𝐈𝐧𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝

Chapter Thirteen: Roadblock

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you wear something other than tennis clothes and pajamas before," Charlie said. I looked over at him to see his eyes were scanning me from the driver's seat. Dylan had been passed out for the duration of the drive allowing for Charlie and I to peacefully talk without any bickering or sassy comments.

"Huh, I guess you're right. Feel's weird seeing you in regular clothes," I grinned back at Charlie. Our relationship strictly revolved around tennis; we never really saw each other outside of practice and tournaments, except for the occasional beach day when Ashleigh would let us all leave early from practice on a random Friday afternoon to hit the nearest beach.

"Yeah, you look weird," he laughed and then suddenly widened his eyes when he realized what he had said, "no, wait! Not weird! I-I meant different - a good different not a bad one! You look great!" Charlie stumbled over his words and grimaced. I laughed while he avoided eye contact with me.

"Real smooth, Charlotte. Nice recovery."

Charlie playful glared at me before turning back to face the street. I looked out of the passenger window and allowed my eyes to trail over the devastated world around us. I thought that everytime I looked outside it would get better - that the uneasy and somber feeling in my stomach that rose every time I saw an abandoned building would slowly die down. It didn't.

Cars were trashed along the roads and debris littered the highway. Every now and then, we had to swerve around giant pieces of metal lying in the middle of the road. However, most of the debris was settled along the sides, making their drive a lot easier. Power lines were down and trees were uprooted, laying around on the ground. The buildings along the highways were crumbling and there were no people in sight.

After a few more minutes of driving, I noticed Charlie shifting uncomfortably in his seat, his back clearly starting to hurt from sitting in the driver's seat for so long.

"You want to switch so you can relax?" I asked. We were nearing their fourth hour of driving and I felt bad since Charlie had been driving the whole time and I hadn't even touched the steering wheel so far. It was almost noon according to my watch and we still had a long way to go until our next rest stop.

"No, no I'm good. You should get some rest though. I know for a fact you didn't sleep much yesterday," he insisted, but I shook my head.

"I'm not going to be able to fall asleep and you've been driving for almost four hours, so just let me drive." I shrugged my shoulders to show it was no big deal. I watched as Charlie hesitated for a moment, and then he nodded and flashing his headlights at Fed's van in front of him, indicating that he was pulling over.

Once we were parked, I carefully got out of the car so I didn't wake Dylan in the back and left my door open. Charlie and I walked over to Fed as he climbed out of the driver's seat. His eyes were droopy and bloodshot and his hair was ruffled from exhaustion.

He doesn't look so good. We should probably switch the groups soon so he can get some rest.

"Is everyone okay?" Fed asked. Charlie and I both nodded.

"Yeah, we're good. We're stopping because Charlotte here has been driving for a while, so we're gonna switch. Dylan's asleep in the back," I answered, "how about them?" I nudged my head in the direction of Fed's van.

"Asleep. All of them."

"At the next stop we should switch so you can get some rest - you haven't slept in days." Fed nodded, obviously too tired to give a verbal response.

"Alright, we should probably keep moving. We can drive for a few more hours and then pull over when we see another gas station," Charlie suggested. We all headed back to our own van. Charlie and I switched seats so that I could drive for a while. Once we buckled our seatbelts, we looked back to see Dylan stirring, slowly waking up.