13 Years of Struggle

Chapter 7

The truck had broken down and we were now stuck in some small abandoned town called Normanville in Rural West Virginia. I was looking under the hood trying to find out what the heck was wrong. But since I wasn’t very handy with cars. I didn’t know what was wrong. 

          I let out a heavy sigh and shut the hood in defeat. “ Well what are we gonna do now? We are in the middle of nowhere with a broken down truck.” I leaned against the truck. 

         Anais responded back. “ How about we search the town? Maybe there will be a vehicle of some sort we can use.” 

           I nodded and looked at Kolson. He had a blank expression on his face and he looked tired. I turned back to Anais. “ Well then. Let’s start looking for a car.” 

               We started walking away from the truck. It still had the supplies in it. But I figured we could just go get it later. I had my knife out as we got closer to town. Well it wasn’t much of a town. Just a few houses, a school, a post office, and an old auto repair shop. 

            “ This place is a dump.” Anais mumbled under her breath as we got closer to the Auto repair shop. 

            “ Yep. Everything is run down.” The town was not in good shape and it looked like it was a very poor area before the world ended. 

          “ Ugh it stinks!” Kolson covered his nose with his fingers as we entered the garage.  

 “ It’s just Motor oil. It doesn’t smell that bad Kolson.” I replied as I opened the door to the truck parked inside. 

              I got inside and looked down and saw some wires. I peered my head out and looked at Anais. “ You know how to hotwire a car?”
 
           She looked at me and then walked over to the driver's seat. “ Yeah. I did it in the past. When I stole cars.” She laughed slightly. 

                  “ You stole cars?” I raised my eyebrow and gave her a puzzled look. 
     She sighs and then speaks. “ Only a few times. I wasn’t proud of myself then.” 

         “ Well it’s in the past and you're better now.” I got out and let her have a look at the wires. 

              I stood over next to Kolson and smiled down at him. He smiled back.  A few minutes passed by and We heard Anais groan loudly and she got out of the truck. “ I tried it several times. Looks like we have to keep searching.” 

           I sighed and leaned against the workbench that was covered with old tools and small tins of oil. “ Alright then.” 

             I walked out first and walked a few feet. I scanned around the area looking for any other vehicles. There was nothing. No abandoned cars on the road or in the driveway of any houses I could see from where I was standing. 

              “ Ugh! Nothing.” I sat on the road burying my head in my knees. I heard Kolson and Anais walk up behind me. 

              “ Claire, it'll be alright. We will find a vehicle soon. Just have hope.” Anais reassures me.

           I looked up at her. I knew she was right. I needed to have some hope. But as we got closer to Washington and us seeing how the rest of the country looked. I was slowly starting to lose hope. 

        “ Yeah. I know.” I sighed and sat up and looked at both of them. 

   “ That’s better. Now let's get back to searching.” Anais starts walking with Kolson following her like a puppy. I soon followed after.