The Reanimates (Book 2): The Highway by J. Rudolph

the road ahead and was greeted by the statue panning for gold. Tyreese was driving lead. When we got to the right drive way he stuck his arm out and pointed the way to the valet area.
    We piled out of the trailer in the casino's parking lot, and Jody said that she wanted one of the vans to keep her family together in one car. "It's not like I want to separate anyone from us and I'm sure we'll all be playing musical passengers but I really need this. Having the family scattered to the wind is really making me crazy right now." The logic behind her having her brood together did make sense. It would also be an excellent system for head counts in a bug out; if every family group was assigned a car, there would be no question on if everyone was accounted for.
    "Do you feel up to doing the driving? Not dizzy or anything?" I asked, making sure that she was feeling up to par.
    She nodded. "I'm doing alright. Not going to be running a marathon any time soon but I'm okay."
    I looked at her skin tone again, and pulled down her lower eyelid to see if she looked anemic at all, which then reminded me that at the next pharmacy run I needed to get iron supplements, and gave her a hug. I asked to make sure she wasn't bleeding too heavily, which she said she wasn't. "Okay, then. Just let us know if anything changes." Tyreese found the keys to a nice van, located it, and drove it over to where we stood. Jody smiled.
    "I love it." Jody inhaled deeply in satisfaction. It was black with a dark grey interior. "It should hide kid spills, too. Always a plus. Is it silly to admit that I always wanted this kind of van? Never could justify the car payment." Erin claimed shot gun, Abigail claimed middle seat, as long as JJ was sitting there too, and Liam whooped over having the back seat to himself.
    Mercedes found a small hybrid car that she wanted. I loved the logic in choosing that car since it wouldn't take as many fill ups. Kyle was thrilled that the car seat his sister rode in had to go in the back to make use of the LATCH system so he got to ride in the front seat.
    We took the car seats and put them in the appropriate vehicles. Another win for that side trip, I thought. After that was done we talked about the arrangement of driving the semi. The new cars didn't take the usefulness of the semi away and it still needed to be driven either by Tyreese or Trent.
    "Ty, why don't you take the other van with your family, and we take the semi. We can make a seat in the middle for Drew." I suggested. I wanted to keep my family together too, and this would be the easiest way to accomplish this. Drew had been used to riding in the space between the two bucket seats in the cab but I knew that would get old. For now the padding we put there would work and I planned on keeping an eye out for a more fitting solution.
    Tyreese grinned. "That will give me more of a chance to make friends with my new grand kids. I like it. This set up also will give Trisha more room to not be squeezed between two car seats. She and DaWayne can share the middle, like when they were little."
    "You mean Trish and I will share the middle." Tanya interrupted. "I want DaWayne to be as comfortable as possible." Tyreese waved his hand in a dismissive gesture that read, 'whatever' and laughed.
    "Now I have an idea that I think is important. We haven't had this many cars and riding options before now. If there is an emergency evacuation of the area you need to go to your family car. That way everyone knows where everyone is and no one gets left behind. This rule only gets broken if there is no way for the person to get to the right car safely." I was met with approving nods to this plan.
    As if to illustrate the point of the idea behind the rule, there was a sudden clatter coming from where the keys were stored. A zombie had come around the corner while we were talking and was making his way over to us. He was wearing shredded tatters of a valet uniform. His cheek was missing as well as large