Who We Are | TWD

.011

"You think he's going to the refugee center?" Cole asked Hilary, jabbing a thumb towards the guy in his blue, rusting Ford. "I didn't think you could bring pets."

"I don't know," Hilary replied honestly, thinking it was peculiar as the skin between her eyebrows pinched neatly together.

Cole slammed his hand against the wheel again, letting the dull slap ring through the car. "What if the refugee camp is already full? What if that's why there's all this traffic? Maybe they're at capacity and turning people away." Cole turned again to look at the other cars around them.

"We'll figure it out. I'm sure it's nothing." Hilary pinched her lip between her thumb and forefinger while she thought about their predicament because this was, in fact, something and definitely not nothing. There was no reason for all this traffic if everything had been going fine. Even so, she refused to worry her kids. They would figure it out one way or another. She just knew that it was her job to do everything she could to remind Coke that throwing a tantrum like a child wouldn't help anything.

"I told you we should've gotten an earlier start," Cole sighed, huffing out a breath. "Maybe we could've beat the traffic."

"And maybe we would've just run into a different problem than this," she pointed out, raising her eyebrows. "Maybe even something worse."

"It'll be dark within an hour," he argued, trying to further his point. He looked out the windshield, seeing the darkness slowly beginning to settle in as the sun grew brighter and brighter with each inch it fell in the sky.

"We'll figure it out." Hilary reached over, grabbing Cole by his cheeks and pulling his head down to meet hers until she could softly press her lips to his forehead. "We'll figure it out."

Around them, people had started getting out of their cars, seemingly deciding that traffic wasn't moving now and would continue to stay the same. Some people pulled out coolers filled with chilled food and ice. Others were more focused on checking their supplies rather than using them.

"I'll check the radio again," Cole said, his willingness to do anything to keep him busy continuing to grow stronger. He had gotten the idea from a car in front of them. He twisted the tuning nob on the radio and turned up the volume. There was only static in response. About an hour ago, just a little bit after they left the house, the emergency broadcast had been coming through loud and clear. Every word was audible, but now, it was just the same default noise over and over again. Cole had about a thousand cuss words on the tip of his tongue and the urge to let them spill out was becoming increasingly more difficult to resist. He just barely managed to hold them back. If Hilary wasn't there, he might have just let them fly, telling Emmie to cover her ears before he did so. The only thing stopping him was the knowledge of the lecture he'd receive, even though he was already stressed enough.

"Did it stop?" Hilary whispered, becoming even more surprised herself. She acknowledged the fact that she'd have to disguise those feelings, however, because there was no reason to risk them translating into worry. Cole, dumbfounded, twisted the nob again, moving slower to navigate his way to the correct channel. A music station that was clearly far away and out of range barely came in, but that was it.

"It did." His hand dropped back onto his lap as he looked at the road ahead. Something was up. From what he'd been seeing on TV, he didn't like to think about what that could be, and of course, there seemed to be many possibilities. "I'm getting out. You can keep the car running." Cole didn't give Hilary a moment to protest before opening the door and letting himself into the thick air outside, a major contrast from the chilliness that was filling the inside of the car.