Plan C

Chapter 1 Part 3

I was sweating now, my hands, my forehead, and even my upper lips were sweating. My heart was pounding as I sat in the passenger's seat of the rig, holding the Atlas on my lap. We could go anywhere, but where was going to be safe? The end of everything wasn't a new idea or something that society hadn't thought about. It was popularized; but where could we go? A prison? Gates all around, a kitchen, an infirmary, strong walls and bars everywhere. We could drive until we find a walled-off town? Different rules and still the ability of a tortuous existence. This was a new time, the end, the real end. The old rules didn't apply and we had to make sure that the new ones were decided and followed. "Almost everyone will head south, as soon as the power goes out." My father said abruptly. He wasn't wrong. When the power dies out people won't stay in the northeast, not in September, not when we know what is coming. It will be a mass exodus for the South. That realization secured it in my mind, we would head north. Away from the herds of people and unknown outcomes. We would make our own way.

I chose to stay on back roads, taking the highways that seemed sketchy with our large rig, and mass amounts of people, even if they were going in the other direction. Winding through the back roads I had grown up learning how to drive. It would take more than 15 hours to get to the lake. The lake, that's where I wanted to go.

Driving through the countryside was almost serene. Nothing had happened there yet, although nothing had happened there in almost 20 years, really. I was drifting. Sleeping and drifting off the road. We decided to stop and switch drivers. I climbed into the king-size bed covered with my sprawling children. I held my youngest as tight as I could. She was still young enough and wouldn't complain as much as the others would. She smelled like bananas, not only her favorite food but also the smell in her shampoo. All my daughters had blonde hair, just like their father, while I was a tall redhead with blue eyes. At least my youngest two had my eyes. My oldest was blonde, with the most beautifully deep hazel eyes you have ever seen. She seemed soulful from the day she was born, full of intuition and an old spirit. Her sisters were young and very vapid, the curse of being the babies of the family and born way too close together. Drifting off to sleep was very hard. The mattress was firm and new. It was comfortable, but something in the back of my mind told me that I couldn't sleep, not yet, not while we weren't safe yet. I couldn't fight it off though. I was exhausted and fading, more than 30 hours up and running at full speed. Committing felonies can get exasperating. I would sleep, for now, for a short while. As I drifted off I felt peaceful, a little bit of calm before the next fire had to be put out. I don't recall dreaming, but it was a deep sleep, I thought about our home, the ranch, and how comforting it was to be there before. To pull in the driveway and just be happy to be home. That's when I heard it! I sat up in the bed like a shot. That's what that sound was, a gunshot!