “The virus is dead,” said Gretchen. “Everyone knows that.”
    “No, everyone does not,” I insisted, disregarding Kiersten’s statements to the contrary. “We have no idea what that virus is or what it’s capable of doing to us as we get older.”
    “What’s the worst that could happen?” asked Ronald. “I mean, really. When you think about it.”
    “We could die? How about that?” I said.
    “Yeah? And?” said Bianca, sitting up and looking at me. “Dying of a virus sure beats being raped and eaten in my book.”
    “Geez,” was all I could say. My mind was racing with thoughts of our new reality. I felt cornered and sad and desperate, even surrounded by friends and standing in front of a place that I thought was going to be our sanctuary. And the most positive thing anyone can think to consider is which would be a better way to die - by the hands of another kid or a killer virus that wiped out most of the human population. When is life ever going to be about living and not dying?
    ***
    Peter walked the perimeter of the fence with Jamal. They showed up from the other direction thirty minutes later.
    “There are no breaks in the fence anywhere ,” said Peter. “The place is locked up tighter than my aunt’s special closet and it’s hugely huge.”
    “The one with the high heels?” I asked, smiling with the memory of Peter wearing a pair of them when I first met him.
    “Exactly. Secrets are inside this place, I just know it.” He stood with hands on hips again, staring at the fence. “I need to get in there. Why don’t we have a stupid bolt cutter with us?”
    “How about we throw a blanket over the barbed wire and then climb over?” suggested Winky, eyeing the offending escape deterrent. It had bits of razor and twisted, pointy spikes on it. It looked like a great way to get a set of very painful and infected wounds.
    “I think that razor would cut right through it,” I said.
    “Not if you fold it up a bunch of times,” said Gretchen, finally sitting up. “How big is it and how thick?”
    Peter walked over to one of the backpacks and pulled out one of the decorated rug blankets I knew had been made by the Miccosukee. “Here it is. What do you guys think?” he asked, holding it up.
    “Worth a shot,” said Ronald.
    “I agree,” said Jamal. “It’s going to get dark soon. We need to get inside before the sun goes down, even if we just sleep right there on the other side of the fence.”
    “Yeah, I’m not all that excited about exploring the prison in the dark, if you don’t mind,” agreed Ronald. “Let’s save that for tomorrow morning.”
    “Whatever,” I said. “I’m officially on record as saying I think this is a dangerous place and we need to be super careful.”
    “It was your idea to come here, Bryn,” said Winky.
    “I got the idea from the twins, first of all; and second of all, I didn’t realize this place was a deadly germ factory before I said we should come. If I had known about the hospital thing, I never would have agreed to it.”
    “Well, where would we have gone if not here?” she asked.
    Everyone went silent, listening for my answer.
    I couldn’t come up with a good one, with all of them looking at me like that. “I don’t know. A high school … or a big library maybe? That would have been better than this.”
    “Yeah. Except you’d be missing all the barbed wire to keep the canners and sweepers out, the kitchens, the bedrooms, the weapons and ammo … need I continue?” asked Ronald.
    I frowned but said nothing. He was right. The library would have been good for the books, but useless for almost everything else we needed.
    “I think we can all agree we need to be careful going in,” said Gretchen, acting as peacemaker. “Let’s just get in past the gate, go inside to the front waiting area or whatever, and set up camp there. Then we can decide whether to investigate more or just start spraying bleach on everything first.”
    Her mention of the bleach made me feel a little better. I had forgotten I had a container of it in my stuff. “We still have the bleach, right Peter?”
    He nodded. “Of course.”
    “Fine,” I said. “I agree to this plan if you guys do.”
    Everyone nodded.
    “Here,” said Peter, nudging Bodo with the blanket. “Help me get this over the wire.”
    Bodo and Bianca climbed up the