The Breaking Point

Chapter 9

The traffic jam lagged on till the afternoon. Mark fell asleep on and off with the least amount of order possible. It was unreal. Moving rods, no matter how heavy, shouldn't take this much time; especially not if a couple teens had been able to do it just fine. Almost each time Mark woke up, he battled himself on whether to go out and participate in the angry chorus or at least see why they were going at the speed of a snail, but each time he tried, his will surrendered to his exhaustion and he would postpone the trip.

By now, the drivers around them hadn't gone nuts-they had gone nuggets! Mark could only imagine how furious the car drivers up front would be when these were kicking each other's cars and throwing whatever was within arm's reach at each other.

But within the borders of safety wasn't much better either. The car was originally running low on fuel, and turning the AC on while the car was stationary obviously didn't help. So by the time there was a real danger, Hurly's dad turned the car off. As much as that saved the gasoline, it turned the Sienna into a lava tub; and Mark couldn't spot any nearby fuel stations.

3 o'clock came and went and things got worse. Everyone outside was sweaty, tired, and very, very, hungry; and if a family had food they had better lock the doors and windows because if they didn't, grown men would reach in with their big, fat fingers and steal whatever could be stolen. And Mark wasn't dreaming when a living baby got snatched out because he was mistaken for a bag of chips.

The windows of Hurly's Sienna were double locked so they only received a couple of bangs. The other reason the hungry drivers didn't pester them longer was because in reality, there was no reason; Hurly's family and Mark were suffering from the same reasons as the drivers. And Mark soon learned the consequences of missing multiple meals in a row. That technically meant that the car wasn't just an oven, but also a food-free one.

Now heat, an empty stomach, a traffic jam, and the fuel problems were enough to make some people snap. In less than four minutes, Hurly's mom and dad were sticking their heads out of the windows and yelling at the top of their lungs.

"I'm so sorry," Hurly whispered to Mark.

"It's OK. Do they normally act like this?"

The question came out a lot ruder than intended but Hurly simply laughed.

"Only when they're hungry."

"I'm hungry too," Mark admitted.

"Me three, we should go look for food. Who knows? Maybe we'll find a little shop or a couple vending machines," Hurly suggested.

Mark smiled agreeably until he noticed that he was flat broke. Hurly saw him freeze.

"Don't worry, it's on me."

Mark was quite grateful but he wouldn't leave the car until Hurly agreed to be paid back. When they received Hurly's parents' approval, the two hopped out of the car, wiggled away from the fighting, and managed to crawl out of the car maze alive.

Hurly stared at the noisy highway and face palmed. "Now what?" I totally forgot that we're in the middle of a highway- and the road to Tokyo's blocked."

Hurly's sentence gave Mark an idea, albeit a dangerous one. "There's another neighborhood on the other side, not the exits that people come from. If you follow the highway until it ends, there's a neighborhood. Do you think they could have some food?"

Hurly's eyes followed Mark's finger into the distance. It seemed like this neighborhood was billions of cars away. Hurly sighed. "They gotta have a supermarket in there and I'm dying for some Cheetos. Let's go."