Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

those?” asked Winky. She sounded impressed.
    “No, but how hard can it be? I can drive a stick.”
    Bodo laughed. “Dat’s funny.”
    I frowned at him. Now he was finally kind of talking, but it was only to mock me. “What’s so funny?”
    “Dat you think drivingk a big truck will be easy. Do you know dey have ten gears or more? Maybe twenty.”
    “What? That’s nuts. Why not just five like a car?” I asked.
    Bodo just rolled his eyes.
    It made me want to slap him.
    “It’s bigger than a car. More weight. It needs more gears for that,” said Paci, frowning at Bodo. He apparently didn’t approve of Bodo’s attitude any more than I did. I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one thinking my boyfriend was acting out of line.
    “Whatever. Five gears or fifty, I’m sure it works the same way,” said Winky. “We could figure it out. We’re women.” She winked at me.
    “Yeah. Girl power.” I got back on my seat, pushing Bodo’s idiocy to the back of my mind. “Let’s go see what’s going on.”
    “Shouldn’t we be a little stealth about it?” asked Winky.
    “Yeah. Let’s ride over on the shoulder until we catch a glimpse of it and then decide what to do.”
    Everyone started pedaling again, and we made it another hundred yards before the hulking figure of a semi with a big trailer at the back of it came into view. It was sitting in the middle of the highway, a trail of pushed cars to either side of its former path, its engine purring away.
    We got off our bikes and laid them down.
    “Now what?” asked Rob, staring at the truck.
    “Now we sneak up on the driver and see what he’s all about.” I grabbed my weapon and moved down into the ditch on the side of the road. It wasn’t very deep, and if the guy driving bothered to look in our direction he’d probably be able to see us without any problem. It was for that reason that we all carried a gun in the backs of our pants.
    When we were about fifty yards back, we shifted our course so that we’d be behind a bunch of high, scruffy bushes when we got even with the truck.
    “Can you see anything yet?” asked Winky, coming up behind me.
    I had stopped and was looking through the bushes, wishing I had eagle eyes. “I need some binoculars or something. I can’t see crap from here.” There was no movement coming from the cab and no people were visible.
    “Your wish is my command,” said Rob, handing me a pair of mini field glasses.
    “What the hell?” I took them from him, waiting for an explanation.
    Rob shrugged. “Peter. He put them in my bag. He said I’m the tallest, so the most likely to get the best use out of them.”
    I shook my head. “That boy scares me sometimes with his efficiency.”
    “For serious,” said Winky. “But I’m glad for it. Especially on this trip.”
    I turned to the truck again, raising the glasses to my eyes.
    At first I saw nothing. But then a movement near the front of the truck caught my attention.
    “I see someone,” I whispered, excitedly.
    “Who? Is it anyone we know?” asked Winky.
    “No. No one I know at least. And he’s wearing regular clothes, so I don’t think he’s from a tribe.”
    I watched as the guy, about my age from the look of him but much bigger, climbed up into the cab of the truck.
    “What’s he doing?” asked Rob.
    “He just got into the truck.”
    The engine revved a few times and the truck jerked forward.
    “He’s driving it again!” I pulled the binoculars away from my face. “Should we stop him?”
    “Hell yeah, we should stop him!” said Rob, already moving to leave the cover of the bushes.
    “Wait!” Bodo said. “We needt a plan. Don’t go out dare and get shot.”
    “Okay, fine, what’s the plan?” Rob was practically jumping up and down, raring to go after the guy.
    “Two of us on the right side, three on the left,” I said, trying to remember what George’s journal said about attacking a moving enemy from behind. “Expect gunfire. Stay behind the truck or as close to it as you can. I don’t think his side mirrors will catch you if you stay low or directly behind the back of the trailer.”
    “Let’s hope not,” said Paci. “Who’s on the right and who’s on the left?”
    “I’m on the left with Bodo and Rob. You and Winky on the right.”
    “What’s the goal?” asked Winky. “You want to take him out?”
    “No. No one takes anyone out. He could be a really good guy. Assume he’s bad until we know otherwise, but don’t shoot