The next morning came at an alarming rate. Maybe it was the concussion, but I didn't really believe that. Other than a minor headache, made bearable by a couple of Tylenols, I felt I was ready to go. Chloe and I waited by the entrance with our bags. Roy had taken Amanda to his other daughter's grave to say their goodbyes before we headed off.

"Here, you'll need this," Mac said as he passed me a duffel bag.

I took it and peeked inside. Two AR-15 rifles were nestled among some boxes of bullets.

I tried to hand the bag back, "I can't accept these. You need them."

Mac folded his arms, "Nope, there's no way we're letting you go out there with one handgun."

"If all goes according to plan, we'll have some weapons by the end of the day," I said, lowering the bag. It was heavy.

"Well, if all doesn't go according to plan, at least you'll have these."

"Thank you," I nodded.

"You're welcome, miss," Mac grinned.

"You sure you don't need any more first-aid stuff?" Elaine asked.

She had given us one final look over to make sure we were healthy. At least our bodies were. My head wound was healing and I had no dizziness, so Elaine deemed me fit to go. Even my creaky elbow had decided to go into remission. A good sign? I'd like to think so.

"Nope, we have enough." I didn't want to deplete their stash any more than we already had.

They even generously provided us with some canned goods and Mac packed us a lunch for on the road. I found myself shuffling my feet. Their kindness was making it even harder to say goodbye. At least we were getting the chance to say it, instead of being torn apart without so much as a wave. It was on our terms; well, sort of. Roy was being run-out by the masses and I just wanted to continue on.

I heard the roar of an engine starting. We looked out the front door to see Roy waving us out from the rusted truck he planned to use. He said old trucks were built better and easier to fix, so he tuned up one they had found while scavenged the small town a while back. It looked like it was on its last legs to me, but then again, so did my old Honda Civic which had carted me around for six years.

We got hugs from everyone and more than a couple of teary faces despite the way things were going down. Not everyone had turned up, just the ones we had become friends with; of which there were not many left.

"Don't you dare be strangers. If you find yourself nearby, you better come see us," Mac scolded.

I looked at all the expectant faces, "I'll do you one better than that. Once we find Hargrove, we'll come get you."

"I'll hold you to that." Mac crushed me in a giant bear hug. "Now you better get going, you'll need all the day light you can get."

We walked out into the sunny morning, the rays hitting my exposed skin. I was starting to really enjoy that sensation.

"I'm gunna miss 'em," Chloe muttered as we made our way to our parked car.

"Me too, but we'll see them again." I placed my hand on her head.

I wasn't going to miss what happened here, but the people we were leaving behind. That was always the hardest part.

I pulled the car beside the rust bucket Roy was in so that our drivers' windows were facing one another and rolled down the window.

"You ready to go?" I asked, more as a formality.

Roy nodded, "We'll be behind you the whole way."

I rolled up the window and started back towards the interstate. The added protection of the automatic rifles they had given us made me feel incrementally better. At least we could use them if we got really swamped in infected, which was probable the closer we got to New Orleans.

We were waved on by the new guards stationed at the town exit ramp. We no longer had to worry about on-coming traffic, so we could drive the wrong way. I waved back as we hit the long stretch of highway. I had the map out on the dash with my roughly estimated route. I was going off of memory of the map John had marked.

We didn't want the main bridge that crossed the Mississippi River, but the one on the outskirts that lead to the area where we found that first grocery store. To do this, we would have to get off the interstate and take some back roads. I just hoped that I would recognize something to help instill confidence. It felt kind of like a crapshoot.

An hour later, the honk of Roy's truck had me hitting the brakes. We had decided before we left, that a honk would signal stopping. I peered in the rearview mirror to see that Roy had stalled, smoke seeping out from under the hood of his truck.

"What's he doin'?" Chloe asked as she squinted to see in her side mirror.

I gave the area a panoramic view as best as I could from inside the car. There were no immediate threats that I could see. The highway was still a testament to the lack of life.

"I'm going to guess his old truck is hooped," I sighed. Nothing ever went smoothly. Was it too much to ask for safe passage?

I grabbed my handgun before I left Chloe in the car with the instructions to stay put and that I would signal for her to come out when I was sure it was clear. I hurried over to the truck, waving the smoke and steam from my impeded view.

"What's wrong?" I asked Roy. He was already out front with the hood propped up.

"Not sure, but I think there's a leak in the radiator. The temperature's too high and the engine is struggling. I just need like ten minutes to tinker with it." Roy hunched over the front, a wrench in hand.

Amanda waved at me from the front seat.

"I'm going to give the immediate area a once over, make sure nothings right by us," I informed Roy.

He looked up from the guts of the truck, "Stay close and don't try to be a hero. Yell if you get into trouble."

"I have no intention of playing hero, that only gets you dead." I left him with those words as I started with the area behind the truck.

We had just come from that road and it had been clear, but that all could change in an instant. I made sure I was still in sight of the vehicle as I made my way down the interstate. I checked up and down the ditches and when nothing even so much as moved I headed back.

"Is everything okay?" Amanda stuck her head out the passenger window.

"Everything looks good so far. And it seems like your dad knows what he's doing."

Roy had now crawled under the truck, his feet sticking out like he had been run over.

"Yeah, Dad used to be a mechanic. You should have seen all the tools he had!" Amanda said in a rush.

"Good th-" I was cut off by the sound of the car's horn.

Chloe.

I took off like a marathoner towards the car. She knew what noise would draw in and wouldn't have dared to do that unless there was danger. As I approached the car I could see the outline of a body against the passenger side of the car. Once I got closer, I could tell it wasn't the groping hand of an infected but the intent hands of a live person jingling the door handle. Chloe must have hit the lock button before the man got in. Thank god.

"Step away from the car or I'll blow your head off," I said tersely, only a couple of paces from the person.

He slowly turned around, his hands in the air. He looked at the gun I had aimed right for him and took a step back.

Roy had gone around to the driver's side where Chloe was currently huddled. She was about to get out when Roy commanded her to stay inside with the doors locked.

"I wasn't gunna try anythin'. I just need a ride," the shaggy man said.

He lowered his hands, his well-worn shirt sagging past the shoulder revealing a bloody bandage job. Quickly, he pulled the neck of the shirt up, but it was too late, I had seen it. He cast me a pleading look.

"Please."

"You get that from an infected?" I pointed the gun to his shoulder.

"This? No, no," he waved it off. "This is just from some scrap metal. Been tryin' to salvage items."

"For what?"

"Umm," he's breathing became shallow. "You know, for radios and armor." He took a step towards me and I took one back. "Please miss, I ain't no problem. Just need a ride. Been lookin' for that Hargrove place since I heard about it weeks ago."

Without warning, he charged me. I let off a shot before he tackled me to the ground. The impact made me lose my grip on the gun and it fell away from all the wrestling. I kicked and thrashed at the man as he started to yell desperately.

"I didn't want to do it this way! You made me! We could've gone together!"

He was certifiably insane. And possibly infected.

With a loud cracking sound, the man stopped his screaming. His jaw slackened and he toppled over. Roy stood over him, bloody wrench in hand. I scrambled up, scanning the interstate floor for my handgun. Once I found it, I joined Roy who was standing watch over the crumpled heap that was the insane man.

"He's not dead. I just knocked him out." Roy looked at me.

I tested out my limbs. He hadn't done any damage with that tackle.

"Did you figure out what was wrong with the truck?" I asked, a little off topic.

"Ah, yeah I think so. The engine coolant reservoir bottom completely cracked. I can't repair it with the few things we have." Roy looked like a doctor delivering bad news.

I sighed, "I'll guess it's going to be a cramped drive. I'll back up the car and we'll toss in everything we can."

"What about him?" Roy motioned to the unconscious man on the ground.

Blood had started to well from the wound Roy gave him and was leaking onto the asphalt.

"We leave him."

I had Chloe unlock the door so I could get back in as Roy ran back to the truck.

"I'm sorry I honked the horn! I know it was loud, but I didn't know what to do," Chloe looked at me with guilt.

"Are you kidding? How else would we have known there was a crazy drifter?" She needed to understand that she did nothing wrong.

"A what?" Chloe looked confused at my term for the man.

"Never mind. It's all good, besides, that shot I made was just as loud so we have to get going ASAP."

I put my arm on the passenger seat and crammed my head back so I could see as I drove backwards. I made sure to maneuver away from the man, careful not to run him over. That was the last thing I wanted to hear; the cracking of bones.

Roy was already piling their meager supplies on the ground when I reached the broken down truck. I popped the trunk and he started throwing items in before I got out of the car. We had to squish the trunk hood back down using our combined body weight. Roy made sure the trucker's radio was safely stowed on the dash.

Chloe and Amanda would have to take the back seat since they were the smallest and we still had supplies back there as well. In the end, they had about one and a half seats to share while the rest of the back was piled to the roof with bags and supplies.

No one had better open the door behind the driver's, if they did, it would all come pouring out. Roy had taken the passenger's seat, the map already in his hand. He smelt faintly of gasoline since he had syphoned the remaining gas from the truck.

"Alright, let's try this again," I said, turning the engine back on.

We drove back around the man, who was now sitting up, rubbing his head.

"Hey! Wait!"

I could hear him screaming from inside the car. I looked back to see him chasing after us, but once the odometer hit fifty, he collapsed on the road. Chloe and Amanda peered out the back window on their knees as he got smaller and smaller in our dust.