42nd Country Road

Who Picked This Out?

"Good evening sir, how many passengers?" The guard asked

"Four," Jack responded.

"Are you carrying any weapons?" The man asked.

"No," Jack answered.

"You can go," He said. Jack drove on and let out a breath of relief. I looked up at Mark. His eyes closed and the moonlight dancing off of his skin.

"So, where's the nearest town?" I asked

"It's some old tourist town, there were hot springs there, so I thought why the hell not," Jack said

"Sounds like a plan," I replied. I fell back asleep soon after.

I woke up to the sounds of laughter. Mark, Jack and Steven were gone. I looked outside the small vehicle to see Them all splashing in the water.

"Is it warm?" I asked

"It's so warm!" Jack yelled in glee

"hey , you should come in!" Mark yelled at me. Steven was still laughing.

"I'm okay," I said

"Come on, please?" Mark said

"Mark I don't even have my old stuff anymore, it's all new," I said, meaning I didn't have my sports bra anymore and there was a 16-year-old boy who had probably never seen a girls torso before.

"Check in the back," Mark said, "But, show me because I want to see your face when you find your present,"

"Mark, you got me something?" I said.

"Ya I did, me and the boys went shopping," He laughed. I walked around to the back of the car to find a load of new clothing. I picked up a new flannel and combat boots.

"Where did you guys get these?" I said smiling. I held them up for the boys to see. Mark hopped out of the water and came over to me. He grabbed my waist and kissed me on the cheek. Getting my black shirt all wet.

"I told you, we went shopping," He said. I giggled. I looked through the clothes and found a new sports bra and everything. I found a slender looking black dress and held it up to Mark.

"Hey, Steven," Jack said, "Let's go down river,"

"But..." Steven said.

"Nope," Jack tugged him down the river so they couldn't see us.

"I wonder who picked this one out," I said smiling. Mark blushed

"That was me, I can't wait to see you in it," He said. I blushed madly in return.

"That's not going to happen until we find a house," I said putting it back in the trunk and kissing Mark.

"You go put your stuff on and come into the water, we aren't traveling today," Mark said

"What?" I said, "We need to,"

"Can't hear you," Mark said wading into the water.

"Mark!" I said through a laugh.

"What?! Your going to have to come into the water to tell me," He called. I laughed and grabbed the sports bra and jean shorts that I found and got changed. I waded into the strangely warm water. Jack and Steven suddenly jumped in from a cliff above. I laughed as the splash soaked my hair. The water was warm and smelled like sulphur. I laughed some more, until I heard the car radio start to fuzz. I got out of the water and started to walk to the car.

"Hello..." A woman's voice was starting to come through, "Denver...Refuge... Worldwide start over... New technology..." It was the same four phrases over and over again.

"Mark, come over and hear this," I said. Mark got out of the water and started to listen.

"We aren't going to Denver," he said.

"I know, so we will go the opposite way," I said.

"I know where to go, my grandparents house," Steven said, "It was a cabin in the woods in a super small mountain town, they had a bomb shelter just in case anything happened, there's enough food and water in there for two years,"

"How far away is it?" Jack asked

"About two hours," Steven confirmed.

"Get changed, we are traveling, we need to be extra careful, there will be people everywhere," Mark said. I got changed into the flannel and got shot gun next to Mark.

"Steven do you still have that gun?" I asked

"Sure do," He said handing it up to me. I looked at how much ammo was left. There was still so much.

"We'll need this for later," I said. Mark started up the car and headed down the road. We hit the highway and Steven started telling directions. We made it to the small cabin. Steven got out first and motions for the rest of us to come inside. We grabbed our bags out of the car and walked in. I shoved all the clothes that the boys got me and shoved them into the bag. Steven opened up a floor hatch and jumped down. We all jumped down after him. He crawled up a ladder and closed and locked it.