500 Miles

Five

Songs for this Chapter:

Slow Decay- Darren Kiely 

"This pain inside is dead and growing
See in my eyes 'cause my tears stop flowing
The fight in me in slow decay
Nothing remains"

**Ophelia's POV** 

"Hey guys." Rabelista greets us. I sigh, and my shoulders drop. We were too late.
"I take it we split?" I ask. Reyes nods.

"We wanted to make sure you got back to your kids, Spaghetti." She says with a slight smile. I give her a thankful grin.
"Thank you. That means a lot." I say. Rodriguez sticks his head out from the Humvee.

"We should get moving, I don't want to be here in case those things are following us, or they catch our trail." He says. We all agree, and move quickly, Price gathering Bacardi's reins, and the rest piling into the Humvee. I'm relieved the other mare is with us, they deserved to stay together after surviving this long.

I glance at Blake, accidentally meeting his gaze. He stops staring and looks away, I'm sure if I looked closer he'd be blushing.
The Humvee rolls forward as Price follows closely behind, Blake and I hanging back and taking the tail end of the line.
Whiskey plods along, ears forward, and checking in with Tequila every few minutes. We ride in silence, only the faint grumble of the Humvee and the sound of hooves hitting the pavement can be heard. Blake sighs as we pass what feels like the millionth exit.

"Where were your siblings when sh-t went down?" Blake asks me. I give him a half smile. "Headed home, it was graduation day. They had just texted me that they'd left when the first wave hit." I say. Blake nods, and nudges Tequila closer.
"They couldn't have gotten far then. If... you know, if." He says gently. I shrug.

"Yeah, if. But they are alive, Bellamy. They are. They have to be." I say. I don't want to face the other possibility. Whiskey snorts and tosses his head, his mane flicking me in the face.
"Ow, f-ck! Yeah, yeah okay. Sh-t dude." I give him his head, dropping my hands to create slack.

"I am not giving myself the chance to even think about the negative side, honestly. I know I should, but those kids are my world. I can't afford to lose it right now." I say.

"Enough depressing talk. Tell me about you. I want to know every weird detail about what makes you tick." Blake says, abruptly changing the subject. I'm glad.

"Well... Uh, there really isn't much to know. I told you some of it already." I say, looking at my watch.
"So tell me again. I'm all ears."
Ahead, I see the Humvee stop.
"Whoops, that's our cue."
I look at Blake, who nods, and nudges Tequila into a trot. I collect my reins and kick Whiskey forward. We catch up to the others, and I see why they're stopped. A massive traffic pileup sits on the highway. Cars and trucks line the sides of the pavement, crammed into the lanes. People that tried to flee but didn't make it past the third wave.

"Holy f-ck."

"We'll have to move them." Stanisic says. I raise my hand.
"Uhm, sir? Couldn't we just backtrack and go to the other side of the highway?" I ask. The other side was clear, except for a van and a Greyhound bus. A few cars are scattered, but no where near as crammed as this side.
He shakes his head. "We can't risk it, that's too close to the woodline." He says. I sigh and nod. "I'm going to go over and check out the van and bus." I say, turning Whiskey. Blake follows me as we cross the median, and the others begin pushing cars away one by one. I dismount and pull my handgun out, dropping the reins to the ground and praying Whiskey stays. Blake clears the bus while I check the van.

I lower my handgun at the sight of a deceased harnessed kid. "D-mmit." I curse under my breath. I squat down and examine his harness.
"They tried to remove it?" I whisper to myself. I shake my head and sigh, before clearing the van of any salvageable supplies.