All of us stood in absolute silence, Penelope's cries were the only thing heard as it echoed throughout the long stretch of road. None of us knew what to say, or even, what to do. All we could do at the moment was process what just happened, the realization that Jack was going to become one of those things hit me like a freight train. He was so young and didn't deserve this kind of treatment from the universe. This was so fucked up. Watching this made me sick to my stomach, I already just went through something scary and now we have to deal with this. I couldn't believe that Jack had been bitten, none of us could. Small cries could be heard from Jack, who had no clue as to what was really going on. Penelope held the young boy tightly, whispering to him that he would be okay but in all honesty, we had no doubt he was going to die from the infection and become one of those things. Iris started crying and held onto her mother, who pulled her away from the situation. "...Penelope.." Clark started, he knew that things were going to be difficult. "I will take care of him. None of you will be put in any danger if he becomes one of them. I doubt he will, this is barely a scratch. How do you know that it wasn't from one of the tipped over shelves or something else that cut him? There's no way he was infected by one of those mindless monsters." Penelope refused to believe that her son was going to become an 'Infected' and none of us blamed her, but we worried for the mental toll this was going to take on Penelope, Piper and Jeremiah. "Penelope, I know you don't want to believe it.. But your son is infected. That's not a cut made by a shelf or something sharp. I'm sorry. We're not going to stand in your way of how to deal with this, it's however you two want to handle this." Clark said, "Thank you," Jeremiah spoke up, his eyes meeting Clark's. The look in his eyes is something I don't think I'll ever forget, it was the same look my mother wore when her favorite aunt had passed away in a horrible accident.
"Daddy, what's going to happen to Jack?" Piper asked, Jeremiah let out a heavy sigh as he looked down at Penelope. The two silently communicated with each other through their facial expressions, Scarlett let out a heavy sigh and shook her head.
"Let's give them some space."
"What do we do now?" Logan whispered, looking at Clark. "First and foremost, we need to give them some space. Second, how far is that farm we were headed to? I think we should head there. That should be the place that we let them handle this whole thing." Clark suggested, Liam pulled out the map from his back pocket and looked down at it. Iris was put over here with us while Jamie tried to console Penelope.
"We're about 30 minutes away from that Farm. Would Jack even make it that far? Some people who were bitten became an 'Infected' about five minutes after they were initially bitten." Liam said, looking concerned.
"That was some people. Not everyone is going to have the same reaction to the bite. The couple we saw in the parking garage before we left our place were butte and changed in less than five seconds. Everyone's reaction will be different. So there's no telling how long Jack will last. We might have just that amount of time it takes to get there." Scarlett spoke up. We all looked back at the couple, Jeremiah trying his best to explain to Piper about what happened to her younger brother. When it finally clicked, Piper started to holler and cry which made all of us feel even worse. I looked away, trying not to think about it and shared a look with Logan who looked at me with concern. Jamie came over to us, hugging Iris tightly and kissed the top of her head as she looked on at the map.
"Are you okay?" He mouthed.
"Yeah, I will be." I mouthed back.
"Jeremiah," Clark called him over, he talked to Piper and wiped her tears before walking over to us. Piper went over to her mother and brother, still crying over the news. "I know that this hard but we have to get moving. It's too dangerous to stay here out in the open like this. I'm not saying that we're leaving Jack behind because we aren't going to. But we don't know how long Jack has until he starts showing the signs of the infection and turns." Clark said, "Then where we do you suggest we go?" Jeremiah asked, "The farm that we originally was heading to. The problem is.." Clark sighed heavily, "What?" Jeremiah asked, sniffling as he crossed his arms.
"We are currently 30 minutes away from the farm and there's no telling whether we'll run into more backed up roadways or more 'Infected' along the way. And with us not knowing how long it will take Jack to turn, we need to get there as soon as possible." I spoke up, Jeremiah took in a deep breath as he thought about what was happening. He looked back at his family, Penelope had managed to calm down both children. He looked back at us and nodded, "Okay.. Let's go to the farm. If it's alright, do you have any space in your vehicle for Piper?" He asked, "Yeah, we have space for her." Jamie nodded, "I need her to be away from Jack in case something happens. I trust you and Jamie to look after her should something happen to Penelope and I." Jeremiah stated, "Alright, it's settled. We need to get moving." With that, Jamie and Clark led Piper over to the car with Iris trying her best to cheer her new friend up. Lucky for us, Liam and Logan had found gas for the car so we were set. All we needed to do was get back on the highway and head out to the farm.
"I'll drive this time." Scarlett took the keys from Logan and we all got in the car, our eyes peeled for anything happening around us. Clark took the lead and we followed him, with Penelope and Jeremiah behind us. I sat quietly, watching the greenery as we headed towards the highway. I just hope that Jack makes it to the farm.