After stocking up on fresh coffee and a few other supplies, Rob and Max were back on the Interstate, headed north. The highways were moving slowly, but they were still moving.

"How was the store? Were you able to get your people away in time." Max asked.

Rob chuckled, "We ran out of stuff long before that became an issue. I just hope that all of them have the sense to get out of town, or at least to the shelters in time. Some of the younger ones I worry about. The older ones remember Andrew."

"What about the stories about people getting sick around Huston? Do you believe that?"

"Some days I just want to turn off the news and live my life. I'm not sure what to believe about that, but any time you put thousands of people together without their normal comforts, things are bound to go wrong in ways no one planned for. It's possible, but it's more likely they'll see outbreaks of whatever is already there because they can't keep ahead of it like they would if all the systems were in place. I'm just glad I'm here and we're headed to safer places."

"So it might not be as bad as they're saying?

"Or it might be worse and they are trying to keep people from panicking. The Spanish Flu wasn't called that because it was worse in Spain, but because they didn't have the wartime censorship in place. One of the worse outbreaks was traced to an army base right here in Kansas, but censorship kept it out of the national media."

"Kind of scary to think they would do something like that. Keep news under wraps when the information could help people."

"Sometimes yes, but they also have to weigh that against creating panic that makes it worse."

"Not a decision I'd want to have to make." Max shuddered. "Either way you go, people are likely to die."

"People are going to die regardless. You have to try to make the best decisions you can with the information available in the moment, and hope you made the right call."

"How do you know?"

"Sometimes you don't. Sometimes only history can be the judge of that."

"Have you ever had to make those choices. Have you ever had to make a choice and someone died because of it?"

"A few times. Sometimes I was right...other times I'll never know. Sometimes all you can do is console yourself that it could have been much worse."

"That's...I don't know. I hope I never have to be there."

"I hope no one ever did, but sometimes we don't get to make those choices, and we do what we can." Rob shook his head. "But enough moping about things we can't change. How is school going?"

"Way to change the subject there, Mr Smooth." Max laughed. "School is okay. Never thought I'd enjoy engineering, but I guess I've always liked building things."

“What do your parents think about your shift in Majors?"

"I'm not sure yet. It sounds like they're proud, but at the same time, I'm leaving 'the family business', and I think that kind of hurts them."

"Well, for what's it's worth, I think the world needs more engineers than lawyers." Rob said with a laugh.

“I guess, but after this many generations, I think mom would have liked to see me follow her."

"How about your dad? Where is he on this? Caught in the middle?" Rob inquired.

"Luckily I didn't follow him into education, so he's safely on the sidelines for this one. No one in the family went into engineering, so there's no real bias."

"Then why did you decide on that?"

"I always liked building things as a kid, and I guess I got tired of the excuses for things falling apart where I've lived, so I figured I could do something about it. Plus engineers get to build things that stick around. They may not get their name at the top of the building, but they're the reason the building doesn't fall down." Max said with obvious pride.

"Well, here's hoping this is short lived and you can get to building your monuments." Rob said with a smile.

"Yeah, here's hoping I'm not burdening my parents for two long. That would suck. Family is usually great...in small does." she said. How about you? Any family nearby?"

"Nope, all spread out across the west. We're more country folk. Ranches and mountains. A few on the west coast."

"How did you end up all the way out here."

"Well, there was this girl..." Rob trailed off. "I'm kidding, I was out here visiting a friend, fell into a job helping a few people, and sort of retired into the place. Didn't really plan on staying, but here I am. Funny how life takes you places. Now I have a cabin up north for when the mood strikes me, and I take some time to visit the folks when I can."

"Sounds pretty ideal.” she said.

"It'll do for now." Rob nodded at her phone. "Any messages from the folks?"

"Nothing as of the last stop. I'll check again." She picked up her phone and started paging through her various emails and social media accounts.

What to do? Rob thought. What if they couldn't track the folks down? What if they got to their place and it looked like they had gone to find Max? They'd likely have to hunker down and wait at least for a bit. If the storm seemed especially bad, he figured they could both head to his place and leave messages with Max’s folks to follow if possible. Rob had stocked the place for his occasional retreats. It wasn't luxurious, but it could keep a few people relatively comfortable for much longer than the storm was likely to last. He chuckled to himself. One of the benefits of being a manager at a grocery store was having an arrangement with the owner to bring in things much cheaper than they would have been otherwise. Enrico, the owner, had told Rob that he could bring in pretty much whatever he wanted on the store's accounts, as long as Rob paid for them and the store didn't get stuck with anything. Rob respected that and used the arrangement to his advantage for a few things.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Nothing." Max said. "I'm getting worried that they're stuck somewhere with a flat and they don't have service."

"I guess anything is possible, but all we can do at this point is keep heading out of danger and hope that either we see them along the way, or they get your messages."

"I guess. I just wish I knew."

"I hear you on that, but either we keep driving, or we're putting ourselves in more danger, and we don't know that they aren't stuck in their driveway or helping someone else out."

"Maybe." she sighed.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

They pulled into a truck stop to stretch their legs and use the bathrooms. There were dozens of other vehicles doing the same. It looked like all of South Florida was on the road north.

When they got back in the truck, Max seemed a little paler than before.

"What's up?" Rob asked."People inside. They were talking about all sorts of scary things. People getting sick. Some said they heard Martial Law was being declared. Someone said the police were shooting people and the National Guard was coming. Apparently California is on fire.”

"Well the National Guard bit is true." Rob said. Max gaped at him. "Think about it. Every time there's a big disaster, what's one of the first things they do? Send in the National Guard. They can get large numbers of people in place quickly who can set up huge hospitals in a few hours, plus they can feed hundreds or thousands faster than anyone else. All it takes is for some mouthpiece who either doesn't know any better...or who wants to stir things up, to start mouthing off about Martial Law and all of a sudden you have people reaching for their guns...with bad outcomes."

"I guess." Max temporised.

"...and the sickness, that's likely the stuff we were hearing about before. It didn't come to much after Andrew or Katrina, so it likely won't now. After all, we're mostly a first world country." He said.

"Yeah, I guess so. It just gets me to worrying.""Let's worry about the important things, like if the next rest stop has toilet paper, or if that coffee is still hot."

"End of the world and you're focussing on toilet paper and coffee?"

"Well, without toilet paper and coffee, it just might 'be' the end of the world."

"True enough." She said.

Rob eased the truck back out into traffic, waving his thanks at the driver who let them in. He didn't want to dwell on a world without toilet paper and coffee. It was amazing how quickly humans seemed to take luxuries like smartphones for granted while overlooking the basics.

"Let me guess, you have both in the trailer?" Max said suddenly.

Rob smirked. "Both in the truck, more in the trailer. Can't be running out of the essentials.

"Is there anything you 'don't' have back there?" she asked.

"Well, I hope you're not planning on a big party, because I didn't pack much booze, no beer, and I'm pretty thin on chips and dip." he chuckled.

"Oh drat, did I not tell you? You're expected to entertain me and my entourage." Max waved around at the back seats filled with their bags.

"Hopefully I'll manage."

"So, what do you really have in here?" She asked.

"Mostly what you'd expect for an extended camping trip. A couple of heavy duty tents, lots of food, spare fuel, spare batteries, water, that sort of thing."

“No massive armoury for fighting off the zombie hordes?"

"Well, yes a few guns, for self defence. I hope they don't see the light of day, but they're here if needed."

"Really?" she asked quietly. "Do you think it might come to that?"

"Any time you put a bunch of people together under stress with no outlet and mix in a few guns...that's always a recipe for disaster. Take a look around and tell me what you see..."

"A bunch of stressed out people stuck on the Interstate with…oh, I see what you mean."

"Now imagine a road rage incident right now. Imagine what will happen if they have guns and decide to settle things right here on the highway?"

"Shit, that's nuts."

"People can get nuts under stress."

"Let's get out of here."

"Working on it." he said with a smile. "Speaking of which, could you pass me a water bottle?"

"Can you teach me?" she asked as she handed him a fresh bottle.

"Teach you? Teach you what? You’re the genius engineer who could likely teach me.”

She laughed. “How to shoot? I haven't held anything more than a BB gun, and that was when I was a kid. If things are really that bad, I'd like to at least know what I'm doing...or at least how to not shoot myself."

"Okay, I tell you what. Let's find your parents, and once we know they're okay, we’ll talk about that sort of thing. When this blows over I’ll take you down to the range, if you’re still interested.”

“Thank you.” She said, looking a little more settled.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“That’s not a good sign.” Rob said as they rolled into town.

They’d kept in front of the hurricanes for now, but many hadn’t. The news wasn’t good behind them. Florida had never been hit so hard, this time a Cat 5 hurricane running right up the centre of the peninsula, devastating the entire state. FEMA and the National Guard had pulled back, evacuating as many as possible, but no one had anticipated devastation on this scale. Combined with the aftermath of Harvey in the Gulf Coast states and the wild fires in California, tens of millions of Americans had been turned into refugees in their own country.

“Are those bullet holes?” Max asked as they drove past the burnt out wreck of an SUV.

“Yes, and well placed. Whoever was doing the shooting, they knew what they were doing. Maximum damage to the engine to stop them in a hurry, but not sending them out of control like a blown tire or dead driver might.”

“Let’s hope the good guys were doing the shooting.” Max shuddered. “Dad’s place is close, so maybe we can get some answers.”

Moments later they pulled up in front of Max’s parents place. It looked deserted.

Max jumped out and headed up the walk.

“Wait up a sec.” Rob called out.

Max turned back to him, a puzzled look on her face.

“Just in case.” Rob pulled a handgun out of the gun safe and checked the magazine. Satisfied it was ready, he slid it into the holster in the small of his back.

Max knocked. No answer. She unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Mom! Dad! It’s me! Rob drove me up!” she called out.

Silence echoed back. Max looked back at Rob. He nodded and drew his pistol before stepping past her. “Doc!” he called out. More silence.

Rob motioned for Max to stay on the step while he checked things out. He quickly cleared the house and stepped back out onto the front porch with her.

“No one and nothing I can see.” He said. “Any idea where they might have gone? Is he friends with anyone who might know?”

“I know he has some friends he goes shooting with, but I haven’t been up to see them as much as I’d like recently, with school and all.”

“Let’s check out the local clinic and PD. You said he’s still keeping his hand in there, and the police might know something.”

“Okay.” She said.

The clinic was deserted, and the rest of the public services building seemed empty as well.

“Now what?” Max asked.

“How many people in this town do you know? We’re still in the hurricane’s path and we need to find shelter or keep moving.”

“Dad made us have what he called a bug-out number in our phones in case we had to evacuate up here and we couldn’t find them, so I guess this qualifies.”

“You have a talent for understatement.” Rob deadpanned. “Now would be a good time to try that number.”