Free Worst Case Scenario by G. Allen Mercer

under the seat for the third time and then in her backpack one more time as she drove. The two-way radio was no longer in the Jeep.
    “I think it probably flew out when that guy attacked us,” Anna said.  She was still shaking from the attack.  Her nose was bleeding lightly and at least one of her eyes was swelling shut and turning black.
    “What was that, anyway?” Anna asked, while touching her nose repeatedly.
    Grace would never really know for sure what it was, but she had an idea.
    “It was some guys taking advantage of everything.  I think it was a roadblock, or something.  They were just looking for easy prey.”
    “Why would there be a roadblock?  Why would cops shoot at us?”
    “I don’t think it was like the cops or anything.  I think it was a gang of freakers.  You know, like a bunch of Mr. Miller whack job that look for an opportunity for anarchy and a reason to raise hell.”  She looked at Anna, hoping that she wouldn’t turn into one.  “If we had gone all the way down that street, Anna, they might have, like, killed us.”  Grace didn’t think that reasoning helped Anna feel any better.  “It’ll be okay,” she said to her friend, hoping it was true.
    Anna didn’t say anything, she just kept pinching her nose; it was most likely broken.  Grace left her alone and concentrated on driving around deserted cars.  She really wasn’t sure where they were, but acted like everything was okay.  She quietly thanked her parents for instilling in her a sense of calm while everyone else panics.
    Grace checked her watch, eager to be done with the day.  “Man, it’s like 2:40 AM, we need to stop and get some sleep.”
    The girls had been driving in a random direction for just over an hour.  Neither one knew where they were and Grace had a sinking feeling that the map had flown off the dash and out of the window with the two-way radio.  The map was marked where her house was and the routes around Birmingham that would be the easiest to get there.  She hoped it wouldn’t be found by anyone.
    “Let’s go down there,” Grace said, pointing at a dirt road on the right.  She reached under the dash and flipped the yellow parking lights on so she could see on the dirt road better. She had been driving by the light of the moon and had nearly hit at least one dear and a random car or two.
    “What ever,” Anna responded.  She was about to collapse for the night.
    They drove about five minutes on the dirt road and found a field with an open gate to the pasture.  She turned into the pasture and headed to a grove of oak trees at the end of the field.  She pulled under the largest tree and parked the Jeep there for the night.
    “I have some blankets, some hot hands and a pup tent that should keep us warm,” Grace offered, after pulling a hidden backpack from under the back seat.  “I’ve also got a first aid kit for your nose.”  She handed the kit to Anna.  “Here,” Grace cracked a rose-colored glow stick and handed it to her to see by.
    “Where did all this stuff come from?” Anna asked.  Taking the first aid kit and glow stick.
    “It’s my go-pack.  Some people call it a bug-out-bag.  My Dad insisted we all have one in our cars at all times.  It has everything that we might need for the next three days,” she said, silently thanking the paranoia of her parents.
    Anna hung the glow stick on the oversized side mirror of the Jeep to doctor her nose while Grace set up tent.  The girls then ate some of the food that they brought from Anna’s house and tried to forget the day; but that was hard to do.
    The Spring night was cool and they might have thought that it was even beautiful, except for the fact that half of the United States had been nuked, Anna’s parents were most likely dead, they were attacked twice, Grace had shot two men and now they were camping in a field, eating sliced turkey and soft drinks they had taken from a house where a dead man rotted in the