“Agreed,” Zach and I said in unison.
Chapter 25
We drove in silence for a long time. After a short while our journey finally brought us to the interstate highway that we had been looking for. We started on it, silence still ringing out between the two vehicles.
Fortunately for our journey, i-70 was relatively clean. There was literally no traffic to be seen, which I was very worried that we would have encountered a high volume of parked cars. I only worried now because if the government was able to let people know about the contamination, people would have travelled to try and avoid it or to stay with other relatives in safe zones. It seemed as if the military and emergency services had gotten to them first, leaving us a clean and easy route to travel along.
It was a very nice way to travel. There was no lack of scenery. Huge fields of wintery expanse flooded either side of the highway. Barren trees stripped of their leaves and replaced with bits of snow covered mountains, turning them dark brown and white. They looked as if someone had taken a black and white picture of a mountain range and placed it against the window.
An overcast had darkened the day, grey clouds covering the entire expanse of the sky in all directions. I was afraid of snow coming down and slowing down our journey, but the days had not been too cold so even if it did snow, I did not expect it to stick around for more than a day.
I suddenly came up with an idea while admiring the scenery. I popped my seat back a little bit and reached into the back seat. My hands reappeared with Coal in my arms. She was feisty at this time of the day, especially since she was cooped up in the cage since we left. I held her up at eye level so that she could see out the window.
Coal’s yellow eyes went wide at the sight. Her black head started darting around looking from one place to another. She became so encompassed by the outdoors that her paws were eventually propped up against the car window in order to get a better view.
“Don’t let her loose,” Chelsea said, finally breaking the silence. “I don’t want her exploring strange wires or my feet. That’s not good for her health.”
I laughed to myself for a second. Coal had always had the inconvenient habit of chewing on wires and other stringy materials. My family had always thought that it was a miracle as to how she had never been electrocuted. One Christmas, she practically chewed through the entirety of the main wire of the Christmas lights that connected directly to the socket. It eventually became a wrap of electrical tape.
“Don’t worry, I’m only letting her out for a little bit,” I said as I placed Coal on my lap. She was still mesmerized by the passing scenery so she propped herself up against the door allowing her the vision to look out. My hand was caressing her back. Just in case Coal tried to jump down, or around, I had an easy way of grabbing her before she could start her mischief.
The silence returned for a few minutes, the only sound being Coal pawing at the window, her nails grazing against the cold glass. I was following the mile markers with my eyes, just encountering the fifty mile marker.
“I wonder,” Chelsea began, breaking the silence once more. “I wonder what happened to them, to the people, to everyone.”
I looked over to her, “What do you mean? The people at the refuge? Or people in general?”
“Well, yeah of course the people at the stadium,” she said. “But where did people go? I mean there are kind of a lot of people throughout the world. How does that all go away?” she exhaled heavily, her eyes growing somber.
I shook my head, “I don’t know, Chels. Humanity has never experienced a crisis such as this one. Even if there were plans for what to do in a global crisis scenario, it isn’t something that could be practiced. I guess that people were doomed from the start.”
“But where did they go? People don’t just disappear. I mean how do we know that there is no secret civilization of people displaced from the contamination hiding out in these woods?” she said, waving her hand around the car.
“You don’t,” I replied. I began to rub my hand up and down along the length of Coal’s back. “And we will probably never know. The worst part is that we know that people were alive during this crisis, but after what I saw at the stadium, I don’t expect to see my family again anytime soon, or ever.”
“Don’t say that!” Chelsea scolded me. “Don’t say that. Once we give up hope we give in to the contaminated. They have taken everything from us. They took our town, our friends, our family, our homes, but we cannot give in. Once humanity succumbs to the power of the contaminated, we will be forever lost.”
I could not stop smiling at her words. My back arched sideways as I leaned in to plant a big kiss on Chelsea’s cheek, “You’re brilliant.” My mouth opened wide with a yawn breaking the conversation.
“Am I boring you?” Chelsea joked.
I shook my head, “Not at all. You are thoroughly entertaining.”
A smile poked through the side of her mouth, “Either way, you should probably get some rest. We still have a long way to go, and you did not sleep well last night. I don’t think that a lack of rest would be good for your cold.”
I nodded, grabbing Coal behind her front legs and placing her back in the crate. “Fine, you win. But
