Miles of Death-2

It had been a few days since I began my route around the highway and so far I was having pretty good luck with the roads. There wasn't much traffic on the back roads to get clogged up and it wasn't a bad view as I drove past. I could almost pretend I was off on some road trip and the world was still alright, until I find a house to stay in for the night and the reality hits me all over again. Every house I go to there is dead in it. I have yet to find a house where there is no signs of what im trying to forget, then again most people stay home when their sick, makes sense that they died in their beds. I just wished that for once I didn't have to take the time to move the corpses, it wasn't a pleasant job in the slightest and the more time passed the more gross it got. I wondered how long till they were just bones and if the smell would still be there at that point. I was trying to remember what the world smelled like before death corrupted everything. I am getting used to it in the sense that I don't want to puke so much when I see one, but the kids still mess me up a little bit. I mean why did they have to die and im still walking around here like nothing ever happened. I had no idea what anything meant anymore, Maybe I was dead and this was hell. Whatever was going on, I was determined to figure out what had happened in some sense. If I'm alive, there has to be someone else out there. I don't know if im immune or if I just have lucked out and not gotten it yet. Either way I don't think I would be sad to go, at least I would feel normal again and not like a big freak.

 My legs start to cramp and fuel is running low again, I decide to pull over and check out some of the cars on the street. I was able to get some fuel out of other cars with a hose, but not for a few days. I am finding that the cars that were abandoned were empty, where are the bodies? Are they out there wandering around somewhere to or did they walk on and die up the road. It was a big mystery to me, maybe I would see someone walking as I drive down the road one day. I had to keep hoping for that, the thought that there is no one else and just me is just too much for me to face at this point.

 I eat my lunch sitting on the side of the road, looking over my map I see a town a few miles up, I need to start finding some fuel or I was back to walking. I had plenty of food and water still but it wouldn't hurt to fill what I already used. Its always good to stay ahead, its really not fun when your hungry and there is nothing around to eat. I'm not at all experienced with hunting or fishing so I have had to rely on finding things to eat. I assume that wont last forever but for the meantime, its keeping me going. I circle the town on the map even though I was already planning on stopping there. I was literally leaving a map of where I had come from if any one were to stumble upon my remains one day. Not that it mattered. I think I just need ways to fill the time and feel like im doing something. Its better than sitting here freaking out about things I cant change.

  I decide to walk up a bit and stretch my legs some before I hit the road again. I check the cars and take what little fuel I can get with my hose trick and put it in my car. I find a few bottles of water and a blanket. Not much of anything else but it was better than the normal findings on these back roads. One thing about country folk, they keep it at least at half tank. I couldn't be more thankful their set in their ways. Each of them had a gun with bullets in their trucks. I have enough bullets to kill a small army if I need to. Not that there is much to shoot at but when I have to try to hunt for some food, I have a way to do it. I will have to eventually set down roots some where and try to grow food. That's what you see in all the movies you watch about the end of the world. Not that I know how to do any of that, but it cant be that hard to figure out. Find some seeds, put them in dirt and water it, basic. The thought of it gave me a chill down my spine, what the hell was I going to do when the food ran out? I didn't know how long food took to grow or where to get seeds. It was all too much, how can I do this by myself, and without google? I guess I could find a library or something. I wrote it on the corner of the map just in case I saw a library some where. It was still ironic to me that even in times like this, I still write reminders to myself like I'm back in my dorm room trying to keep it all together. Id give anything to go back to worrying about a test.  Life was so much simpler then. Now all I have are me, myself and I, and its not very good company. I feared if I didn't find anyone soon I might loose my mind all together and start seeing people that aren't really there or talking to mannequins. At least the dead didn't get up and try to eat you like in all those movies the world used to watch. I guess this is a little better then that.

I make my way back to the car and get in. I had a few hours before it started to get dark and I needed to make it to the town for some fuel. I make my way around the cars slowly, its not like their parked out of the way or anything. Just as I'm turning a corner a rock hits my windshield. I hit the breaks and look around frantically. Had I just imagined that, did it fall from somewhere. I roll my window down listening carefully. I jump in my seat
 "Waittttt!"
 I shut the car off and grab the gun in the console just in case, tuck it in my pocket and get out slowly. I look all around and finally I see someone running toward me. She waves her arms, I lift mine and wave but I feel as if im frozen. I'm scared but at the same time Its so nice to see someone, to hear someone. Was she real. Was I already loosing my mind? I watch as the women comes up to me breathless and smiling.
"I'm so glad to see you! Thank you for stopping."
She bends over to catch her breath, still watching me as if she was also trying to decide if she was crazy or if I was real.
I smile weakly, "Your welcome, are you with anyone else?" looking around I don't see anyone else coming. A little bit of hope diminished. I was secretly hoping she came with a pack of people. To be in a crowd again would be a miracle.
The women with a short fashionable bob of black hair and freckled to the max, big blue eyes like some tropical water. She had to be just reaching five feet tall, a small mite of a person. She couldn't be that much of a threat?
 "No just me, since it all happened, you?"
I shake my head. "Same. Where are you headed?"
The women smiles nervously. "Where ever your going. I just don't want to be on my own anymore. This place was a shit hole before everyone died."
I smile despite the circumstance. Like I was going to leave the one and only other person I have seen in a month.
 "I'm trying to get to Virginia. You can come if you want."
I stiffen and cringe when she leaps and hugs me like a child would after not seeing their mother for awhile. I give her two awkward pats on the back before stepping out of her reach. Unsure of what to say I just smile at her, probably a stupid unsure smile, but I hoped it looked friendly.
"Sounds good, thank you so much. You saved my life, I couldn't take one more day out there on my own."
I nod. " I know the feeling, come on, lets get out of here."
I watch as she gets in the passenger side. I fumble with the door nob not sure what to say or how to act. I had somehow forgotten what it was like to talk to someone, even though I wanted to so bad.
I get in the drivers seat. I leave the gun in my pocket, still not sure if I should trust her or not. I smile and look in the back seat.
" If your hungry there is some food and water back there, you can help yourself. My name is Aria by the way."
The women smiles and reaches for a bottle water and opens it, chugging it quickly. "Thank you, I ran out of water this morning. My name is Raya. Your not from around here are you?"
I laugh. "No, I'm from LA, you live around here?"
"Yeah a few miles back, I didn't make it very far. Not compared to you. There were a lot of storms that passed through."
I smile. "Well, now you have wheels, its a little easier. I wouldn't have gotten this far without one."
The women watches out the window. "So its like this in California to?"
I nod. "Arizona to, I just made it in to Texas a few days ago, I had to go around the high way."
She nods, "Yeah I saw that, that's why I just started walking. I figured it was clogged everywhere. I saw your car and I thought I had died and finally went to heaven. Good gracious I never thought I would see another person again. I'm sorry if I'm talking too much."
I smile at her. "Its alright, its nice to hear a person talking. I guess I forgot how it goes."
Raya smiles softly. "We'll get the hang of it eventually. Have you seen anyone else alive along the way?"
I shake my head. "Your the first. Do you think there are more out there?"
Raya sighs "God, I hope so. Especially a hot looking man. That would be nice."
I laugh for the first time since it all began, to my own ears I could hear the awkwardness of it, it seemed I had forgotten how to be normal, then again what the hell is normal these days. All I knew was it was nice to not be alone anymore. I could tell she was a little awkward herself, unsure who I am and what im about. Like she said, we would get the hang of it eventually.
We chatted as I made our way into the town.
"We need to get some fuel. Were running really low."
She nods. "Alright, lets try the gas station, do you think the pumps will work?"
"Probably not but I have a few tricks to get it out. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If not we will just have to go car to car and fill up that way."
I pull into the gas station. "Why don't you go see what's inside we can use, any food or drinks you can grab and I will try to figure this pump out."
She gets out. "Okay, I can do that." She pauses before walking away "Your not going to leave without me right?"
I smile. "I wont leave you here." I wanted to say not on your life, im not being alone if I don't have to but I kept it to myself. I didn't want to seem too desperate.
She sighs. "Okay, sorry, its just ..."
I nod "I understand. I don't want to be alone either. Go ahead, I will be right out here."
Raya goes inside and I get to work on the pump, to my surprise it comes out in a slow drain but, it comes out none-the-less. I slowly fill the car up and the cans that I had emptied. After I go inside and help Raya collect what we can take. Both of us hit the head before we get on the road again, a toilet was a treat, at least for me. I had spent one too many nights in the woods.
 It was getting to be time to start looking for a place to stay the night but I wanted to try to make it a few more towns up first.
Raya actually brought along a cd she had burned and the two of us sang our hearts out, windows down as we passed. It was still the same shit hole of a situation, but it didn't feel as desperate or sad anymore. I wasn't alone, for the time being, that was enough. I didn't know Raya or what kind of person she was but I had never been more grateful to meet someone in my life. If it was just her and I, at least we had each other. Hopefully she knew how to grow food and hunt and fish. It would save me a library trip. I wouldn't have to wonder if im the only one anymore, and if she found me, maybe we will find others. Hope was coming back, and it was a nice change of pace. Tomorrow didn't seem like such a dread to wake up to.