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Lately morning had been my worst enemy. It wasn't like the zombie apocalypse where I wanted morning to come son I could see to shoot the living corpses that were currently scratching at my widows and doors to gain access to my fortress and eat my brain. No. Morning was my worst enemy because of my inability to stay asleep since the world went to crap. As was the grind, I was up at five in the morning. I wanted to go back to sleep, believe me, I did, but I couldn't because I had work I had to do. What work? Sighing, I crawled out of my sleeping bag. The air was so freezing that I was sure I now had cracked skin all the way up and down my chest and back, I needed to start sleeping in long sleeves. I dressed in my cammo that I had worn the first day of the trip and slid my field jacket and vest over it. I grabbed my AR and stepped outside, letting Raf and Jericho sleep.

The sun was just beginning to come up in the red, pink and orange morning sky. There was a thick, fluffy blanket of snow on the ground and there were small icicles hanging from the metal guard rail that the truck was parked against. My breath froze on the air and the windows on my Chevy were frosty. If it warmed up to even 70, today would be a good day.

I slung my rifle over my shoulder and pulled the stove out of the duffel bag, primed it and set a pot of snow to melt as I checked out the food duffel. Our supplies had held at a respectable level since we started this trip due to the fact that we took every bit of edible food we found since starting the trip, but none the rest I worried that with a German Shepard, Raf and myself, they would drain a lot faster now. I made a mental note to keep a close eye on the food as I selected our last pouch of scrambled eggs and a pop-top can of ravioli for Jericho, which was now a Tomato and Meat flavored Popsicle. Post to Facebook, it was so cold that the Ravioli in my cupboard froze.

"How the hell do I get this out of the can?", I asked myself out loud.

After several attempts to cut the can away with my Letterman, I realized that there was no way to get it out unless I thawed it. So, being the fool that I am, I simply pulled the label off, ignited the second burner and set the can over the fire. Soon the Ravioli Pop had melted and was bubbling. I grabbed it with my pliers and stuck the can in the snow. It cooled with a sizzling sound and then I put it in a bowl of Jericho.

Soon after the Ravioli fiasco Raf woke up and Jericho with him. Jericho immediately set upon his food as Raf tried to wake himself up. He looked like he hadn't slept very well and to be frank, neither had I.

"Didn't sleep well I take?", I asked checking the eggs.

"No", Raf said, "I had a couple of nightmares about Mountain City."

'What were they?", I asked.

"I'd rather not discuss", Raf said.

"Fair enough", I replied.

"Breakfast?"

"Eggs, last pouch."

"How long till there ready?", Raf asked.

"Few minutes at the very most", I replied, "you should have seen the can of Ravioli. It was frozen stiff like a popsicle and I had to cook it just so I could get it out of the can."

Raf smiled, "like, seriously?"

"Yeah", I replied, "just like the..."

"Freezer midgets in Borderlands", Raf said.

I laughed, "the Meat Popsicles yeah."

"What I'd give to play with my HAVOC 40 Glorious Revolution again", Raf said.

I sighed, "what I'd give to play Alpha Sapphire."

"You didn't bring your 3DS with you?", Raf asked.

"I couldn't find it", I replied, "I found my DS and all my games, there in the glove box, but my 3DS was just gone. I need to find another one because I'll go on withdrawal if I don't play it again."

"Looks like Game Stop just made the list of "places to hit", Raf said.

I laughed, "no shit."

Breakfast was quick going. Raf and I finished the eggs, packed up the tent and stove and soon we were on the road again. The ice under the snow covered road was quite slippery even for off road tires and required liberal use of All Wheel Drive. I made sure to keep an eye on the gas gauge as things were slow going and All Wheel Drive used more diesel than any other drive type, but gave me more traction than the other two. As we drove, I began to hear a knocking sound in the engine and wasn't sure what it was.

"Uh Cameron?", Raf asked, "what's that knocking noise?"

"I'm not sure", I said looking at the gauges as I shifted into fourth gear, "everything looks normal, water and oil temp's are holding, boost is holding at 20 pounds and engine temp is fine. Plus I'm not throwing any check engine codes. Probably just a rock or something stuck in the wheel well."

Shrugging, Raf dropped the subject. As the morning wore on, the ice began to melt, the grass began to come out and it gradually warmed up. I made the switch to lighter clothes and Rear Wheel Drive sometime around seven AM. As the morning wound on, we cleared the rest of the Cherokee Forest and now were driving on the Tennessee state lines looking for the exit to North Carolina. To our left was a cliff face. It was made of brown stone and looked wet. Trees and grass hung off the edges and their was a thick mist that lay over the tree tops, as if they were using the leaves as a large mattress. There were huge boulders jutting out of the sides and every so often I would see these large areas were water was seeping out of the rock and puddling on the road below, needless to say we stopped for those a couple of times.

To our left, were the mountains. They rose high like the cliff, but their peaks were invisible, stretching far into the clouds. The way the light hit them made them appear blue, as it did for most mountains. There were some lower hanging clouds that were bringing rain which I could see falling from miles away. The forests that stood at their bases gave an impression of a royal guard standing in formation to protect their King. It was a beautiful sight. Damn, who knows the next time someone will come by and get to enjoy this.

"Look at these", Raf said into his video camera from the back seat, "Cameron what mountains are these?"

"I think their parts of the Cherokee Mountain range", I replied, "I'd tell you to Google it but it doesn't exist any more."

Raf laughed, "so where are we exactly?"

"We just left the Cherokee Forest", I replied, "with any luck we'll hit North Carolina by 11 if were lucky and one at the latest."

"Cool", he said, continuing with his log entry.

The road was winding up and down as I cleared mile after mile. Ever present was that knocking noise. At first I had thought that maybe it was just something stuck in the wheel well, but as the day drew on, I realized that wasn't the case. It was low, but there was also a grinding noise along with the knocking sound. I suspected at first that maybe there was a lose gear in the transmission, but soon realized that the noise was also, coming from the engine case. Maybe something was rubbing on the front drivelines or something, but I mainly figured it was old lube finally catching up with me and made a mental note to re lube everything the next gas station we found. Need to take better care of the truck.

As the day wore on, the scenery changed. I was now driving on a 4 lane split road that was carved into the side of a mountain. There was a granite rock wall top our right and to our left was a valley that was covered in Oaks and Pines and blanketed with a thick, fluffy layer of the most pure white fog I had ever seen. The way the sun shone off it made it glow with a greenish tint.

"Raf get a picture of that", I said.

Raf pulled out his phone and took a few pictures with it before switching over to the camera and taking a few more with it.

"That's amazing", Raf said, "I'm almost glad the cult people turned us around, the view is amazing out here."

"I know", I replied, "I'm almost tempted to stop and stare at it."

"For how long?", Raf asked.

"Until I die", I replied.

Raf smirked, "nah. I'd have to bury you and I don't wanna do that."

I laughed, "noted."

It was about another hour or so before we cleared the mountainous terrain and were out on open ground again. I put the pedal to the floor to make some time. It was 30 or so more minutes before I saw the sign, "North Carolina State Line, Exit 40, Welcome Center, Shell-Clean Diesel." I found myself switching on my blinker lights and switching lanes. Soon I had crossed the State Lines.

"We did a state", Raf said sounding somewhat relived.

"Yeah but don't get to comfortable", I said, "we still got more than a few to go and there's always the possibility of getting turned around again. By the way, get out the map and see where I gotta go to get back on the Interstate."

Raf dug out the Atlas and started flipping through the pages.

"Keep on State 34 until we hit Sugar Grove", Raf said, from there get onto State 194 and follow that route all the way to Interstate 77, I guess we just look for an on ramp or something."

"Works for me", I replied.

I drove through the vacant country side for what seemed like years, but was probably only two hours. I was starting to feel like I was trapped in a rut. Get up, eat, drive for five hours, eat, drive for five hours, eat, go to bed. That was basically the summary of my life at the moment. To be honest, I hated it. It left me tense from head to toe and mind numbingly bored. I didn't understand how Raf wasn't going to bed with headaches every night like I was. Then again, he actually slept at night. Well maybe if you wouldn't get up so early you wouldn't have to fight eyestrain and wake up with headaches ya dumbass.

"Yeah no shit", I said out loud.

"What?', Raf asked.

"Talking to myself little brother", I replied, "just some thoughts in my head is all."

Raf gave me a funny look and then went back to what ever he was typing on his phone. 30 minutes later, we hit Sugar Grove. There was an exit ramp into town which let out near a Shell Station. I pulled in and killed the truck.

The streets were vacant, as had been every other town we'd been too. The windows of every building around had been smashed out. Many of the broads were painted with signs that read things like "Open" or "Come In, WiFi here" a few even said, "Go away, no food." There were cars that were sitting at dead stop lights, I could just barely make out the shadowy remains of their owners. The station itself looked like it was in good shape though. The windows were still boarded up, but it didn't look like too many people had been here during the riots. All the pumps read "out of gas", so refuel wasn't an option, but at least we could take a quick rest and maybe grab a few things from the store.

"We stopping?", Raf asked.

"For ten minutes because I wanna look at something", I replied, "get out and stretch if you want, just don't wander off because I'm gonna be done quick."

I unbuckled my seat belt and slid out of the truck. I walked around to the bed and grabbed the tool kit before ducking underneath the front end to inspect the axles. It didn't look like the lube on the joints or drivelines was worn at all, in fact, it looked like it was new. This confused me. If it wasn't worn lube that was the sound of the grinding nose, then what was causing it? I slid further underneath and checked the transfer case, which again, looked just fine. The gear teeth were fine and the lube was still fresh. I slid out from under the car and checked the wheel wells for anything foreign. I even took the tires off the truck, but I found nothing.

"What the hell is making that knocking sound?", I asked myself, "all the usual suspects check out."

I sighed. I'd have to take the truck apart and examine every part before I could know for certain what was causing the sound, and since I couldn't do that, I had to cross my fingers and hope what ever was causing it would turn out just to be annoying rather than catastrophic.

I picked up the tool kit and placed it back in the truck as Raf came running out of the gas station, arms flaling. He slammed the door behind them and in an annoyed tone, shouted.

"Damn!"

"What happened?", I asked, somewhat concerned.

"There's a big freaking paper wasp nest in there that's like four feet long!", Raf said, "I was searching out the store and I heard this deep low sound. I turned around and there's this huge nest that had more wasps on it than I care to count."

"That actually sounds kinda cool", I said.

"Your crazy", Raf said.

"Be that as it may", I replied walking to the door.

"Cameron that's a stupid idea", Raf said.

"I know", I replied, "but I gotta see this."

I stuck my head inside the door. Sure enough, in the far corner of the room, a huge, grey wasp nest was stuck to the wall. It was about the size of a large beach ball and was crawling with Mahogany Wasps , big ones too. I'd never seen a nest that big big before and I'd seen hollow Oak trees that were one big hornet nest before, but they had been vacated at least, this one was pretty much a small city.

"Holy crap", I said snapping a picture and pulling my head out and shutting the door, "how the fuck did you not see that when you walked in."

"I swear it wasn't even there", Raf said, "It materialized."

"Well I'm glad you didn't get stung", I said, "talk about stirring the hornets nest."

"No kidding", Raf said.

"The truck checked out, so get something to eat from the snack bag and lets get going."

Raf and I grabbed snacks from the duffel and climbed into the truck. I depressed the clutch and gave a flick of my wrist to bring my Chevy to life. The knocking noise was more pronounced during start up that it was at speed. It was a real solid thunk, thunk, thunk instead of the thump, thump, thump. Hell it even felt different at idle than it did two days ago.

"It's louder during start up", Raf noted.

"Yeah", I replied, "it feels different when it's idling as well. Feels like all the weight of the truck is pulling to one side."

I drove out of the station and put the truck in second gear as we headed out. I got third at 67 miles an hour and fourth at 75. I noticed the acceleration of the truck felt off a little. Normally it was straight through, but as I got fifth at 84, I really started to notice that I had my foot in the gas way more than usual. What the fuck is going on with my Chevy? I tried to focus on the driving. If worst came to worst, I'd find a private house and look it over.

The day wound on as late morning turned to noon. I continued down State 194 down towards Boone with Raf quiet upfront and Magnum 1 Billion Years from Dust Of Time up so loud my I thought my subwoofers were gonna explode. We hit Boone at about 12:30. The town was completely destroyed. The sidewalks were obliterated in a twisted tangle of concrete and sheet metal. Houses had walls busted completely out and the insides were ransacked. Cars were smashed into telephone poles, buildings, looking like someone used them as a battering ram and each other. Barricades had been thrown together out of Rubbermaid containers full of sand, couches, chairs, bed frames, shopping carts and a variety of other furniture. There was even a huge puddle in the street where someone had smashed another Chevy Avalanche into a fire hydrant.

"Holy...", Raf started.

"My thoughts exactly", I replied shifting to park, "this place is just...."

'Wasted? Gone? Annihilated? Destroyed?", Raf asked.

"Yes", I answered, "I don't even think it's safe to drive through here. There could any manner of sharp rebar submerged in that water."

Raf checked a local map, "unless your up for off roading, we gotta go straight through here."

I sighed and put the truck in first. I inched on the gas and slowly the humming inline four pulled us into the water. I drove slowly through the puddle,very, very worried about hidden rebar and broken glass, not even a thick off road tire could stand up to a sharp, twisted piece of steel. We inched along barely in first gear, the whole time the tach never went above 1,000RPM. After ten minutes of idling across a piece of land that should take two seconds at 30 miles an hour, we crossed to the other side, where it wasn't much better.

The only market I could see had literally been burned to the ground, nothing but a charred metal shell where the store had once been. The insurance office, and I say that because of the sign that had the name of several stores on it, had suffered the same fate, but it was just a burnt, steel skeleton. The cars in the parking lot had been torched too. There was also a UN Truck in the lot that had been ripped apart, I guessed that people weren't too happy about the UN trying to be in charge in the middle of the most lethal Pandemic in world history.

"What happened here?", Raf asked.

"People got pissed at the UN", I replied putting the truck in park, "during the first wave of infection, the UN tried to clamp down, but people revolted. They tried it in Maine too, but Dad and our entire unit had standing orders to kill UN troops on sight."

"Why?", Raf asked, "weren't they trying to help?"

"No", I replied, "as far as the president was concerned, they were an invading army. They were just stepping on our efforts to keep the country from falling apart while the CDC worked."

Raf didn't say anything after that. Sighing, I put the truck in drive and we pressed on, leaving the ruined town of Boone far behind us. We drove for another hour or so before I started to get too hungry to go any more.

"Wanna pull over at this next rest stop and have lunch?", I asked.

"Yeah", Raf said, "I'm starved."

The next rest stop I found I pulled in. The rest stop had four, brown brick buildings in an L configuration. There was a small parking lot in front with a steel wire fence that had flowers planted underneath it for decoration. There were several Oak trees planted around the area for shade and there was a wooden bridge covered by a metal awning that went right to the front door. There were two Chevy Camaro's and a Dodge Challenger Hellcat in the parking lot along with a Semi Trailer that wasn't hauling anything. The curtains were drawn, guessed that the driver had gone to sleep and never woken up. I drove along side a side walk that was beside a picknick table and put the truck in park, letting the engine wind down.

"I'mma go look around", Raf said.

"Stay within earshot", I replied as he slid out.

I tossed my sunglasses up on the dash and rubbed my eyes, resting my arm on the steering wheel. I could hear Jericho slobbering in the back. I turned back to see him vegging out on the back seat, his long pink tongue hanging out, he looked happy. Maybe you could learn a thing or two about taking it easy from him. I reached back and petted his ears.

"You better stay not run off when I got my back turned", I said, "cause I'm gonna make you clean all that hair and spit when we get to Texas."

"Arro?", was my dogs response.

I laughed, "you heard me."

I slid out of the truck and stuffed Dad's .45 into the back of my pants. I walked around to the back of the truck and dropped the tailgate. I was reaching for the stove bag when I heard Raf from behind me.

"Cameron?", He asked. There was something wrong in the tone and pitch of his voice. At first I thought he was just trying to screw with me, then I turned around.

There was a man holding a sawed off double barrel to my brother's head. The man looked like he was Spanish, early to mid 20's and well built. He had a couple of tattoo's on his neck and face. I felt my heart stop. Motherfucker.

"Back away from the truck", the man said, "slowly."

I put my hands in the air, "hold on...let's just talk a minute."

"MOVE!", the man shouted.

"Okay! Okay", I said quickly moving away from the truck.

"I want your truck, your guns, food everything", the man said, "and if you make one wrong move I'm putting a slug in his head."

"I'll give you the truck then", I said reaching into my pocket.

"What's that!?", the man barked shoving the gun into Raf's neck and charging the hammers.

"No wait it's just my keys!", I said quickly and holding out my keys, "just the keys. Just the keys."

"Throw them here!", the man said, "one step forward and he dies."

"We'll trade", I said, "you'll get the keys when I get my brother. You got my word."

"Your word is crap man", the man said, "he's my insurance I won't be killed."

"I'm unarmed", I said lifting my shirt, "see no weapons."

Carefully as I could, I lowered my shirt so I could grab the .45 quickly when the opening came.

"Keys in ten seconds or he dies", the man said.

"No please", I begged, "I'll give you everything I got, the truck, guns, ammo, information, everything, I'm just asking that I get my brother in return."

"No way", the man said.

"Please", I said folding my hands, "please, don't hurt him."

"The keys", the man said.

"I'll give you the keys", I said, "but..."

"But what!?", the man demanded.

"Delta Force doesn't negotiate with terrorists."

Raf managed to slip from the man's grasp as I yanked my .45 from my pants and fired three rounds, all of which struck the man dead in the chest. As he fell to the ground, Raf got up and started running towards me. As he did, the man's shotgun went off. I guessed that the impact made one of the hammers slip. Everything slowed down as the slug tore through Raf's stomach. He went from a sprint to a stand still. He looked down and saw the blood, his blood, dripping down onto the ground and his hands.

"Cameron?", Raf said as he fell to his knees.

I literally dropped the hand gun and ran over to him, catching him as he fell back. The hole was about the size of Jericho's foreleg. The slug had torn through his stomach and spleen and cracked one of his lower ribs. It could very easily kill a fully grown man, I was almost certain that the days of riding the apocalypse with my brother had just come to an end.

"Cameron", Raf asked again, "am I...am I...going..."

"No", I replied quickly, "your not gonna die. You understand me? You are not gonna die."

I ran back over to the truck and set Raf on the tail gate. I tossed the .45 in the front seat as I tore into the medical bag for the Halo seals and my puncture wound treatment pouch. I quickly tore Raf's shirt off and placed a seal on his stomach. I then gently sat him up, placing a seal on his back to keep any more air from getting inside. I checked his blood pressure and gave him a shot of morphine for the pain.

"Look at me Raf", I said looking into his eyes, "look at me. Stay awake. Please stay awake, whatever you do do NOT close your eyes do you understand me?"

Raf just stared back at me, his eyes and skin losing color. No please don't go into shock. I quickly opened the front door to the Chevy and set Raf in the front seat, reclining it to keep as much pressure off the wound as I could. I slammed the tailgate shut, climbed into the font seat and quickly woke up the Chevy. A quick check of the Atlas revealed that Yadkinville had a small hospital so that's where I was going.

"Hold on buddy!', I said putting the truck in first and matting it, "hold on!"

Raf didn't answer me. My little brother was literally holding in his stomach. Jericho was sniffing and licking Raf's head, whimpering and whining as he did. With tears in my eyes, I put my foot so far in the gas I though I'd punch through the floor. I went through the gears faster than I ever had. 2Nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th until I hit the cap of 190 miles an hour. I stayed at this speed for about ten minutes before there were two loud THUNK, THUNK, BANG! The engine died, the Tach started to drop off. The boost gauge fell from 20 to zero. My heart began to race like a scram jet. I braked and downshifted until I came to a stop on the side of the road by a guard rail. Black smoke poured from the wheel wells and the hood.

"Mother fucker!", I shouted un doing my seat belt, "this can't be fucking happening!"

I popped the hood and ran around to the front of the truck, pulling it open. A plume of black smoke poured from the engine. The truck had finally done it. Once the smoke cleared, I was able to get a look at how bad it was. There was a piston sticking out of the side of the engine. The rod was mangled, twisted and covered in cracks, the exhaust was mangled and the fuel pump was obliterated. I realized right there that the knocking noise was because the engine was going to throw a rod. I had done the same thing in my Nissan 240SX when I was younger and it was then, almost ten years ago that I had bought the Chevy.

I wanted to kick something, brake something, just take my anger out on generally anything that was near by, but somehow I kept my head. At least our trusty steed had gotten us this far. Sighing and shutting the hood, I walked around to the passenger's door and opened it. To check on Raf.

"What was it", he rasped.

"The Chevy threw a rod buddy", I said.

"Code for", he asked quietly.

"Code for were stuck", I replied, "permanently."

I saw a tear roll down my brother's face. He was scared. Scared of the unknown, scared of death, scared of everything. I desperately weighed my options. I could go back to the rest stop, grab one of those cars and bring it back, but then realized Raf would die within the time it took me to go get the car. With that as my only seeming option, I felt trapped, like there wasn't a way out, then, I saw the CB mounted on my dash. It was risky, but a distress call seemed like the only option I had. Seeing my only option, I rolled it. Setting the message to record and loop, I spoke.

"Any station, any station. This is Staff Sargent Cameron David West. I am pulled over on the side of State 491 in a matte blue 2015 Chevrolet Avalanche SRT 10. The truck is equipped with a black front deer guard and a black top light bar with hazard lights flashing. My vehicles engine has thrown a rod and my brother is in desperate need of medical attention. If you can hear me, please respond as soon as possible."

I let the handset fall into the seat.

"What now?", Raf asked weakly, with fear filled eyes.

"We pray", I replied.