The Risks

August: Chapter 22

An hour or so after we'd hit the road in the morning, we came across a barren traffic jam. We searched the cars as we made our way to the front. We found a decent amount of food and water, enough to last us a couple days. We also found a lot of supplies including some blankets, flashlights, clothing, feminine products -thank god- and some bathroom supplies. We had the soap and shampoos, now we just needed a working shower.

In one car I found a pistol and some more ammunition, but I was not as excited as I should have been. The scene inside the car was not a pretty one. In the driver's seat was the corpse of a man; in the passenger was one of a woman. In the back seat were children of different ages. All of them had little of their skulls left. The pistol's clip was capable of holding fifteen rounds, but there were only ten left. There was a nearly full box of 9mm bullets in the man's lap. I carefully took both the pistol and the box of ammunition with a grimace and shut the car door. The smell was enough to almost make me lose the protein bar I'd just eaten.

When we reached the front of the traffic jam, we had four new bags filled with supplies in addition to our three old bags. Now our goal was to find a working car.

The reason for the jam was a car accident. Those cars would definitely be no use to us. We checked a silver hybrid and were pleased to find the keys in the ignition. It turned over quickly, to our luck.

The hybrid had a U.S. road atlas tucked between the middle console and the passenger seat. We were set no matter where we put our destination. With the all the supplies we had found from the traffic jam, we didn't need to look anymore for a couple days. Things were really beginning to look up.

We were on highway 61 now, heading south. There was a big town coming up in the next thirty miles that we wanted to hit before we went any further south, but we didn't want to stay too close to the town if we didn't have to -less chance of being overrun by Ferals- so we turned onto a dirt road in search of a house to stay in for the night. There was a collection of houses close by, but we passed them, looking for something a little further away from the highway.

The gravel road continued on alongside an empty crop field, until it veered off to the left taking us through a more wooded area. We followed it until we came to a place where we either had to turn right or continue straight to a house with woods in the back and a huge pasture to the side. We opted for the house.

It was a single story house with a basement, but it was large. It had four bedrooms upstairs and three bathrooms. It had an enclosed back deck and large living spaces. Thankfully the house was clear, but because it looked like people took what they could and got out as soon as possible; it was a little messy.

We spent a lot of the day looking through the house, finding what we could to use. Later, we lit a fire in the fireplace and cooked some instant ramen noodles. Not the healthiest choice, but it would do. After we ate, we covered all the windows with blankets and made sure everything was locked up tight. Then we brought the unused blankets into the living room to make our bedding.

"This place is pretty nice," Raleigh said from his spot by the fireplace. "We could stay here a while."

"We should take off to the Zone and hit 'em where it hurts," Andi muttered.

As much as I'd like to agree with her, it wasn't going to be that easy. And if I was being completely honest, we just weren't in the position to fight back. Running was unfortunately our safest option.

"We should keep moving south," I insisted. "Keep putting distance between us and Deacon. Plus, it's going to get cold before we know it."

"There's a fireplace to keep warm and Deacon won't find us here. His people are probably looking in towns, not houses in the middle of nowhere," Raleigh said as he took off his shoes.