Staying Alive

22

The bullet had pierced the glass of the passenger window and lodged itself in Max’s headrest. No one was hit. But that was only pure luck. Maybe they wouldn’t be so lucky next time. And there was sure to be a next time. There always was. There was no rest for them, and Mandy wondered if there ever would be.

The right portion of the front bumper had smashed into the person on the side of the road. The body had crumpled underneath the minivan, and they’d felt the sickening bump as the van drove right over the body.

No one looked behind them. No one spoke. But Sadie screamed, and then fell silent.

They had all been through so much that, strangely, getting shot and running over a stranger wasn’t really that big of a deal. What a horrible reality they were living in, thought Mandy.

Looking straight ahead, Max was driving them quickly down the highway, heading west, towards Ohio.

The sky was darkening. The evening was approaching. Soon they’d be facing the night, and who knew what terrible dangers awaited them out on the open road. Mandy couldn’t help but think about how they were even less prepared than they’d been two weeks ago. When she and Max had left the suburbs, they’d had maps. They’d had a plan. They knew where they were going, and they thought they’d be safe there.

Now, their haven had become dangerous, and their eventual fate was a mystery.

Mandy’s mind turned to the Millers and what awaited them. Maybe they were fighting for their lives right in this moment. Maybe the battle had happened quickly, and the Millers had triumphed. Or maybe the Millers had become nothing but bodies lying on the floor, soon to be pushed aside and forgotten. Or maybe nothing had happened at all, the strangers retreating back into the trees, leaving the Millers to live and fight another day.

Mandy looked over at Sadie and James, in the seats next to her. They were both fast asleep. Sadie rested her head on James’s shoulder. Mandy felt a pang in her chest. They were too young to be going through this. They deserved to be living the normal lives of teenagers. They deserved to have the rest of their lives stretched out in front of them, open books that they could do with what they wished.

“Where are we going?” said Mandy, tapping Max on the shoulder. She sat in the seat directly behind him.

“West,” said Max. His voice was tired, and it cracked a little as he spoke.

“We need a plan,” said Mandy.

“I know,” said Max. “But we also need to get out of this area before something else happens.”

“You’re too tired,” said Mandy. “I can hear it in your voice. Let me drive.”

“I’m fine,” said Max.

“No, you’re not. We all need to rest while we can. Who knows what’s going to happen next. And it’d be better for us all if you’re well rested.”

Chad had joined James and Sadie in falling asleep, and Georgia wasn’t far behind. In the passenger’s seat, Mandy could see that her head kept bobbing back and forth as she jerked herself awake every couple minutes. She was probably too worried about her kids to let herself fully fall asleep just yet.

“You’re right,” Max finally admitted. “I’ll pull over soon.”

Max switched the headlights off and continued to drive for another ten minutes in the dusky darkness. He drove more slowly, since there was just enough light to drive by.

Mandy knew that he didn’t want headlights blazing into the woods, alerting anyone who could be nearby of their presence.

Finally, Max pulled off to the side of the road. She noticed that he kept all four wheels on the pavement, probably in case they needed to make a quick get away. After all, who knew where they were or what dangers awaited them here. The road didn’t look much different than it had back by the farmhouse. It was tree lined and peaceful looking. But looks could be deceptive.

“What’s going on?” said Sadie, waking up, her voice full of sleep.

“It’s OK, Sadie,” said Mandy. “I’m going to drive for a while. We’re just changing drivers.”

“Don’t forget the flowers,” said Sadie, speaking as if she was in a dream. She fell back asleep immediately. James and Chad slumbered on, dead to the world. It was a testament to how much they’d all pushed themselves. There was always a limit, and they’d all reached it. The human body was capable of incredible feats, but the rules of biology and physics still applied, no matter what. It was lucky they’d all been able to last as long as they had.

Max had his gun in his hand when he stepped out of the car.

Mandy had to navigate her way through James’s and Sadie’s legs to get out through the sliding side door.

“You sure you’re OK to drive?” said Max, approaching her in the near-darkness.

He stood close to her, and she could viscerally feel his presence near her. She was acutely aware of how close his body was to hers.

Mandy felt a pain in her heart. If things had been different, if the EMP had never happened, maybe something could have happened between Max and her. Sure, they’d never known each other, even as neighbors. But sooner or later, maybe they would have run into each other. Maybe some situation would have forced them to get to know each other. Like a normal power outage, a localized one that lasted only a few hours, forcing Mandy to head next door to see if Max had some candles. A romance could have easily developed between them, and who knew what it could have possibly become.

Countless lives had already been lost. But there were other, subtler things, that had been lost as well. Things and feelings that had been cruelly snuffed out.

“I’m fine,” Mandy finally said. “And you need to sleep.”

Mad nodded. She could see the exhaustion in his eyes, even in the dim light.

“What are we going to do?” said Mandy. “Are we going to just keep driving? Or are we going to camp somewhere?”

“I think we’d better get as far away as possible,” said Max. “We can take shifts driving. There’s no reason to camp. Not now. It just makes us more vulnerable.”

“I guess you’re right,” said Mandy. “There hasn’t been a single other car on the road. I wonder why.”

“Who knows,” said Max.

“I guess it’s better not to worry about these things too much.”

“Well,” said Max. “It’d be helpful if we knew more about what’s going on. That’s what’s so hard about this. It’s hard to make a plan without information.”

“And there’s no way to get that information.”

Max shook his head, agreeing with her.

“What about gas?” said Mandy. “We can’t just drive forever. How much gas do we have?”

“A little more than half a tank,” said Max.

“We’ve already used that much?”

“It’s an older vehicle,” said Max. “And we’re dragging a lot of weight along with us.”

“So how do we get more gas?”

Max shrugged. “We’ll have to get it somewhere,” he said. “Or else we’re back to walking. We can siphon it, provided we find another car. Maybe we’ll get lucky and hit a gas station.”

“You think the gas station would still work?”

“Probably not,” said Max. “But it’s worth a try.”

“Maybe we’d be better off just walking,” said Mandy.

“Why?”

“I feel like we’re out in the open on the road,” said Mandy. “Sooner or later we’re bound to run into trouble. A roadblock, or a town. Or another car. Who knows. Anything could happen. If we were walking, we could cut through the woods, take the routes no one would hit, where there won’t be anybody.”

“Yeah,” said Max. “I was thinking along the same lines. But the problem is that we don’t have maps of anywhere but Pennsylvania. And I think we’re better off driving out of here. It’ll take us forever to walk across the whole state. And the faster we’re out of here, the better.”

“You think things will be any different in Ohio?”

“I doubt it,” said Max. “It’s pretty populated. It’d be a little better in Indiana. I won’t rest easy until we hit Nebraska or Wyoming, though. And that’s a long, long way to go.”

“You think we’ll make it that far?”

“I don’t know,” said Max.

“Maybe we can find some out of the way place in Ohio,” said Mandy. “Head to the middle of some state park or something.”

“We might have to,” said Max. “The only thing to do right now is to keep going.”

They stood in silence for a moment, facing each other, their bodies close but not touching. Before, there would have been the possibility that they’d kiss. And Mandy felt that possibility viscerally, in her body.

But nothing happened. Neither of them moved. There were too many uncertainties. Too much danger.

“I’m worried about you, Max,” said Mandy, finally.

“I’m fine,” said Max.

“Are you taking your antibiotics for your wound?”

“As often as I can,” said Max. “Don’t worry about me.”

“I do, though. You should be resting.”

“It’s not like that’s really an option.”

“I know, but…” Mandy didn’t have anything to add. It was the start of a sentence that went nowhere. Given their uncertain future, such a sentence somehow felt appropriate.

“I wish we had some painkillers for you. It’d help your leg.”

“They’d just cloud my thinking,” said Max. “The pain keeps me sharp.”

Mandy remembered how Max had insisted on giving Chad’s Vicodin to the dying man. It had only been a couple weeks ago, but it felt almost like a lifetime ago. So much happened. And it wasn’t like their story was over. Not yet. Not for a long while.

“We’d better get going,” said Mandy, moving away from Max.

They both got into the van.

Max was already asleep by the time Mandy put the van into drive.

She was the only one awake as the evening became night, and she drove silently, lost in her own thoughts.

She kept her eye on the gas gauge, which seemed to be dropping towards empty too fast. Maybe it was just her imagination. She hoped it was just her imagination.

For much of the way, there were only trees that lined the road. But later on, there was the occasional old house that sat close to the road. Of course, no lights shone from them. Mandy found herself wondering whether they were inhabited or not. Any of those houses looked like a nice, comfortable place where they could all spend the night. But it was too much of a risk. Most likely, each of the houses contained a fearful family, with a father or mother who was doing their best to stay awake, a gun on the bedside table.

Mandy, Max, and the others weren’t the sort of people who’d take something just because they could. They weren’t going to rob innocent people. They were concerned with defending themselves. Not hurting others.

At about 9 o’clock, Mandy saw headlights in the distance, down the road towards them.

She became so nervous that she found herself holding her breath. So much could happen. So much could go wrong. Who knew who was in the car, or what their intentions were. They could be people just like Max and Mandy and the others. Or they could be like the people who’d invaded the farmhouse, looking to take what they wanted without a care for who they hurt. They could even be the sorts of people who relished the opportunity to hurt and destroy, the sorts who had been waiting their whole lives for an opportunity like this, when law and order fell to the way side. Mandy shuddered as she remembered those men who’d broken into her apartment. It had happened so quickly after the EMP that it was almost hard to believe. But it had happened. Mandy had been there and felt their hands on her and seen the malice in their eyes.

Mandy didn’t know what to do. She kept driving, heading right towards the headlights.

There was a chance that the oncoming car would swerve to block them. And there was a chance that they’d just pass each other on the road, like two normal cars on any normal day in America.

Mandy didn’t know why, but she didn’t wake anyone up. She let them sleep.

She was hoping for the best. She was hoping nothing would happen.