FSE

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For the first time since we'd started this trip, I woke up without a general stiffness throughout my body. I had discovered in Delta Force that cold water had a knack for relaxing tense muscle, which is why my Dad and I always took cold showers after training. Other guys questioned us for it and we would explain it to them, but they never believed us. Though I'd slept well, I was still tired, didn't want to get out of bed. Don't be lazy, you've got shit you gotta do if you wanna keep your brother alive. I glanced down at Raf. He was sound asleep wit a light snore. Don't wake him, let him sleep.

I threw aside my covers and sat up. The sun was coming in through the dew covered window and the wind carried the rank smell of rotting trash and meat on it. I wondered if this was all we would ever smell again, the smell of rot and death. I slid out of bed. The sharp air put goosebumps allover my legs and arms, allowing a shiver to creep up my back. I forced myself to dress quickly, sliding on a pair of blue jeans, a red long sleeved shirt and my jean jacket with desert tan patches on the elbows. I slipped on socks and my boots before walking from the bedroom to the outside of the house.

In the light I had a good view of the neighbor hood. It was like you might find in any suburb. Matching, single story houses with large family cars parked out in the driveway. To be honest, I hated the city and the whole idea of city life. I'd grown up in the desert areas of Texas, hunting and camping on the weekends with my parents. Whenever we went camping, I'd lay wedged between Mom and Dad and Dad would point out star clusters and explain to me what they met in different cultures, Stargazing as he called it. Why am I placing Dad in past tense?

I popped the hood of my Chevy and secured it in place before removing the items I'd scavenged at the gas station. Oil was first. I slid under the truck to get at the oil filter easier and unscrewed it. The oil that came out was absolutely filthy. I'd had dirty oil in this truck before, due to the fact Dad and I used to go to the sand dunes allot with Mom and Raf while we were home from deployment, but this was way nastier than anything I'd ever had. If oil in a vehicle get's dirty, gas mileage can go down, piston and head wear can increase and eventually the engine can lock up and become irreparable and worthless. I'm glad I caught it because I don't think my truck could have used this crap for much longer.

I moved on to wiper fluid as I let the oil drain out. I hadn't really checked my wiper fluid in a while, so it was better to check it now and not need to replace any than to need it and not have any. I unscrewed the blue wiper fluid cap and peered inside the reservoir, I'd say it was maybe ten percent to empty. I unwrapped the safety plastic from the wiper bottle and carefully poured every last drop of fluid into the tank, nearly causing an overflow. Next was transmission fluid. Since it was under a lot of pressure and heat from the last few days, adding in the fact that it had been frozen for three days, I wondered what the damage would be. I checked everything, the WD interface, transfer case, drivelines and the differentials. Thankfully, no damage had been done by the ice or the heat. I refilled the transmission fluid bottle and then turned my attention back to the oil. It had all drained out now, so I replaced the old filter with a new Mobil 1 filter and added a few quarts of Pennzoil Platinum, the stuff the Hennessy Venom GT used to go 270 miles an hour at Kennedy Space Center. If it was good enough for the world's fastest car, then it was good enough for my Avalanche.

I closed the hood with a loud thud and walked back inside to wake Raf. He was still sound asleep, even though it was almost noon. Was I really working on the truck for that long? Time flies when your busy surviving I guess. I knelt down and nudged my little brother awake. Raf woke with a moan.

"Hey buddy",I said quietly,"time to go."

"Raf rubbed his eyes,"Can we at least eat first?"

I smiled and laughed a little, it was nice that breakfast was on the top of the list of my brother's priority's. Something normal for a change.

"Yes we can eat first. Get dressed and I'll get the stove primed."

Raf rolled out of bed while I walked out into the living room. The duffle's were sitting on the coffee table. I unzipped the bag marked with a white knife and fork, pulling out the stove, a frying pan and the two bags of scrambled egg's and bacon MRE's. I set up the stove on the coffee table and primed it, bringing a small blue flame to life under the burners. I ripped open the MRE bag and poured the eggs into one pan while the bacon went into a separate one. Dad always did them together, but I never did. A smell was beginning to hang over the house as Raf walked out of the bedroom. He was dressed in the same outfit he'd worn on the start of our journey. His hair was messy and he looked tired.

"What smell's so good?",Raf asked.

"Bacon",I replied

Raf smiled,"even in the Apocalypse, bacon survives."

"Bacon is immortal",I said turning the eggs and the meat over,"it will be around long after Earth is gone."

Raf smiled again,"I don't doubt that for a second."

Raf sat down on the sofa adjacent to the coffee table and began playing my old PS Vita as I continued with cooking our breakfast. The two bags of MREs went a long way to satisfying the general hunger we'd felt since the second or third week of the pandemic. Dad had put a "eat once a day" policy in place to save as much of our food as he could for as long as he could. He and I were busy downtown, assisting the CDC and Police in crowd control, so we hardly felt it. Mom and Raf, however, were hurt by it

After breakfast Raf helped me clean the pans and stove off before packing up the bags and truck. I shifted my Chevy into Rear Wheel Drive reverse and backed out of the driveway of the house before shifting into first and soon we were on the road, looking for a way out of town. I didn't know what it was like for Raf when he looked out over the deserted landscape, but for me it was like being back in the middle east. The town's we'd go through would always become devoid of human activity right before an ambush. I kept expecting guys with AK-47's to jump out at us. It drove me crazy. It was like a war movie set, but in real life. Were those early documentaries?

Raf exclaimed,"you ran a stop sign!"

Out of a startled reaction, I slammed on the brakes and shot my brother a glare.

"Are there any cops around?",Raf giggled.

I smiled and downshifted into first gear,"I outta toss you out this truck for that."

Raf smiled and laughed at me,"Take a joke."

I plugged my phone into the car's audio system and began playing Magnum 1's Dust Of Time album and Raf turned it up so loud I thought my ear drums were gonna explode. How he could stand it so loud astounded me to no end. I cruised my truck on the on ramp of I81 North and made a U Turn to get onto I81 South. Hitchhikers lay in ditches and a few unoccupied cars, or unoccupied as far as I could tell, hugged the side of the road. Other than us, rats, crows and a opossum that was up early crossing the street, I81 belonged to me. I watched the gas gauge ebb to half full. Need diesel soon.

"Gonna have to get some diesel soon",I said.

Raf reached down underneath his seat and pulled out one of the survival guides I kept in the truck.

"Chapter seven",he said,"we sip on it."

I shook my head,"uh, come again?"

"We sip on it",Raf repeated.

"Oh",I said getting the message,siphon it little brother."

"Yeah",Raf replied,"with the tubing."

"You'll get high and die",I replied.

"What?"

"In Delta we had a saying, sip, you get high and die",I replied,"gasoline and diesel have corrosive properties to them, or the vapors do. If you get any of that in your stomach, you'll get high as vapors eat your stomach lining, trust me, it's not fun, so you don't do it."

"So how do we get gas from other cars?",Raf asked.

"Well you can cut the fuel lines going from the tank or punch a hole in the tank itself",I replied.

"Next truck we see",Raf said,"let's get out and investigate, I wanna see you do that."

I smiled as I shifted into sixth gear,"it's fine with me."

Fears that the only cars on the road would be gasoline, empty or contain festering, decomposing piles of Agent Six that were once people went unspoken. The worst case scenario was that we'd up stalled a few days while I looked for diesel.

"Hey, there's a state patrol truck up there." Raf pointed. "Someone's in there."

I honked my horn. If there was a officer alive in his truck, he'd respond for sure. "No movement",I said.

"Is he dead?",Raf asked.

"Most likely",I said downshifting and pulling to a stop.

"That sucks, to die out here waiting for speeders?"

I pulled to a stop and shut off my pickup, handing the manual back to my brother. "You pack my fuel shipon pump?"

"Yeah",Raf said,"orange pump, looks like a bike tire pump, black and clear hose?"

"That's the one",I said undoing my seat belt.

"Yeah",Raf said,"It's in the tool bag."

Raf slid out of the truck's side door, like this was his routine. I slipped on my vest over my jean jacket, grabbed my gun and walked to the trooper's car. I couldn't tell what was holding his hat up. The headrest, maybe? I pulled on the handle, but the door didn't budge.

"Crap",I said,"it's locked."

Raf walked up with the pump and the crowbar in his hand. "Here",he said handing me the crowbar.

I wedged the crow bar in between the door and yanked. The door flew open. The trooper fell out, his head cracking open as he hit the concrete highway.

"Gross!",Raf shouted backing away.

I held my Shemagh over my nose and mouth to guard against the rank smell as I unlocked the hatchback of the troopers Suburban. I slammed the door shut and walked back over to my Chevy, gagging on the smell.

"That is so fucking nasty",I said huffing,"I need a gas mask."

A flock of crows had settled above us, interested in our activity or just dinner. Freaking disgusting. Upon searching the truck, I found a blanket,which Raf' used to cover up the cop's body a black duffle bag. It contained a metal gas can, a large pair of bolt cutters, a few packages of emergency flares and a few clips of 9mm ammo. I also took the officer's CB radio, personal radio and sidearm, which went into the glove box, while Dad's .45 went back under the seat.

"Now we get to the gas",I said walking around to the back of the officer's truck.

I lay on my back underneath the truck. With some groping and visual searching, I located the fuel lines.

"Come down here Raf"

Raf lay on his back and slid under the truck.

"You see these two tubes I've got a hold on?",I asked.

"Yes."

"With other cars, you have to look and search, but on the Chevy Suburban, this is where there located. Now getting fuel from this particular vehicle is as simple as this."

I pulled my knife from it's sheath and slit open the two fuel lines, quickly plugging them and reseathing my knife before sticking the hoses into the can and letting the diesel flow into our commandeered fuel can. "And it's simple as that."

"Cool!",Raf said excitedly, as if I'd asked him to eat a whole tub of Ice Cream. Damn do I miss that.

The Suburban's tank was filled to the brim. I had enough to top off my truck's tank as well as a full can left once the tank was finally dry. How long is my luck gonna last, realistically?

I stowed the half full diesel can in the back of the truck with the rest of the item's we'd scavenged from the cop's car and moved on. Raf passed his time by playing Borderlands 2 on my old PS Vita, listening to music he'd ripped from my CD's to his phone, or just staring vacantly out the window.

The day wound on with vacant interstate travel. We snaked through hills which gradually turned into mountains as we entered the more forested area of New York and finally made it into Pennsylvania. We stopped for lunch and looked around the welcome center, retrieving only a map of the state highways before getting on the road again. The sun's arms gradually grew as the day aged. Shadows were cast on the empty street by my pickup and the few birds that glided overhead. I knew the grid was down out here from the various gas pumps and lights I'd tried throughout the day. Without energy to generate the ambient hue of lights signature of major cites, Dusk was my early warning system for a deeply disorienting black night to come. Not driving through the mountains, can't, too risky.

"Were gonna have to stop for the night little brother",I said,"I don't want to drive through the mountains at night because it's just too risky."

"Don't forget about snow.",Raf replied. Damn, how'd I forget that?

"Yeah",I replied,"been pretty cold most of the day, you pack our Therma-Rests?"

"Yup",Raf replied.

"Find a hotel for comfort or sleep in the truck so we can stop sooner?"

"Truck",Raf replied,"always did want to go camping, but you and Dad were away on deployment 356 out of 365 days of the year."

It pained me to admit, but my and Dad's military careers had ruined Raf's childhood. He maybe got to see us nine days out of the year, if he got lucky. But Dad and I always made sure, even if it met busting our CO's nuts, that we were home for his birthday and every holiday that I got when I was little. We had been tossing around the idea of leaving Delta by his seventh birthday, and were out by then. Then Agent Six started shortly after his ninth and Dad and I made the decision to step back in, even though it was unofficial, to help with the crisis. That decision, ultimately, had led to my father's death.

The next rest stop we found we pulled in. Five cars dotted the parking lot along with a few semi trailers. I could see shadowy figures in some of the semi's, while the cars were empty. Don't check the semi's, believing they may be empty means better sleep, the hotel was more than enough.

"Let's go hit the vending machines!",Raf shouted exiting the pickup. I grabbed my M4 from the rig in the center console and followed after him. Nothing seemed vandalized. The rest area reminded me of the New Your welcome center. There were two covered areas in a valley down below with several picnic tables set up for travelers. The two main buildings were each two stories high with main centers on the bottom floor and from what I could see, I assumed lookout areas on top. The outside of the area was done with dark wood chips, small Ceder trees, flowers and rocks. The concrete sidewalks were well kept and a blue railing surrounded it. There were burglar bars on the main doors of the buildings, but they were unlocked, allowing passage inside. Raf was already inside, peering inside the vendors.

"The snack one is full!",Raf shouted.

I raised my rifle and brought it's solid steel backed stock crashing into the glass of the machine, allowing Raf full access to the goodies inside.

"Watch the glass",I said smiling,"I used enough gauze on your foot."

"You enjoyed smashing that glass",Raf said laughing,"way to much."

I laughed,"steal your chips little brother."

Raf went to work on the vending machines, while I drained the big rigs of their diesel fuel and hid their driver's bodies, the last thing I needed was Raf having a nightmare that involved zombies.

We made several trips to the truck, before eating dinner in the bed by battery operated lantern. It consisted of Veggie Lasagna MRE's, chips, Sno Balls, nasty, and root-beer, most of which was chugged by Raf.

A loud yawn broke Raf's mouth.

"You okay little brother?",I asked.

"Yeah",Raf replied yawning again,"I'm just sleepy and my foot still hurts."

"I should check it in the morning",I replied,'make sure it hasn't gotten any worse."

Sleepy underestimated my exhaustion. I felt like I was back in basic training. Dad was my drill Sargent, and he made my life a living hell. It made sense though, now that I've put it to use so many times. If Dad hadn't given me such a hard time in basic, would I have been prepared for this? Maybe not, maybe the brain eating parasite would have gotten me too. At least in basic I could relax after we got let off and sleep. The last few days with Mom I'd slept maybe two minutes at a time before her screaming started again. I was starting to see double, I needed sleep, but could I get it out here? I freaking hope so, it would suck giant elephant nuts if we survived a brain eating parasite, only to be killed in a car wreck because I fell asleep at the wheel.

Raf and I brushed our teeth in the women's room. The men's room was full of more bodies than I cared to move and again, nightmare's were the last thing Raf needed. "Wash your face too",I said. God I sound like Mom.

"Yes Mom",Raf teased. I found myself tensing with the cold. I'd say it was around forty or so degrees, but the howling wind carried a chill factor that dropped it it feeling like twenty below. Raf was going blue do to his shorts and sleeveless shirt.

Instead of sleeping in the truck, I pulled it around back to hide it and Raf and I set up our Therma-Rests on the second story of the Welcome Center's main building. I set up a small propane powered space heater and soon the small room we were camping in was warm, comfortable even. Raf and I changed into thermal underwear and regular long-sleeved night shirts and flannel pants went over them. Though I hardly ever slept with socks on, I did tonight because it was cold out. I cracked a few light sticks and tossed them around the room before Raf and I climbed into our sleeping bags. For the first time in a while, I was comfortable, hydrated and fed, three things that had not been simultaneously present for the past month.

"Night Raf",I said,"let's get some real sleep and then move in the morning, see if we can clear the mountains."

"Night Cameron",Raf replied,"sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite."

I wiggled around in my sleeping bag,"no bedbugs here."

Raf laughed lightly before fluffing his pillow. I checked under mine, making sure my handgun was set for full auto, loaded and in battery with the safety on. My stuffed turtle was under there too, right next to my handgun. I lay back on my pillow and in minutes I was asleep.