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The mighty glow of the great orange orb coats the road with heat as it rises, and you welcome any breeze for a momentary reprieve. If the Weather Channel was still broadcasting, they would be reporting a heat wave in Colorado. Strange world—a week ago, snow covered the ground. Then again, a week ago the dead weren't walking the earth.

Your team of survivors moves to their vehicles to continue the journey to parts unknown. As the chorus of starting engines rise, a loud thunk sounds from the lead vehicle. A hissing sound spreads from the minibus, followed by steam shooting from its front end. You rush over as Jaime pops the old metal hood and a white plume puffs in the air, followed by a stream of darker air.

"Damn it. What now? What now?!" Jaime shouts, his voice rising in frustration with each word.

"The doohickey there must be overheatin' like Hades's balls," Woody says as he peers into the engine block. "We should add water to the whatchamacallit."

You move beside Woody and fan away the smoke. First, you tap the engine and yank your hand back from the scorching hot surface. The radiator isn't cooling it. To check the coolant, you'd need to let the engine cool, but you see a pool of fluid beneath the reservoir. To make matters worse, one of the hoses has a huge hole.

"Bad news. The engine is overheating, most likely because of problems with the radiator," you say.

"What do we do?" Jaime asks, squinting like he's in pain.

"We could see if we can take some spare parts from other vehicles around here, but even if we do, the radiator might be blocked. We'd need to replace it."

Rachel darts up to the group. "So how's the truck? We really should get going. This is a terrible spot for us to be sitting in. We're far too unprotected."

Jaime pushes off of the minibus and sops up sweat with a rag over his forehead. "Not good at all. We're stuck. The engine is fried. We're not moving until it's fixed. Not like we can call a tow truck."

"We are quite exposed out here," Rachel says. "Anyone can come from either direction along the highway. If we're stuck, we need to move to cover. I'll gather everyone up."

"What if people do come by who can help us?" Parker says as he moves closer to the small circle you've created by the smoking minibus. "I know it's the minority opinion, but good people are still out there. And every slasher-horror movie starts with a car breaking down and people going into the woods."

"Why can't we all just decide on our own what we want to do?" Kelly states. "Some of us can stay with the cars, some can go to the woods, or whatever. We're all smart people who can make up our own minds."

"What we need is a leader," Woody chimes in. He props his foot on the minibus's front bumper. "No offense to any o' y'all, but yer forgettin' that the most capable organizations, from small tribes to whole countries, are run by a single person with advisers. We can't run all willy-nilly. Too many of us for that now."

The group grows quiet as everyone contemplates Woody's words. After a solid minute of silence, you say…