Miles of Death-5

It had been a few days since our attempt to explore Dallas. Since then we have stuck to the back routes and avoided all major road ways and towns. The weather was taking a nasty turn. For the last two days it has poured, endless rain dropping and flooding away whatever is in its path. For the first time since all this began I didn't see bodies every where. There were still some floating along but it felt as if the world was trying to wash itself clean again. We were out of fuel and there wasn't a drop in any of the cars around. The rain was whipping all around and the wind was picking up. We needed to find a place to lay low until it passed. But we would have to do it on foot. As Raya packed a bag with some supplies for a few days, I decide to review the map. I would need a new one very soon, I didn't have much left on the current one before we would be winging it.
Life was back to feeling hectic and out of control. Nothing had gone right for us since Dallas. Even the vibe between the two of us has changed. We barley speak more then what is needed to say. Raya has fallen into a sort of sulk. She doesn't jump up to help as much, not that she isn't doing anything. She is just low and down and I didn't know what to do about it. I suppose its expected, hadn't I holed up for a few days myself feeling sorry and sad before I got back up? It would pass, or at least I hoped it would pass. I could use some of those positive thoughts she used to have.
"There is a town three miles north east, looks to be the only one for awhile. Maybe we will find a house along the way or something. We need to make a fire. All this damp is going to get us sick if were not careful. We have to try and stay dry, at least our heads."
Raya nods looking out the window. That was about the usual input from her lately. I sigh and climb into the back seat opening my bag. I had a few trash bags and I made us some homemade rain ponchos. I dressed in layers and packed a bag with as much as I could carry, and then wrapped that in a bag to stay dry. I tossed some clothing up for Raya.
"Put these on, you don't want to get sick, let me see your bag, I will wrap it so it stays dry."
Raya does as I ask without complaint or words at all. While she is getting ready I decide to hide what I could incase anyone stumbled on the car. I planned on returning to it once we found some fuel.
Once we were ready to go, I checked the map one more time and put it where it would stay dry. I get out first and lock the doors. Raya gets out and I make sure her door is locked, anyone could break the window, but I wasn't about to make it easy for anyone to take our food.

We walked on through the rain and the wind. I was freezing after the first ten minutes but we kept a brisk pace and it helped to focus  on not slipping or getting stuck then the cold. It was a muddy mess but nothing was so bad that they couldn't get around it. After two miles we stumble upon a farm house and to our surprise smoke is coming out of the chimney. Raya and I look at each other with the same look of, surprise, Raya starts running to the house.
"Raya...wait!"
I catch up to her but she wouldn't stop heading toward the house like her life depended on it, like I was some kind of bad person she was running away from. I decide to stop behind a tree. Peaking out I watch Raya go up to the porch and she slowly walks to the door. I see her knock but no one comes to the door. Raya starts looking in the windows and I see her wave me over. I take a calming breath and run to the porch. Raya smiles at me.
"There is fresh bread on that counter in there. Someone is here for sure. But I don't see anyone. Maybe their out in one of the barns?"
Aria looks around nervously. "What if their not up for visitors Raya?"
Raya smirks. "You worry too much, im sure they will be happy to see other people have made it. Weren't you happy to have found someone?"
I sigh and try not to roll my eyes. "There was bad people before this world got sick, there will still be bad people if there are good people. What if they take all our stuff and then shoot us?"
Raya laughs. "You watched too much walking dead didn't you?"
Despite my nerves I laugh. "It was one of my favorites."
Raya smiles at me. "Okay, your right, we shouldn't assume their not weirdo's so maybe we should like sneak around and see for ourselves what is going on here?"
I nod. "Yeah, that's a good idea. lets start with the barns, people put their freaky tools in barns."
Raya rolls her eyes. "Oh lord."

I make my way across the field like I'm some highly trained recon marine or something, watching for movement, listening for sounds and ducking behind things so I wouldn't be seen. Raya stayed at the tree line as my look out in case anyone followed me in. I make it to the big barn pretty quickly, but instead of going in the front, I slip around to the back. There are cows and cattle, chickens, pigs and lamb. There is fresh food and water in their bins and a fire to warm the barn. I see that they have running electricity with the lights on and it looks like their still using the milking machines. So, They had live stock and power. They were doing pretty good, better then them. I didn't see anything out of the normal and there was no indication that there was any sort of creepy activities taking place, so I moved on to the smaller barn. It was what looked like a canning area, lots of tools and work spaces. Again nothing out of the normal. I look around the back of the main house. There are a few green houses with lots of plants growing in it, no people though. After a few minutes of peaking in the house windows I make my way back to Raya.
She comes out nervously. "Did you see anyone?"
I shake my head "There is someone here, there has to be. But I didn't see them. Do you think they might have went somewhere?"
Raya wipes her face. "In this weather, im not sure. Maybe their asleep somewhere?"
I shrug. "I guess we wont know unless we check the house?"
Raya looks around, "Do you think we should just go in there?"
I pull out my gun and Raya laughs. "Of course you brought that."
I make sure its loaded and put it back in my pocket. "You never know what's out there, better to be safe then sorry. Come on."

We walk to the house together and slow, looking in every direction. The front door is unlocked so Raya opens it slowly. We step out of the rain and into the house. Raya walks in a little bit ahead of me.
"Hello? Is there anyone here?"
I follow Raya with my gun drawn. Both of us stop to take off our shoes. If someone was here, they wouldn't be happy if they got mud all over their rugs. We walk the main floor, one room at a time. The house was very chopped up, lots of doors and halls. There was a library even. Everything was very neat, recently dusted and warm. I could hear the vents kicking on with the heat. I wondered how they powered their house, I didn't see any solar panels or wind mills. Maybe they had a generator, which meant they would have some fuel. But I didn't hear a generator anywhere. There were photos of a happy middle aged family with their kids. They seemed to be like the usual American family. I hoped that they were all still here.
When the first level is searched, we go down into the basement and find a large surplus of food and supplies. I assumed things that they had taken from other locations or a store. Raya looks around to with a big smile on her face.
"How many do you think they have here for all this food?"
I look around at the items in the basement, looking for anything useful to them like fuel or weapons.
"Maybe they are just stock piling what they find. Maybe that's where they all are, their out scavenging somewhere."
Raya shakes her head. "I wouldn't in this weather unless I had to."
I nod. "Maybe they had to?"
We both jump when we hear a door open and close and footsteps across the floor.  We quickly duck behind some boxes. I take my gun and aim it towards the staircase. Raya covers her mouth when the basement door opens. She hears someone coming down the stairs and freezes. "Shit."
Aria watches as a shadow shape comes down the stairs and when it gets to the bottom becomes a man, covered and soaked but caring a box of supplies. He doesn't seem to be aware they were in there, he wasn't being quite or cautious. I watch as he sets the box on a table and starts taking stuff out of it. When a second set of footsteps come through the door I see the man look up.
"I'm down here Sarah." I hear the footsteps stop and then head toward the stair case to the basement. Again I watch the shadow before the women is at the bottom of the stairs, also carrying a box.
"Its really coming down out there. When is it going to let up, the animals are getting restless."
The man hands her a towel and she wipes her face. "Thanks, so did you find anything good?"
He shrugs, " I got some more medicine and some food and water, the basic's, what about you?"
The women puts her box on the table. "About the same. Are the others back yet?"
The man takes off his rain coat and hangs it on a hook by the staircase. "I don't think so. They should be along soon its going to get dark early tonight. I'll go tend the animals, why don't you go see if you can get anyone on the radio."
Raya and I look at each other curiously but neither of us make a move to get up and show ourselves. When the two of them go upstairs and shut the door we finally come out. Raya looks at me with excitement. "They said there were more!"
I smile. "I heard, but what should we do now? Our shoes are up there, their bound to find them and come looking for who they belong to."
Raya listens to them walking around. "Maybe we should just go up and explain ourselves, they didn't seem dangerous to me."
I wipe the last remaining drops of rain off my face. "They both were carrying guns on their sides Raya, even if it was for protection, were in their home without their permission. Maybe we can get out and then just knock like we were never here?"
Raya looks around. "What about that little window, you could boost me up and I can go around to the front to explain?"
I hear the footsteps coming again and grab Raya and pull her back down behind the boxes. I can hear them talking but I cant make out what their saying, its too low. The basement doors open slowly and one at time they come down the stairs, this time with their guns drawn. They must have found our shoes. I watch as they hand signal to each other, one walks to one side of the room, the other goes to the other side and they start looking around. Raya looks at me like we should stand up and just tell them but I shake my head. This was not going to go well if they found us down here with all their supplies. Annoyed Raya tries to stand up but I take her arm and shake my head, she doesn't listen and stands up.
"Hello...don't worry..were not going to hurt you. Our car ran out of gas a few miles up the road, we saw the chimneys and came to see if there were other survivors, but no one was here so we just looked around, then you came home and here we are."
The man and women jump and turn to aim their guns at Raya. Oh goodie, a stand off in some stinky basement. Just where we all want to die, I thought to myself.
I roll my eyes and stand up slowly, putting my gun in my pocket before they can see it. "Hello."
The man and women look at each other, and then at us. They start speaking to each other in what I assumed was French, it sounded like French. Raya and I start to sweat despite the chill. What the hell were they going to do to us? Why else would they be using another language?"
The man looks at them "Are you armed?"
Raya points at me. "She has a little hand gun thing, just for protection."
I wanted to punch her so bad but what could I do, it was already out in the open. I set the gun down with an angry thud and glare at Raya. Friend or not, she was out of line for getting our weapon taken. Its not like you could just go get a new one. The man watches me, curiously.
"How old are you?"
Raya smiles politely, although I could hear the nerves in her voice. "I'm twenty four, my name is Raya and I come from Texas. What about you?"
The man and women look at each other. "I'm Ben and this is my sister Sarah, we were raised in this house."
They all look at me. "My name Is Aria. I'm from California. And my age doesn't really matter does it. Are you going to let us go?"
Raya elbows me. "Aria, don't be rude. I'm sorry, were not used to other people. We were on our own until we found each other a few weeks ago."
The man nods. "Its all right. Are there many people starting to come out as you travel?"
I shake my head no, but I wasn't going to get into it. I had a very bad feeling and I just wanted to get out of there and be on my own where it was safe.
Sarah lowers her gun. "When was the last time the two of you ate?"
Raya smiles. "We have some food, we do okay there. We would be happy to share with you for keeping us out of the rain?"
Sarah smiles, "We have plenty but thank you. Why don't you come on upstairs and get dry by the fire. No one will do you harm here."
Raya smiles and takes it as fact, I smile just because its expected but I still didn't trust them, and I still wanted to get out of there. But it would be nice to be dry and warm again.

We go upstairs and Sarah takes our homemade rain ponchos and jackets. I sit on the floor next to the fire and warm my hands, still watching them. Ben was making drinks on a little cart near the window, Sarah hung our things up and comes to sit down near us. Ben hands me a glass. "Its whiskey, its strong but it will warm you up a little more."
I take it so its not rude but I had no intention of drinking it. He could have put something in it, something to make you sleep. I watch as Raya takes a sip. I just hold it between my hands. Ben smiles at me.
"Your not very trusting around people are you?"
I look at him strait in the eyes. "No, im not. Have you been here since it all happened? In this house I mean?"
He nods. "Our family went rather quickly but Sarah and I never got sick. We couldn't think of anywhere else to go. Everyone we know has lived in a five mile radius of us our whole lives. Its the way farm country works. My father was a doomsday prepper and five years ago he started to convert the farm to be independent from the rest of the world. Because of it we have power and water and it keeps us going. I cant imagine there are places with power out there?"
I wasn't so convinced that he wasn't a threat but, I was relaxing a little bit more. I still had my eye on the exit.
"I came across a gas station that was run by solar power, but your right, there is no power, no running water, no heat. You are smart to stay put. You said there were others. How many people are living here with you?"
Sarah smiles. " A week after the outbreak a man found us in town salvaging, his name is Logan, he will be back soon. Then after a little bit more time passed, maybe a month, we found a women with a broken leg on the highway. Her name is Grace. Its just the four of us. We haven't seen anyone else alive, until you came."
Ben refills his drink. "You said your from California Aria? Have you traveled all this way?"
I Nod my head yes and watch as Sarah pokes the fire.
"Its like this the whole way isn't it?"
I nod. "I'm afraid so. California is a waste land, the fires started a week into the outbreak and im sure by now its all burnt to the ground. It was heading into Arizona as well as I was leaving but we got some rain and I didn't see anymore fire. But everywhere I have been, their all dead. Its all the same everywhere."
"Where are you headed?"
I look at Raya giving her the look to not say anything.
"Were just going where we go. We don't really have a plan. Why do you ask?"
Sarah looks at ben "You can stay here with us, as long as you chip in. That's all we ask. Its not like there is an abundance of people out there. I think we should stick together."
Raya tears up and stands. "Oh thank you so much."
I Stand up and hand Sarah her drink. "That's really nice of you but, I need to get going. I have to find some fuel and get back on the road."
Raya looks at her surprised. "Aria, we cant leave!"
I smile at her. "You can stay Raya, really. But I cant."
Ben stands. "Its going to be dark in a hour, wont you just stay till morning? I have a little fuel I can spare for you, Ill take you to your car myself in the morning if you'd like. Its miserable to try and drive in this, especially in the dark. You shouldn't be out there by yourself."
Raya takes my hand. "Just one night Ari? Please?"
I know that Ben is right, it would be dark and it was horrible weather, what would one night hurt. I could leave in the morning and most likely by myself now that Raya had found a place to call home again. But I had to press on to Virginia. I could always come back and check on Raya after. But I was going. I had to.
"Alright, one night. Thank you for your hospitality."
Ben smiles. "You can relax Aria, were not going to hurt you. Just think of it like a hotel."
I smile. I wanted to believe him but something was off and I couldn't put my finger on it. I always believed if something was too good to be true, it usually was. Hopefully Raya would come with me in the morning. It would be hard to leave again on my own.  But I wont force her to. She was on her own before me. I had to finish this out.

Logan and Grace come in together a half hour later, each carrying a box of things. Grace was someone I felt I could trust easily. She just had one of those sweet voices and kind faces. She was in her thirties, tall for a women but thin as a pole. She had lost all four of her children and gave up on life until they found her and brought her to the farm, to heal from her broken leg she got trying to jump to her death. I could see that out of all of us, her burden seemed to be a little more than the normal. I couldn't imagine having four kids under the age of ten and loosing them all in a single night. What that must have done to her mind, I have no idea how she came out the other side and is still so nice.
 Logan like me is quite and looked at me with just as much distrust as I had for him. I couldn't tell how old he was and he didn't say. But I doubt he was thirty yet. He was from Virginia but hadn't been back home in years due to being deployed, he didn't give much more about anything about him self and he said very little in general. Something about him seemed to draw me in but I ignored it, why wasn't he trying to get home now? Did he know something about Virginia that I didn't?
 Raya made quick work of getting to work on flirting with Logan and despite my unease it made me smile. Looks like she got the hot guy she had been wishing for. Maybe she was meant to stay here and that is why I found her. I wanted to believe I could still go out on my own, but the thought of it made me sick to my stomach. It wouldn't be easy but its necessary. I would just enjoy my last night with people. At least I would finally get that hot shower I had been dreaming of. Life had changed on me once, and it was about to change again. I just had to deal with it, what choice did I have. If I stay on this farm and never try, I don't think I can live with myself. What if my grandparents need me. I'm all they have now as far as help coming. I still had a lot of miles to cross, I just hoped it wasn't too late. The more time that passed the more worried I became. Was I chasing a fantasy, was I lost in my illusions like I thought Raya had been? Was I stupid to believe that they could survive it at that age. Still, the not knowing was eating at me. Id give anything to have phones running again. one call could save me one long trip right about now. But that's the way the cookie crumbled...and its a cookie im going to have to eat.