Waiting For the End || Blake Dixon Book One

Chapter 5 ||"Yo, J.C., you taking requests?"

They decided to condense down into fewer vehicles, less gas use. They ditched the truck, her dad insisted on keeping Merle's motorcycle though. Everyone crammed into the RV and Carol's station wagon, Blake opted to ride on the back of the bike behind her dad. They led the way out of the city, through the suburbs and onto the interstate. Leaving Atlanta behind, now on their way to Fort Benning.

She had her arms wrapped around her dad's waist, head leaning against his back as she watched the scenery blur together as they drove. It took her back to when she was little, her dad had a bike of his own that he would take her everywhere on. He had insisted that she wear a helmet, even though he never did. It was always her favorite thing to do. But one day Blake had fallen out of a tree, broken her arm and needed twelve stitches for a gash on her upper arm. A few days later her dad was selling the bike, at the time she was young enough that she didn't understand the correlation. But as she got older she thought back on the moment and understood, he had sold the bike to pay the hospital bill.

After the bike was sold they didn't ride much together, Merle a stickler about who he allowed on his and he had to be in the best mood, or high as a kite, to let her anywhere near the thing. A year back, when Merle had just won big on some scratch offs, she was able to convince her dad to teach her how to drive the bike herself. She had caught on quickly, much to Merle's disapproval, and her dad had the biggest smile on her face as she drove the bike in circles around the trailer park. Maybe they could find another one on their travels. It would be more gas but she would gladly hike extra if it meant she could ride on her own.

"Ah shit," her dad muttered, drawing her out of her thoughts. She peaked over his shoulder seeing the mess of a car jam that was in front of them, cars flipped over and in ditches, blocking the road on both sides. Her dad turned the bike around pulling up to Dale's window.

"See a way through?" The older man asked them, her dad nodded and turned the bike back around to lead the way through. They weaved their way through what was practically a grave yard. Car doors sitting wide open, stuff spilling out onto the road, corpses rotting in the cars. Suddenly there was a clang then a whining noise from behind them, Blake glanced back to see steam rising from the RV as it rolled to a stop. She hopped off the bike peering in the nearby cars as she walked back to the group. This place was a gold mine.

"Problem Dale?" Shane asked, looking around them.

"Oh, just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no hope of... Okay, that was dumb." He trailed off as he saw what he was standing in the middle of. If they couldn't find the parts to fix the RV here the thing was hopeless.

"Can't find a radiator hose here..." Shane trailed off as her dad walked by standing at the back end of one of the cars.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." He said, pulling stuff from the back of the car.

"Can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-dog added grabbing the hose and gas tanks from the RV.

"Maybe some water." Carol said as she held Sophia in her arms.

"Or food." Glenn added.

"This is a graveyard. I don't know how I feel about this." Lori chimed in, looking around hesitantly. Everyone stopped for a moment considering her words before they all spurred into action.

"Come on y'all. Look around, gather what you can." Shane ordered, Blake decided she would stay and help Dale get the RV taken care of before going to find some cool stuff. Glenn stayed too, grabbing the tool bag from the RV.

"Which one?" He asked, holding up a Philips and a flathead screwdriver.

"The flathead," Dale said, grabbing the tool from Glenn. "Radiator hose clamp is always a flathead. Here, you do it. Learn something." They traded tools as Blake held back a snicker.