They were soon out of Indiana and kept going. Danny was so relieved to be out of there and felt a weight lifted off of him. Tyrone continued to receive reports of conditions ahead and reroutes. Danny assumed it was from the Priest, but he didn't ask. He still felt bad from earlier.

Most of the time he still stayed in the back, although he was free to roam outside his cubby hole now. ScarLo still visited with him and they had more room to try new things. Tyrone didn't seem to care.

But there was one area of concern: Tyrone was clearly exhausted and the trip getting to him. They barely stopped to sleep ever and Danny realized and Tyrone drove all the time. ScarLo never had. Now that Danny could drive, he offered, but Tyrone had flatly refused.

"I know how to navigate and how to understand the directions when I get reports from our contact" he had said, heavy bags under his eyes, sluing his words.

When they arrived at the West Virginia border, there was another National Guard check point. Danny played the guard and the role and his Immunity Pass worked perfectly. They were able to leave, thinking they had avoided any shake down, when the man in charge tapped the driver's side window.

"Tyrone, right?" the man asked.

Tyrone had nodded with exhausted eyes.

"Look, I'm not going to steal from you. I'm not going to take from you... But the state of West Virginia sure could use some of what you have back there".

Tyrone considered and nodded. He pulled two of the boxes with actual PPE out of the back and handed them over, leaving them with very few boxes left.

"All I can spare" he said. "They assume we'll have to give up some on the road and we've given up a lot already... they really need it up there".

The solders thanked him and let him go.

West Virginia was different. Things were calmer there. No infected roamed the streets. The Guardsmen at the road block had said as much. Every road into the state was blocked and only those with the right paperwork were allowed inside.

About 20 miles outside Charleston Danny was fast asleep in his cubby hole dreaming, but it was more of a nightmare.

He was riding shot gun with Tyrone and it was night. Ahead of them a figure appeared in the headlights: an infected.

Danny turned to Tyrone and Tyrone turned back and said "well, look at that" and the bags under his eyes began to droop down so far that they seemed to melt to the ground and Tyrone began to grow claws and hair and a nightmarish form took over. Danny did not know Xir then, but he knew it was him now.

Danny awake to ScarLo screaming. "Tyrone! Look out!"

The van jerked as ScarLo grabbed the wheel, but not before it had smashed into the guard rails and barely avoided flying in a ditch. Tyrone awake from falling asleep at the wheel in a panic and tried to regain control while in the back Danny was flown from the cubby hole as the contents of the back of the van went flying, including the gas cans, which came open and soaked Danny in gasoline and began to spill their contents on the floor.

The van came to a screeching halt and Danny pulled himself up and then scrambled to pick up the gas cans, but most of the contents had leaked out. The entire back smelled like gas.

ScarLo and Tyrone raced out and ran to the back, flinging the back doors open to check on Danny.

"You okay man!?" Tyrone said, in a panic. His eyes were wide with heavy bags and circles. "I'm sorry... I must have fallen asleep at the wheel..."

Tyrone smelled the gas.

"Oh fuck the gas!"

Danny came out the back. The fumes began to get to him and he was having trouble breathing. He began to throw up on the side of the road.

As ScarLo checked on him, Tyrone surveyed the damage to the van: it was just body damage, thankfully.

After a few minutes Danny was fine. He'd had to strip off the guard uniform and change clothes. He still smelled like gas, though. Now they all did and the van definitely did.

'We need to find a place to crash for the night" Danny said.

"We can't do that. We have to..."

"Dude" Danny said, frustrated. "You're in no shape to drive. You haven't slept in... what...4 days? I smell like gas. The back of the van is full of gas. We have to clean it up. I can't stay back there..."

Tyrone looked at Danny and looked at the van and then back, sighing.

"OK, ok... but we can't stay on the side of the road".

They got back in the van and went back down the road looking for a safe place. To their surprise, they found an old road side motel: The Pixie Dust.

The entire hotel was painted bright orange and was straight out of the 1960's. The old neon signed, featuring what looked like Tinkerbell, was turned off.

"Think it's abandoned?" ScarLo asked.

"If it is it's since the virus... looks pretty well upkept..." Tyrone replied.

They decided to pull into the hotel. If they couldn't access a room, they could at least park beside it and sleep in the van. They pulled in and stopped and got out to look around. It didn't take long before the cock of a shot gun interrupted the silent night.

"What y'all doing?" came the voice of an old woman. "Ain't nothin' to loot here, I can promise ya that..."

From the shadows came on old woman in jeans and a tank top. She clearly wasn't wearing a bra, giant saggy tits pulling down her clothes. Her hair was smokey gray and the smoke arising from the cigarette between her lipstick soaked lips seemed to be adding to it.

"We're just looking to get a room is all" ScarLo said, calmly. "We had an accident on the road and need to clean up and rest..."

The old woman looked at her for a moment and lowered her weapon.

"Ain't no rooms for rent here, honey" she said.

"Meaning you have no vacancy?" Danny asked, piping up.

"Meaning we ain't renting no rooms to anyone. Ain't no one besides me and Rufus...." she said.

"Rufus?" Tyrone asked.

"My dog. He's a mean one".

Tyrone nodded.

"So you're just not open at all?" Danny asked. "You don't want to make money?"

"Oh that's no the problem, hun. The problem is the money ain't no good no more. It's just paper. No one has anything worth anything to get a room".

"What if we did?" Danny asked, disappearing to the back of the van.

"Danny!" Tyrone muttered under his breath trying to stop him, but Danny paid him no mind.

Danny walked up to the old woman holding a box. She looked at it with intrigue.

"Whatcha got there?" she asked.

Danny opened it, revealing boxes of face masks.

Her eyes got wide she looked at him and then looked at ScarLo and Tyrone. She looked undecided then sniffed the air, then again. She smelled the gasoline all over Danny and frowned.

"I suppose you go a deal" she said, sighing. "Come to my office".

She introduced herself as Marjie. Her office was at the other end of the hotel. It was wood paneled with a dirty fish tank in the back ground that seemed devoid of fish and a couple of deer heads on the wall. Outside a Sundrop vending machine flickered as one of the lights inside teetered on the edge of burning out.

Despite it just being the three of them, the old lady insisted on doing everything by the books.

"Humor an old woman" she said, seeing the looks like their face as she asked them if they were smokers. "I missed this".

"Cable TV is out I'm afraid..." she told them.

They had an argument over the length of stay the masks would get them. Danny had argued for three nights and Tyrone hadn't wanted to stay more than one, insisting they had to stay on the road.

They settled on two.

The entire time a small white fluffy dog yapped at them from a nearby cage. The tag on its collar read "Rufus".

They had all agreed they should stick to one room.

The room was clean and from the inside you'd never know the apocalypse was upon them. They took hot showers and changed their clothes. There was a laundry room to their surprise with a vending machine with washing powder and dryer sheets. Danny wondered if the machine would only accept face masks, but it still accepted quarters.

They wanted their has soaked clothes and everything else while Tyrone got some much needed sleep. He would sleep for 18 hours straight while ScarLo and Danny took shifts. Before Tyrone woke up on the day they were suppose to check out they sat on a bench together outside and watched the sun rise over the trees. Danny had went to the soda machine and gotten out two NUGRAPES. The button he pressed was yellowed and the paper insert inside simply read "NUGRAPE" written in black marker.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

After awhile they set about cleaning the van of the gasoline. Marjie showed them where a water hose was and they washed out the back after taking everything out. What little gas remained in the cans they put into the van.

Tyrone came out stretching and yawning when they were done. Danny and Tyrone nodded at each other. There was no need to say words. They had been through a lot together. Tyrone then looked away. Danny wasn't sure then why but he would find out soon enough.

They were soon back on the road but Marjie imparted on them a final warning: "I'd stay away from the old high school if I was you. You'll drive right by it. Just keep driving".

They did pass by that high school. Danny was now sitting up front with ScarLo and Tyrone for awhile. It was an old, boarded up monstrous brick building. Tyrone slowed to a stop despite warnings and rolled down his window.

"Looks like just an old building to me..."

He stopped because he heard the moaning from within and then they saw the shadows between the boards. There were people inside...only it wasn't people...

"Is that..." Danny asked outloud.

"Infected" ScarLo said. "It's full of them".

That's when around the side Danny noticed the police van. There was a sound from the police scanner and Tyrone turned up the volume.

"Just loaded the latest one in" the voice in the other end said. "It's getting pretty full in there... You copy?"

"Copy. I guess we'll have to use the new high school soon" dispatch said. "Over".

"We're going to join the search. They can't be far" the voice said. "What was the make, model and tags again? Over".

"White cargo van. Colorado plates. Tag number Whiskey Echo Beta 7-8-9-0".

"Copy".

They all looked at each other with wide eyes.

"That bitch sold us out" Tyrone said and he sped off.

They had gotten lucky but soon their luck would run out. As they crossed into Pennsylvania their gas begin to get low and it became clear their break had cost them dearly.

It was the first time Danny had heard the communication between Tyrone and the priest directly. He'd thought it had been via phone but it turned out Tyrone had a large, military style radio. It looked like a satellite radio.

"There's no clear roads now" the voice on the other end said. "Why did you stop? The Herd has overtaken everything and is no clear path. You'll just have to go through it".

"Then that's what we'll do" Tyrone said back.

"Good. Hurry. You're needed quickly. Things are falling apart here in Vermont and it is soon time. Hail..."

Tyrone immediately shut off the radio before he could finish and sighed.

Danny eyed Tyrone suspiciously but didn't say anything.

They soon were near Pittsburgh. Bethal Park it was called.

"Are you sure there's nothing another way?" ScarLo asked.

"Not without getting tracked" Tyrone replied.

"Maybe we'd be okay..."

"After what happened back in West Virginia? Can't risk it. The cops are looking for us, for whatever reason..."

The more urban things got, the more it was chaos. A mix of police in full SWAT uniforms with gas masks fighting against the infected and members of the Herd, protesting the lockdown, screaming about herd immunity.

Danny couldn't believe it: the reason against getting the virus was right in front of them, literally trying to eat people, and they wanted this!?

A man on a police horse galloped past the van, but the man on top was not a police officer. Instead, it was someone dressed like Batman.

Gun shots went off beside their van as a man shot in the air with a pump action to get looters away from his shop. He then shot an infected woman who ran at him right in their face.

No one was wearing masks anymore. Was it because they didn't have them or because they didn't care? Maybe a little of both.

Danny saw members of the Herd holding signs in the air with a symbol they had adopted:

[ IMG] [https://i.ibb.co/njsc4TX/EYl-Hg-DQU8-AA2-Zfe.jpg]

He supposed that explained at least some of it.

The van made a dinging sound and the gas light came on.

"Fuck!" Tyrone exclaimed.

They drove several more miles. Things were less crazy in this part of the city. Tyrone saw a gas station. It looked like their best bet. He pulled next to the pump.

"ScarLo, you get ready to start pumping. Danny, you stand guard".

"What are you going to do?" Danny asked.

"Just do it!" Tyrone shouted and he went towards the inside of the store.

There was a cashier inside, nervous. Tyrone tried to open the door and it was locked. The cashier inside, a young white guy who looked like he could be in high school he actually was wearing a mask, shook his heard rapidly.

Tyrone stepped back, shot out the glass of the door so it shattered and stepped inside. The cashier panicked as Tyrone pointed the gun at him.

"Holy shit" Danny muttered as a shocked ScarLo looked on.

Tyrone threw a $100 bill on the counter.

"Start pump #1! Now!" Tyrone shouted.

With shaking hands the cashier did what he was told and the gas began to pump into the van.

Danny looked around nervously. That's when he saw the Herd, marching towards him.

"How much longer?" Danny asked a panicked ScarLo.

"I don't know... it usually takes about $35 worth..."

Danny looked at the pump. It was just over $25 now.

The Herd drew closer and closer and when they were almost upon them ScarLo screamed to Tyrone they were done. Tyrone lowered the gun and raced out.

Danny jumped in the back and Tyrone and ScarLo in the front and they sped off. The cashier ran out with a shot gun to their surprise and blasted it in their direction. With surprisingly good aim he blasted out the back glass of one of the windows. Danny carefully looked out the other one just quick enough to see the Herd ascend upon the surprised boy. He never had a chance.

They made it out of town and up ahead was another road block. Again soldiers, but these did not look like National Guard. They looked like a mix U.S. military and private military contractors.

"FucK" Tyrone said and grabbed his gun and held it at his side. He stopped the van and the soldiers gathered around.

"Get ready" Tyrone said, shutting his eyes hard and reopening them. "This is it..."

Tyrone was about to step out when ScarLo held the travel papers in the air so they could see them. They relaxed and one came to the other window. She stuck the papers up to the window but did not open it. They couldn't see the face of the soldier or hear what they said to each other, but after a moment they were waved onto an off road and allowed to leave.

Tyrone released the grip on his gun, but didn't look relieved.

"What's wrong?" ScarLo asked.

"This is a tracked road" Tyrone said.

They drove for awhile. It was surprisingly quite and they began to relax. An hour passed, then two, then three. They were making good time now so they decided to stay the course. Trying to find a side route was too risky. These main routes, while they had the RFID tracking, were still cleared.

Danny after awhile decided to play some games on Tyrone's tablet. He played them and grew board and for the first time decided to go exploring. He began to check what other files were on the computer. Maybe he'd fine some hot dirty videos of ScarLo, he thought.

But what he ended up finding was a file with his name "Danny".

He opened it immediately and inside at first it appeared normal: it looked like just the information they had sent to have his Immunity Pass made.

But there were far too many files. Image files. Text files. Audio and video files...

He opened one file and it contained a screen shot of a familiar bulletin board from the Deep Web and for a split second before the iPad flew out of his hand he thought he saw his name and another name he hadn't heard in weeks... Dante...

But the van lurked suddenly and swerved and Danny flew forward and the iPad came out of his hands and smashed against the floor.

Danny tried to stand and looked out the back of the shattered window and saw bright headlights shine back at him from several cars.

There was a rapping sound from the cab.

"DANNY! WE'VE GOT COMPANY!"