The Aging: A Novel by Jack Hunt

Author:Jack Hunt [Hunt, Jack]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Direct Response Publishing
Published: 2021-07-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Josh was a little taken aback when his father told him. She was a stranger. He wasn’t against Ella going with them but he had his reservations, as did Ryan. “She’s definitely not riding in the cab with us.”

That was one of the conditions.

“I didn’t say she would.”

“Good,” Josh replied.

Although it was an odd request, having a nurse with a bag of meds to watch over Lily after the snake bite was helpful.

But why them?

Why now?

His questions weren’t without reason. He didn’t trust anyone.

Had his uncle gone with them, the arrangement of having him travel in the rear of the pickup truck would have been the same at least for a few days, while they monitored him.

Curious, Josh probed for an answer.

Ryan said Ella wanted out. She was tired. The situation wasn’t improving and they’d lost more people than they were able to help. His father had shown him the dead from the roof. Mounds of bodies piled up like trash.

It was terrifying.

So, it was agreed. She would go with them.

Under the cover of darkness, they’d exited while the lynch mob on the far side were kept busy by soldiers. They made it as far as Acadia Parish. It was a good two hours, and a hundred miles later before they had to stop for gas. They’d traveled south down Highway 26 and east along Interstate 10 without issue. The roads were for the most part barren as the threat of infection forced people back into their homes. They’d passed a group of students whose broken-down sedan was at the edge of the road with steam pouring out of it. They thumbed a ride but his father didn’t stop.

No one in their right mind would as there were only three types of people now on the streets.

Those trying to get somewhere safely.

Those trying to spread the pathogen.

And those seeking to kill.

All three were equally dangerous.

The rest were the dead. Those whose lives were ended by themselves or others.

That’s what made stopping a last resort.

Safety was an illusion. And what made it even more challenging was they couldn’t trust the graffiti announcing “safe zones” seen on barns and walls along the way, as there was no way of telling if those were legitimate or a means of luring in unsuspecting victims.

Traps were set for the infected, and the infected set traps for those who weren’t.

Both had the same agenda. To kill and survive.

The truck started coughing, and Ryan tapped the fuel gauge.

“I thought you said we weren’t out yet?”

“I know.” He tapped it again. “Damn thing must be broken.”

The truck rolled to the edge of the road just on the outskirts of Rayne, a place known as the Frog Capital of the World. Ryan reached over and brought up a list of gas stations on the GPS. He got out and collected a ten-gallon gas canister. “It’s only half a mile walk from here to a Mobil station. I’ll get some gas and bring it back.”

“And leave us here?” Ella asked.

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