Chapter 7

It was the middle of the day when we finally stopped. I don't know what the exact time was, it could have been ten it could have been two; all I knew was that it was hot as hell. We pulled off the highway onto a small dirt track and stopped once we were hidden from the main road. We were all on edge, though I can't speak for the others I was still trying to understand what happened. It was like a terrible nightmare. Not like one of those normal nightmares where you go to school and find out another girl is wearing the same outfit as you, or when there's a sale at Cashman's that you missed out on; this was worse, it was real and there was no waking up from it. I could still smell the fumes from the explosion. As the Tank pulled up we all got out. There was an uncomfortable silence that none of us dared to break. We all shared the exact same thought: We were now murderers.

It was Trent that broke the silence after Daria began to unload their bags from the van. His brow furrowed as he watched her, "What are you doing?" He asked.

"We need to sort out our stuff, see what we have left since we had to leave your car behind. There's not enough room for everyone to fit comfortably in the Tank, so we have to get rid of all non-essential items." She said as she continued to remove the bags and drop them on the ground. Jane silently walked over and began to help.

As Daria put a box of the bands leads on the ground Max jumped up, "Hey! Not the gig equipment." He said sternly.

"Max, we have to. There won't be enough room otherwise." Jane said as she and Daria heaved one of the amps onto the ground.

"No," Nick cried. "That amp cost me six hundred bucks! It took me over six months to save up for it." He said as he looked pleadingly at Trent, "Trent man, talk some sense into your sister."

Trent stared at him mutely and shrugged.

"Nick, Max there's just not enough room for all of this stuff and I don't think you guys are going to be doing anymore gigs, at least not for a while." Jane said as she set a snare drum on the ground.

"Oh no, no way Janey, the electrical stuff like the leads and cords fine, they can go, but there is no way I am leaving my drums here." Max said as he picked up the snare and held it defiantly in his arms.

"Max, she's right man. They take up too much space." Trent said quietly as he walked over and placed a hand on Max's shoulder.

Max turned, glared at Trent and pulled away from his grip. "Are you serious? Did that blast scramble your brains? Music, these drums, the band are my life. I am not leaving them here in the middle of nowhere. I don't give a shit what is happening, the drums stay!" he yelled angrily.

"Max, calm down man. Look, we all have to leave stuff behind my axe is back in my car, so is Jesse's," Trent said.

"So? We'll go back and get them." Max replied.

Trent cocked an eyebrow as he studied his band mate; it was Jesse that responded. "Are you insane? We can't go back there; what if there are survivors, what if there are reinforcements?"

"Maybe there was no one else around, maybe we managed to kill everyone." He spoke quietly as he realized he had spoken the words everyone was thinking. With a huff Max threw the drum to the ground with an angry force and he stormed into the forest. Moments later the group could hear Max taking his frustration out on the trees as loud snaps and crashes reached them.

The group looked at each other stunned and Nick spoke up, "I'll go." He said as he jogged off in the same direction Max had gone.

Quinn had remained quiet as she watched the ordeal; once Nick had disappeared into the forest she stood and walked over to the Tank. She retrieved her own bag from the back and began to sort through it. Daria and Jane had done the same and the three girls stood in a circle examining their bags.

"So what do you classify as non-essential?" Quinn asked as she bent down and unzipped her hot-pink case.

As Quinn lifted the lid Daria scoffed, "That for starters," she said and pointed to a fluffy pink bathrobe. "Why did you bring a bathrobe on a road trip?" she asked.

Quinn flipped her hair as she turned and scowled at Daria. "Just because we are," Quinn held her hands up and air quoted, " 'roughing it' on a road trip, doesn't mean I can't have the basic luxuries." Quinn said.

"Quinn, it has to go." Daria said as she started to go through her own bag.

Quinn huffed and threw it into the dirt, "Fine. I guess that means I'll have to leave my hair dryer and straightener as well?" Daria nodded without looking up and Quinn sighed in frustration. "Well what are you keeping that can be left behind?" she asked as she looked at Daria's growing pile of 'keep' stuff. Quinn picked up a thick book, "Why are you keeping a book about dinosaurs? What use is it?" she asked.

Daria frowned, "Dinosaurs?" she said as she looked at the book Quinn was holding. Daria bit her lip and stifled a laugh as she saw the title 'Thesaurus'. "Quinn, that isn't a book about dinosaurs."

"Duh, of course it is. Everyone knows that anything ending in 'aurus' is the name of a dinosaur."

Jane looked at the book and began to laugh. "Quinn that's a Thesaurus, it's like a dictionary."

Quinn flushed slightly and dropped the book back on the ground, "Well… Why do you have it anyway? It's the school holidays." She said as she went back to her own things.

Daria shook her head and smirked, "I was finishing a paper while we were on the road, and I'm keeping it because I kind of want to finish it. Besides if this really is a war we could use paper to get fires started if needs be."

"Whatever," Quinn replied absently as she held up her make-up case. "I guess this goes too?"

Daria took it, "Actually," she said as she started to examine its contents. She pulled out a few facial cleaners and treatments. "These can stay." She said as she handed the small case back.

As the girls packed their belongings Trent and Jesse sorted out the rest of the van. A majority of the music equipment had to go; both of the men looked at the instruments mournfully. Jesse bent down and picked up the acoustic guitar. "You think we can keep this one?" he asked hopefully.

Trent shrugged, "Depends on what Max says. He's pretty cut up about leaving his kit here--"

"You can keep it." Max said quietly as he emerged from the tree line, Nick was a few paces behind him.

"Are you sure man? It's fine if we leave it here, you know 'cause…" Jesse said as he nodded to the drum kit scattered on the ground.

Max shrugged, "It's not like I can play it, just… just let me keep the skin on the snare… Its lucky…" his last few words were mumbled and he looked down at his feet.

"Sure, that'd be okay," Trent said. "We have everything else sorted. The only thing left is the trunk, we couldn't lift it."

"Yeah, I don't know what's in it; I've never been able to open it. It works as a seat anyway." Max replied.

The group packed their belongings back in the Tank and drove away.