(A/N): I had hoped this chapter would be a bit longer but I was really struggling through it. The action should pick up in the next chapter along with the word count hopefully.
The stop at her father's friend's house was short. She stayed in the car with her mom while her father helped his friend's wife get him into their car and then they were on the road again with the two following closely behind them.
They had barely gotten onto the highway when they came to a standstill; the road was crammed with cars hardly even crawling forwards. They moved along at a snail's pace for hours, the sky lighting up around them and getting dark again as time past slowly in tense silence, they ate some of the food they packed into the car and only stopped for gas and sparse bathroom breaks.
Cassie had just fallen asleep in the back of the car when the car behind them honked loudly and pulled their car off the road, her father following suit, pulling up in front of them and getting out of the car.
Cassie rubbed her eyes, watching the wife of her father's friend approach out of the back window. Her mom was watching too, cracking her window slightly to listen in.
The wife looked haggard, "He's doin' real bad kev. I don't think he's gonna make it." She sounded close to tears.
"We're almost there. Surely he can make it another hour or so, just give 'im some painkillers and let's get there already."
"Kevin, he's really bad. I don't think he's even gonna make it another half an hour and last we heard they still didn't have any clue what this thing is, never mind how to treat it." She really was crying now.
Her father sighed and nodded, though he mostly just seemed annoyed.
"Alright, look... if he's not gonna make it to the refugee centre... well there's not really much more we can do is there?"
She was outright sobbing at this point.
"Look, they said these sick people can be dangerous. You don't want to be in the car with him if he suddenly rages out and attacks you. We need to leave him behind." He told her sternly.
"I'm not leaving him on the side of the road!" she shrieked.
"Lower your fucking voice." Her father's voice was low and dangerous; it was a tone that made Cassie flinch. She wondered if this woman was familiar enough with her father to recognise the warning signs, while her father drunk and yelling was definitely scary, quiet and intent was terrifying to a whole other degree.
She sniffled, wiping at her face, "Please Kevin, he's still my husband. I can't just leave him at the side of the road to die." She pleaded.
He softened his voice slightly, taking her elbow, "We'll take him into the woods a ways okay? He doesn't seem like he's gonna get violent, he's too weak. Seems he's just gonna pass quietly, we'll leave him somewhere quiet and pretty."
She nodded, shaking lips tilting up very slightly in a grateful smile.
"Go get your things from the car, we'll grab ours and meet you over there." He directed her back to her car.
He opened his car door, leaning down and sticking his head in, "Get your stuff and get out, we're heading into the woods."
"It's too dark, it'll be pitch black in the woods." Her mom protested.
"Just do what I fucking said." He growled, slamming the door shut.
Her mom clenched her jaw, hard eyes staring after him before she took a deep breath and turned around in her seat to face Cassie.
"Put your backpack on sweetie; let me know if it's too heavy though, I packed some water and food in there along with your things."
Cassie nodded, moving to grab the bag next to her but a hand on her arm stopped her, she turned back to her mom who was biting her lip and looking at her with worry clear on her face.
She clearly had something to say, "Cassie..." she hesitated, "Just make sure you stick to me okay? I'm going to have your hand the whole time. No matter what your dad says, you stick right by my side you got that?"
Cassie nodded her head, her face serious.
"No sweetie, speak. I need you to promise me okay?"
"I promise mom."
Her mom squeezed her arm before letting go, "Okay, let's go then. Stay in the car until I come round and get the door for you."
Her mom got out, removed her bag from the trunk before opening Cassie's car door to let her out. They took each other's hand as they made their way to the other car where her dad was positioning his friend on a blanket on the ground.
He picked up one end as they approached and set off into the woods dragging him behind him, barely sparing them a glance nor heeding his friends groans of protest at being dragged across the uneven ground in his state.
They had barely gone a few feet into the woods when her father barked at her mom to get a flashlight from her bag and shine it in front of them so he could see where the hell he was going. They continued on for what felt to Cassie like hours, stumbling over branches and uneven ground with only the sound of their footsteps and her father's friends continuous, pained groans.
The patch of woods her father finally stopped them at seemed no different to Cassie than the rest off the woods they had just trampled through but she was glad to be stopping in any case, her feet were rubbed raw and she was pretty sure they were bleeding.
"Here?" the woman whispered, not seeming to want to disturb the eerie silence surrounding them.
"It'll have to do; I'm not dragging him any further. We'll gather some leaves and stuff to cover him up and maybe a big stone for the gravestone if there's one."
The man on the blanket gave a breathy rasp, "Oi, I'm not dead yet Kev."
Her father just looked down with cold eyes at the man who was his friend then turned and started collecting twigs and leaves.
The woman knelt by the head of the husband and spoke with him in hushed whispers that Cassie couldn't make out until the man rasped out painfully, "Just go." And the woman let out a quiet sob before joining Cassie's father.
"Hey." The man was looking at her mom; he beckoned her closer to him weakly.
Cassie didn't want to approach the man, he was sickly pale, covered in sweat and she had heard scary things about the sick people and how violent they could get but she was forced to follow her mom when she wouldn't let go of her hand.
Her mom knelt by his head like the other woman had so she could hear him, though Cassie had no need to due to her small stature, "They're together. They've been sneaking around for years behind our backs, fucking like-" he cut himself off with a quick glance at Cassie.
"This isn't news to me." Her mother's voice was hard.
He glared at her, the sickly glow to his skin and red of his eyes enhancing the look, "You knew?" disgust clear in his voice despite how quiet and scratchy it had become.
"My husband's infidelity is the least of my concerns and you've been friends with the man for years now, you know very well what kind of man he is. Did you imagine he would treat his friends with respect when he doesn't even with his wife?" she stood, clearly done with the conversation.
"He'll choose her." He rasped louder. "It will come down to a choice between her and you and your girl and he'll choose her." He sneered at her.
Her mom turned back to look at him, to anyone else she may have seemed completely emotionless but Cassie knew her mom well enough that she could hear the slight amusement in her voice, "Maybe, but if you hadn't noticed the worlds kind of going to shit and eventually, it may come to a choice between her and himself and he'll do what he has always done; He'll choose himself."
A loud explosion of noise startled them all and the sky above them lit up briefly, it was deafeningly loud. It sounded like when someone was dropping bombs on tv but so much louder. Her mom gripped her as her father and the woman came running back through the trees, "What the fuck is that?" her father demanded.
Her mom was staring up at the sky as the sound and the light came again, and again more rapidly now.
"They're dropping bombs." She said her voice shaking and just barely audible over the explosions.
The woman spoke up shrilly, "Atlanta? They're bombing Atlanta?"
"Stop freaking out." Her father demanded unsympathetically, "Atlanta was always a shit idea anyway, we knew even if we made it they couldn't help him, they had no fucking clue what this thing is."
"So what do we do?! Where are we supposed to go?!" the woman was yelling now, the explosions still going on behind them.
"We'll camp out in the woods for the night then in the morning get the rest of our stuff from the cars and trek further out into the woods, keep away from other people and wait for the fucking military to sort this shit out."
Cassie is the only one who had noticed over the sounds of the bombs and the woman freaking out that the rattling breaths of the man at their feet had stopped. She was staring at the man on the ground, his body completely unmoving now.
This was the first time she had ever seen a dead body but there was no mistaking that he was gone, the unnatural stillness was unsettling.
"Mom." Her voice was barely above a whisper and the bombs were too loud.
She shook the hand that was holding hers trying to get her attention but couldn't tear her eyes away from the man's body.
"Come on! We'll set the tents up here and keep an eye on-" her father cut himself off as he saw his friend.
"Oh god. Oh god!" the woman sobbed having also noticed, running towards her husband and collapsing on her knees at his side.
"Don't. Get away from him." Her mom warned the woman sharply, pulling Cassie back a few steps.
"He's dead!" the woman yelled back.
"The news... it said they were coming back and that's when they attack." Her mom pulled her back a few more steps.
"Don't be stupid." Her father barked harshly at her mom, "people don't just die and come back like that."
"We should put up camp somewhere else for the night, we shouldn't stay too close to him." She said replied softly.
"What did I just fucking say?" he demanded.
"No... I can't sleep right here knowing he's lying just outside my tent." The woman sobbed.
Her father sighed, "Fine." He bit out. "We'll cover him up with the leaves and move a bit further out to set up for the night."