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"There's someone up there",Raf said sounding kind of shocked.

To be completely honest, I was as well. Raf and I watched from the truck as the kid stood out in front of the barricade, observing the area underneath the bridge. He also seemed to have taken the time to bolster the barricade with a few cars. I could see two piles of cars stacked two high, the opening in between them was large enough for my Avalanche to fit through with out any trouble, but the fact wasn't lost on me that this had been done on purpose. I could also see a small shack behind the wrecked cars, telling me that this kid had a claim on this area as his home. I couldn't tell if he was armed or not from where we were, and that bothered me.

"Should we go meet him?",Raf asked.

I sighed, pondering the thought. There was the chance that the man would be friendly and would let us by without a problem, or maybe for a trade, but there was also the chance that he'd try to kill us and take everything we had for himself.

"I'm not sure",I finally replied,"chances are he's friendly, but there is also the chance he'll try to rob us."

"So what do we do?",Raf asked, he sounded legitimately scared, I didn't blame him.

"We roll the dice",I said,"and hope for the best."

I started my truck and engaged Rear Wheel Drive before I slowly began driving up the bridge. I figure that I was about twenty yards from the barricade of wrecked cars when the man spotted us and came out. He was armed with a shotgun, which could be bad news. I placed my truck in park and turned to Raf.

"Lock these doors behind me",I told him,"if anyone but me comes up to this truck, shoot them."

I reached into the glove box and handed Raf Dad's forty five, I'd moved it from the compartment under the backseat last night. Raf took the pistol from me, his skin blanched white. Did I blame him for being scared?

Not in the least.

I grabbed my rifle from in between the seats and slapped a fresh magazine into it before clicking the chamber closed.

"You gonna shoot him?",Raf asked.

"Not unless he shoots at me first",I replied.

I slid out of my pickup and shut the door behind me, hearing Raf click the locks. Satisfied that Raf was at least somewhat safer, I began to aproach the man, holding my rifle low, but at the ready. The man, or should I say boy, seemed only to be 15 or 16. He was dressed in a torn white shirt and blue jeans that were covered in dust and dirt and his old jungle boots were held together by duct tape.

"What you doing out here?",I asked.

"I live out here",the kid replied,"what about you?"

"Heading south",I replied.

"How come?",he asked.

"Need to know",I replied,"you don't."

I didn't trust this kid at all, something about him was sending me the wrong kind of message. For some reason, he kept glancing back at my truck.

"You running a diesel?",he asked.

Now I was certain something was up.

"Need to know",I replied,"you don't."

"Oh yeah?",the kid asked.

Quicker than I could react, the kid had his shotgun shouldered and level right with my head. Damn he was fast.

"Keys",he barked,"ammo, guns, food, water, body armor, hand it all over now and if your damn kid gets outta your truck I'll shoot him!"

I raised my hands in feign surrender. If I tried anything, or made one false move, I'd have nine .32 caliber lead pellets, or four .50 caliber steel ones buried in my heart and lungs, and Raf would be left without an older brother, or killed as well.

"Let's just talk about this",I said turning myself sideways to make myself a smaller target.

"Don't you move!",the kid yelled,"just gimme your keys!"

"You know I can' do that",I said calmly.

In a flash, I swatted the gun from his hands, knocking him down in the process and raised my M4. He scurried to his shotgun as I put my boot on it.

"Don't even try",I said,"when you point a gun at a man you damn well better be ready to pull the trigger. Unlike you, I am ready."

The kid looked up at me with fear filled eyes, he was afraid I'd kill him where he lay. If he tried anything, I would.

"What do you want?",the kid asked.

"Take down the barricade and let us through",I said calmly.

He quickly shook his head yes and went to unlock the barricade. I tossed his shotgun over the bridge to keep him from shooting me in the back as I walked back to the truck. Raf unlocked the doors for me and I climbed in. Raf's skin was a pale white.

"Cameron",Raf said,"that was scary, for a second I thought you were gonna get shot."

I managed a weak smile,"you and me both little brother."

I put the truck in drive and drove up to the barricade, not taking my eye off the kid for so much as a second. After what he'd just tried, I wasn't taking any chances. I drove up to the barricade and stopped, rolling down my window.

"Hey I'm sorry for trying to rob you",the kid said,"I just haven't eaten in a few days and I'm starting to go crazy from the pain in leg."

I pushed open my door and slid out.

"What's wrong with your leg?",I asked.

"I broke it a few days ago",the kid replied,"trying to move those cars."

I walked around to the back of the truck and dropped the tailgate. I unzipped one of our food duffles and pulled out a few MRE's as well as getting some gauze, painkillers and a brace out of the med kit.

"Here",I said holding out the supplies,"this should get you through a few meals, fix up your leg too, and here."

I handed him a box of shotgun shells.

"Why are you",he kid started to ask but I stopped him.

"Your shotgun was empty",I said,"I could tell from the way you were shaking as you aimed it at me."

He smiled,"thanks, be careful man."

I held out my hand and we shook,"I'll try and make sure you don't rob anyone else, the city is full of stuff for your taking."

He laughed,"I gotta go get my gun anyways, I'll see what I can find."

I smiled, got back in my truck and drove off, watching the kid wave to me as he closed up his barricade.

"I don't understand",Raf said as I shifted into second gear,"he tried to rob you and you still helped him?"

"I'm Delta Force little brother",I said changing gears again,"it's my job."

Raf just smiled at me and left it at that. I drove down the road and turned onto S State Street, I could see interstate 81 from were we were, but at the present moment, I couldn't see an on ramp, nor did I see any signs telling me how to get on I81. I reached into the backseat for the Atlas that I always kept handy in a netting on the back of my seat.

"Hey Raf",I said handing him the Atlas,"check the map and see if you can find out how to get onto I81 from S State Street."

Raf began flipping through the pages. If there was only one thing that my little brother was good at then it was reading a map by a long shot.

"Looks like there's an on ramp about a mile up the road",Raf said.

"Good news",I said,"we gotta stop for diesel soon too, are there any stations around?"

"One",Raf said glancing at the map,"the Hess Express."

"Let's hope they have diesel then",I said in reply.

It was about three or four minutes later before I spotted the station. The station was covered by a blue roof with large neon letters on either side and there was another sign in front that was covered by bushes. It was broken out, leading me to believe it been at the center of the food riots to strike piratically every town on Earth in the early days of the Pandemic. The station was using the old style sliver gas and diesel pumps and most of them had bags on the nozzles and notes written on yellowing printer paper that read "NO GAS". The convince store was a 7-Eleven with boarded up windows and glass laying in front of the building, telling me that the windows had been broken out and all but confirming my hunch about the riots.

I put my truck in park and killed the engine.

"Get out and stretch a while Raf",I said tossing my sunglasses up on the dash.

Raf undid his seat belt and slid out of the truck without so much as a word. I unbuckled rubbed my eyes, all the driving was taking it's toll on me. I yawned loudly before sliding out of my truck and checking the diesel pumps, they worked. How much longer would our luck hold out? I didn't know. The grid was obviously still up, at least up here, but I worried about getting fuel further south. I sighed and began pumping the diesel into my pickup.

"Just one more damn thought to keep me up at night",I snuffed.

The tank topped off after ten gallons and I recapped the tank. I leaned up against my truck and stared up into the sky as I took a drink from my canteen. The sky was completely cloudless and it was a lot warmer out now than it had been when we'd left the hotel earlier. And believe me, I welcomed the warmer weather. I stuffed my canteen back into it's pouch and went into the 7-Eleven.

It was a mess inside.

Shelves had been overturned, freezer's had been smashed and the Slurpee machines looked like they'd played punchiees with a wrecking ball. I could see bags of snack food, phone accessories and the like strewn all over the floor. The clerk counter was a mess of equal proportions. Behind the clerk's counter was a green sleeping bag that was filthy dirty as well as a box that looked to be serving as a night stand. On top of the box was a bottle of water, a cell phone and a small .38 revolver. I grabbed up the revolver and checked it's cylinder, four rounds. I sighed through a false smile.

"Take what you can where you can",I said to myself.

I searched around the store and picked up more than a few bags of Puffy Cheetos and a few bottles of water left in the freezers. I also picked up a few packs of baby wipes, two car chargers for my and Raf's phones (which were now serving as PDAs) as well as an oil filter, a few quarts of oil windshield wiper fluid and transmission fluid as well as anti freeze. I needed to do maintenance on my Chevy soon, as I hadn't gotten the chance to do it before we started this drive. I walked out of the store and back to my truck where I found Raf sitting on the tailgate.

"Good thing you put the tail gate down",I said smiling,"saved me the trouble."

I set my finds on the tail gate and stuffed the Cheetos and water into the food duffle while the parts for the truck went into the tool kit.

"Come on Raf",I said,"let's get going."

Raf hopped off the tail gate and I shut it behind him before entering my Chevy. I drove from the gas station, following Raf's guidelines to get onto I81 and soon I was doing 70 miles an hour down the long stretch of open road. The sky was clear and it was still warm out, so the window's came down and I found myself hanging my arm out the window of my pickup like I would do on the long trips via Humvee while I was active duty. Raf was staring out at the hilly county side as we drove along. The interstate snaked through the hills, taking broad turns every now and again.

I couldn't help but notice that the Interstate was void of any vehicles other than my own. Normally when you have a crisis like a hurricane or say a giant wildfire, the roads going away are completely jammed with static vehicles, no so for Agent Six. It struck and killed so fast that people didn't have time to flee. It was creepy to think about, to be completely honest with you.

Time always dragged by for me on long car trips, this one was no different. Raf and I had developed a routine. Every time we stopped, I would fill the tank if the station in question had diesel pumps that still worked and Raf would look for food. It was around seven in the evening when I decided I just couldn't drive any further.

"Hey Raf?",I asked,"where's the nearest town?"

Raf flipped on his phone and began reading the map.

"About ten miles",he replied. I sighed,"well that's where were stopping tonight."

Raf didn't answer me. As the sunset and the temperature dropped, the windows went up, my sunglasses came off and the heater and headlights came on. It was only a couple of minutes before the I saw the sign.

"City of Stanford, next exit."

I switched lanes and soon came on the Interstate exit. I turned on the exit and drove for about three miles before the town came into view. It was one of those little towns with a population in the double digits. You never really hear about them and the only real evidence of their existence is a sign about ten miles away that says "next right", and they're so small you miss the damn things. I pulled into the driveway of the nearest house.

It was a tan brick single story house with severely untrimmed hedges an overgrown lawn. The shutters were closed and had chunks missing from them. This house had been abandoned for years.

"Just grab everything and go inside",I said yawning and rubbing my eyes.

"You okay Cameron?",Raf asked.

"Just tired",I replied,"all the driving has me so dead."

"I can imagine",Raf said as we hopped out of the pickup.

We grabbed the bags, flipped on our flashlights and walked to the door, which was unlocked. Upon entering, we encountered a plainly furnished room with only a blue sofa and wooden coffee table. The walls were painted blue and blinds covered the back windows. Out back, I could see a swimming pool.

"There's a pool out back",Raf said.

We locked the door behind us, set the bags on the coffee table and went to check out the pool. The water was crystal clear, cold too, but it looked appealing. Raf looked at me.

"I don't care",I said peeling off my plate carrier,"I'm going for it!"

I stripped down to my boxer shorts, grabbed a few light sticks from my vest and ran. Jumping over the side of the huge Intex pool and landing with a splash. I felt a cold feeling take me over.

"HOLY SHIT!",I shouted as I came up for air,"this is fucking cold!"

"How cold?",Raf asked.

"Come in and find out!",I shouted pulling him, still fully clothed, into the pool.

Raf quickly surfaced and threw his hair away from his eyes, splashing water at me once he saw me.

"That wasn't cool bro!",Raf shouted,"this is freaking cold!"

"Feels good doesn't it?",I asked laughing.

Raf didn't answer as he stripped off his soaked clothing.

"Were probably gonna get sick but I don't care",I said breaking the light sticks,"it's worth it to get rid of the muscle pains."

Raf smiled,"can't say I can argue with that one."

Raf and I soaked ourselves for about a half hour, after which we pulled ouselves out, dried off and changed into dry clothes. We searched the house for a bed room, finding a master bedroom with a king mattress and another room with a twin bed. I helped Raf bring the twin bed into the master bedroom after which we brought the duffles in and crashed onto the beds. Letting sleep take a welcome hold on our exhausted bodies.