Free Trying to Survive (Part 1) by C.J. Crowley Page A

noise on mistake during the night, or one of them gets curious and starts poking around – it could all be over... Something as simple as a sneeze can literally get us all killed.”
       “I agree. Not to mention, we can’t be the only survivors. There might be large groups of people with a lot of weapons and food working to keep each other safe. The government could have places set up, or something like that... We just have to get out there and look for them.”
       “Well, that’s what I’m planning to do. I’m gonna go check and see if the highway is clear – if not, we’ll find another way… But Walt and I decided it’s best to head north. There’s a possibility this could be confined to Florida. The government might be waiting to take us in at the state line or something.”
       She folded her arms and looked off to the side. “You really think this is only confined to one state?”
       “Honestly? No, I don’t. But I also feel there’s no sense in heading south. If we don’t find anything we’ll just have to turn around… and there’s always the chance.”
       Melanie began walking back into the room. “Sounds good to me. This place freaks me out anyway and I really don’t like being here. Like you said – too many windows.”
       As soon as she made it back to the kids, Walt came out into the hall. It was easy to see that he was still angry at me for going alone. “If you aren’t back in a half hour, I’m coming after you.” Even though he didn’t say it, I heard “asshole” at the end of his sentence.
       I smiled and put my hand on his shoulder. “Make it forty-five minutes. If I end up having to find a map so we can go another way, it might take some time. And I might as well stock up on food and water if I’m in a convenience store.”
       When I went to turn around, Walt grabbed my arm. He purposely squeezed down hard to make sure I took him seriously as he said “Forty-five minutes… and get batteries if you can. We might end up finding some flashlights.”
       He held on for a few more seconds and then shoved me away. I waved him off and called back “I’m sure I’ll be back even sooner than that. Don’t make yourself crazy and do something stupid.”
     
     

Chapter 7
     
       As I drove past the fifth gas station on my way to check out I-95, yet another new problem presented itself. I glanced down at the fuel gauge to see that it was nearing a quarter of a tank... Even if we can use the highway, we would still have to fuel up eventually.
       Almost every gas station I’ve ever been to had a large roof covering all the pumps so people could get gas during a storm. At first, when I wasn’t seeing the vast numbers of infected people that I’d prepared myself for, I took it as evidence suggesting my calculations were wrong. Then I discovered where most of them were.
       There were hundreds of them gathered at each of the gas stations around town, using the large roofs over the pumps to stay out of the boiling sun. The rest were inside the convenience stores, huddled together and just waiting for night to fall so they could hunt.
       Getting gas or even a map was going to require the use of our distraction technique. We needed a lot of time because one of us would have to figure out how to access the gas on the spot – if that was even possible.
       When I began to approach the main part of town, I found myself having to avoid a lot more abandoned and wrecked cars. Many of the infected were staying off to the sides of the road near the trees, and the others sought out shade anywhere there could. Almost every building I passed show signs of being breached.
       As the local hardware store came into sight, it gave me a new and much safer idea. I took my foot off the gas and rolled down the window so I could see if it was safe to go inside. My plan was to get some rubber hosing so we could siphon gas from the cars scattered around the Vet’s