Highway to a Haven

Chapter Four: Gas Car

"Rise and shine, sunshine." Reese says softly.

"Ugh, just one more minute," I respond grouchily.

People these days, can a girl not get her beauty sleep? Besides, it's the weekend.

And then it hit me; I wasn't at home. I was still in that beat-up red truck. Yesterday really did happen.

How did I not wake up from the light, then?

I open my eyes to see old rags tied in a mini fort around me. Reese must've done this so I could sleep in. Interesting.

I pull the rag that separated Reese and I down, and drop it onto the console.

"You like the fort?" Reese asks, taking his eyes off the road for a split second to glance at me.

"It's wonderful. You should become an architect." I respond.

Reese grins, revealing his dimples. His hair was looking pretty funny, and he looked incredibly tired. But, he still looked incredible. Luckily, he was too focused on the road to notice me staring.

"So, how come we haven't passed a single car? Shouldn't other people be taking cover, too?" I asked.

"Well, most people's cars aren't working right now. So, I assume a lot of people have figured fleeing is a lost cause."

"How come this thing's running?"

"Well, most cars, like yours, run off of the electricity waves from the towers around town. All the towers were knocked down after the explosion."

"Right, so how come this car is moving? Shouldn't it not work, too?"

"This puppy's antique; it's from the early 2000's. The special thing about this car is it runs off of gas."

Gas. I remember reading about that in History class.

"What happens when you run out of gas?"

"Then you have to fill the car up with more."

"So, you have to feed the car whenever it runs out of energy?"

"Basically."

"Where are we going to get more gas?"

"My grandpa's. That's where we're headed now."

The truck started making really weird choking noises. It sounded like it was fighting to move forward. All of a sudden, the car stopped moving.

"Talk about irony." Reese scowled.

"Reeeeese what happened!" Oliver screams from the back seat. He and Piper were sound asleep a minute ago, but that must've woken them up. They both looked terrified.

"Don't worry, I'll fix it. How about you two play the quiet game for a minute. Ellie, I'm going to need your help."

"What's wrong? "I ask.

"The car ran out of gas. I thought we'd have enough to get to my grandpa's, but I guess I estimated wrong. It's no big deal, I just need you to help me push it the rest of the way."

"Okeydokey. "I respond, immediately cringing. Okeydokey? What was I thinking? Why not "Okay."?

Reese didn't seem to notice my weird word choice. He immediately hopped out of the car and started pushing it forward. I joined him.

Before long, we found our sweaty selves in front of a cute little blue house, with a teal truck that looked like Reese's parked beside it. There were fallen tree limbs everywhere, but it was obvious the house had been beautiful before the explosion.

This must be his grandpa's.