The End: Only The Beginning

[20] Invasion

It was a unanimous agreement upon Ryder's idea to stop at individual homes along the way, but to our dismay there honestly weren't many houses left to stop at.

A few to the right side of the road were completely burned to the ground. The large one to the left had its doors wide open and its windows busted out. We decided to skip those and continue on. After all, maybe other raiders had come through and decided to burn them to the ground for old times sake. Although one house caught my eye. It was smoking.

The others had also caught sight of it, because my brothers eyes were caught in a squint in the direction of the smoldering home.

We kept driving, past the untouched houses and past the burned houses until we had already gotten onto the interstate leading into another city. I frowned, but I knew that it was probably for the best.

Typically, when we drove we tried to stay on back roads away from the crowded interstate.

The interstate today was quite crowded. Cars were lined up as if they were stopped at a red light, and cars were stacked in crashes too. One car was wrapped around a telephone pole with dried blood splattered on the shattered windows. I assumed the person driving was long gone.

Kyle weaved in between the parked cars as we made our way down the crowded with cars yet deserted by people highway.

As I wondered where the people where going and why they stopped, I closed my eyes and leaned against Calum's shoulder, falling into my own thoughts.

"Why are there so many cars on the road and not many people?" I asked my dad. The interstate we were driving on was packed with empty cars. It was like a scene from one of those movies where everyone disappears out of thin air and it turns out to be an alien invasion. Yeah, something along the lines of that.

"Probably ran out of gas. Maybe got out to make a group pit-stop and were killed by gangs. Who knows." He responded as if it was something as nonchalant as early morning chats when he told me we were out of Froot Loops.

My mom, brother, sister, and Ryder were in the car too, and I was currently sitting beside my brother in the second row of seats.

I shiver at remembering those days. During the times when we were traveling to camp Sugar Tree, everyone grew a bit cold. We were surviving on whatever we had, and it was hard times. It was always hot outside, my hair was always frizzy, and everyone was sweaty 24/7.

Even though we were mostly in cars the whole time except for when we stopped to sleep, it was horrible and boring and emotionally draining.

Before I knew it, a pair of arms shook my shoulders gently as I opened my eyes and squinted around, still getting used to the light.

"Honey, we're home." Ryder joked as my sister burst into a fit of giggles and laughter.

We were at a nice looking house in a large neighborhood that had a 'country club' feel. Each house had a pool in the backyard and the yards were grown up beyond recognition. If I once knew where this was, I surely didn't anymore. Not that I would have anyways. I always loathed the country club kids at my school.

With their coveted Lily Pulitzer dresses and their golden Jack Rogers slapping against the floor, they were more judge mental and harsh than even the popular jock kids. I stayed away from those kinds of girls as much as possible, and it wasn't easy. They thought they owned everything! From the adorable coffee shop downtown, to the cute boy you had crushed on all summer long. Not to get too much into it, I mean. It makes my blood boil just thinking back about them. I was almost relieved at the thought that basically nothing mattered anymore that had to do with before this happened.