The lanterns were all pretty much ruined so we didn't have to worry about loading anything else up. We started for Winnie, pausing and doing all our checks again. I shivered slightly in the warm air, the smell and feel of the zeds ever present in my mind as I swung up into the cab.

Edward reached over and squeezed my hand as he started up the engine and we roared off into the falling dusk.

We drove all night, twisting back and forth through the darkness. We didn't talk much as we drove. I got up a time or two to get something for Edward to eat and drink, but otherwise I stayed where I was and he did too. He finally pulled over as the first light of dawn was starting to brighten everything around us, revealing that we were on a highway lined on both sides by forests. I looked over at him.

"We probably shouldn't stop here."

He nodded and sighed. "No, this is a shit stopping point, but I'm falling asleep."

"I'll drive."

He looked at me with surprise. In all the time we'd been together, I'd never driven. I had a set of keys, he'd given them to me after a couple of days together just in case something happened to him and we were separated, but I'd never used them. They simply sat in my pocket. He turned his attention back to the road, thinking.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I just have to drive straight, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I thought we might see some of DC if you're interested. You've never been, right?"

"Yeah."

"We're on the right road for a stop there if you're interested."

"Sure. I mean, we should probably avoid the museums."

He grinned and nodded. "Yeah, probably."

"So…you want to sleep in the back while I drive?"

He nodded. "If you don't mind."

"Go ahead."

He stood up, stretching, and made his way into the back. I switched seats and adjusted it so I could reach the pedals. It wasn't typically that big of a deal, but I was now realizing just how much taller than I Edward was. I shifted Winnie into gear and started off down the road.

I drove carefully, nervous about driving Winnie. I hadn't really driven in years, to be honest. The guys always drove our van and I had always been content to be a passenger. I mentally berated myself for not offering before now. It wasn't that difficult.

What was difficult, though, was finding a safe place to stop. We were in the mountains and it made me nervous to pull over at any of the rest stops I passed. There was no telling who, or what, was in the woods beyond the picnic shelters. I kept an eye on the fuel gauge and finally pulled into a rest stop in a relatively clear area when the gauge was at a third of a tank. We never drove past that point.

I put the RV in park and stood up, stretching my sore limbs for a moment before carefully picking my way back towards Edward.

He was sprawled on his back, as spread eagle as one could get in the space we had for sleeping, his mouth open slightly. I grinned and shook his foot lightly. "Edward."

He grunted and his eyes opened, staring with unfocused eyes at the ceiling for a long moment. He finally sat up, running his fingers through his hair and scrubbing his face, something he did every time he woke up.

"Yeah."

"We need to refuel then I'll keep driving until we get somewhere safer."

He nodded and crawled off the bed sleepily. I stepped out of the way, making to head back towards the front when his arms wrapped around my waist and he pulled me back to him for a kiss.

He was warm and sweet and smelled good. I loved early morning sleepy kisses and while this wasn't technically early morning, it was for us. I kissed him back, raising onto my toes to hug his neck.

He smiled and relaxed his hold, kissing me on the nose. "Everything ok so far?"

I nodded and released him, my hands resting lightly on his forearms. "Peachy keen."

He chuckled and released me, bending to pick up his bat, handing me one of our spares as we headed out to refuel.

We worked quickly, emptying several cans into the fuel tank. Neither of us said a word, but we were both painfully aware of the fact that the fuel was running out. Winnie sucked a lot of gas down, especially as loaded down as we had her and hauling the minivan, and we hadn't found a viable pump in ages. We were pretty much just going to head straight to Maine at this point, the little jaunt through DC and NYC not-with-standing. Since we weren't going to go in anywhere, those jaunts would be brief. I was hoping we'd have enough I could see a few things in Boston but I was ok to skip it. Survival first and all that.

We secured the empty cans in the van and climbed back in. Edward kissed me again before crawling into the bed for another nap. I drove for a while before it started to rain. It started slowly at first, light gentle drops pattering against the windshield, before they picked up in intensity, fat angry drops pounding on the roof and hood, sounding for all the world like hail. I knew it wasn't but it still made me nervous. Plus, I couldn't see anything through the windshield. I slowed down almost to a crawl as I twisted through the mountains, hunched over the wheel and peering ahead for any obstacles that might appear.

We'd run into a few blocked roads in the past few months and they'd been annoying, sure, but we'd made our way around them. I wasn't sure about now. It would be really hard to maneuver Winnie with the minivan on the steep winding roads.

I slowed as I came up to a steep blind turn, nervous about what might be on the other side. I took it carefully, the engine protesting slightly as I pushed it uphill. I slowed even more when I saw a blockade up ahead.

"Edward," I called over my shoulder "I think we've got company."

A few moments later he was in the passenger seat, his eyes peering through the sheets of rain at the dark shapes moving around in the road in front of us. It looked like a homemade blockade, some sawhorses and men with rifles.

"What do I do?" I asked nervously as one started to wave at me, signifying that he wanted me to stop.

"Do what he asks," muttered Edward. "These do not look like people to fuck with."

I nodded and stopped Winnie in front of the blockade, studying the men. There were at least six of them, all heavily armed and, as Edward so eloquently put it, not the kind of people you wanted to fuck with.

One stepped forward and motioned for me to roll my window down. He was wearing a poncho so the rain ran off of him onto the ground, creating a little ring of dripping water around his legs. I cranked the window down some, enough so we could hear each other but not so much that I'd get wet.

"Where you headed?" he asked conversationally.

"DC," I responded.

He nodded and peered past me at Edward who nodded once in greeting. The man craned his neck, trying to see into Winnie. I noticed then that Edward had pulled the curtain separating the driving area from the back, likely to hide all of our stuff from prying eyes. The curtains or blinds were pulled in the rest of it already.

"How many of you are there?"

"Just the two of us."

He nodded and stepped back a bit. I bit back a sigh of relief, thinking he was going to let us through. "Please get out of the vehicle."

I shot a glance at Edward and he nodded slightly. I carefully unbuckled my seatbelt and clambered down. Edward did the same before walking around and standing beside me, slipping an arm around my shoulders protectively. The six men gathered around us now, all wearing ponchos, their rifles held in a seemingly lax stance, pointed at the ground. Their fingers lightly caressing the triggers belied the appearance of relaxation.

"We've got a few things we could trade for safe passage," Edward was saying beside me. "Food, ammunition, clothes even."

None of the men moved a muscle. The sound of the rain in my ears was nearly deafening. I felt a sudden inexplicable urge to cry when one man's eyes finally flicked over and raked up and down my body. My soaked clothing was clinging to my skin and not leaving much to the imagination. I knew exactly what they wanted without them having to say it. I felt my skin crawl as one by one, the other men regarded me, some more discreetly than others. The leader finally nodded his head at me.

"We want her." He said it so matter-of-factly that I hoped I'd heard him wrong.

"She's not available," Edward replied, just as calmly, his arm tightening around me. "Anything else is fine."

"Boy, you don't seem to understand. There's six of us and two of you. We'll take what we want whether you want to give it or not."

"No, you don't seem to understand," Edward countered, an edge of steel in his voice. "She's not on the table. Anything else I have is."

One of the men twitched slightly, his finger jerking on the trigger. I tensed, bracing myself for the loud rapport of the weapon. There was no sound but the deafening rain. None of the other men seemed to have noticed but Edward had. His tight hold on me relaxed somewhat.

"We don't want whatever else you might got in there, just her. You likely know women are scarce nowadays."

"I do. I also know you have no bullets so here's the new bargain. I'll give you a box of whatever I can throw together for you, a little of everything, and you'll let us through. You can escort us if you want and I'll give you the box on the other side. Otherwise, you'll just have to follow us to get your box."

"We got bullets, son," growled another man.

"Sure you do. I mean, why not just shoot me and take her and everything we've got? Why this ridiculous banter?"

They shifted uneasily and I shivered slightly as a cold breeze picked up then. They were exchanging glances, clearly uncertain of what to make of us now.

"I, on the other hand, do have bullets," Edward continued, pulling the small handgun out of the back of his pants and holding it up. "Six, in fact. So, I can shoot you all and drive on through or you can escort us and take what we give you."

"How do we know you'd keep your end up?" demanded one.

"You're just gonna have to trust me."

One man leaned over and spit. Clearly, chewing tobacco was still around up here. He finally nodded and stepped back. The other men took his cue and stepped out of the way. Edward helped me up into Winnie and climbed in behind me, pushing me over to the passenger seat.

"Lock the doors," he said in a low voice.

I nodded, teeth chattering, as he shifted into gear and started forward. One of the men jumped up on the running board beside Edward's door and motioned for him to keep going. He was apparently going to be our escort.

"B, get some shit together for them. Food, ammunition, some clothes, couple of lanterns, throw in some condoms, too."

I nodded and stood up, moving as quickly as I could to get things together. My hands were numb but I made them work with me. We reached the border of their territory about an hour later and the guy hopped down as we approached the other blockade. They pulled the saw horse fence open and Edward rolled down his window, passing the box out to them and nodding as he drove through. As soon as we cleared the blockade, he hit the gas and we got the hell out of there.

About ten miles down the road, Edward finally spoke.

"You should dry off some if you can. Wrap up in a blanket, maybe curl up in the bed to warm up."

"I'm fine," I mumbled, my lips numb.

His jaw tensed. "B, do it. We can't afford for you to get sick."

I sighed and nodded, moving into the back to change. I pulled out a pair of jeans and a sweater and pulling them on quickly and then wrapping a towel around my hair before rejoining him in the front. Edward nodded as I sat back down, passing him a towel.

"I'd make you pull over and change, too, if I thought you'd do it."

He grinned slightly. "I don't get sick. I'll be fine."

I rolled my eyes and reclined my seat a little. "Men."