Chapter 8

It's been three days since Mikayla and I set out together to find my family. We haven't had any close calls yet unless you count me twisting my ankle after tripping on a speed bump scouting a general store, or the time I shut my hand in the car door, but we are going to have to stop soon to find more supplies and fuel.

We have made it about halfway through Missouri. The further north that we travel it seems the worse the cities are. We are coming up to a large city and I know we will have to find somewhere to stop. It turns out that Mikayla is only 14 so I haven't let her drive any yet. No offense to her, we just can't risk losing the only means of transportation that we have apart from walking.

I'm trying to come up with a game plan to maneuver the city since it's going to be getting dark soon when I'm pulled from my thoughts. I glance over to see that Mikayla has woken from her nap.

"How far have we made it?" She rubs her eyes and yawns as she asks.

Not far enough...

I yawn in return and try to think in terms of miles to guess how far we've come from the town I found her in.

"I'd say at least 250 miles. We still have close to 150 left if my memory is correct." I glance at her again to see she is deep in thought now.

Suddenly she turns in her seat. "Have you given any thought to what we are going to do... if... you know, things don't go as planned when we reach your aunt's house?"

"Honestly, no. I'm trying to keep my hope because it's the majority of what is keeping me going." I suck in a deep breath before continuing. "I guess we can talk about it though. If we don't", I have to pause before talking more. I feel like I'm bringing down bad juju even letting the idea be present in my mind. "If we don't find any of my family, then what do you think we should do?"

She looks at her hands in her lap, picking at her nails, a nervous habit I assume. "Well... we could always look for more living people. Maybe find somewhere to stay long-term?"

I nod. Her words are implanting in my brain. It's not a bad idea to try and make a settlement. We will need more people to make it work long-term though. I shake my head a little, casting the thoughts to the side for now. Right now, my focus should be finding my family and making sure we survive the trip to find them.

Mikayla suddenly yells, drawing my attention back once again. "Hey, watch out!"

It's too late though. I'd been managing to dodge the cars littered on the interstate headed into the city, but I wasn't focusing on the road itself. I barely had time to hit the brakes before the crazed man that appeared in the road was in front of my car and it wasn't enough to stop our momentum. The tires screeched and I instinctively threw my arm across the front to clutch Mikayla as my other desperately turned the wheel. The front end of the car made contact with the man and all that I saw was his body crumple to the ground. My ears hardly registered the thump of his body being slammed by my car due to the ringing from fear.

The car must have been stopped for a while before I realized my foot was still on the brakes and I was still clutching Mikayla, staring at the spot where the man had been standing just moments ago. She must have been in shock too because neither of us moved until she spoke.

Thank god for seat belts.

"Oh my god." Barely above a whisper, I almost didn't hear her. It was like my body was jump-started. I threw the car in park and fumbled with my seat belt, my hands shaking so bad I was having trouble pushing the button to release it. I jumped out of the car and pulled my knife just in case before walking around to the other side of the car.

Immediately the knife fell from my hands and I covered my mouth, tears already forming in my eyes. Mikayla finally got out of the car and when she came around, she was even more shocked as well.

Lying on the ground, gasping for air and clearly in pain, was another human. Another surviving human that I just hit with my fucking car.

What have I done?