Genus: Evolving

Loni slept the best she had in days. Not having to worry about her mother’s worsening health, knowing she’s safe and cared for elsewhere, left her mind at ease. She awoke at day break, slowly. She checked for the electricity still working.

Today, she had plans to find a working vehicle. She couldn’t imagine a long walk up the coast line with her brother. It would be horrible, terrible, and also not good.

She glanced out the window, careful to disturb the curtain as little as possible. She couldn’t see anyone, friend or foe, in the proximity. This small town, well stocked as it was, was actually empty.

She quickly showered, and found some protein bars to munch on while she made her way around parking lots to find a car with keys. Since there was still power around her, she figured this area was not visited by anything too dangerous yet.

She didn’t want to give her brother any satisfaction in knowing that she wished she would carry a weapon too, she was out in the open in the daylight. She never believed in guns, but now she wished she had one. Even an unloaded one might give her the sense of strength she needed.

She decided she would get one at the first gun place they found. Certainly looters didn’t take everything from all the stores yet… especially not in an area where the need for self-protection was only for unplanned pregnancies.

After five cars and over a mile of walking, Loni wished people who abandoned their vehicles had abandoned them with keys. Why leave the car anyway? In any or all of those disaster movies, leaving vehicles and traveling on foot seemed like a really counterproductive endeavor. Sure, if the adversary has sensitive hearing, quiet is better. But slow moving ones?

Finally, an old beat-up pickup truck was unlocked. She searched the dash and the glove box for the keys, finally finding them hidden on the closed sun visor. She was grateful; unlike literally everyone in those same disaster movies Tim loved to watch, Loni could not hot wire a vehicle.

She was a biologist, not a mechanic…

The truck started too. She felt like she won the lottery.

And there was half a tank of gasoline left.

She drove back to the motel and parked in front of their motel room.

“Tim! Let’s move out!” Loni called from the truck.

To her pleasant surprise, Tim was ready with their limited belongings.

“Nice ride,” he commented sarcastically while he climbed in. He put the ax into the cabin before loading a backpack.

Loni hit the gas and they drove out of town. As she started to drive, she realized suddenly that the other cars electrical systems were destroyed, the cars weren’t simply abandoned. The abandonment was forced. A globster had been nearby at some point.

One could still be nearby, or even still, followed by people.