I kept my eyes on the road as we passed by flaming cars, slow-moving 'Infected', and people still fleeing from the city. The bombing stopped just a little over ten minutes ago with someone on air reporting that New York City was no longer safe, we also learned that there were several other states that were facing the same problems we were. I could only hope that one of those states was not Colorado and that our parents were safe and far removed from all of this. The sound of distant explosions still reverberated in my ears, a haunting reminder of the destruction that had just unfolded. As we pressed on, I couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. The radio had fallen silent, leaving us in an eerie void of information. It was as if the world had stopped spinning, leaving us stranded in this apocalyptic nightmare. Then there was nothing but radio silence, which meant the radio stations could have possibly been overrun. But right now we couldn't afford to dwell on the unknown. We had to keep moving, pushing forward despite the uncertainty that loomed over us like a dark cloud. Survival was our only goal now, and every passing moment brought us closer to finding safety in this new, treacherous world. A thought crossed my mind about Scarlett and my family back in Colorado, what if this is happening there? With no more radio and no television that possibly means there is no cell phone service, after all, they just dropped bombs on New York City. There's no way that phones could even remotely be working, but how would I know unless I tried?
"And the radio's dead." Scarlett sighed, sitting back in the passenger seat. "Do you think that all of the radio stations have been overrun?" Liam asked, "It's possible. You saw how fast New York was overrun after only a few hours that this virus spread." Logan said with a sigh, I could only think about how things were going elsewhere. Scarlett turned the radio off, the car being filled with silence.
"How did this virus spread so fast?" Liam asked, I took a moment to think about it but couldn't come up with an answer. "Do you think we have enough supplies to last us?" Scarlett looked in the bag I had in the front that was filled with drinks and small snacks, "No, we have enough snacks for a day or two. We didn't have a chance to fill up on supplies when we left the apartment. We were too busy trying to escape New York to stop anywhere. We went straight for the highway." Scarlett explained, "Our parents did the same thing. We were out at dinner when the news report came on the T.V. Everyone panicked and things outside got worse, so my parents just packed us into the car. We hardly had anything with us." Logan explained, "I wish things played out differently." Liam said quietly, "I know, bud. Me too." Logan patted his brother on the shoulder, as Liam just leaned back into his seat.
"Are you two originally from New York?"
"No, we just came out here for college. We're actually from Colorado."
"Ah, I have a cousin who lives out there."
The conversation died down for a while, when I looked over my shoulder I saw that Logan and Liam had fallen asleep. Liam was leaning against Logan, who had an arm wrapped around him. The two only had each other now, just as I only have Scarlett and Clark. Scarlett was still awake, fiddling with the radio to see if there were any more stations out there but it seemed pointless at this point. My eyes shifted to the time on my phone, taking note that it was now around 3:30 A.M. I don't think either of us was going to be able to sleep once we got to that camp, what we saw was too horrific.
The eyes.. The blood. The way the body contorted and hearing the cracking and snapping of that woman's bones freaked me out. I blinked the visual out of my mind, focusing on the road ahead of me.
The silence is killing me, I've always hated it. It made me anxious so I always had music on the car or even back at the apartment, which got me wondering how fast did the virus spread. There had only been minutes in between the news report coming out on air and us packing the car when the people across from us were attacked. It made me wonder, just how did it get to our area so fast? The first person who was infected was that scientist at the lab but the lab is far from our area in New York.
"Blake, you okay?" Scarlett snapped me out of my trance, "Yeah, I'm fine."
"What were you thinking about?" She asked.
I knew that she was going to insist on getting my thoughts out into the open, she always knew how to do that and I'm not sure why. I guess it is always easier to tell her my deepest and darkest thoughts at times.
"It's nothing."
"Blake," She started.
"It's nothing."
"It's not nothing. It's something. Talk to me, Blake. Before all of this happened, you didn't need to tell me everything that you thought about. But now... Now, you have to tell me things, especially if it pertains to our survival. All we got is this group and each other." Scarlett looked at me, I sighed and briefly looked over at her.
"I was just thinking about how the virus spread so fast. I mean, there must have been only ten to fifteen minutes between that news report and us packing the car. It's odd how fast our apartment building got attacked when that lab is all the way on the other side of the city." I explained, Scarlett put the map down in her lap and thought about it. "Think about Scar, there's no way it could have spread that damn fast in only twenty minutes when that lab is halfway across the damn city."
"You're right... The only way I can think of is if the virus was not only transmitted through bites.. But through some sort of object, like the water supply or the air outside." Scarlett said, brushing her hair back.
"Shit." Was all I could say as I drove around a stopped car in the middle of the highway.