Into The Darkness

Chapter Twenty Two

As I drove out of town, I felt dread settling back into my stomach. I hate leaving the relatively safety of a house for the open road. We stopped at a few broken down cars around five and siphoned more gas. Once our tanks were filled, we decided to just drive through the night and take turns driving.

At daylight, we stopped to eat and look for more gas. We've been lucky so far finding what gas we have found. It's only a matter of time before it all starts to go bad, I don't know what we are going to do when that happens...

"Everyone doing alright?" Alex asked the group.

"Cramped up." Holly complained.

I rolled my eyes, "You'll be fine."

"Well, let's get back on the road, I'm ready to get there." Paul said, climbing back into the Toyota.

Our day was filled with driving and a lot of silence. You never realize how amazing radio is until you can't use it anymore. We really need to find some CD's at our next stop...

I followed Paul's vehicle all the way down to Texarkana, then when it started getting dark, he pulled off the road. I pulled up next to his window to see what was up.

"You think we should get some sleep before heading into a major city?" Paul asked.

At once everyone said "Yes." It's for the best, we have no clue what we are about to drive into so being well rested is a great idea. Not to mention I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open as is.

The next morning, Alex woke us all up bright and early and offered us pickles for breakfast. Not the ideal breakfast, but you get what you get. We all ate pickles and stood around the map looking at our route.

"Since we don't know what we are going into, we need to be as quiet as possible. If we are quiet I'm sure we will be okay." I said finishing my pickle.

"We will make it. We've already come this far." Addie added, trying to make us all feel better.

"Okay, we will probably need to find some more gas on the way." Paul pointed at the map, "We could stop at Greenville, maybe there is something there."

I slowed the jeep once I noticed the Greenville town sign, the town looked destroyed. Burned homes, and vehicles, I doubt we find anything useful here. I rolled down my window as Paul pulled up to it.

"This is a damn ghost town." Paul groaned.

"Yeah, we figured that out." I sighed.

"We can probably make it to Dallas to get some gas." Paul offered.

"Dallas? You're kidding right?" Alex scoffed.

"Well, there isn't anything here, and we need gas. We know there isn't any behind us so we really only have one option. Forwards."

Alex shook his head, "That's crazy, the city's filled with rotters, it's not safe." He looked to me for backup, but when I didn't say anything he spoke again, "Oh come on, not you too."

"We are going to need gas, and Dallas is the closest... If it looks too sketchy we can just turn around and figure something else out." I said quickly. Alex shook his head looking angry, but did not argue. The decision was final. To Dallas we go.

We could see the damage of the city long before we got to it. Huge chunks of highway have been blown out. Homes on both sides of the freeway were burned to the ground. Vehicles littered the road and ditches, all burned or smashed to bits. From the looks of the area, it was bombed. I glanced back at Addison, her eyes were glossy from unleashed tears.