Steel Horizon

Chapter Eleven

 During the next three days we never once found a car, but for the first time in a long time, I was okay with that. It was hard finding working cars on the side of the road. They either didn't have keys, had keys but the owner had left it idling in their scramble to escape so the battery was dead, or it was out of gas. A lot of people had driven their cars to the point where they couldn't during those first weeks of the invasion.

Everyone had one thing in mind: Escape, even if it meant running on foot.

Get out of town, get out of the state, go someplace safer. In the result of thousands of people trying to use the roads, most of the highways closer to the larger cities were nearly impassible, clogging the roads for miles with cars that would never run.

So we were left with walking.

The following days after the snow storm were overcast with low laying clouds, and the snow already on the roads melted away with the warmer temperatures, making it easier to travel. We kept up a good pace and saw no one. The only evidence of humans were dead bodies. Sometimes they were in cars, still sitting where they had passed, in ditches half covered in snow, and sometimes they were just laying in the road.

It was hard not looking at the faces of the dead, wanting to see if it was someone I knew—or once knew. It was even harder passing by without a collection of emotions that wanted to force me off the road to hurl. I was sad, angry, frustrated, and most all afraid. Every body I saw was a reminder of what was happening around me. To our world that was no more.

Everyday we walked until dusk. We took whatever shelter we could find, as long as it was out of the wind and out of sight. We would eat the little food we had, then look for more in the morning. We had better luck inside houses, where other people had overlooked or the owners never came home to pack up. And then we started walking again.

We didn't speak much—both too exhausted to do anything but put distance between us and the Scrappers, wherever they were.

But midway on the third day of walking, I saw something and smiled. Even Jude looked at me with a puzzled expression, but I couldn't help myself.

Walmart.

My mouth crept into a wider grin as Jude stood nearby staring at me and not understanding. "Why are we here again?" he asked, utterly confused.

"To get food." Then I shrugged and looked down at my dirty clothes. "And new clothes. If you hadn't noticed on the way over, the laundry mat was closed. We've been wearing the same clothes for the last five days."

"In fact," he dramatically lolled his head towards me, eyeing me carefully, "I had noticed. The owners were so kind to flip the sign around before the world was invaded." He straightened and rocked back on his heels, sighing. "But I don't understand why you wanted to come here. We passed a supermarket on the way. What's the difference?"

"Because it's Walmart." I let the word drag out, and made a face that plainly stated 'duh.'

"They have clothes at the supermarket too . . ."

He failed at defending his pathetic argument.

"Socks, and maybe some children's gloves." Then I added, with a finger pointing upward, "If you're lucky."

I studied the glass doors from a distant and saw they were still intact. Cracked open, but intact. Which told me it hadn't been horribly looted. Most likely had very limited choices, but not entirely empty. At least I hoped.

"They also have umbrellas," Jude mumbled.

"Are you really still trying to convince me?" I asked. "What is it you have against Walmart anyway?"