Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters I created.
They 'd been driving for maybe 2 days in shifts; stopping every so often to stretch their legs, her grandmother had done the majority of the driving as her ankle was still a little tender from the fall, but Olivia was at the wheel when they'd come upon a road filled with cars on the highway and there was no way for Olivia to manoeuvre their car; well more a truck, through them all.
"Grandma?" She shook her grandmother a little when she didn't stir. The old woman jerked awake and scanned frantically around her.
"What?" the older woman said blinking rapidly as the shining sun blazed into her tired eyes.
"We need to move some of these cars or find another way round." Olivia said.
Her grandmother looked out at the mass of vehicles that were blocking their path and let out and exasperated sigh. The old woman picked up the bottle of water that lay at her feet, took a sip from the bottle and let out another sigh.
Olivia turned around to look at the sleeping form of her little sister whose slumber kept her completely oblivious to their predicament.
"We need to scan the area first." Her grandmother said, turning Olivia's attention back to the task. "Check for any of those things. If you find any kill them quietly. Then see what we can find in these cars that would be useful."
"Shall I wake her?"
"No." Her grandmother said quickly.
"We can't leave her in the truck alone. She'll panic if she wakes up and finds us gone." She said a little shocked at the suggestion.
Her grandmother quickly got out a pen and a piece of paper from the glove box, scribbled a message down and placed it into the child's hands.
"There." And with that the old woman got out of the truck and closed the door. Olivia unbuckled herself and slowly, also got out taking a long look at the child who; in sleep, wore a look of peace. Olivia just couldn't bear to wake her from wherever her mind had taken her. Her stomach was in knots about just leaving her there, she was vulnerable in her state, but the lightly tinted windows; cracked to ventilate air, gave her a little protection and Olivia reluctantly closed the door and locked the car.
With her ankle still sore she had a slight limp while she began searching the cars and keeping an eye out for those things, but it seemed their luck was holding for the moment and there were none to be seen. She touched a wooden hockey stick she spotted in the vehicle just in case. She hadn't found much before realising someone had already scoured all the vehicles, taking the abandoned goods with them and the smell of the old blood stained interior of the vehicles had begun to make her feel nauseous. She wondered when she'd become so unaffected by such atrocity and for it to not even register as wrong to basically steal, even from the dead.
Just as she was about to give up her pointless search and turn around something caught her eye. She began walking towards on one of the cars near the edge of the road and noticed someone had written a message on the windscreen.
"Sofia we will come everyday..." she began reading aloud when the hairs stood up on the back of her neck.
"Hmm..." She was startled and instinctively pulled her hunting knife from its sheath and swung around almost stabbing her grandmother in the face just before she caught herself, stopped the impact lightly catching the woman's cheek with the blade and hurtled backwards onto the bonnet of the car. The woman swiped at the cut as a small trickle of blood slid down her cheek.
"Grandma what the fuck, I could have killed you!"" Her grandmother held up her finger in Olivia's face.
"Don't think that because the world is a bit messed up that you can use that sort of potty mouth with me young lady." The old woman said firmly.
Olivia shook her head and recoiled as if she'd been slapped in the face. She felt guilty, but did her grandmother live on another planet?
"Are you serious?" she questioned sarcastically whilst wiping her knife and putting it back into its rightful place. "Take a look around grandma. The whole world has gone to shit and you're worried about me using curse words. I'm 22 years old, I'm not a child anymore." She snorted. "If there were any left you would need to see a therapist." She shook her head and sighing pointed to the message she'd been reading. "Look."
"Yes. And?" was her reply.
"It says they'll come every day. Maybe we should wait until dark to see if they show and..."
"No!"
"But grandma maybe we can help them."
"I said no and that's that!" she enforced.
Olivia felt nothing but disgust for the woman who had practically raised her then. The true colour of a person's soul shows when the chips are down, and the world was so far down the devil was teasing them with the heat from his fiery pits of hell. Goodness she sounded like one of those preachers from those holy channel shows, but the sun sure made it feel like that horned beast was trying though.
She decided on a change of subject because regardless of how she felt about her, they; and Lilly, were all each other had. "I didn't find anything useful in the cars. You?"
"No seems someone has pretty much cleaned out everything that would have been useful. Go get the gas cans. There's some gas still left in a few of these cars." Olivia wiped her forehead as the sun beat down on them. She was happy to go back to the car as she wanted to check on Lilly any way. "I'm gonna move a couple of these cars outta the way." Her grandma said finishing their conversation by turning and walking off in the opposite direction. Olivia was happy for the distance it created.
She got back to the car in no time and unlocked the doors flinging the driver's door open to find the child still sleeping peacefully and the note still sticking from her hand. She let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding and she smiled for the first time since they'd left the farm house.
Pushing the release button for the trunk, she closed the door and locked the truck again. Opening it fully she pulled the gas cans and the pipe from the within their belongings and began making her way back to where her Grandmother had been. She didn't spot the woman and figured she'd gone a little further up the front of the cars. She'd siphoned gas from the first few cars before she started to wonder why the old woman hadn't returned.
Once the gas cans were full she decided to go in search of her grandmother because honestly a little worry had begun creeping into her psyche. Olivia weaved in and out of cars making her way through the amassed amount of vehicles; seeing the devastation of the last few months in all its glory, towards where she suspected her grandmother had gotten to only to be confronted with a whole load of nothing.
She turned full circle scanning the surrounding area and couldn't see the old woman in any direction. Deciding that she must have passed her and gone back to the truck Olivia made her way back to the vehicle a little more hastily. The walk seemed like a marathon and the heat continued its assault on her body when she finally saw the truck come into view. She breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of that beautifully monstrous mode of transport, and clicked the locks to open the doors when she stopped suddenly. Realising that she had the keys and that her grandmother would be standing waiting if she had gone back to the car Olivia felt fear wash over her. She gulped and her mouth had become very dry, quickly picking up the gas cans she popped the trunk, tossed them back into their original places and raced to the front of the vehicle, jumping into the driver's seat and locking all the doors.
Lilly woke with a sleepy yawn and stretched out in the back of the truck; the paper falling to the floor, but she was on quick alert when she noticed Olivia searching frantically out the windscreen.
"Olivia. What's wrong?" the young girl asked with fear.
Olivia knew she had to quell the young child's fears and played down her own terror. Changing her expression to one of nonchalance she turned to look the child in the eye. "Nothing boo." She lied easily. "I thought I saw a creeper, but turned out to be nothing."
"Where's Grandma?" the little girl asked innocently.
"We have to wait here for her until she gets back." Lilly looked at her questioningly and sat back crossing her arms. "Eat something ok. You need to keep your strength up." Olivia tried changing topic.
"What about you?" the child countered defensively.
"I already ate while you were asleep!" Olivia replied a little forcefully and Lilly's eyes filled instantly with tears.
"You promised you wouldn't tell lies Olivia." She said sniffling.
Olivia looked at the little girl who seemed to become a little wiser to her older sisters ways every day since this whole thing started and knew that the only way they would survive was to be honest with one another. As much as she wanted to shield the little girl from the reality of the world and let her keep her childhood a little longer, Lilly wasn't blind and could see when something was wrong. Maybe keeping her informed would be better in the long run; especially if something happened to herself, then keeping her in the dark.
With her eyes still locked on Olivia's the little girl sat waiting patiently as if she controlled time and could wait as long as she wanted. Olivia took a deep breath and knew what she would do.
"I don't know where Grandma is boo. My foot was hurting so I came back to the car, she should be back soon." It was a half truth. Olivia couldn't see any reason to scare the girl anymore than she already was. They'd wait for a while and if their grandmother didn't return... Olivia knew what happened when someone didn't return.
She just hoped she was wrong!
A:N. Please read & review and leave constructive criticism. Thank you. X