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Rick slipped out of his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, trying to appear more casual and like he didn’t have any valuables on his person Not like I do anyway, but I’ree with me there Another hour’s walk transpired in relative silence until, in the distance, Rick saw a faint glow appear on the overpass As he drew closer he sads of people shuffling off onto a series of exits fro on?” Rick asked a few people walking by “Why is everyone getting off?”
The fourth person Rick questioned stopped for a ht in the distance “A fuel truck overturned on the road; there’s no way through” The woman resumed her steady plod down the ramp while Rick stare
d at the burning wreckage In the distance, beyond it, he could just barely see the eastern edge of the city, and the hope that it brought with it to escape the burned and blackened hell it had become “Damn” Rick whispered to himself as he joined the others in their sloalk down the overpass and into the darkened streets below
As Rick descended into the unfamiliar streets of a city he had never before visited, he became aware of just how vulnerable he was The streets were sheltered fro a slower pace to his travels Although he had exited the overpass in the co alone as they split off onto other paths, their paths and destinations clear in their minds Rick’s destination was clear, but the path to reach it was vague
Resisting the urge to use his penlight, Rick stuck to theto the wind blow past the buildings and along the alleys He was in a cross between a residential and business area of the city, where signs alternated between advertising apartments for rent and various cuisines Moves as people walked about holding flashlights and lanterns as they tried to end their day with some sense of normalcy
As Rick walked along his ears began to pick up more sounds from the city A few distant shouts, the cry of an unhappy baby, the vague and unsettling whispers of figures hiding in the shadows The further out into the city Rick went, the quieter the city becaest ti but the wind and his own footsteps, Rick thought he was hearing things when the sounds of a car engine started drifting along on the breeze He stopped in thefor the elusive sound when it echoed through, slightly louder than it was before
The roar of the engine was growing rapidly closer, and Rick finally realized that it wasn’t his ilanced behind hi rapidly closer, and a strange thought passed through the back of his head Hide The hairs on the back of Rick’s neck prickled as he dashed behind the wreckage of a burned out car sitting on the side of the road
As the car approached, it became apparent that it wasn’t just one car, but three They were older vehicles, two Cadillacs and a black SUV, and all three had loudthe road at a dangerous pace, their tires screeching as they wove between the burned out vehicles in their way and gunned their engines when they had a hundred feet of clear street ahead
Rick could ers of the vehicles as they whizzed by since the cars had their internal lights switched on Rows of tattoos adorned the skin of each person he saw, and nearly every one of theun in the other There was no particular cohesive ethnic background about the individuals in the vehicles, though they all shared one trait—an excessive alad he had listened to his gut
As the vehicles roared off into the night, Rick slowly stood up frole question on his ?”
Chapter 8
Ellisville, VA
Dianne was grateful that there were a few running vehicles going through the town since they helped her truck blend in and be less of a target than it had been while driving in As she approached the “Eat Rite” grocery store, though, she noticed that there was a distinct lack of vehicles in the parking lot that weren’t burned to a crisp, and decided to stop and drive around to the side of the building, parking the truck near a pair of dumpsters
“All right, kids Listen up” Dianne looked in the rearview mirror at Jacob and Josie “I need to run into the store for five minutes I want you to stay here, with the doors locked, and I want all three of you tucked out of sight in the back cab with a blanket over you, okay?”
Mark looked confusedly at his mom “Even me?”