“Aye aye shipmate.” Drew spouted out as he put the jug of gas back into the Traverse and pressed the button for the lift gate to lower itself. He half-jogged around to the side and helped Yue get their dad out in the rain so he could take care of that trip to the head. By the time he was done they were all soaked to the bone. Yue was actually thankful for the heat and humidity. Hot and miserable was better than cold and miserable. She just wished they could be dry and miserable instead of wet and miserable.
“Now what?” LeBron asked loudly.
“Beats me but at least we shouldn’t have to pull over for anyone to pee for a while.” Drew said. Not that they should even bother considering they were all drenched anyway. The floorboards were covered in a decent amount of water. That couldn’t be good. Especially considering all the electronic doodads this car was loaded down with. The sales rep had been sneaky enough to make sure their mom got in the most expensive car with the zillion cool features as the first step in the car search.
“I say we try and find a car with windows. This sucks.” Yue said. She turned the key and the car started up on the first try. She let out a relieved sigh. She’d been afraid she’d also killed the battery by leaving the car on for so long.
“We need to find a vehicle with windows then a safe place to spend the night.” Bart said from the third row. He was sitting up now which everyone took as a good sign. He was also making a lot of sense. Once the sun went down, they didn’t want to be caught driving around in a car with no windows.
“Ok. Let’s go.” Yue said putting the car in drive and hoping they didn’t get stuck in the mud driving out of the woods back to the road.
Chapter 20: That New Car Smell
Luckily the pricey soccer mom mobile came with all-wheel drive. Otherwise Yue doubted they’d have made it through the rain-soaked ground back to the road. She’d offered to switch with Drew and let him drive so she could watch their dad, but Drew wanted his hands free so he could shoot. LeBron was going to have a hard time aiming with a rifle until his finger healed so he was sitting in his seat with a pistol in his good hand.
The misery meter was pegging out at this point. Everyone was suffering from something. Yue felt pretty lucky to only be dealing with some bruised ribs from jumping off the porch. Considering how much lead had been flying around when the policemen had come at them it’d been a miracle none of them were hurt. A miracle enabled by their moms heroic sacrifice.
She couldn’t make herself blame the cops. The cop they’d let go had seen all of the blood in the cab. The cop knew they’d murdered people for those supplies. They’d been absolutely in the wrong there. She was still having a hard time believing that they’d done that. It’d started the events that had eventually led to their mom dying. At the end of the day they hadn’t even taken a hundredth of those supplies with them when they were forced out of their house.
It was getting late so Yue was driving as fast as she thought was safe. They needed to be safely hidden before darkness came around. It was tough driving with no windshield. The faster she drove the more annoying the rain was. She was getting more and more frustrated as time wore on. She really wanted to hurry so they could look for a new vehicle. The country they were driving through right now was nothing but trees and empty fields. It was a good-sized road though so she knew it’d end up somewhere they should be able find a new ride.
“The first big town we’re going to hit is Leesburg.” Drew said from the middle seat. He was doing his best to keep the atlas from being destroyed by the wind and rain. He’d opened the umbrella and was using it to shield the atlas from the rain. He felt kind of bad about it knowing Yue was having to take the storm right in her face in the driver’s seat. He didn’t feel bad enough to switch spots with her though.
Off to the sides of the road they started seeing traces of civilization through the thick sheets of rain pouring down. Yue slammed on the brakes suddenly causing everyone to rock forward in their seats. The tires lost traction and they went sideways for a few sphincter tightening seconds. They only slid a few feet before the tires caught again. The tires squealed loudly. The smell of burnt rubber drifted up through the busted-out windows. Drew was fumbling with the umbrella trying to see what was going on. He’d dropped the freakin atlas down into the kiddie pool of a floor. LeBron was screaming in pain where he’d jammed his pinkie into the back of the seat.
“What is it?” Bart asked loudly from the backseat. He was looking out each window one at a time with his pistol pointed up at the ceiling.
“Roadblock.” Yue said.
Up ahead of them were a couple of cop cars parked hood to hood across the road to keep people from going any further. No cops challenged them though. The lights on the cars weren’t on. There were a couple of bodies lying on
