The group decided to stop by a gas station to refuel the vehicles and to take something to eat. They needed to be fast and careful there when seeing if there were people around.
The first time they settled in a supermarket without planning too much, they needed to pay a high price. The group was passing by a random city on the way to the north. They didn't have any supplies for the next day, so they couldn't dare to keep avoiding those places.
At the time of this first mistake, they simply choose a random city, then the first supermarket that appeared in front of them.
If they only had stopped to look at how the city was, how the people who appeared around there acted, and what had inside that supermarket, they could have had avoided one of the most terrifying moments during those 20 days of surviving.
They were rendered by people pointing all sorts of weapons at them in the same instant as they stepped inside the supermarket.
Getting out of that city was difficult. Those people were crazy. Since there were no rules, the bums, homeless, and criminals of the city conquered it all.
Thankfully, the group could pull through and leave. But most of them were hurt somewhere and they needed to search nonstop for medicine and first aid resources for the next days. Ash and Rick said on the radio at some point to be careful with opened cuts because no one knew the numerous virus and bacteria that could cause different illnesses that were now in the air.
In such a hostile environment, they needed to suspect about everything, even the oxygen they breathed.
"I hope that no bums are here, like in the first time." A student commented, holding firmly a wooden bat.
"Shut the hell up! Don't test our luck, got it?" Another one kicked him slightly at the foot.
Will approached them, saying just with a look to stop with the fight. After so long leading and orienting all those youths, he got used to acting with authority and confidence.
The professor sighed.
"Well, both are right. We can't be reckless, but think negatively is not good at all. However, don't think too much about it. Just follow what we oriented you all to do, so everything will be alright."
The majority of students couldn't stand against or act differently before the words of their professor and savior. There were only 5 or 6 who rebelled and weren't contributing too much for a good living. They barely listened to Will or the others.
"Now, please go. Let's try to find good things there. Prioritize the canned food. Remember to look at the expiration date of everything you take, ok?" That group of 8 students nodded, entering the place.
Owen and Scott approached Will afterward. They were solving some things regarding the maintenance of the vehicles before.
"My car and your bus seem to be ok, Will," Owen spoke, stopping beside him.
"Yeah, and my firetruck as well," Scott complemented.
Will shook his head towards them, smiling wryly.
'If only I could take care of my bus, I would be able to lessen the work they need to do.'
Owen and Scott got a serious look on their faces. They gazed towards the entrance of the convenience store of the gas station. That one, hopefully, was bigger than the usual, but something still made both somewhat worried at times. That was the real reason why they were going to talk so suddenly with him.
"Hey, Will... Are you sure that it is good to keep so many people here, man? I mean, if we were to settle down in some city and start a tiny society, surviving from the goods we collect and produce, it would be awesome to have more people. However, we are wanderers, so..." Scott tried to articulate that matter in a way in which Will wouldn't feel bad or get him wrong, but he couldn't.
Owen just rolled his eyes. He was frivolous, so he didn't care enough about Will to not say something necessary.
"What Scott is trying to say, Will..." he interrupted. "Is that we won't have enough food forever to feed forty students. Today was a good day because this convenience store is big, and a huge group didn't seem to have passed here to take everything. However, in the next stop, we can end up not having the same luck. With this many people with us, we can't stock food."
Will seemed to froze once he heard those words. He knew that it was bad for them to have this many people to take care of. It was worse while in a journey, there were numerous troubles as well.
"I don't know if I can let them behind anymore." He knew that he was the one to blame because of that, but those students couldn't simply be abandoned by them.
"Yes. You can't, and that's the problem, man." Owen spoke, giving his back and walking towards his car.
Scott left after pat Will's shoulder, going towards Sarah, who was holding a baby in her arms.
"Did you talk with him?" She asked, smiling when seeing him approaching again.
"Well, yes. I and Owen talked. However, he just said what we would expect from him: I can't simply leave them behind. And, in the end, that's true. It's difficult to survive when you have so many people to care for, but now that we are into this for this long, it would be just cruel to discard them." The firefighter was down and desolated. That day was bringing more and more troubles for him.
"Are you still thinking about that radio transmission?"
He nodded.
"Yes. I still can't get that our rich and well-administrated country couldn't go through this. The militaries and the government are helpless while seeing their nation crumbling. The hopes we had of being saved vanished long ago. We can only expect good things if we get to the pier."
"Oh, well, you are right. I still can't believe what he said about the meteorites falling exactly on the center of each country of the planet, the mystical energy, and the fact that we... that we can have this issue on our hearts." She had a grim tone in her voice while saying the last part.
Scott couldn't find anything to say to comfort Sarah, so they just kept taking care of the baby as if they didn't just remember what they heard on that transmission.
Meanwhile, Owen was approaching his wife and daughter. His face wasn't the best. He couldn't solve anything with Will. His stress also was part of his dilemma to leave that group if that was how things would work.
'I won't put my hand on the fire just to make these people happy! I want to keep Alysson safe, after all. Those students mean nothing to me, and I don't care if he is willing to help them, but the price to keep them is reflecting on ourselves!'
Lisa noticed his angry behavior. Owen realized the glances she was giving at him. The man thought that she would approach him and try to talk for a bit, but that wasn't the case at all.
His wife just took their daughter and walked off.
Owen felt that his mind was going to break and he would start to crash everything there. However, instead of anger he just felt dejected.
'No wonder they are doing this to me. After all, during these twenty days, the only thing I did was to make our living even more complicated.' He went straight to the car and sat on the driver's seat, rubbing his face with his hands.
'After everything I did, I can't expect them to have a like on me anymore. I thought that I was becoming a better person during these rough days that we were needing to pass for, but in the end, I am just a terrible person like I was before. I still need to improve a lot to be a decent guy.'
Owen felt irremediable. Even after so many harsh situations, he couldn't fix his flaws. For countless times they needed to run away from Dreads, sneak into cities to avoid problems, escape from all sorts of phenomenons, starve, cry, fight... So many things happened that he could barely remember them all.
'When I saved Alysson from those Dreads two weeks ago, I thought that I was getting more courageous. When I saved them both twenty days ago, I thought I could improve a lot. However, I lost everything on this apocalypse and still couldn't gain anything with my efforts.'
The ex-manager turned on the radio again. Owen knew that no good news would come from there. Still, he wanted hope. Hoping was the only thing he was doing until then.
'I wonder when I will feel that burning sensation on my heart again. Being a cardiovascular disease or not, it made me feel like I could break entire mountains just with one hand...' He raised one hand, looking at it. 'I wanted to feel powerful like I did at that moment one more time.'