Downfall Of The Living: An Anthology Series

A Road Leading Nowhere: Chapter 3

III

Three weeks later.

Out of a rural town on the edge of Arizona, Garrett exits a general store with a can of gasoline. He twisted off the gas cap and poured the gas. After filling up the tank, he tossed the can to the side. Hoping in, he looked at the passengers in the van both sleeping. He turned the van on, dug through the center console, and pulled out a cassette tape of Eddy Arnold.

Given the limited music selection, Garrett found it better than nothing. Inserting the tape, It's a Sin begins to play, he stared out to the road and then at the stereo as he listened to the words. He wasn't able to put his finger on it, but in the end, he drove out into the night.

-

The morning had risen. Garrett wipes his eyes, trying to focus on the road. Grace shuffles through her map on the interstate for alternate routes. Jenny was asleep in the back seat while the van's stereo played. Grace quietly hummed the words to the music, all while Garrett started to get annoyed with the previous owner's taste in music.

The cold weather was starting to rise, spring was soon to come. However, it didn't stop the winds from blowing a freezing gust. The group was still in layers of clothes and jackets just to fight the temperatures.

The van's busted window was jury-rigged with cardboard and blankets held together with duct tape. Barely does the cardboard hold, but any protection is better than none. Gas was running low for the group as they pushed further to their destination.

Garrett pulls up to a fork in the road that splits off in two directions. He stops the van. Opening the van door, he steps out to get a better look ahead.

"We take the ramp to the right," Grace said. "Then the next exit will take us straight out of Arizona."

"Looks like a car jam ahead," Garrett said. "I don't think we'll pass through in this."

"It's our only way," Grace said. "The last split road is 20 miles back there."

Garrett sighed and looked at the cars piled in front. "I'll check it out. Wait here."

He grabbed the rifle lying on the van floor. Moving the gun accidentally woke up Jenny. She gave him an annoyed and disgusted face before turning in the opposite direction of him. Garrett dismisses her attitude, focusing on the cars ahead.

Garrett pulls the bolt to see the round loaded in the chamber. He walks towards the rows of cars on the ramp, as far as he was aware, was blocked. He climbed onto the bed of a truck and aimed his rifle in search of a fast route and for any loners nearby. Seeing that the path ahead is clear, Garrett advances.

A box truck blocked the left two lanes of the ramp, and two cars that collided blocked the right lanes. Peeking over, Garrett saw a missing section to the ramp had collapsed, and only a partial assertion of the farthest right lane remained. It was enough for the three to move across, but a dangerous route.

Garrett turned back, regrouping to the van. Grace was waiting for Garrett as she marked her notebook and map accordingly. Jenny got up, Garrett being the first person she saw after waking up wasn't a good start to her day. 

"Cars blocked off the ramp," Garrett said. "There's a path we can take, but it's a bit of a feather walk."

"The fuck does that mean," Jenny said.