The Wasteland Chronicles

Chapter 3

Rolling onto the highway, the SUV engine let out another vicious roar. Connor took a slight frown, his mind full of scars from the encounter before with the pack of demons. The entire group was on edge, sweaty palms and nervous growing fears clung onto the group. It was haunting. Not only had they not seen any sight of survivors, but it seemed that this was it - There was no hope left. The highway was a wreck: Cars cluttered and crashed, debris littered everywhere, cracks in the road, corpses scattered around like some kind of decoration.

Corpses everywhere, rotten faces with insects squirming in the bodies pale faces and skin. Hair barely clutching onto scalp. Gashes and wounds had dried over and black blood oozed all over the dry, crisp road. Burning under a lingering sunlight as a choking hot dust swept through the long, straight road.  The only thing sheltering the survivors from the intense conditions of the wasteland was the SUV.

Hana snapped up her head at movement inbetween two cars, immediately catching Connor's attention with it. He halted the SUV, and nodded to Lily in the back "Grab your gun," he commanded, simply. Lily shrugged, grabbing it obediantly and stepping out of the SUV with him. Immediately, a beating heat sizzled the two. Connor wiped sweat from his brow, clenching onto his butchers knife until his knuckles went pale. Cautiously, the two crept towards the movement...

Suddenly, two men in their late 20's jumped out from the wreckage of the cars, hands in the air. Lily jumped in fright, keeping her revolver locked on the elder of the men but still shaking a little. She wasn't sure if it was the intense wasteland heat or the recent demon encounter, but her knees felt like they could buckle at any moment. "W-we don't mean no harm, I swear!" claimed the younger man. He had shaggy brown hair and cute brown eyes, seemingly resembling to a puppy. His slightly tanned skin and skinny body fit oddly into his baggy shirt and jeans.

The other man gave him an odd look, and stood up confidently to face the revolver. He had chesnut hair lifted off his face, dampened with sweat. His piercing green eyes shot into Lily's heart, something about him made her want to drop the gun and fall into his arms. It was a stupid thought for someone who was a mere stranger. His handsome face and somewhat buff body was topped with a confident pose. But Lily tried to brush past his appearance and stay strong, pointing her gun at him still. "Mhm..." Connor nodded, eyeing the two. He noticed the older man had a calm expression, too calm for the whole 'end-of-the-world scenario'. It unnerved Connor.

"Y-you two have a group or something?" the younger man asked, frantically, which Connor responded to him with a brief nod. "Mind if we come with y'all? Damn highway's been shit," said the older man at last, he seemed very calm and nonchalant about his proposal.

Connor cocked an eyebrow "If you can contribute,"

"I'll do what I can," said the man again, cocking a grin as he stared at the revolver pointed at him. Connor paused, he gave the two a good look. His mind was racing, could they really spare the food? At this rate they'd be out of food by the end of the week if they kept letting in random strangers into the cramped SUV. He finally gave a nod "Alright. There ain't much room in the SUV, so you two'll have to cramp in."

As the four got inside the SUV, they were immediately given uninviting stares by the rest of the group as they were all forced to budge together in the back. "Comfy back there?" Connor chuckled, as he started up the engine. "Th-thank you so much for letting us in... I'm Marlon!" said the younger man eagerly. Everyone else nodded, and turned to the other man, "Jasper," he replied. After the formalities were made, the road-trip continued down the highway. Marlon yawned a little, and Tara noticed him cuddling up to Jasper. Jasper smiled a little, stroking Marlon's shaggy hair as he held him tight. He closed his eyes and let out a relieved sigh.

An hour or so later, the SUV rolled up to a service station. Hana bit her lip and looked out of the window, then down at the fuel gauge. It was practically full. "We have enough gas, Connor," she frowned. "I know, I know," Connor raised his hands in the air in defense after he stopped the SUV. "We're stopping to stockpile some gas canisters and some food, there should be a supermarket or something in that massive service station," he nodded towards the large service building.

Connor, Hana, Lily, and Tara hopped out of the SUV. Tara stared back at Jasper "You really trust him with the little girl? Harlow?" she inquired with Connor, and he shrugged a response and walked inside the station. Tara frowned, and followed him reluctantly. Once inside, they moved quickly into the mini-market inside the service station. The cold tiled floor was covered in dust and the air was refreshingly cool compared to the wasteland. The aisles were perfectly in order, shining a pristine white. Food still was placed perfectly on shelves. The food that required refridgerating had rotted, but everything else was in edible condition.

Immediately the groups dispersed, grabbing plastic shopping bags from near tills and shoving bags of crips, pretzels, cans of tuna, cans of beans, jars of pickles. Anything they could get their hands on. Lily salivated at the insanely high amount of food. By the time each had shoved four bags of food to fit two on their arms, they had enough food to last... Weeks? Months? They couldn't tell, but they had enough to last long enough until their next stop. They hoped they could make it to New Plymouth in time.

They piled the food in the back of the SUV, cramming it up sufficently. They once again piled into the white SUV, that was now becoming dusty and a funny shade of white from the amount of dust flying around the wasteland. They travelled along the road, sitting in silence on the long journey. Until they rolled up past a sign, and looked up ahead to see a small town.

"Welcome to Dunedin."

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Author's Note

Thanks for reading so far! Expect to see a new chapter every Friday. Follow me to keep updated with 'The Wasteland Chronicles' series. Thanks!