The group had only been traveling for a couple of hours and already the signs of being cooped up in the car were starting to show. Marie was tapping on the back of the center console with her fingernail, making a loud clicking noise that seemed to echo off all sides of the car. Dom clenched his jaw but didn't say anything, not wanting to get everyone riled up in such a small space. Diana was breathing on her window and drawing small stick figures with her index fingernail, sometimes even drawing a sun and some grass. Matthew flicked through the area on the GPS screen, trying to figure out where the next safe place for them to stop would be. A highway rest stop showed up about ten minutes ahead of where they were so he noted it and shut the GPS off to save battery and stowed it back in the glove box.

"There's a rest stop a little ways up on the right. We should stop and stretch our legs, get some food out of the packs and get some fresh air."

"Not a bad idea" said Diana, rolling her shoulders until her neck popped. "I feel like going for a run."

"If you want to jog around the area for a few that's fine, but if you leave sight take someone with you." Matthew pulled down his visor and flipped up mirror cover so he could see Diana in the back seat. "I'm serious. We're gonna start using the buddy system from now on. Any time you have to go away from the group, even for thirty seconds, you take someone with you. We don't have the luxury of the illusion of safety anymore."

"Matthew's right" said Dom, "it doesn't necessarily have to be one of us," he gestured to himself and to his brother, "but if you feel more comfortable with one of us at night feel free to ask."

"My hero" said Marie, nudging her shoulder playfully into Dom's.

About two miles before their exit a car was situated on the side of the road with smoke rising from the engine. The hood was open and smoke poured out gratuitously, filling the air and making it hard to see the road ahead. Tori slowed down a bit as they approached the car. There looked to be a couple bodies in the back seat while a large man stood on the side of the road next to the front of the car, trying to wave smoke from the engine so he could see what was going on. As they made to pass by Marie sat up in the back and called out for them to stop, turning to keep an eye on the car as Tori eased them to a halt.

"There's kids in the back seat, we should see if we can try to help."

"I don't know" said Matthew, tucking the GPS away in the glove box. "It could be a trap."

"Come on Matty. Those kids are barely five or six years old and he looks confused. You guys know about cars, go give him a hand and do your good deed for the day."

"You know Dom is the only one that can call me that and get away with it."

"I know, I only do it in a condescending way when you're being a guy."

"Might as well" said Dom from the back, getting out of the car and shutting the door behind him. Matthew quickly followed suit but moreas to keep an eye on his brother than anything.

The man wiped sweat from his forehead as the two approached. He tossed a rag down onto the front of the car where the hood stem latches inside and pulled his pants up a bit, adjusting them so his belt buckle was front and center. Matthew noticed the man was at least three times his size and probably outweighed Dom by at least sixty pounds, even though the majority of it was fat. They reached the car and nodded a polite hello to the man.

"What's the trouble, sir?" asked Dom.

"Well it seems like I overheated or somethin'. Not too sure what exactly happened, maybe out of coolant or some other thing." The man looked back and forth between the boys rapidly, a motion that made Matthew feel ill when he tried to replicate.

"Maybe we can give it a look and get you going again" said Matthew, rounding his way to the engine.

Dom followed and the two of them tried to fan the smoke away, noticing almost immediately when they were close enough that actual flames were coming from inside the engine block. Dom backed up and looked to find where the man was, making eye contact with the barrel of a gun.

"Don't move."

Matthew mouthed a silent "damnit" and backed up slowly, arms out to the side. He stood next to Dom who had his hands up in the same fashion, both of them watching the man for any sudden movements.

"Are you kidding me? We survived that blast to get robbed a couple of hours later?" said Matthew.

"Alright boys, I'm gonna need your car. I'm tryin' to get me and my girls out of town and this shit heap kicked the bucket on me."

"I'm afraid we can't do that sir" said Dom immediately, his voice loud and strong. "It's not our car, and we aren't the only ones involved."

"Well I suggest you tell whoever does own the car that they don't own it anymore, and to hand over them keys so no one has to get hurt." The man cracked his neck and adjusted the shotgun against his shoulder. "I've been hearin' about the explosions and the army takin' people prisoner. I ain't gonna be one of 'em."

"I'm afraid I can't do that either. Truth be told I would have them drive away and leave us here with you before you get that car."

Matthew watched Dom closely out of the corner of his eye. His demeanor was purposeful and his posture was rigid. He stood feet shoulder width apart and kept his eyes straight in true soldier form. He admired his brother for having such strong, manly traits; something he didn't possess himself, but something his brother never criticized him for.

"Now you see, I'm sure you don't want to do anything crazy in front of your little girls back there." Dom leaned on one leg and looked around the car, smiling and waving at the little brunette girl in the window. "They seem like sweet kids, murdering someone in front of them would rob them of that innocence."

"Haven't you been watchin' the news lately, kid? We've all been robbed of that innocence now. It's too late to do a media cover-up and try to patch it like they did with so many other things in the past. These walls are comin' down and where you stand when they do is all that matters now. My girls will be taught how to survive, and the way things are goin', they're about to get their first lesson in how to get what you need." The man took a couple steps forward and pointed the gun right in Dom's face. "You seem to be the talkative one, I suppose you'll go first."

At that moment the horn sounded from Tori's car and the man was momentarily sidetracked, turning his head to see where it had come from. Matthew took advantage of the opportunity and lurched forward and punched the man in the mouth with all of his strength, staggering and falling onto one knee after he made contact. The man took three whole steps backward to keep from falling but couldn't get his bearings before Dom ran forward and tackled him to the ground, headbutting his face and breaking his nose. The cracking sound he expected was much louder, signaling that the man had pulled the trigger and he immediately worried that Matthew might have been hit. He popped up off the ground and turned to see his brother was still OK, much to his relief. Dom reached back down and struggled for a moment, removing the gun from the man's grip, then looked over his shoulder and tossed it to Matthew. Matthew caught it and trained it on the man as Dom stood up and backed away, watching the man as he tried to cup his face with copious amounts of blood pouring out.

"You little bastards! Look what you've done!"

"Look what we've done?" said Dom, a hint of hysterics in his voice. "Get in your car and shut the door, now."

"Don't you tell-"

"NOW!"

The man got up slowly and tripped over to the car, stretching his arms out to catch himself and smearing blood all over the side of it. He got in and shut the door after himself, his head lolling to the side with blood still pouring down his face. Dom pointed to Tori's car and he and Matthew started walking, passing the girls in the back seat with a somber smile and a wave goodbye. They reached the car and Matthew knocked on the trunk, signaling Tori to pop it. He tossed the shotgun in and closed it, getting into the front seat once again.

"What the hell happened?" Tori asked, looking at Matthew's swollen hand. "I saw that guy grab the gun and I was about to run out there but Diana stopped me."

"He wanted the car. I told him no" said Dom.

"Seriously? You should have just given him the keys" said Tori, shaking a little in her seat. "It's not worth getting shot and possibly dying over. We can walk you know."

"It's not about that" Dom explained, resting his head against the back of the seat with his eyes closed. "It's about finding our place in this world from the very beginning. Stuff like that is going to become more and more common until it's an everyday thing. People are natural savages. When supplies run out for real, when food is scarce and clean water is a luxury, we're gonna be dealing with a lot worse than one overweight asshole with a gun. A lot worse. If we're going to survive, if we're going to get where we need to be and not lose our stuff or each other on the way, we have to be resolute."

"What about the girls?" Diana asked. "We can't just leave them there with him, can we?"

"We have no choice. We don't have any room for them in the car or in the supplies." Dom cracked his knuckles and crossed his arms over his chest. "I feel bad about it, I really do, but we just can't afford the responsibility." He wondered if it would seem like he was coming off cold, like he didn't really care about the kids but just said he did to make everyone feel better. He was worried that everyone would look at him differently, but he knew that the group needed a strong leader that could help get them through this, and he would try to be that leader no matter how he looked in the present. If they all survived they would see eventually why certain things had to be the way they did.

Everyone in the car looked in different directions, biting their nails or concentrating on their breathing. Dom was right; the world had changed, and they were going to have to change with it. Tori drove on without another word. She watched for more cars as they continued on but didn't see anything, something she was thankful for. These two back to back situations were the first part of the conflict that had really hit home for them, and she wasn't even a part of the second one. She couldn't imagine how Dom and Matthew were feeling at the moment, having just stared death in the face twice in a couple hours. They would all have to harden up to make it; not only physically but emotionally and mentally as well. The exit came up and Tori slowed down to take it, following the hard right curve all the way around to the highway below.

Tori pulled into the rest area and parked close to the building. Everyone funneled out of the car one by one and headed for the bathrooms. Tori walked around the back of the car and leaned against the trunk with her eyes closed, feet crossed at the ankles with her hands in her pockets. April had come and brought some warmer weather and currently a delicate breeze brushed warm air across her face. The trees on the other side of the highway swayed lazily to the right and a few unfrozen leaves scattered here and there. One side of the rest stop was coated in moss and vines since it stood face to the wind but the rest seemed to be in pretty good condition. Tori wondered how long it would take for the earth to reclaim this place if everyone killed each other.

Marie wandered around the inside of the small building for a few minutes after she left the bathroom. She looked at all of the different pamphlets and maps that covered the walls, photos of tourism and landmarks behind the glass. A classic American family posed for a photo at a place called Sleeping Bear Dunes, unfortunately the smallest kid of the bunch had his finger in his nose at just the right moment. The picture made Marie smile and she wondered what had happened to her mom and the rest of her extended family.

When she was nine Marie's dad, Derrick, walked out on her and her mom. For years he'd suffered abuse at the hands of his wife, physically and mentally. Marie's mom, Kim, was a drinker, and she liked to blame her husband for all of the shortcomings in their lives. Whenever something didn't go right Kim would drown herself vodka and tell her grand story of how she thought she was marrying a man of money and that she didn't know their life was going to be this hard. When Derrick tried to calm her down she would erupt even more, hitting him with fists and whatever else was in arm's reach. Marie was usually around for these arguments since she was young and didn't have anywhere to go. After all was said and done Derrick tried to get custody of Marie but even after painting a picture of what an unfit mother Kim was she still got custody, the product of the matriarchal family court system.

The man in the photo reminded Marie of her dad. She wondered where he was and how he was surviving in this situation, but she was sure he would be fine. He was a resourceful guy and could always find a way to spin something in his favor. He'd tried to stay in contact with Marie after the divorce but her mother would not let it happen. She got personal protection orders on him, saying he sexually assaulted her and that she was afraid for her daughter's life, that if he was allowed to come around he would eventually kidnap Marie and take her away. He tried to call but she intercepted all the calls, hanging up on him and deleting messages from the answering machine. For the longest time Marie thought once he had gotten away from her mom that he just didn't care anymore and went on living his life, but as she got older and realized what her mom was really like the truth fell into place.

Marie was pulled back to reality when the bathroom door closed hard behind her and Diana came out, wiping her hands on her hips.

"You OK?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm good. Thanks."

"Hungry?"

"I could eat" said Marie, following Diana back outside. She turned her head and took one last look at the photo before passing through the open door.

At the car Dom had fished out the cooler and was carrying it to a picnic table while Matthew sat with the laptop. Tori had the car opened up with music playing so they could hear it while they relaxed. Marie and Diana rejoined the group, grabbing sandwiches from the cooler to pick at while they waited to get back on the road again. The highway was pretty dead in this area which was surprising, since they all figured everyone that lived around there would be trying to go north. Fortunately for them that wasn't the case and they had free reign of the open road. Last thing they needed was a packed highway with desperate people speeding and swerving to pass each other.

Tori decided to get in the car and turn the radio on, thinking maybe they could find some nationwide news stations to keep track of what was happening. She tuned to the very bottom of the FM frequencies and moved up slowly. A little static here, garbled bits of conversation there. Eventually she hit a clear station with a deep male voice explaining what was going on in some of the southern states.

"(...) think that we can turn this thing around. The army's been doing their thing but they still can't hold anything down. A lot of the west coast is gone, done. Entire cities are abandoned. Cell towers are down and internet doesn't work anymore since no one's around to maintain it. We haven't seen a rise in full scale militias yet but the smaller groups of bandits are out in force."

Another voice sounded next that Tori recognized to be George Brewer, host of a late night AM radio show.

"Well I mean this was bound to happen. We've had thousands of callers over the years say this exact thing would happen someday when Wall Street crumbled and the market just didn't have any juice left in it. Now that business has collapsed and the internet is down in a lot of areas this crisis is going to get a lot worse, real fast. Our nation's reliance on technology has certainly proved to be our own downfall. Millions of people are now stranded with nowhere to go. When all of the stores are picked clean of edibles and water we're going to see a guaranteed rise in violence."

"And that's the worst part of all of this, George. We've ignored survival training for so long now, absolutely sure that nothing would ever go wrong and we'd be living in our manufactured homes with our fiberglass cars and bottled Fiji water forever that we simply dismissed the idea of an apocalypse, at least in our time. Now that the country is quite literally going to hell all around us these people that don't know how to survive are going to turn on each other, attack each other and steal what they need instead of working together to help everyone. It's really a sad picture to paint for the people of this great nation, but if we sit back and think about it, really think and not let Patriotism cloud our judgment, we all knew it would be exactly like this."

"I think you're right on that one, Eric. That's all the time we have for right now. Eric, thanks for your call and for anyone else that didn't get through keep on trying, we'll get you in next block. I'm George Brewer and this is Talk America AM."

Tori got out of the car and walked back to the picnic table where the others were sitting quietly, nibbling on food or sipping a bottle of water. No one really seemed to know what to say. Matthew was going through some maps on the laptop, fidgeting with the settings every few minutes or so. Dom stood to the side of the table with his eyes out towards the highway, his hand up to shield his eyes from the sun. He scanned the tree line back and forth and looked for cars, making sure no one and nothing was watching them.

"That guy's right," said Matthew, closing the laptop, "it's getting harder to get map data. Datacenters are down in the west so the ones that are still up around us are getting slammed with rerouted traffic. When these ones crash we're gonna be in the dark for real."

"There's a ton of maps inside there" said Marie, pointing to the building. "We can grab all of them and bring them with us. Well, at least one of each. I want to leave some in case someone else comes here like we did."

Matthew smiled at the good nature of the girl in front of him and nodded his head. "Sure thing. It wouldn't hurt to have some localized maps if we need to hide on foot."

"It's gonna be getting dark in a little while" said Tori, looking up at the sky. "We should probably get going."

"Alright. I'll take Marie and grab some maps. Dom, repack the cooler and we'll be good to go in five."

Tori started the car and popped the trunk so Dom could get the cooler into it. They both stood beside the car and waited for Matthew and Marie to get back before getting back in in the same order they were before. Over the next hour to sun started to set and by the time the stars were visible they'd reached the town the bridge to Canada was in. Tori expected to see city lights similar to Chicago, especially in a town that held an international bridge, but they were met with nothing but darkness. Impenetrable, enveloping darkness. The stars were brighter in this area than any of them had ever seen, counting Dom who had been hunting further north than they currently were. A little bit of light could be seen a few miles ahead of them on the same road they were on so they continued forward to find out what it was.

The bridge was packed with cars in all six lanes, from the booths all the way to the road leading to it. The group drove up slowly to survey the traffic in front of them but quickly realized what they saw wasn't good. All of the cars had been abandoned with a lot of the closer ones donning bullet holes. Matthew got out of the car and crawled up onto a truck in front of them so he could look ahead. Smoke rose from a few cars towards the front and from the way they were positioned it seemed as if they had been positioned as a blockade. A lot of the cars still had bodies in them, riddled with bullet holes and flopped over in unnatural positions. Blood stained a lot of the pavement and interiors and most of the windows further up were shattered. No living people could be seen anywhere around the group but there was zero possibility of getting them passed all of the traffic.

"There's no way" said Matthew, hopping down from the truck he was standing on and leaning his head through the window of Tori's car. "Traffic is six deep all the way in, we can't get around."

"What's going on up there?" Tori asked.

"Looks like there was a fight here at some point. Cars are set up as a barrier and there are bullet holes, and bodies, everywhere. I'm guessing people were being refused entry so they started a commotion to try to force their way in."

"I don't think we should hang around here too long" said Dom, sticking his head out the window before getting out to satisfy his need for a perimeter check. "We don't know if anyone is still camped here or not."

"Alright, let's move out." Matthew moved to get back in before he was tapped lightly on the shoulder by Diana.

"Do you think we could switch for a bit?" she asked.

"Oh, no problem" said Matthew. "Just don't distract her too much, we don't want to die in a fiery accident."

"Promise."

Diana got in the front seat and smiled over at Tori who was scanning the area in front of her nervously. She gripped the shifter so tightly her knuckles were white, loosening a little when Diana's hand covered her own. Tori felt a tightness in her chest that elevated her fear above where her head thought it should be.

"It's OK, we'll head west and find our families. I'm sure it won't be that bad."

"I hope you're right" said Tori, putting the car in reverse to turn them around.

The road back south was pretty deserted as most of the residents of the state had tried to go north to Canada. The highway stood clear for miles in front of them but the lack of light made it hard to see. Tori turned on the high beams which lit up the road and a good amount of land beside it to watch for animals and stray people. The mood in the car was light but tired, and after another couple of hours Tori was getting tired of driving. She figured that they would be able to camp on the side of the road somewhere, slowing down when she noticed a break in the guard rail.

She pulled over on the side of the road and came to a stop, put the car in reverse and backed up a ways until the car was protected by the guard rail. Matthew put the GPS in the glove box and unbuckled his seat belt, pushing the trunk release as he opened his door.

"I packed tents so we'd have a place to sleep" said Matthew, rounding to the back of the car. "You can all grab your sleeping bags and put them next to the car and I'll get a fire going. When we get some light we'll pitch the tents and sleep for a little while."

Tori got out of the car and stretched her legs, realizing quickly that she should have tried to pee at the rest stop. She had to go now and the stinging in her bladder made her uncomfortable. A quick scan of the area around her showed a tree line about twenty yards out so she headed to go relieve herself.

"Hold it, where are you going?" Dom asked.

"To the bathroom, I didn't go earlier."

"Take a buddy. We weren't kidding earlier."

"I'll go" said Marie.

The two of them walked side by side out to the trees and Marie waited for Tori to come back out. It was impressively dark out here, you couldn't even see your hand right in front of your face. It would take about an hour for everyone's eyes to fully adjust so they could see each others' faces. When they arrived back at the site Matthew was poured over the bag of survival gear and Diana was setting up a little kindling teepee. Tori crossed over to see what Matthew was doing when he let out a hissed string of curses.

"One of the water bottles leaked into this bag and got the lighters and matches wet" said Matthew.

"All of them?" Tori asked.

"Yeah. Not sure what we're gonna do now." Matthew slammed the bag down against his thigh. "My fault. I should have double checked everything."

"It's not your fault, we're all going to have to get used to living a different way now."

"I know, but I should have been on top of this. We've camped before, gone hunting and all of that. I know what needs to be done and I just didn't do it."

At that moment a flash of light came from behind them and the fire crackled to life. Diana stood up and smacked her hands together to get the dirt off, smiling when Tori and Matthew approached. "I rubbed some sticks together to make a spark and get some paper going I had in my pocket." She looked back and forth from Matthew and Tori's faces to the ground, fidgeting slightly in her spot.

"That's...impressive" said Matthew.

"Thanks. I wanted to be a Girl Scout when I was a kid but my mom wouldn't let me. She said I had to do something 'finer' like play the piano or the violin."

"Nice job Diana" said Tori, reaching up and squeezing the top part of her arm. "Because of you I won't freeze tonight, and that I thank thee."

Diana blushed a bit and chewed on her lip. Dom walked over and tossed one tent to Matthew and kept the other for himself, and the two of them went to work getting them set up. One would be for the boys to share and the other for the girls. Each were deluxe camper tents with windows and lantern hangers in the center, and the one for the girls was an XL model that would comfortably fit seven fully grown adults. Tori and Marie went back to the tree line to try and find some larger logs to keep the fire burning over night while Diana continued to build it with the kindling she had lying around.

Once they were all finished and had a good pile of wood to last the night everyone gathered around the fire to warm up. The car was slightly angled away from the guard rail so it blocked the fire from the road. By the time anyone saw the light they'd be past the group and they would have heard the vehicle, giving them time to be alert in case someone with cruel intentions showed up. Tori got up and grabbed the food from the trunk and brought it back to the fire, taking out an apple and passing the bag to Diana. They each grabbed something and passed until everyone had something to eat.

"So how do you think this whole thing is gonna go?" Tori asked to no one in particular.

"Hard to say" said Dom, finishing his banana and tossing the peel into the fire. "From what we've been hearing on the radio there's no turning back now. I guess the Army lost control and the government just decided to bail."

"Figures" said Matthew, finishing his bottle of water. "They only pretended to be in charge in the first place, whoever thought they would stay in a situation like this is crazy."

Diana stoked the fire with a long stick, creating a small hole in the bottom where everyone could dispose of their trash. They were going to have to get used to covering their tracks, especially out in the open. The risk of people following them was becoming more and more real by the day. Eventually when supplies ran out and bandits started stopping travelers to take what they had the group would need to be on high alert. If someone found traces of human activity they'd be more than likely to follow the signs to see if they could manage to get a little food or something tradeable. There would come a time when certain goods would be worth more than money ever was.

"I'm guessing it'll be like all the stories we've ever read" said Diana, setting the stick down next to her feet. "Government goes down, militias pop up. Someone tries to be the bad ass in charge, rounding up people that don't bend to their will. Food and water run out and everyone will start attacking each other to get it. Groups of bandits will survive in outlying areas of major cities, running in every so often to scrounge for supplies. Eventually the biggest militia, the one that succeeds in getting the most guns and people, will claim ownership of the land and try to 'rebuild' as the new law. Will it happen just like that? I don't know, but it will probably be really close to it."

"Well I think you're right" said Dom. "Especially about the groups of bandits, that's who we need to watch for the most right now. The militia stuff won't be an issue for another couple of weeks at least. We need to be sure that whoever is driving is fully awake with their mind on the task and that someone else is helping keep watch on the side." He adjusted his heel inside his shoe and cleared his throat, scratching lightly at his beard. "Little stuff like we said before. Buddy system, rationing, stuff that will keep us ahead of the game."

"And to think, not even twenty four hours ago I was wondering what part of the store I was going to move the Jazz section to." Tori laughed at herself and finished her apple, tossing the core into the little spot Diana had cleared in the fire. "It really is amazing how fast things change, and how much you can learn about someone in that time. I had no idea Diana was such a survivalist, making this fire the way she did. And Dom, you and Matthew really have a head for this stuff."

They all seemed bashful and slow to accept the compliment but smiled just the same. Marie looked sour-faced and poked at the dirt under her feet with a short stick. "What about me, then? It's your car we're in, Diana's woodsman skills and Matty and Dom's survival gear and mapping abilities. Why am I here?"

"When we run into a scary group of bandits that want to steal our things I'll offer manicures in trade and we'll get to see your talent at work, trust me."

"Har har." Marie tossed the stick she was playing with into the fire and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Really, we're not all here for a specific purpose, we just kind of happened to be friends. It's not like we picked this group out of a pool of candidates for their skills. I'm sure there will come a time when you save all of our asses and we'll be thanking you for the rest of our lives, and you'll have all that time to revel in it."

"Speak for yourself" said Matthew, standing up to stretch. "I show gratitude once and that's it."

"Yeah, you even forget that initial thanks most of the time." Tori laughed and flicked a piece of bark at him.

"Whatever. I'm gonna get some rest so we can head out when it gets light. I'll start driving first so you can hang out for a while."

"Thanks. I guess we'll see you when we all get ready to go."

A quiet hum of 'goodnight' and 'see ya' floated around the fire, and after Matthew was in his tent with the flap closed a comfortable silence took its place. No one really felt the need to say anything. The fire was doing a good job of warming everyone up but also of being a focal point that everyone could kind of rest their thoughts on and go internal a bit. It's easy to get lost in the flames and let your mind wander, especially in a stressful situation where you have a lot to work through.

"I kind of want to stretch my legs a bit before I go to bed. Someone want to come for a walk with me?"

"I will" said Marie, standing up and wiping her butt off with her sleeves. "Sounds like a good idea, we're gonna be in the car a lot for the next few days."

Dom waited for Marie to catch up next to him before turning to leave, nodding to Tori with a kind smile. "We won't be gone for very long. Fifteen tops."

The moon was almost full. Another day or two and it would be perfectly round once more, proving in the wake of their disaster that not everything was going to change. The sun and moon would still rise and fall, the tide would still ebb and flow and the stars would still shine at night. Tori stared up at the sky until she felt a pain in her neck then angled down towards the fire, watching the tips of the flames lick the air around it. The trees lolled back and forth in the light midnight wind, casting shadows that danced in the edges of her peripheral vision. Although it was getting warmer during the day the nights were still pretty chilly so Tori snuggled up closer to the fire, wrapping her arms around her knees.

Diana got up from her spot and walked around the fire to sit next to Tori, putting an arm around her shoulder. She ran her hand briskly over Tori's back to create some friction to help warm her up. The sentiment made Tori smile and she leaned forward a little, resting her head between her knees.

"Where do you think you would be right now if you hadn't met me in record store?" Tori asked, eyes closed and enjoying the back rub.

"I'm not really sure" said Diana, "I'd probably be holed up in my apartment by myself hoping that this would all blow over and no one would try to raid my place."

"Well be thankful for your outgoing personality."

Diana laughed loudly. The deep kind of belly laugh that makes you feel good, like you got out some stress that you didn't know was lurking around. "Outgoing personality, that's good. I should be thankful I decided to go against every screaming nerve in my body and attempt to make a friends instead of being a shut in little hobbit like I usually am."

"Really? You're too pretty to be a shut in. You really should get out more, people could use a gorgeous smile like yours in these hard times." said Tori, joking in a sort of governmental way with a trick voice and grand gesture of her arm. Diana still blushed and looked away, and the silence between them was shaky but still comfortable. "I'm sorry if that's weird. I mean, I know sometimes girls get uncomfortable when I say things like that since I'm gay. They think I'm trying to hit on them or I'm being weird or something, even when I'm just trying to be nice. So if I ever say something that makes you uncomfortable please let me know."

"No, it's nice. Really. I'm not used to being complimented so I just don't really know how to receive them is all."

"You said you had a boyfriend at one point, right? Adam? What was he like?" Tori turned her head to look up into Diana's eyes, more interested than she probably should be in her new friend's past.

"Well, he was great. We were together for a little over two years. We met in high school, Chem class. My regular partner was out sick with Hives or something and Adam was part of a three person group, so our teacher decided to put us together until my partner came back."

"Sounds like one of those fated things" said Tori.

"I suppose. After that we kind of fell into step with some other kids and had a circle, sort of like the one we have here now. The six of us hung out every day. We'd go to school and then meet up at this abandoned house and practice ma-" Diana paused in mid-sentence before stopping altogether, and to her surprise Dom and Marie returned at the same time.

"You guys are still up?" Dom asked.

"Just talking a bit. Practice what Diana?" asked Tori.

"Math mostly. We were all pretty lousy with numbers."

Dom passed around the fire and and headed towards his tent. "I'm gonna cash in myself. You girls have a good night, don't stay up too long."

"Scout's honor" said Diana.

"That doesn't mean much coming from someone who wasn't actually a scout, and since I was that's actually kind of offensive."

"Shut up!" Diana laughed and threw the stick she was holding at Dom, who smiled and dodged it easily.

"I think we should probably get to bed ourselves" said Tori, grabbing some of the bigger logs off the ground. "We're gonna be leaving in a few hours or so."

"OK, I'll meet you guys there" said Marie, finishing the walk to the girls' tent.

Tori situated some of the bigger logs towards the bed of coals they'd achieved over the last couple of hours and stoked them up, making sure they caught a little before she left the fire to fend for itself. She took the rest of the medium-sized sticks and layered them around the outside of the fire and tossed the smaller kindling in the middle. Diana helped position the rocks they'd found to make sure if any of the logs rolled over the fire wouldn't spill out of the bed they dug for it, and when they were satisfied it would burn through the night and not set all of the ablaze they too made for the tent. Diana was the last one in so she zipped the flap all the way and pulled the blind down, tying it in place at the bottom. She and Tori slid into their sleeping bags and before either of them could say goodnight they were down for the count.

The next morning Matthew and Dom had gotten up early to get the fire going again and try to scrounge up some breakfast. Funny enough Diana was the first to wake up, smelling what she thought was popcorn. She got out of her sleeping bag and crawled towards the tent flap, opening it and stumbling out into the morning. She shielded her eyes from the new morning light, squinting to try and get her sense of clear vision. Dom nodded a silent hello as he poured over a map they'd grabbed from the rest stop the day before. He'd brought a laundry table, one of the kinds that folded up and stored it at the bottom of the trunk. Now he was using it as a command central with the map and laptop spread out on it, along with a set of radios and a pad of paper.

Matthew pulled a pot off of a small campfire cooking contraption he'd set up and stirred whatever was inside with a large metal spoon. After a minute of stirring he divvied it up between the five bowls, and Diana finally noticed as he dished it out that it was ravioli. Matthew and Dom had brought some canned food from their place when they packed and Tori threw in whatever she had left as well, which between the two of them meant a lot of canned meat and fruit. Diana walked over and picked up a bowl and plastic fork, her stomach growling as the smell reached her nose.

"Thanks Matthew, this smells good. I guess I'm hungrier than I thought."

"Don't mention it" said Matthew, discarding the pot when it was empty. "We just need to find some water to wash these sometime today, we don't want to get into the habit of leaving them dirty since they'll rust and attract bugs."

"Good call. I'll go wake the others and once we eat we'll pack up and head out."

Diana walked back over to the tent and stuck her head in the flap, blowing the smell of the ravioli inside. "Wake up sleeping beauties, time to eat and get back on the road."

Tori groaned and rolled over at the same time as Marie and they almost headbutted each other. Diana laughed at the sight and stayed in the window, crouched down so she could eat and keep trying to convince them to get up and move around.

"Come on ladies, you're not avoiding gym class. This is our lives now, get up and get with it."

Matthew and Dom both smirked behind their backs but didn't say anything. Tori eventually stirred and got up on her knees, leaning backwards with her eyes still closed. She reached over and pulled Marie's sleeping bag back and yanked on it a few times, trying to get her to sit up as well. It eventually worked and the two girls managed to find their way outside, slumping like zombies to their own bowls of food.

"Get something in your stomach and it'll be easier to get going again" said Dom.

"Do we have any coffee?" asked Tori.

"Nope, that's pretty much the one thing we forgot to bring actually" said Matthew.

"Great. I propose we get off the highway in the closest city and look for a grocery store."

"Actually I was going to suggest the same thing" said Dom. "It's only been a few days since this thing started so we can still salvage some real meat and fresh fruit from some markets. The meat will only last a day or two in a cooler but we can get some bags of apples and bananas and stuff."

"I'll check for signs and we'll duck off right before it gets dark. Hopefully we can find a place towards the end of the day so the meat will last for longer tomorrow." Matthew pulled the keys out of his pocket and popped the trunk with the remote, grabbing some of the supplies to repack in the trunk. "Once I get this stuff in there we'll tear the tents down and repack all of that stuff so get your sleeping bags situated and get changed if you want to."

Tori and the other girls pulled their bags out of the tent and rolled them up, slipping the straps over the edges so they wouldn't unfold in the trunk. Marie took all three of them and placed them by the trunk of the car while Tori and Diana tore down the tent pole by pole. When it was all down and packed in it's bag they got everything put away in the car and everyone piled in, waiting for Dom to situate the rest of the command center in a safe position. When he was certain the equipment wouldn't get knocked around he hopped in the front seat and the group took off.

"We're taking 80 to Omaha, then heading north on 29 to Sioux Falls and then 90 west all the way to Washington." Dom slid his finger around on the GPS screen for a minute before shutting it off. "When we find a store we're gonna want to hang out for a while and charge the electronics. I trust everyone brought their phone chargers?"

Tori laughed and Matthew shook his head with a smile while Diana looked a little sad and Marie looked confused.

"I thought that stuff like that wouldn't work now that world ended" said Marie.

The whole car save for Marie rumbled in laughter yet no one seemed to want to actually explain to her that that was the joke. She crossed her arms and looked out the window, donning the demeanor of a self conscious teenage girl. Tori nudged her with her shoulder and eventually Marie came around to the joke, laughing at her slowness.

The majority of the day was pretty boring. Tori convinced Matthew to plug her iPod into the speakers so they could listen to some music for a while and get away from the doom and gloom of the radio broadcasts. Katy Perry blasted for a full hour with all three of the girls dancing the best they could crammed in the back seat until Dom turned the volume down, much to their dismay.

"Hey, what gives?" Tori asked.

"Look to your left" said Dom.

The closer they got back to the Chicago area the more they started seeing people again. Just outside of Gary, Indiana groups of traffic stuck in certain spots of the highway. Dom did his best to avoid most of them by going around and sometimes even driving on the opposite side of the highway, but after a while they'd run into a blockade. Dom and Matthew got out of the car and walked forward a ways until they reached a group of people standing in the middle of the road.

"What's going on here?" asked Dom.

"Oil truck jackknifed about a mile up the road. Caught fire and blew, took some of the cars close to it with it. Couple people killed. Army won't come out and help us since they're busy in the cities. No tow trucks around to drag it."

"What do you say you come up with us and help try to figure this situation out? The faster we get up there and get this situated the faster we can all get out of here."

"Sure thing boys, I'm lookin' to split ASAP."

Dom jogged back to the car and opened the passenger door so he could speak to the girls. "Alright, we're heading up the road to see if we can move this thing along. Oil truck exploded about a mile away, lots of fire and debris so we're gonna see if we can put it out and push it out of the way."

"Well wait then, let us come and help-" Tori tried to open the back door and climb out but Dom stood in the way and held the door shut.

"I don't want you guys getting out up here. There's a lot of people around and you never know what could happen. I'd much rather you stay in the car and keep the doors closed. Matter of fact," Dom reached in and popped the trunk with the button in the console and walked around back, retrieving the shotgun and feeding it in to Tori, "keep this on you. If anyone comes poking around point it at them but don't get out of the car. Keep the doors locked and try to keep a low profile, we'll be back as soon as we can. I promise I'm not trying to be macho and keep the woman down or anything, I just don't want anything to happen to you guys."

"We get it, you're the rough and tumble strong man that's going to do manly man work to save the maidens, yadda yadda." Tori waved him off lazily and climbed into the front seat.

"Yes that's exactly it you ungrateful swine, now sit here and be quiet."

Dom took off with one last look at the girls who were all smiling. He met up with Matthew and the other man and started their trek up to the truck. Hundreds of cars lined every lane this side of the highway. Most people stayed in their cars with the doors locked, obviously afraid someone was going to hurt or rob them, or possibly both. Some people sat on their hoods or stood around and talked to others around them. A few guys nodded but most kept their eyes averted, until another couple of people stopped them as they passed.

"Where you guys headed?"

"We're going up to the truck to see if we can put the fire out and move some of the vehicles, get us out of here."

"Need some help?"

"Sure, come on" said Dom. "I'm Dom and this is my brother Matthew."

The first guy that joined them lifted his hat. "I'm Jeff."

"I'm Cooley and this Floyd. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise" said Matthew.

Jeff said he was thirty two and about six foot three. He was very lanky, probably weighed about a hundred and fifteen pounds. Cooley on the other hand was very burly, much like the man Matthew had punched the day before. He stood a head shorter than Dom but probably topped out at three twenty five, and was most likely around the same age as Jeff. Floyd was older, looked to be in his fifties by the color of his beard and his gait and was about as thin as Jeff. Not a real workhorse crew but sometimes you gotta work with what you're given.

About fifteen minutes later they reached the front of the line. Thick black smoke rose quickly from the flames on the road, making it difficult to see the full extent of what had happened. Dom shielded his eyes as he looked at the road, trying to see if the oil fire spanned the entire thing. Jeff and Matthew flanked left while Cooley and Floyd flanked right, each person trying to get a good look at what they had ahead of them. Dom noticed that the truck had finally run out of liquid oil in its base and was just left burning up what was around it on the ground. Matthew looked through the tree line to see if he could spot anything of use, spying some marsh beyond the thickest part of the trees.

"Dom, there's some wetlands on the other side of the trees over there. If we had some coolers or buckets or something we could bring it over."

"You're gonna need a hell of a lot of water to put this fire out, son" said Cooley.

"Well we better get started then, yeah?"

Each person went to the cars closest to the accident and asked for any type of container they could use to carry water. Matthew came back with a five gallon bucket and mid-sized Gatorade cooler, the kind you'd find at a kids football game. Jeff came back with two smaller cleaning buckets and Dom and Floyd came back empty handed. Jeff handed one bucket to Cooley and Matthew held up the cooler to Dom, signaling they'd fill it full and carry it together.

"Floyd, I guess you can stay here and keep watch on the fire. Make sure no one gets too close and if something happens, start pushing people back further."

"Can do" said Floyd.

The other four headed off into the grass on the other side of the guard rail, heading for the tree line. The marsh land stunk and was hard to get into since the trees were so thick but the current situation called for no frills work. They each plunged right in up to their knees, filling their buckets then turning to make the trip back. Matthew and Dom had to walk a little slower to keep from spilling too much from the cooler but they made it back in about five minutes. They positioned themselves in the middle where the fire was burning the hottest and swung the cooler forward, splashing the water in and jumping backward as fast as possible to avoid backsplash. The fire hissed loudly and more black smoke plumed into the sky.

They repeated the process about nine more times before the fire was down enough that they could see the potential of moving the truck. Two more trips and the truck was out completely, leaving only some spots in the road and a couple of cars burning. Matthew and Dom made a handful more trips until all of the fires were out and all four of the men were sweating and puffing, bent over trying to catch their breath. The next part would be finding a way to get the truck off of the road, which meant finding another big truck to push it.

Dom scanned the four lanes of traffic but didn't really see much that would help until Cooley pointed out a big Ford F350 Super Duty about fifty yards back on the right. The truck had a snow plow on the front, perfect for helping scrape the oil rig off the road. Matthew and Cooley walked back to the truck and knocked on the window, waking up the sleeping driver.

"Excuse me sir," said Matthew, "we got the fire out and now we just need to get the truck and some of the cars off the road so we can get by, and we were wondering if you'd use your truck to help us out."

"If it'll get me out of here, you betcha. How am I gonna get up there?"

"We'll get some of these people out of the way first, clear a bit of a path."

Matthew started knocking on windows of the cars around them, asking them to pull forward or roll backward a little so they could clear a diagonal line for the truck to get into the service lane and make its way up front. Everything was going good until a car backed up a little too far and hit the person behind him, causing a fit of rage in the owner of the vehicle. He got out of his car and stormed up to Matthew and the driver of the other vehicle, looking like he was ready to spit fire.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Can't you see where you're going?"

"I'm sorry man, we're trying to clear some room so this guy can help us all get out of here." The man in the car pointed at the truck but the other man didn't look.

"I don't care what you're doing. You just scratched my eighty five thousand dollar BMW, and you're gonna pay for it."

"With what?" the man asked with a laugh, "the insurance that doesn't matter anymore since the country is collapsing?"

"No, I want your money. All of it. Hand it over."

Matthew took two steps back and the man in the car just shook his head. The man outside pulled a revolver from his waistband and pointed it.

"Now look. I don't want this to get ugly, but I'll blow your brains out if you don't give me everything you got, right now."

The man was in his mid forties most likely, balding on the top and putting on a few pounds in the middle. He looked like he may have been the manager of a retail store in his normal life, or a car salesman. He definitely didn't look like the gun brandishing type, but the end of the world as we know it will do certain things to a person.

"Look man I don't have-"

"No excuses!" yelled the man with the gun, strengthening his grip on the weapon. "I don't care if it's your last five bucks. Better I have it than you. I have a family back there in that car, kids to feed. You're here all by yourself in this piece of junk." The man with gun kicked the side of the vehicle and spit on one of the tires. "You'll be fine fending for yourself since it's only you, but I have other people to worry about. Now, you knicked my car, so I'm going to take your money, or your life. Choose fast."

Matthew kept trying to back up more and more as the man with the gun continued to talk, hoping he'd be able to get behind another car and make a break for it before the man could shoot towards him. He wasn't even sure if the man would shoot at him, but he didn't want to risk it. He stood there with his hands out by his sides, watching the man with the gun intently for any sudden movements.

"Fine you psychopath, here." The man in the car leaned to the side like he was going to reach for his wallet but instead launched half of his body out of the window of the car, lunging for the gun. The man holding the gun was startled at the sudden movement and ended up pulling the trigger, one of the reasons they teach you in gun safety to keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to take your shot. The bullet went right through the man in the car's chest and exited his back, tearing his shirt open and spraying blood into the air. The man with the gun stumbled backwards and dropped the gun on the ground, his face reflecting total shock and horror. He looked over at Matthew and then down at the gun on the ground, wondering if he should go for it. He looked back at his car, his wife and his kids, and Matthew used his momentary distraction to dive forward and get the gun off the ground.

Dom and Floyd came into view on the other side of the road, standing back a ways but close enough to see what was happening. Cooley and the man in the truck both watched from about the same distance as they worked simultaneously on how to get the man's truck through.

The man with the gun put his arms up in the air and backed up slowly towards his car. His wife was crying with her hands covering her face and the children sat in the back seat, completely oblivious to what was happening around them.

"Look, I didn't mean to shoot that man. He startled me."

"You shouldn't have had the gun on him in the first place. It's just a scratch, you can buff it out if it really matters that much to you. But in case you haven't noticed, the world is going to shit all around us."

"I have noticed, that's why I'm acting so crazy. I own a Men's Warehouse, I should be at work right now fitting people into suits and selling ties, not trying to evacuate my family in fear of being robbed and murdered."

"Tough. We all have to live with this, not just you. You say you're fleeing because you're afraid of getting robbed or killed? Look what you just did. You tried to rob that man and ended up killing him. You can't claim to be afraid of the bad guys if you are one."

The man stared down at the road, unable to form words. Tears slid down his face as the people in the cars around them watched in horror at the scene that had unfolded in front of them. The man's upper body wracked with sobs for a minute until he crashed down to his knees, hands still up in the air. Matthew took one last look at the man and then at his wife. She pleaded wordlessly with Matthew to spare her husband, and with one last look he tore his gaze from the wife and turned back towards Dom and the others.

"What the hell happened?" asked Dom.

"I was asking the guy in the car if he could move back a bit to help give space for the truck when he backed up a little too far, hit the guy behind him. Dude got out and started screaming, demanded all of the money the guy in the car had. Pulled out a gun and started waving it around and everything. Guy in the car made it look like he was going for his wallet but dove half way out the window to reach for the gun. Dude with the gun panicked and pulled the trigger, shot him through and through."

"Alright this is crazy, we need to get this truck moved now and get out of here."

"I think I'm just gonna push some of these cars out of the way" said the man in the truck.

Fifteen minutes later the Ford was up at the oil tanker and already had one of the burnt cars moved. Over the next twenty he moved the other two cars and started on the tanker, pushing it lightly on each side, hoping not to spark another fire with metal on concrete contact. Two hours or so after the initial stop the road was finally clear. Matthew and Dom shook hands with the man in the truck and then Jeff, Cooley and Floyd. Everyone said their pieces and made their way back to their vehicles, being careful not to get hit by the now moving traffic. Matthew and Dom got back into Tori's car drenched in sweat, oil and marsh water. The girls covered their mouths and noses when they got in and got comfortable and they each smiled to each other.

"What can we say? Manly-man work makes you stink."