Cynthiana by Dark

The Caravan

Driver slowed to a stop. He turned and half nodded to Allen, and sat, hands on the wheel, eyes staring forward. Eyes flicking to the rearview mirror, he hissed out a "Stay in the car, no matter what."

Allen muttered softly, pulled a pair of sunglasses down from the top of his head and over his eyes, and got out of the car.
There were four adults, two teens, and two kids.
Driver sized them up. This would hardly be a fair fight; there was no way these people weren't Workers, so there was going to be some kind of a fight.
Words, weapons, or whatever-Allen had all three.

Allen had to assume the caravan didn't know about what they were carrying. He didn't know exactly how to proceed if they did know.

"Hey, there, y'all. What seems to be the problem? We need to get through, so..."
Allen's voice trailed off, giving someone in the caravan a chance to speak.

One of the adult women pulled one of the children in front of her, hands on its shoulders, both facing Allen.

"We-we were trying to get gas somewhere. One of our batteries died. We were trying to get in position to jump the thing. We're on the road to get somewhere Fortified."

Allen nodded. "Mhh. How long have y'all been on the road?"
The woman turned her head and looked at one of the men. He shrugged; the woman thought for a second, and replied.
"A couple of weeks." She thought for a beat, then added "We've been really lucky. We think it's the stuff painted on the vans. It wards them off."
Allen didn't say a word, just looked at the vans' raised hoods.
He told the men how to attach the jumper cables, and walked to the trunk of his and Driver's car while they started one van, then the other. He opened it, and took out two one gallon jugs, filled with pink liquid.
He walked over and handed the jugs to one of the men.
"High octane. This will get y'all a little further down the road. There's the old gas station across from AJ Jolly park. Not even a mile down the road. You might get lucky there." He tousled the hair of the child that the woman still had a light grip on as both vans began to grumble to life. "Pretty sure that there's still plenty to eat there, inside."
Allen's lips stretched in what could loosely be called a smile as the men poured a gallon of gas into each van's tank. The people reloaded into the vans, and Allen got back into the car.
He strapped in, and Driver navigated through the gap now between the vans.
Allen opened a water, and took a sip.
"Liars."
The baby faced woman asked him how he knew.
"Every one of them was clean as a whistle. Not a whiff of B.O. You ever seen a kid on a road trip that ain't dirty a few hours in? Multiply that by a week or two. When I was showing them how to attach the cables, I looked inside. They didn't have any change of clothes, no supplies beyond a cooler. Not even a privacy curtain."
Driver looked in the rearview mirror. The vans were slowly making their way behind them.
"Yeah, they're probably gonna try to kill or capture us in a half hour or so."
The younger girl spoke. "If you knew they were Workers, why'd you give them gas? Why did you help them? That's stupid!"
Allen turned, arm on the back of Driver's seat so he could leverage himself.
"They didn't need help; we do. If we're lucky, they think we're just soft-hearted travelers, and an easy catch for their masters. I didn't mention I knew about FC to them. I didn't mention what we were doing out-just that we needed to get through."
"But you gave them gas! Why'd you give them gas?"
Allen thought of the hungry look in the child's eyes. It didn't belong there. He knew why the mother was holding him tight.
He wasn't a bloodsucker. Some would call him worse. And there was nothing that could save him. He'd never make it into the FC, even if they snatched him and Allen took him there himself.
"Just hedging my bets, girlie. Just hedging my bets."