Sarah took the company to a hotel that was mostly intact. Rooms were plentiful and the bedding was messed up, but able to be put back together. Falling into the beds, the team breathed collective sighs of relief. The world had gone to complete shit already, but they were grateful for a place to rest after all the travel and the fighting and the team took full advantage of the minor creature comforts they could be afforded.
After getting a good night's sleep, the team woke up and got ready to hit the road again. Meeting at the vehicles the townspeople once again came to see them off.
"What's all this for?" Tom asked.
"The people wanted to thank you. We don't have anything to offer you, but we wanted to see you off." Sarah said.
"We don't need anything. But we appreciate the offer." Tom replied.
"The people felt they should do something. So they came. Some of them will actually be leaving for Dallas because of you." Sarah said.
"I hope they know it's a long and dangerous journey. But we have cleared a path of cars on one side of the highway. If they follow that, they should be able to get there reasonably fast." Derek said.
"That is even better. Thank you for everything you've done." Sarah said.
Shaking hands with people and graciously accepting their thanks, the team met with the people before loading up into their vehicles, and with the sound of the motorcycle ignition drowning out most other sounds, the team headed off from Flagstaff for the Grand Canyon.
Following 40 west, they eventually came to 64 going north and turned off to continue along this highway. It would take them directly into the Grand Canyon National Park so they could reach their destination. The drive was mostly smooth going as there was not much traffic on the road at the time the world events happened.
Finally reaching the entrance to the national park, there were elk in the road blocking their path which quickly scattered as they reached their initial destination. Getting to the gate, the park had clearly been abandoned completely as there was no one at the entrance to let people in and out. The arms of the gates were down blocking traffic and the team had to get out to lift them to let the vehicles go under.
"This truly is a beautiful place," DeeDee said. "The air is so clean and fresh with all the pine trees."
"I came here as a teenager with my family once on a road trip and it still seems mostly the same," Tom said. "We ate at that pizza hut there while we were here."
Tom indicated a restaurant attached to a theater near the entrance.
"It really is beautiful. I wish Texas was more like this." Kiera said taking in the picturesque scenery around them.
Driving into the park the team found a place to park near the edge of the canyon.
"So, where is this vending machine we are supposed to be looking for?" James asked.
"I'd imagine it's near there, where all those people are gathered," Derek said pointing to the bottom of the canyon.
A group of about a hundred people could be seen camping at the bottom of the canyon on a ledge that jutted out of a cave. Tents were set up with a fire in the middle of the camp showing they were working together in some fashion, but the tents were set up separated into what appeared to be groups of people amongst the group below.
"Guess we should go down and say hello," Tom said.
Everyone got out of the vehicles and went to the edge of the canyon.
"Sure is a long way down," Graham said.
"How the hell do we get there?" Kedron asked.
"There will be a trail here somewhere. They offer guided tours on donkeys to the bottom. We just have to find it." Tom said.
"Over there," Derek said pointing further down the canyon edge. "We can follow that path down to the bottom."
Moving to the trail that Derek had pointed out the team stared down at the narrow path that was beaten into the side of the cliff.
"Well, that doesn't look safe at all," James said.
"If donkeys can make it why can't we?" Tom asked.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
"I can think of some very load-bearing and four-legged reasons why," James replied.
"Don't be a princess. Get your ass moving." Jay said.
"After you old man," James said making room for Jay to go.
"Fine. I'll show you how it's done." Jay said moving forward.
"You realize you just let the guy with likely the highest dexterity go first and he'll make you look bad right?" Derek said to James.
"Hopefully he'll find the hazards as a rogue too," James said smiling at Derek.
"Was...was that an actual strategy you just used?" Derek asked completely surprised.
"I may not have many ideas, but when I do, they tend to be doozies," James replied.
Walking down the semi-treacherous trail, the teams watched every step they took as small stones fell over the sides of the trail and bounced down to the bottom of the canyon. Tom stared down the side at the rocks as they fell and the speed they picked up and his head began to spin.
"Don't look down, it makes it worse," Bobby said to him as he followed his gaze.
Tom turned back to face the canyon wall and closed his eyes for a moment.
"Not a fan of heights I take it," Bobby said not really as a question.
"Not afraid of heights, that's stupid. I'm afraid of the sudden stop at the bottom of the fall." Tom said.
Laughing Bobby put a hand on his shoulder, "I know that feeling. When we were parachuting into a warzone I was completely terrified. The commanding officer had to literally toss me out of the plane. You can do this. You don't just get over it, but it gets easier as you go down."
The team continued zig-zagging down the trail as it wound back and forth across the cliff face until they reached the bottom of the canyon. When they got there several of the team let out a sigh of relief. Looking around it was much harder to see where the group of people was gathered from the lower vantage point, but Derek remembered where they were and led the way toward the camp.
Even at the bottom of the canyon, the river running through it made the going rough, and they needed to be sure not to fall in at certain points. It was surly deep in some spots and had rapids. The camp was set up about two miles from where they came down into the ravine. With nothing to do but continue on, the team pushed forward.
"Are we almost there?" James complained.
"We'll get there soon. Let this be a lesson about how out of shape you are." Derek said.
"Look, I shoot guns at things. I don't need to be in shape." James said.
"Wrong, you need to be ready for something to come charging at you and work on yourself. This isn't the same sit on your ass and eat donuts at work world. You have to be ready to fight." Derek countered.
"But I like donuts," James whined.
"We all do, but Krispy Kreme likely didn't survive so you're just gonna have to do without," Tom said.
"It's really depressing thinking about all the places that didn't survive. I could really go for some Taco Bell right now," Bobby said.
"And get diarrhea on this lovely walk? No, thank you." Austin said.
"We never ate at them fancy fast food restaurants. We always had to eat what we grew on the farm." Clay said.
"That sounds horrible," James said.
"Why? Beef is awesome!" Clay said. "We could have steak anytime we wanted because we had our own herd of cattle."
"Ok, maybe awful was too strong of a word," James said thinking about the steak he ate in Amarillo.
"It's hard work. Especially when the government kept invading my cousin Tripp's field to mess with his Mary Jane plants." Clay said.
Everyone stopped and stared at Clay in confusion for a moment.
"You all grew weed on your farm?"
"Hemp is a great plant for all kinds of uses. It can be made into rope, clothes, flour, milk, lip balm, soaps, and so many other things. Of course, those damn cops came and burned it without thinking and got all the animals on the farm so high that they started eating their pens because they got the munchies." Clay said.
"That's some funny shit," James said.
"We didn't think so at the time. That got most of them out of their areas and into the fields where they started eating the crops. But looking back at it, that is pretty fucking hilarious." Clay said.
As they walked, they continued to talk about their lives and the things they missed most about the before time.
"It's hard to believe everything happened only about two weeks ago," Tom said.
"Life is so different now. If you had asked me if I would be walking through the bottom of the Grand Canyon two weeks ago I'd have said you were completely nuts." Kiera said.
"So many people died," DeeDee said, unable to stop the sadness she felt. "I don't even know how my family is doing."
"I think we've all felt the loss of some kind. It's hard to believe we are only finding like ten percent of people still alive when we get to places." Tom said. "It doesn't bode well for most cities."
"Well, we can't think about that now, we are almost there," Derek said trying to redirect the topic.
The team looked up and saw the ridge of the precipice that hung over the canyon in front of them. There was a small path to the far side of the extension that led up to the flat top. Walking over to it they were greeted by the sounds of people talking to each other and one man standing guard at the entrance.
"State your business here," The man said.
"We were here to see if we could help with the quest to restore the vending machines," Tom said.
"We probably got enough people. But you're welcome to come and see. You'll want to speak with Jake. He's the guy taking control of the whole area because he and his team got here first." The man said and moved to let them pass.
The group walked together into the camp that had been set up and most of the people around stopped to stare at them as they entered. It was a little unnerving as most of them looked at them with faces that said they were not there to play nice.
One man walked over to their group and introduced himself.
"Hey, I'm Zach. Nice to meet you. You all here for the quest as well?" Zach said extending a hand to shake.
Tom took the hand. "We are. I'm Tom and we thought we could help out by coming here. Though it looks like most of these people aren't too keen on getting much help."
"You got that right. Everyone is here mostly for the XP. Fucking selfish bastards. Sorry, I don't mean to sound too harsh, but I know their plan isn't going to work." Zach said.
"And what plan is that?" Derek asked.
"Throw parties at it until they win. We've already had about eight parties that never came back." Zach said.
"Eight?!" Tom said incredulously.
"Yeah, they go in, but they don't come out. Not sure why though." Zach said. "But come this way. I'll introduce you to Jake. Then you can get a better idea of what all is going on."