A Dark Evolution (Book 2): Deranged by Jason N. LaVelle Page B

Never know when the boys might get home.”
    Robert nodded after a hesitation, then pulled himself off the ground. He walked over and retrieved his spent shotgun. He took the handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped down the gun, which was now dusty and gritty. He dusted every surface he could get to with the cloth. “I’ll clean it later,” he said to himself, and set the shotgun on top of his truck’s hood.
     
    *****
     
    Six very long hours passed outside the window before Kala finally relented. The gas was gone and she could not hold her eyes open any longer. They had made it as far as Lake City, and Kala pulled off I-75 cautiously. She was still outside of town and saw immediately that the streetlights were out here as well. “I guess the outages are not limited to southern Florida,” she murmured.
    She turned left off the highway and was greeted by a large empty truck stop and a huge brick building. Perfect, she thought, it's the county bus garage. Looks like that will be home for now, she said again to herself. Dylan was awake next to her.
    “Is that a bus garage?”
    “Yep. We’re out of fuel and I can’t keep my eyes open. We’re gonna check it out.”
    The building was dark. Kala circled carefully, keeping a wary eye out for anything unusual. There was an open garage bay door. She angled the car in, saw no one, and drove into the building. Her heart raced as she eased the door open. Her headlights still shone into the garage, illuminating the four giant bus service stalls. There was a single bus in the garage, but other than that it was empty and quiet. Kala immediately saw the huge gas drums, tapped with hoses. One was dark green, diesel, the other was red. There wouldn't be power of course, but she thought she could figure a way to siphon gas out of the big tank. Perfect. And in the nick of time. Behind her, the car chugged violently, jerked against its suspension, and died. Out of fuel.
    “I guess this was the right call,” Dylan's soft voice said behind her.
    She nodded, “I hope so. As long as no one else is here.”
    “This part of Florida got medicine long before we did. So there should be a lot more of the uninfected here.”
    Kala turned and slowly glared at him.
    “Oh,” he said, and looked down.
    “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m worried about. Okay, see if you can get that overhead door closed by hand, then stay here with Sophie.”
    “Where are you going?” he asked, with a strange amount of concern and/or fear in his voice.
    Kala reached into the station wagon and pulled out the Kalashnikov. “I’m going to walk through the building. We have to see if it's empty.”
    Dylan didn't look sure about this, but Kala staved off any objection. “You can't leave Sophie alone. Get the door closed and stand guard at the car.”
    “Fine, okay,” Dylan said, his face dark in the shadow of the headlights.
    “Wait, did you and Sophie get the antiparasitic medicines?”
    Dylan shook his head. “No. When my parents went out to try to get them for us, they never came back. You?”
    Kala nodded. “Yes, they gave them to me in the hospital while I was there.”
    “Well, so at least you don’t have to worry about the infection getting you.”
    “Hardly, what they were giving people was basically a souped-up flea and tick treatment they usually give to big dogs. It doesn’t stay in our systems for more than a month or so. They need to come up with a real treatment, a vaccine.”
    Dylan’s brow furrowed.
    “I’m going, keep your eyes open.”
    He nodded.
    “And be ready for anything. I’m serious. Unless it's me - shoot first.”
    He was not comforted by this statement, but Kala turned away and strode through the driver's entrance to the building. The garage took up two thirds of the building, the rest was probably offices and utilities. She first opened the two storage room doors, leaving them open as she pointed the beam of her flashlight into them. Typical storage room stuff. She