Authors Note:

Hola everyone! Just want to point out one MAJOR thing we'll be changing. We've decided that people will ONLY be infected once bit or scratched. Not everyone is infected. KEEP THIS IN MIND!

Green Eggs & Jellybeans,

Dino-SOAR & herUSMCdream

Hayley POV –

"You're not talking."

"I'm tired."

"Bullshit."

"No bullshit over here." I insist, adding in a fake yawn to make it more believable as I watch the passing scenery out my window.

I hear Victoria sigh harshly, and look over to see her biting at one of her fingers nails as she stares at the road in front of her.

"Stop that!" I whisper yell, slapping at her hand before I look over my left shoulder and into the back seat to see that Sophia and Carol are both in a deep slumber. Good, they both needed it. I need it. But no matter how many times I try to close my eyes, my mother's lifeless face keeps popping into my brain making it near impossible to fall asleep.

"Why won't you talk to me?" She asks, harassing me once again.

"I just don't want to talk, dude." I reply turning back to look out the window as my voice slightly cracks.

"Hayley" she starts softly, putting her hand on my upper arm. "Talk to me. What's up?"

I shake my head not knowing if I can even speak right now with the huge lump I feel rising in my throat. My stomach turns, and I feel like at any moment I will have to yell at Victoria to pull over so that I can throw up.

"Stop bottling Maltzy, you know that's what I do. Now speak!" She says firmly, her voice holding a slight edge.

At that I explode, my voice higher and harsher than I originally planned it to be as I glare at her. If looks could kill, she'd definitely be dead by now. "Everything is wrong! I'm never going to see my mother again and the last memory I'll ever have of her is my best friend stabbing her in the back of the head. How would you feel?"

I see her flinch, her knuckles turning white as she grips the steering wheel and her face turning red in both embarrassment and shame but she doesn't respond, instead she just keeps her eyes on the road, her bottom lip going in between her teeth. When I notice that she isn't going to respond I decide to continue with my rant, not giving a shit at how bad it sounds coming out of my mouth. "I don't even know how I'm gonna tell Joe that my best friend killed his girlfriend. I don't know how we're going to survive in this new world or even if we will. And I don't even know where TJ is. I don't think I can do this without him. He's all I have left." I whisper towards the end, afraid that if I speak too loudly, I'll cry.

"I didn't have a choice." She finally says after a long pause.

I don't say anything back to that. My eyes wander over my nails and I start picking at one of my pointer fingers, too pissed and emotional to respond properly.

She sighs changing the topic from my mother and onto my brother. "He's ok, Hayley. He made it. I know he did."

"Pinky promise?" I hold out my pinky finger.

She looks at it for a moment, before exhaling deeply and turning her eyes back to the road. "I can't do that."

"Knew it." I mumble, nodding my head and going back to picking at my nail before continuing. "Honestly dude, all I really want right now is smoke a fucking blunt. Legit. I know it's pathetic, but I miss my weed."

Victoria chuckles softly, "Oh Hayley, you're such a fuckin' pothead. You're nearly crying over weed." She says, and I can sense the humor in her voice. I smile before she continues. "Besides, you don't think I don't think about my family? Wonder where my parents are or what my brother is doing? I'm petrified that I'll never see them again. You aren't the only one who feels like the world is literally crashing down all around 'em."

I look out the window, thinking of her brother Corey, who is like a second brother to me and her parents, who always welcome me into their home with a comforting a hug, as we pass a sign saying we've entered New Jersey. What should've only been a three and a half hour drive became a seven hour one as soon as we hit the highway. The piled cars are so thick that it seems like we only travel an inch every five minutes.

"Will shit ever get better? Honestly? Like, most of my family is dead, maybe even all of them. You don't even know where yours is. And we're stuck with a useless wife of a deadbeat and their lanky as shit daughter. Let's face it; we're screwed." I finish, looking back over to Victoria .

"Don't say that. We have to have hope. My family's alive. And they have TJ and they're going to meet us at the CDC where we'll all live happily-ever-after."

I sigh, with a small smirk playing on my lips at her trying to fain optimism. "You don't really believe that and we both know it."

She yawns in response, and I notice for the first time I see how truly tired and exhausted she really is from the day's events.

"Want to switch?" I offer.

She shakes her head. "No. I'm ok. We'll find somewhere in Delaware to stop so we can all get some sleep." A moment later, I hear her speak again. "The cars are gettin' harder to avoid." She says, pointing out the fact that we're now basically maneuvering through a graveyard and driving over toys and clothes. The highway we're on had clearly been overrun sometime today. Cars are everywhere, strewn about, left by their owners that were most likely trying to drive away last minute until someone else blocked them and killed their chances. Car doors are wide open, with dead bodies inside, blood covering backpacks, blankets, and random pieces of clothing. I look back to see that there is no one following us and then turn around and notice that it's the same thing in front of us. Creepy. We're the only people left on this highway alive.

"We can drive around it." I say, not really believing it myself but saying it simply to please her.

"I have no doubt we can." She replies, confidence evident in her voice, clearly catching on to my non-believing.

"It's kind of like 9/11." I say, thinking aloud. "Eerie, with death in the air."

"You're eerie." She mumbles sarcastically. I roll my eyes, and can feel the tension between us, not sure of where it's coming from.

"You ok?" I ask, mumbling.

"What?"

"Are you ok? It's been a long couple of days."

"It's been less than fifteen hours." She says, looking at the clock that reads 11:53 in bright green.

"Exactly my point."

"Yeah. I'm just…" she looks for the right word, "confused. Everything happened so quickly. I don't know where to start. Like yeah, we're driving down to the CDC, but what happens if that's not a valid option? What happens then? Where do we go?"

"Maybe a military base? More south? D.C?" I list off a few options.

She bites her lip again, seeming to not like any of those ideas, before she turns to me with a grin on her face.

"What?"

"D.C. is North, not more south, dipshit." She says, laughter in her voice.

I roll my eyes and think for another moment before speaking. "If the CDC is a no-go, I'm going to find TJ."

Her crooked smile is immediately washed away by words. "We need to think smart, Maltzy. And that's not it."

"I don't care. I'll go on my own if I have to. I have to find him."

Victoria sighs, shaking her head at what she clearly thinks is my stupidity while moving the truck around an old gray and chipped blue Cadillac, or in other words, an old fashioned pimp-mobile. "You don't stand a chance alone."

"I don't care. I need to make an effort. At least I'll die doing what I feel like needed to be done for me. My family."

She doesn't say anymore, but I can tell it'll be an argument for the future. We come up on a roadblock again, but this time it doesn't seem we'll be able to get by.

"Try and go around that way." I say, pointing towards the right of the pile of cars.

"I am." She says, annoyance in her voice. She swings the truck around the pile-up of cars and hits a small pothole, bouncing the cab of the truck, waking up Carol and Sophia in turn. Victoria looks in her rearview mirror at them, smiling politely, her face turning a slight shade of red again.

"Sorry. Hit a pothole. You guys can go back to sleep if you want." She offers.

"No, it's ok. I'm awake now." Carol says. I turn in my seat to see her rubbing her hands across her eyes, clearing the sleep from them.

"How's Sophia doing?" I ask with remorse, knowing the feeling of losing a father. Looking down at the small girl, I see that she is curled up in a ball, her head still in her mother's lap and I can't help but pray that she is dreaming about rainbows and puppies.

Carol doesn't answer me at first and when I look up at her I notice that her bottom lip is trembling and she is also staring at her daughter. I turn back to the front to give her some privacy and time to compose herself. I can't even imagine what she must be going through.

"I think it'll just take some time adjusting. She'll be fine though. We'll both be fine." She says not even a minute later, certainty and hope in her voice.

We're all quiet for the next couple of hours; the only sounds in the truck are the soft snores coming from Sophia and the eventual deep breaths of Carol finally falling back asleep. Victoria looks like she can barely keep her eyes open with every second that passes and I'm surprised that we are both still up after the long day we've endured.

I let out a deep sigh as I finally see the "Welcome to Delaware, Home of Tax-Free Shopping" and thank the Heavens above because my bladder has been screaming at me for the past forty-five minutes.

"Are we gonna stop soon? I gotta piss."

"Hayley!" Victoria exclaims. "Language!"

"Seriously? You're gonna bitch at me for saying 'piss' when every other word out of your mouth is the f-bomb?"

She makes a disgusted sound before replying, "Whatever. We have a child in the car now."

"Are we gonna stop soon? I have to pee" I say, rolling my eyes and putting emphasis on the last word.

"Yeah let me just find a spot where I'm comfortable to let you out and fall asleep."

Ten minutes later, and only twenty feet from where she last spoke, Victoria finally turns the car onto the breakdown lane where there is only one or two lone cars and parks the truck, shutting it off completely once she's done. I jump out, ignoring the strewn about cars, and run towards the edge of the woods, too afraid that one of those things will find and bite me if I go in any further. I glance around me just to make sure, before quickly pushing my jeans down and squatting, letting out what feels like a day and a half worth of water. Once I've relieved myself, I make fast work in pulling up and fastening the button on my jeans, walking back towards the only home I now know of.

Victoria and Carol are bickering when I manage to finally find the handle to the door and open it. I look in the back to see Sophia clutching one of her mother's hands and rubbing at her eye with a tiny fist. Carol is glaring at Victoria, obviously not liking what she has to say.

"No. We're resting for a few hours." I hear my best friend say in her non-negotiable tone.

"I can drive." Carol insists.

"Look, Carol, it's nothing personal, but I really don't know you all that well yet."

I get back into the passenger seat, close my door and sigh, already knowing who will win this fight.

"I've been sleeping a while; I can drive a few hours." Carol says again.

I roll my eyes and then close them, trying to block out the two women. Carol should just give up already. Victoria was going to win this no matter what.

"When I sleep, we all sleep, ok?" I hear Victoria snap. Wow, what a fucking nut job.

Both her and Carol let out an annoyed sigh, and I hear a lot of movement coming from both next to me and behind me before the truck is quiet. I don't have time to process the awkward silence between us all before I'm sound asleep and dreaming about happier days.

REMINDER: Please read the authors note in the beginning of the chapter for important information about the story or else you'll be quite confused in future chapters.