They had gotten back on a main road and hadn't looked back. In the back of the van Danny laid slumped against the boxes, outside his cuddyhole, frozen and in shock. In the front, the GPS had started working again and Tyrone worked on getting them the fuck out of there.

"Danny!? Danny!?" ScarLo screamed onto the walkie with concern. "Are you okay!?"

Danny groaned but not even into the walkie talkie. He began the process of wiping the various redneck juices off of his face and body.

He swallowed hard, still tasting their blood and frowning. If they were infected, he was fucked.

"I'm okay" he said in a low, hoarse voice into the speaker.

"Thank God" ScarLo said finally, after a pause. But she knew he wasn't okay, not really.

"Shit!" he heard Tyrone exclaim. His voice then got louder as he took over the radio.

"Road block ahead, Danny. Get in your cubbyhole, now!"

Danny scrambled up and jumped inside his hiding spot.

He couldn't see the road block himself. He couldn't see Tyrone and ScarLo scrambling to prepare and clean themselves up.

We just killed two men, Danny thought as he felt the van stop.

"Did you two just drive THROUGH Leon!?" he heard a male voice say. "Are you fucking crazy?"

"I guess so" he heard Tyrone say in a nervous voice. "We didn't know...that's not something we should do..."

"Yeah, clearly" another voice, female said. "That place is a shit storm cluter fuck".

Had Danny not been hiding, he would have seen the twisted hulk that had been the Welcome to Leon sign as well as the combination of Iowa State Troopers and National Guard members that made up the road block, now flanking all sides of the van.

"Colorado plate, sir" another male voice announced. It was coming directly from the back doors of the van and it startled Danny.

"I trust you have your travel papers" another male voice asked, this one also from the front. This one was calmer. This was clearly a person of authority.

"Of course, sir" Tyrone said. He heard the rustling of papers.

"Where you headed?" the same man asked. Danny couldn't see it, but he was looking over the fake papers.

"Upstate New York, then New Hampshire" Tyrone replied. "Supply run".

"Upstate?" the man said, then sighed. "That entire state is just crumbling by the day. Just stay out of the city. Why the hell aren't you taking the main roads? You need to be getting in and out as quick as possible. As for New Hampshire... I haven't heard much but there's rumors about Vermont..."

"What kind of rumors?" Tyrone asked.

"It sounds crazy, but some asshole has proclaimed himself King and succeeded part of the state..."

"What!?" Tyrone asked in shock.

"Yeah..." the man continued. "Not sure if it's true, but--"

"Sir! We've got a live one here!"

It was the female voice again.

"Mahoney, Jackson... fan out and take it down" the man Tyrone had been talking to ordered.

He heard movement.

"I don't think that thing counts as a live one, Mahoney" he heard a male voice said with a snort. It sounded like the one from behind the truck.

"Have some respect, Jackson" the woman said. "That looks like it was someone's grammy..."

"Yeah, was..." Jackson replied. There was a series of precise gun fire that made Tyrone jump then it ended abruptly.

"Clear!" Mahoney yelled out.

"Good work, you two" the man who had been talking to Tyrone said. "Resume positions".

More movement around the fan, than it abruptly stopped.

"So what are you hauling?" the man asked Tyrone. He continued as if nothing had just happened. Tyrone's voice showed whatever he had witnessed he clearly had him rattled.

"Uhh... PPE, sir..."

"PPE?" the man replied, his tone changed. He sighed. "Of course New York gets all the good shit... Honestly, son, I'd rather you have lied to me. There are bandits on the road jacking trucks pretending to be us..."

"Really?" Tyrone asked. The man responded with an affirmative grunt then a pause.

"You two really don't look like the two I'd be seeing doing something like this..."

"Isn't that the point?" he heard ScarLo respond, speaking for the first time.

Smart, girl, Danny thought.

The man let out another grunt with an understanding tone.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Yeah, they needed two people, we said yes" Tyrone responded.

Shut the fuck up, Tyrone, Danny thought from the back, his heart racing.

"Well, your paper work seems to be in order. I assume you're both Immune or you wouldn't be doing this, but I don't give a shit about that. We'll just need to inspect the back of the truck and you can be on your way".

There was a pause.

"Of course, sir, no problem" Tyrone said finally. The nervousness was clear.

He heard the driver's side door open.

"After you" the man who had opened it said in a matter-of-fact tone. They didn't need permission.

"You stay put, ma'am" the man said to ScarLo. It wasn't an intimidating tone, but it was clear it was not a request, but an order.

He heard them talking outside. "I'm surprised you don't have a guard with you..." the man said. "Are you at least armed?"

Danny knew what he had to do. He sprung into action. Tyrone seemed to be stalling outside. Did he know of Danny's plan? How could he? But Danny was glad for the time.

Danny just as the back doors swung open. Gun on his hip and security uniform on. He moved into the light so everyone can see him, hand on his gun.

"Stay back!" Danny yelled at the top of his longues, getting into character.

In front of him were Tyrone, looking completely shocked and dumbfounded, and three people in National Guard camo with matching camo face masks on: two males and one female. One of the males and the female had automatic rifles trained on him while the other male, who appeared to be the man in charge, stood with a surprised look on his face.

In that moment there was panic and choas. The soldiers swinging their guns in his indirection, screaming at him to get down. Him yelling at them to stay back.

Then the man in charge, who had short cut gray hair and steel blue eyes accented a face with chiseled featured, yelled through the panic.

"Mahoney! Jackson! Put your guns down!"

They looked at each other bu reluctantly lowered their weapons. Danny released his grip on the pistol.

Mahoney looked to be in her early 20's. She was the Tom Boy type for sure and had buzzed her bright carrot colored hair nearly to the scalp. Danny found himself wondered if the carpet matched the drapes. Jackson looked even younger. He could have been in high school. He was tall and lanky and looked like he might be bi-racial. He has big green eyes which stood in contrast to his slightly tan complexion and he might be considered really handsome if his cheeks were littered with acne scars.

"So you do have a security guard" the man in charge said, looking at Tyrone with a smirk.

"Yeah...yeah, we do..."

"Probably should have mentioned that when I brought it up" the man said. "That could have gotten ugly".

"Stay where you are, young man" the man ordered Danny. "We're with the Iowa National Guard. Once we inspect your cargo, you can be on your way".

Thankfully they didn't do a deep inspection, only checking the decoy PPE Tyrone had placed for just such a situation.

Then they all hopped out of the truck, leaving Danny in the back.

The man handed the travel papers back to Tyrone.

"You know... we could really use some of that PPE..." the man said. It came across less like a request and more like a demand.

Mahoney and Jackson just looked at Tyrone. The message was clear.

"I thought you guys weren't the bandits dressing as National Guardsmen" Tyrone said with a sigh.

"We're not. We're actually with the National Guard" he said, putting a hand on Tyrone's shoulder. Tyrone looked at the hand hard, then looked back at the man.

"Know what the difference is?" the man asked Tyrone.

Tyrone shook his head slowly.

"They just take. We ask".

"...then you take" Tyrone added.

"Usually it doesn't come to that. Usually we've just given it. I'd like this to be a usual situation..."

Tyrone nodded after a pause and Mahoney and Jackson each grabbed two of the boxes. Tyrone knew that only 2 our of the five actually had PPE in them, but he didn't flinch.

"That'll do it" the man said. "Have a safe trip..."

The man gave one final nod to Danny and the back doors shut. Moments later the van was moving again and they were back on the road.