Life After

Chapter 19: The Day We Went Our Own Way

Over the next few days we packed our bags and prepared to leave. The conversation with Anna hadn't been an easy one. She tried hard to convince us we needed to stay because "we had fought so hard" and "we needed to see it to the end". But after we put our foot down and made it clear that we no longer wanted to stay on base, she relented. She had made the promise that anyone who wanted to leave was free to do so and she couldn't go back on it just days into her role as leader.

Anna had agreed to get a pickup truck out of storage for us, since all the gas would soon be rendered useless, we were allowed to take it as far as we could. There were a handful of others who also were leaving and taking vehicles, too. The base had been surviving for a couple of months without the vehicles and Anna called it a parting gift for everyone. I felt like it was just a show to say "look at how nice I am".

We then spent the next few days getting as much supplies as we could, including gardening tools and products so we could plant some food once we were gone. I wasn't looking forward to food being more difficult to come by, but it was a sacrifice we were willing to make. We had survived just fine before getting to the base, we could do it again.

The day we went to leave, we said goodbye to a lot of people. A lot of coworkers of AJ's came to see him off, commenting about what a hard worker he was and how they would miss his positive attitude. Some of the members of the revolution also came to say goodbye, like John and Aaron. Even Anna had come to see us off, but she was cold with her goodbye and claimed she was only there to give us a few extra cans of gas.

I hugged her, but she pulled away quickly and said, "You're always welcome back, if you choose to." Her words felt hollow and untrue. I knew it was more likely that in a few months, we would be seen as traitors who turned their back on the cause. We would not be welcomed back.

AJ opened the back door of the cab for Doofus to jump in and he gladly did so. He found a nice spot on the seat right under the window and curled up. I think Doofus was just happy that he wouldn't be spending most of his days trapped in a hotel room anymore, waiting for us to get home. I was glad we could provide that for him, too.

A few more hugs and goodbyes were exchanged before we got in the truck. Dave opened the gate for us to drive out. I watched out the back window as we drove away and the fence and gates got smaller and smaller until they were completely out of view.

AJ and I had spent days looking at an atlas and deciding exactly where we wanted to go. We had considered everywhere from back down to Texas or Louisiana, to heading to a much more northern state. But we had ultimately agreed to head to Tennessee, where there were plenty of trees and mountains, but the weather would be a bit closer to what we were used to.

We had picked a town close to the northern border of Tennessee, Byrdstown. It was a rather small town, but that meant less chance of finding people or running into raiders and scavengers. We headed east on Interstate 40 following road signs and the map. AJ had agreed to drive while I gave him directions if needed.

We drove and drove and drove for hours. We did stop a few times to refuel from the gas canisters we had and to let Doofus do his business. Each time we would grab a snack from our supplies and munch while we waited for him to finish. Doofus made sure to take extra time sniffing every piece of grass and peeing in 100 different places during these stops. On one of those stops, he took off after a fairly large bird which took up a good portion of time.

We finally got to the point we could turn off the interstate onto a much smaller highway where we passed through a couple of towns. I teased AJ about stopping at the stop signs since there were no other cars on the road and no police anymore, but he claimed it was still just common courtesy.