Hope On The Rocks/Issue 136

This is Issue 136 of Hope On The Rocks, entitled "That's a Crowd".

This issue is Kevin-centric.

1010, That's a Crowd
The helicopter is loud. We’ve been flying for five hours, and I’ve been trying to sleep the entire time. I open my eyes, seeing everybody else trying to sleep too. Everybody except Miles and Lia, who I am sitting next to. Timmy is snorring on my other side. “Can’t sleep, huh?” Miles asks, looking at me. “I’m surprised that Timmy can.” I say with a smile. The smile quickly fades as Ridley moans on the floor of the helicopter. Lia, carefully, kneels down to place her hand on Ridley’s forehead. Without saying anything, she swallows hard and gets back up on her seat. “You think he’ll make it?” Miles ask, I don’t know to who. I don’t answer, and neither does Lia. The one to answer is Wesley. “I talked with Timmy the other day.” He says. “Told him about this disease the news told us all about before the zombies.” None of us reply. “It was lethal if you weren’t treated.” Wesley continues. “Don’t say that.” Lia says worried. “He’s right.” Daniel then mutters. I guess we’ve woken up all of the others. Except Timmy; he’s still snorring. “Ridley will be fine.” I just say and cross my arms. Not wanting to continue the discussion, I turn to Miles and Lia. “What’s the first thing you’re gonna do when we get to Greenland?” I ask, trying to start a conversation. They both think for a moment. “Get some baked beans. It’s been so long since I’ve had any of those.” Miles says. That reminds me of Elmo, the chef at my mother’s tavern. He loved baked beans too. I wonder what happened to him. “Really, you like that?” I say surprised. “Not a long of young people do.” “I know, it’s weird.” Miles says and smiles. “But I really do like them.” I shake my head with a smile, then look at Lia. “What about you?” I ask. “I think I will find a real bed...” Lia smiles, and tilts her head. “What about you?” I’ve been thinking about Greenland a lot. It really sounds promising, and I think it will be great. I’ve heard that you’re gonna have to work, but that’s actually part of what I look forward to. Jim told me that Zeta, the organization with base in Greenland, are trying to kill all the zombies in the world. That’s a very, very big job, but I guess it has to be done at some point. I’d actually love to help with that. “I don’t know, really.” I say and itch my neck. “Maybe I...” And then I am interrupted. “Sorry to ruin the fun.” Jim yells from the front seat, trying to be louder than the helicopter. We all turn silent, and even Timmy wakes up now. We all listen as Jim talks. “We don’t have a lot of fuel, and I’m afraid we won’t make it.” He yells. I take a quick look out the window. We’re over England, passed London an hour ago. We’re probably very close to Scotland right now. “Can’t we do anything?” I yell back. “Well...” Jim yells, just loud enough for us to hear it. “There is one option that may get us further.” “What?” I yell. “One of you have to jump.”

Deaths

 * None

Credits

 * Miles Vance
 * Ridley Johnson
 * Lia Camper
 * Kevin Gardner
 * Timmy Ember
 * Daniel Mentor
 * Jim Iroas
 * Wesley Snipe