Tess indicated their destination was about a day and a half away. They didn’t get started until late afternoon but Chuck didn’t intend to let the dark stop him. While the crates were being loaded he had installed the spotlight on top of the cab, intending to drive at night.

He was a little nervous leaving R2 behind as having the robot around made him feel a lot safer. There was no room with all the medical supplies however. With his constant practicing he was fairly confident with his aim and he didn’t anticipate too many problems on a supply run.

Tess and Obb told him there were none of the monster insects on the road along the coast but there could be bandits so he still had to keep an eye out. He hoped Obb was up for the fast traveling as he was going to go as fast as the road and visibility allowed.

Obb was immediately interested in the music Tess was listening to and then once they left the capital and the pickup started to speed up, the goblin was amazed at the speed they were going. He didn’t seem to be scared and was actually enjoying the ride.

Once it started to get dark and Chuck turned the lights on, Obb was amazed again. The road was fairly straight and not too rough so he was able to go around 60 miles per hour. It also helped that there was no other traffic once it got dark. There were rocky shores on one side and grassy plains on the other as they made their way toward Axete.

Chuck wished there was caffeine in this world but the closest he could find was a stimulant potion that tasted horrible. The weak equivalent to tea in this world didn’t do much for him. He had taught Tess how to drive but she wasn’t experienced enough to drive very fast or to drive in the dark. He wasn’t tired yet and was hoping to make it through the night before letting Tess take over in the morning.

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The music and conversation helped pass the time for a few hours but eventually Tess and Obb fell asleep and he was left to his own devices. Chuck continued listening to CDs and heading toward Axete. At least the weather was nice and it was a clear night. All he needed to do was stay heading east and they would reach the town. Now that he was thinking about it, he forgot to ask how big Axete was.

Somehow he managed to stay awake during the night. He had to stop once to add fuel and added more when he switched with Tess after the sun came up. The pickup was running fine and Tess seemed to be doing ok so Chuck shut his eyes for some much needed sleep.

He was woken up by the pickup stopping. Chuck was groggy at first and thought maybe they were out of gas. “Chuck, there is a wagon blocking the road. Do you think it could be bandits?” Tess asked, pointing toward the road ahead of them. He instantly sat up straight and looked out the window.

There was indeed a wagon in front of them with the driver slumped over and not moving. The draft beast was laying down but got up and looked at the pickup as he watched. There was no cover around for bandits to hide in unless they were in the back of the wagon. “I’ll get out and have a look but keep the engine running in case there is trouble.” Chuck responded.

He approached the wagon carefully with his gun drawn. The draft beast snorted but didn’t move. There was no noise or movement but he did catch the stench of death coming from the wagon. First he checked on the avian driver but as he suspected, the driver was dead. Chuck then peered into the wagon where four more dead avians were sprawled out. The bodies had their eyes bulging out and it looked like they had shed half their feathers with the skin underneath showing red sores.

There was no sign of them being attacked so he guessed they had been fleeing the outbreak in Axete. Unfortunately they must have already been infected. Chuck didn’t want to touch the dead bodies and couldn’t spare the time to bury all of them so decided to release the draft beast and set the wagon on fire. He took over driving from Tess and drove around the burning wagon, continuing toward Axete.