The Ashes: an Eden prequel Read Free Page B

as I toss my pack into the passenger seat and start it up.  I back out of the garage and pull onto the suburban street.
     
    40°6’30.28”N  71°32’24.79”W
     
    Darkness falls, making the world outside feel all the more ominous.  I keep my headlights off, just to be safe as I drive down the highway.  I haven’t the faintest idea where I’m going or what I’m going to do.  I just know that I’ve got to get away from people.
    Getting away from people means getting out of the city.
    I flip the radio on.
    The auto search scans through channels.  It finds some station playing oldies, but after listening for twenty minutes or so, I never hear a DJ come on the air.  It must be a recording.  I push the seek button again and listen to silence for a few moments.
    “—recorded broadcast,” a voice blares through the speakers.  It’s scratchy and threatens to cut out.  “The outbreak has spread through all fifty US states.  Reports in Mexico, Canada, and many European countries—”  The radio starts to cut out.  “—ator Biotics is currently under investigation.  However, most employees have fallen to the infection.  It is being reported the war efforts in the southern United States have ceased, unresolved.  No reports on the war in Asia or Europe.”
    The broadcast ends with the time and date the message was recorded.  Twenty-two days ago.
    My guess is that there isn’t anyone left to update the broadcast.
    I flip the radio off and stare at the dark road ahead of me.
    It’s been years since I’ve driven in the area so I have to go off of my sense of direction and a mental map of the state to try and avoid the more densely populated areas.  But when you live out this direction you can’t avoid city.  When I see signs for the next town, I press hard on the gas, watching the speedometer creep up past the one hundred mile per hour marker.
    There are cars abandoned on the sides of the freeway.  They’re mangled and crunched, just like the police car I left back at Aunt Stella’s.  Apparently I’m not the only one they’re attacking.
    I keep an eye out for any movement.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do if I see anyone else out driving, or see anyone who looks like they might still be human.  I guess I’ll deal with that when the time arises.  But for now I’m just going to get out of the metro area as quickly as possible.
    I drive for another two hours when a loud beeping sound from the car makes me jump violently.  I look down at the dash to see a red light telling me to refuel.  The needle on the gas gage is overlapping the empty line.
    Pounding a fist on the steering wheel, I curse under my breath.  I’ve still got about two hours before I’m out of this crowded part of the country and into the beginnings of the cover of the mid-west.
    I have no choice but to look for whatever exit has gas signs.  I keep my headlights off and I can barely see the road as I pull off the ramp and come to a stop at the intersection. 
    There are cars on the road everywhere, abandoned.  I look both ways, seeing only empty roads.  Spotting a gas station to the right, I turn the wheel.
    I roll up to the station slowly.  Many of the street lights have been taken out along the road, but there are two still on in the overhead cover.  I debate for a second after parking, but end up pulling out one of the handguns and taking the two remaining lights out.  The moon is barely half full, but it provides just enough light to see by.
    I grab Uncle Rich’s wallet from my pack and pull out his shiny silver card.  Praying the pump is still working, even with no one to attend it, I slide the card in and out.  Both to my relief and panic it beeps loudly and asks me to select a fuel type.
    While the gas fills the tank, I take both the ancient rifle and a handgun to scope out the inside of the gas station.  Keeping out of full view of the windows, I peer around the corner and inside the building.
    I