The Reunion by Everette Morgan Page A

Eventually, I was able to get it through his head though…”
    “Get what through his head?” she asked.
    He smiled, “Never mind. Continue with your story.”
    Kim continued, “Anyway, luckily we made it through New York with only minor injuries.  The problem now, was that they knew where we were and they started following us.  Mine and David’s plan all along was to travel to the lower Appalachians with this group and see if we could find some of our family.  We planned to stay with this group as long as they were traveling our way.  After the initial attack in New York, we really began to question whether or not we should stay with this group.  Fifty people travelling together make a big target. Of course, travelling with fifty people also provided a certain measure of protection. 
    “The Jackals that were following us started to make small attacks at different times which kept us on our toes.  Occasionally they would break into camp, steal something, and sometimes sabotage our equipment.  Although we lost a few people along the way, our numbers started to grow.  As we travelled we started having a person here and there join us.  Our number swelled to seventy-five.  David began to notice that several of these people were questionable and I agreed with him.  That’s when we started to seriously question the leadership of this group.  With the added people, there was internal fighting and the leadership of the group started to fall apart.”
    Listening patiently, Marcus asked, “Why didn’t the group just find a good place, settle down, and maybe set up a small compound?”
    “The leaders of the group were convinced that the best place to settle was either southern California or Florida.  California was ruled out immediately because of the problem with earthquakes and the distance, so we headed to Florida.  Travelling was slow because of the damage created in the chaos that ensued after the virus hit.  I’m sure you have seen all the traffic tie-ups and abandoned cars that litter the roads and highways.  The stupid dinosaurs haven’t really helped much either.  We were lucky to get a hundred miles a day.  Anyway, about three weeks ago, we made it to Washington D.C.  Apparently the group following us had sent word and got reinforcements.  We drove straight into an ambush in Washington.” Kim lowered her head slightly and sniffled.  Marcus could tell she was fighting to hold her emotions. 
    “As we were driving through Washington, we ran into a major roadblock.  This wasn’t just abandoned cars.  Someone had set this up and it was a trap.  We tried to turn around but they had circled around behind us and opened fire.  There was confusion everywhere.  I saw David take out three of their men and then there was a huge explosion.  That was the last time I saw him. He could have survived or he could have been killed in the explosion.  I don’t know.  I took off and made it into a back alley and then into a large apartment building and hid there.  I hid out and watched until the group moved out of the area.  From my viewpoint I could tell they had taken several prisoners but I couldn’t tell if David was one of them,” she said hanging her head down even further.
    Continuing on she began again, “Over the next two or three days I looked for David but didn’t find him.  I did find some of the other people that were with our group. There were eight of us. We had one man, four women, and three children.  Travelling has been slow.  We have tried to move during the day and travel on back roads to limit our chances of being spotted and recaptured.  Travelling like this was working until we reached Gatlinburg.  We were traveling in two old SUVs. 
    “As we passed out of Gatlinburg and headed into the National Park, we were spotted by a small herd of allosaurs.  They came at us and we tore out of there as fast as we could. Of course, it wasn’t smooth sailing.  They did a lot of