It must have been at least five minutes passed since the three of us saw the last chaotic incident. No vehicles were seen anymore, so I was not even sure if there was no one who survived this far, or that they have survived and proceeded to the road ahead.
Jonathan was not panting anymore, and Ryan had also started not to sweat, yet the atmosphere inside the truck cabin was still tense and heavy. Finally, I decided to break the silence that filled the cabin.
"How is the gas?" I asked Jonathan.
"A quarter left..." he replied, "If we are not to take a longer detour, the gas will just be enough."
I responded with a nod, and the cabin went back to heavy silence. But then, Ryan started to talk a bit more about himself.
"You know..." he said, "Back when I was still in middle school, the whole building would simulate for once in a while what to do if there was going to be a massive earthquake took place, or terrorists who took our school as hostages, and some other things."
"Where did you study when you were in middle school?" I replied with a question.
"I was in Shuang Wen School, in Chinatown, Manhattan." answered Ryan, "Well, I was born and raised in Chinatown."
Finally, the heavy silence started to subside.
"Heh, I bet they did not simulate about alien invasion at all..." Jonathan teased.
"No kidding." replied Ryan, "But, it was thanks to the simulation that we all somehow developed a bit of a habit to be more aware of our surroundings, sometimes to the minor things..."
"Aware how? What kinds of minor things?" I asked, curious.
Jonathan was also curious about what Ryan said, as he expressed it by turning his attention towards Ryan for a short moment, before he finally got back to concentrate steering the truck.
"Well, since it is kind of difficult for me to explain it straight out, I would rather explain how I implemented it to the most recent experience, if you both do not mind." He answered.
"Not at all. However way you feel most comfortable with." I said, as I was getting more curious by what he said.
"You see, back at the base, I did not literally pass by the research lab accidentally." Ryan continued, "I felt a brief smell of gunpowder or something similar like that."
I was confused, and about to ask him where he smelled it. But then, I decided to hear what he said completely first.
"The strange thing was, I have already smelled it right after we saw several high-ranking officers left the cafeteria in a hurry. I remembered it clearly, because they walked away right behind the table where I was sitting at. The other guys might not smell it because I was the only person nearest to them at that moment."
I believe that Ryan referred to Captain Quentin and the other officers that I briefly met back in the second floor of the cafeteria. It was also right after he mentioned Captain Quentin that I began to wonder if he too survived the sudden attack.
"And so, you were curious about the smell that you decided to go where it might come from? Right after you were dismissed from my office?" asked Jonathan.
"Yes. But there is one other thing." Ryan continued, "At first, I thought it came from your anti-tank sniper rifle, Lieutenant, because I also smelled it briefly from you in the cafeteria. But then again, I was not sure if you did meet the high-ranking officers before you came to the cafeteria, and found the four persons bullying me there."
Jonathan was silenced, keeping his stare straight to the highway road.
"Besides, if you did, you would have confirmed me right away just now, would not you, Lieutenant?" he continued.
Again, Jonathan only kept his stare towards the road ahead.
"Wow, I had no idea that the training you had back in your middle school years would yield something like that." I said, with both my eyes opened wide to Ryan.
"Maybe, if some of my middle school friends were also present at the cafeteria, they would feel the same smell. That is, if they were also sitting together with me, though." He responded.
Thanks to Ryan, at least the cabin was a bit livelier. Unfortunately, that atmosphere suddenly changed to heavy tense as Jonathan warned us that something was not right on the road ahead.
"Hey, heads up." he said, "Something is wrong up ahead."
Though still quite unclear, I was definitely sure that something long, if not big, was blocking the road.
"You want to ram through it?" I asked Jonathan.
"Hold on..." he responded, "Those are three vehicles blocking, are not it?"
After a short while, the thing blocking the road ahead were three vehicles lined up together neatly forming a simple roadblock, leaving only a little space on the left side of the road barely enough for our truck to go through. Among the three vehicles, there were a couple of SUVs, and a van. All of the three vehicles were not burned or looked like they sustained serious damage, so I was sure that some people or someone must had lined it on purpose.
If our pickup truck was of a heavy-duty type, we might be able to ram through the concrete road border instead, and drove off the road from there. Unfortunately, Toyota Tundra was not designed for heavy-duty purposes, so that kind of option was definitely not available for us.
As our truck went closer to the road block, three people emerged from there – a couple of young adult, and one middle-aged woman. Jonathan decided to lower the pace.
"Hey!" said the young man with an exhausted breath, "We are in desperate need for a ride! Will you please let us hitch your truck?"
"Where are you going to?" replied Jonathan from inside the cabin.
"Please! Anywhere but here!" the young woman responded while crying, "We do not mind at all to sit in the back!"
Jonathan replied by gesturing his head pointing towards the pickup back.
"Thank you! You are so kind, all of you!" said the middle-aged woman with a relieved voice.
"Travis," Jonathan said with a very low voice, "hold on towards the door handle or the upper handle when I signaled impact."
I had a feeling of why Jonathan said so, since I too felt that blocking the road just for hitching a ride away was quite odd.
"Ryan," Jonathan continued, "hold the rifle and submachine gun very tightly and lower your body when I gave the signal."
"Why?" Ryan asked, confused.
"I have a very bad feeling about them…" replied Jonathan as he watched the three people climbed up to the back of the truck from the mirror, and proceeded to head on along the highway again.