I Hope You Find Me Read Online Free PDF Page A

his hands shoved into his back
pockets, and asked, “Are you leaving the City?” He nodded at my
pack and added, “It seems like you’re carrying a lot in there for
just a day trip.”
    I blinked, unable to answer him at first, “I
came here to look for someone.” I paused long enough to wrap my
arms around my waist, “And now I’m heading to the airport. I don’t
know what I expect to find there though.”
    “The airport is full of the dead.” He said it
with no emotion.
    “Oh.” I couldn’t think of anything better to
say.
    I knew I still had to go there to at least
leave a note, to keep my trail fresh for anyone looking for me, but
I hadn’t thought of where I’d be going next. I knew in the back of
my mind I had hoped to find other survivors. Now that I had, I
didn’t know what to do. Now what?
    The week before the power went out; I had
called one of my closest friends, who lived in Las Vegas. She was
bed-ridden when I talked to her. She was lucid one minute and
confused and vomiting the next. She hung up after saying she was
going to call her father. He died seven years ago from cancer. When
I called her back an hour later she didn’t answer. There was no one
else left for me to look for, but the urge to keep looking was
there. The desire to be found was stronger than ever.
    I blurted out, “Will you come with me? To the
airport, I mean. There’s something I need to do there.” I didn’t
want to be alone again, with all these dead people and nowhere to
go, no one to find.
    His pale blue eyes seemed to pierce through
me and I was certain he would say no. That small voice inside my
head warned me not to trot off into the distance with a strange
man, no matter how attractive and nice he seemed to be, but I
refused to listen. It somehow seemed worse to be alone when I knew
others were around, than if I was the only person left standing.
Besides, the dog was comfortable around him, which at the time, was
enough for me to trust him.
    “Okay.” I felt the muscles in my shoulders
relax after he agreed.
    He turned, and started up the pier toward the
land and for the first time I noticed a large backpack leaning up
against a crate near the entrance of the dock. He slipped his arms
through it as Zoey and I jogged to catch up with him. A sigh of
relief escaped from my mouth.
    Walking side by side, we left the marina and
crossed an empty parking lot to reach North Harbor Drive. We passed
the USS Midway and the Maritime Museum, following the street as it
curved to the west until the tarmac was in sight.
    An explosion that sounded like a sonic boom
erupted from somewhere nearby, blowing the glass out of a nearby
building and shaking the ground beneath our feet. I landed on my
knees, holding tight to the dog’s collar. I pulled out Zoey’s leash
and clicked it into place, not ready to chase after her again.
Confused, the three of us huddled there for a moment, kneeling on
the pavement. When Zoey barked it was muffled, I felt deaf but I
could hear the tinker of glass falling to the ground. It reminded
me of wind-chimes and for a second it sounded almost beautiful.
    Connor and I looked at each other wide-eyed,
and then back at the sky above as it started filling with clouds of
smoke. Did a plane explode? Neither of us spoke right away,
there wasn’t much to say, especially if for the moment neither of
us could hear well.
    After making it to our feet, Connor told me
he had heard a similar explosion earlier in the day, and saw smoke
in the sky. He was downtown to see if he could find the source of
the fire. We stood together, staring into the distance where the
airport stretched out before us. If the runway was on fire, we
might have a chance of making it to a terminal, but only for a few
moments. What I thought we might find there, I didn’t know. But I
couldn’t turn back. I had nowhere left to go.
     
    ***
     
    The road leading up to the airport was a
complicated web of chaos. A blood-orange glow pulsated from