"We made it... Haha! Zoey, we made it!", Louis laughed happily, turning to the girl next to him on the middle seats of the large car.

"Yeah... yeah we did, Louis.", she smiled back, turning to look out the windshield at the car they were following. Francis had squeezed into the back of the smaller vehicle with Jane and Paige, so he shouldn't be too cramped. Ellis was leading them all towards Griffin County, Coach directing him from the passenger seat.

She was shaken from her thoughts when Rochelle, who was sat next to her, spoke up.

"You guys need anything? We have plenty of first aid stuff and food, if anyone's hungry. That goes for all of you. I think there's a fantasy book in the seat pocket in front of you if you're interested, Louis."

Nick called out from the backseat.

"Nah, we're alright on food for now Ro. We just- Ali, don't touch the bandages, you'll reopen your stitches."

"But my eye itchesss!", she whined with a playful grin, Nick giving a sigh. Louis turned his head back, his eyes almost bugging out at the sight he was met with.

"Shit! What happened to your eye, Ali?", he spluttered, taking in the bloody bandage over the girl's face. Said girl grimaced. Before she could reply, Kirby cut in from the driver's seat.

"Julian. We found an infected guy when we were gas hunting who asked Ali to shoot him before he turned. She agreed and he went off at us, so I dragged him away. When she came back out to meet us, he snapped and attacked her. If it weren't for Rochelle yellin' out, she could'a been killed."

Ali then leaned over the seat and squeezed the woman's shoulder in gratitude.

"Yeah, you saved my ass there, Ro. Thanks."

"So what'd you do with the little traitor?", Zoey asked, blowing the hair from her face. Poe spoke up from the front passenger seat.

"Since Ali kicked his leg out and broke it, we set the leg and carried him back up to the saferoom, left him there with some supplies and a cricket bat."

They all went silent at this, the only noise coming from the car itself. Zoey then turned to Louis.

"Didn't you say something would happen earlier, Louis? You sure you don't have any weird psychic powers you're not tellin' us about?", she asked with a small smirk, the man rolling his eyes.

"Very funny."

Meanwhile in the Jimmy Gibbs, Paige was close to hyperventilating in the backseat.

"Did anyone see my mum get in the car? Oh God, what if something happened...", she trailed off with a whisper, panic obvious in her eyes. Jane held her arm in a comforting gesture, while Francis just glanced uncomfortably at the distressed girl.

"I'm positive she made it, Paige. As soon as we're in the clear, we'll pull over, okay?"

She nodded, half listening as her lip trembled. Ellis, catching sight of this in the rear view mirror, cleared his throat.

"I ever tell you about the time Keith and I made fireworks? Now, I didn't know shit about chemistry, but Keith figured, "Gasoline burns, doesn't it?". Third degree burns over ninety-five percent of his body. Man, people in the next city over were calling to complain about the smell of burning skin."

Coach nudged him with his elbow.

"Ellis, is now the best time?", he sighed, before Paige leaned forwards in her seat.

"No, let him continue. I wanna hear more.", she insisted, settling back into her seat as she saw Ellis nod at her request, his attempt at distracting the girl a success. He flexed his hands around the steering wheel as he thought of another Keith Story™.

"You know, my buddy Keith and I were once on a bridge just like that last one, man. Well, kinda, I mean, I was on the bridge and Keith was sure he could jump the river without the bridge, so I raised the bridge and well... Did you know cars can float? I mean, for a little while at least..."

"Never thought we'd be back on the road again. Feels kinda weird...", Louis mused as he looked up from his copy of The Hobbit and turned to Zoey and Rochelle, who were locked in a game of tic-tac-toe on a notepad that Kirby had pulled from the glove compartment, along with a ballpoint pen.

They had been in the cars for the last 2 hours. The end of humanity was awful for traffic time, seeing as the road was, like back in Savannah, littered with abandoned cars and vehicle wrecks.

"Does a little bit, yeah.", Zoey agreed as she placed her circle on the paper, handing the pen to Rochelle who bit her lip in thought.

"War!", came a quiet declaration from the rearmost seats. Nick and Ali had dug out the girl's card deck and were engaged in a mostly quiet game of War. Mostly quiet, save for the occasional call of "War" and mumbled curse words.

"You two having fun back there?", Rochelle asked as she marked her X on the grid and returned the pen to Zoey's waiting hand, leaning her head back to survey the gamblers.

Nick smirked and was about to reply when Kirby called out.

"Looks like we're stoppin', Ellis is pulling over by that there garage. According to the last road sign, we're in a hamlet now, place called Peach Grove."

"A what?"

"Small town, Ali. Real low population kinda town.", he added as he pulled the car to a stop in the parking lot and unbuckled his seatbelt. Poe followed, her other foot barely touching the ground before Paige ran into her arms with the force of a freight train.

"MumohmygodI'msogladyou'reokayIwas-"

"Paige! Breathe, will ya?", Ali called as she and Nick climbed out from the trunk, Ali swiping her hat from where she'd hung it over the headrest of her seat.

Paige ignored her, instead burying her face into her mother's shoulder. Ellis called over from the door he had been looking at.

"Ey look at this! Looks like this garage got converted into a safehouse or somethin', the door's reinforced, see?", he said as he tapped his knuckles on the metal door.

"We should look around, see if it's empty. If it is, then it's a good chance to stop for the night so we don't have to sleep in the cars. Might be some stuff left around the houses, if we're lucky.", Coach added as he stepped out from stock car and shut the door quietly behind him.

"Hell, if the tools are still knockin' around, I could take a look at the cars, see if they need anythin' fixin' up.", Ellis continued as he peered through a boarded up window. Kirby smiled, coming up behind him and clapping him on the back.

"Great idea, El. Alright, let's see if we can get this thing open."

Ten minutes and a lot of swearing (courtesy of Francis and Ali) later, they managed to pry the door open, the daylight flooding in through the doorway.

"Looks like the office", Louis supplied as he limped into the room, gun trained on the area in front of him. Francis followed behind with a low scoff.

"I hate offices."

"Goddammit Francis..."

Jane chuckled quietly as she and Paige followed behind them, her pistols in hand as she surveyed the room. She was aware of Francis' "I hate everything" mantra, he had often interrupted Ellis' storytelling in the car, which Paige argued with him for.

"Francis, is there anything at all in this world that you actually like?", she asked with a raised eyebrow. Louis just sighed as he leaned himself against a filing cabinet. The biker sent her a cocky grin, puffing his chest as he slapped a hand on his leather vest.

"Vests."

"Well, you may hate everything, but at least you have good taste. Always did like leather on a man.", she grinned cheekily, scooting past him to follow Kirby and Rochelle into the break room next door. Paige groaned as she looked over from the desk she was crouched behind. Francis stood slack-jawed in the middle of the room, Louis' laughter shaking him from his surprised silence.

"She got you good, Franny."

"Can it, Lulu."

Meanwhile, Ali, Ellis and Zoey were digging around in the toolchests for anything he could use on the cars.

"Hey El, if you need to do any work on the tyres, there's a socket set and a jack over here. Doubt we'll be able to get the cars in to get 'em on the lifts. Hopefully the tyre changers and wheel balancers are good.", Ali called out from behind a pile of old tyres.

"Yeah, bring 'em out an' I'll see what needs to get done.", the mechanic answered, pulling out a 4-arm wrench from the drawer he was rifling through.

"You know anything about mechanics, Ali? Sounds like it if you can name the equipment.", Zoey asked from where she was inspecting an engine block still perched on a stand.

Ali reemerged with the tools, her visible eye crinkling as she smiled proudly.

"Yep, did a course on mechanics in my second year at college. I was one of two girls on that course, there was a third but she dropped out. The weak don't last.", she replied as she set the tools down beside Ellis, swiping up a relatively clean rag and rubbing the black dust from her hands.

"I'd guessed. Bet that was a pain, being that outnumbered in a male dominated environment."

She snorted as she tossed the rag back onto the bench.

"Let me tell you right now, work experience was a pain in the ass. Nowhere would take us on because we were "of child-bearing age". C'mon, not like I was gonna get knocked up in a week.", she grumbled as she gave mocking air quotes.

"Men...", Zoey huffed, not seeing Ellis glance over at her. He didn't even have a chance to open his mouth when Nick and Coach emerged from the storage room.

"Well, we know who was here last. One of the guys who worked here. Looks like it got too much for him.", Nick commented as he folded his arms, leaning against the hood of a truck. Coach stayed relatively close to the door.

"Poor guy shot himself...", he added solemnly, jerking his head towards the door.

"Who shot themselves?", Poe asked as she and the others walked into the main garage, having checked out the office and staff rooms. Coach turned his head to face them all.

"One'a the mechanics. He didn't make it. He's in the storeroom."

It was quiet for a minute or so before Paige strode over towards a tarp that was folded over one of the car lifts. Pulling it down onto her shoulder, she walked up to Coach.

"We can't just leave him there. He deserves some kind of peace."

"Alright, young'un, I'll help you get him.", Coach nodded, pushing the door open and letting her walk past, him following behind to help.

They disappeared into the room, only the rustling of the tarp and quiet footsteps indicating any movement. Several minutes later they emerged, Coach carry the body of the man wrapped in the large tarp.

"We'll take him outside and give him some kinda burial or send off. The rest of you, stay here."

"I'll come with you, keep watch.", Poe offered, patting her shotgun and hurrying after them as Paige motioned her over. As they left, everyone else just sort of looked at each other.

"So... you guys find anything?", Ali started lamely, but was saved by Kirby's grin.

"Their break room was huge, man! It was kitted out recently, too. Looks like the rest of the staff were meant to be here, 'cause there are several sleeping bags and a few bunks set up."

"Even found a camping stove and a few pans in a cupboard. If we can get it on, we could get some warm food.", Rochelle smiled, the idea clearly sitting well with her. It sounded good to everyone else, if the hopeful grins were any indication.

They continued chatting amongst themselves until Coach, Paige and Poe returned, now without the corpse.

"Alright, we saw a few of 'em roamin' around the streets, but not a lot. If we split into pairs, we can search the houses and businesses for anything useful. Food, first aid, the works.", Coach stated as he rubbed his shoulder.

Paige nodded from beside him, patting her jeans pocket subtly.

"All right, buddy systems. Pick a partner and let's get going."