Junebug • TWD

10. The Highway.

Dad decided that he isn't gonna keep the truck no more. We're leaving it behind and he's taking Merle's motorcycle instead, and I've gotta ride in the RV. He says it's to save on fuel, but I think he's really just sick of me riding with him. I cried and moped for too long. I probably got on his nerves. But I couldn't help it. It was my blankie. The one my momma gave to me. He doesn't understand.

Lots of people are in the RV with me, though, so that's good. T-Dog, Andrea, Glenn, Dale, Shane, and me are all in the RV. Sophia, Carl, Lori, Carol, and Rick are in another car. I kinda feel left out. I wish I could ride with them, but there ain't enough seats.

Now, I'm sitting next to Shane, trying to read some book Dale gave to me. It's about different types of birds. The problem is, I can't read half these words. Reading is another thing I'm bad at. I'm bad at a lot of school things. I'm just bad at a lot of things in general.

Shane's cleaning his gun and Andrea's watching him. I'm not paying any attention to the gun, though. I'm still just reading. Then, I get to another word I don't know. So I tap Shane's shoulder for about the millionth time in the past five minutes. He looks over at me, knowing what I'm about to ask.

"What's that word?" I ask him, pointing to the word I can't read.

He leans over and looks at it for just a moment before answering, "Vertebrate. It means animals that have spines."

"Thanks," I murmur, continuing on reading. It takes me a good few seconds to sound out any word with more than two syllables. I don't know how other people can just read it in less than a second.

I get through another sentence and a half before getting to another word I don't know. But before I can ask Shane, Dale brings the RV to a halt. "Oh, jeez," he says. I stand on my knees in the seat to see out the windshield. Looks like there's a big old traffic jam. My dad rides his motorcycle up next to Dale's window. "See a way through?" Dale asks.

Dad nods and goes around the RV. When he passes by my window, I wave at him because I feel a little bad for throwing a fit in the truck before and for thinking that I hate him, 'cause I don't. Not really. When he sees me, he gives me the teeniest, most unnoticeable smile I ever seen. But I see it now. I hope it means he ain't so mad at me no more. Anyway, he starts going through the big maze of cars and trucks and vans and buses.

"Uh, maybe we should just go back," Glenn suggests. He's on map duty. He's got the thing in his lap. It looks real confusing to me. "There's an interstate bypass-"

"We can't spare the fuel," Dale stops him immediately.

We don't got a lot of fuel. My dad had to use some tube to suck all the gas outta his truck before we left it. I don't know how it worked. It didn't make any sense to me, because it looked like a straw, but I know my dad wasn't putting no gasoline in his mouth. But I'm thinking that maybe we could take some gas from these cars, too. I'm about to suggest that, but then I think I better be quiet and stay outta the way so the adults can figure it out. They know what they're doing. I don't.

So we keep going through these broken down and abandoned cars. I'm looking out the window, but all I see are empty cars and cars full of dead people. I hate seeing that, so I look back at my book again. And just as I do, I jump at a sudden squealing sound. I put the book down and look through the windshield once again, only to see a bunch of smoke coming out of the front of the RV.

Dale's getting outta the RV now, so I follow along with everyone else. "I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water," he mutters walking around to the front. He did say it. He said that darn radiator hose was more duct tape than hose, and that was a problem.