Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

     Their grandparents stood shivering in the cold as Jason placed a couple of suitcases in the back of the truck. The driver warmed up the truck. Jason approached the driver.

     “How far are you able to go?” he asked him.

     “I can only go as far as Wyoming,” the driver said. “I’m not sure how many states are directly affected by the bomb. I think that the safest place to be is the Midwest.”

     “Will we be able to go to Florida?” grandma asked.

     “Probably not, ma'am,” he removed his hat. “They dropped bombs in various regions.”

     Grandma gasped, “I thought they only bombed the west.”

     Mom wrapped her arm around grandma, “They also hit the east.”

     “Why didn’t anyone say anything?” asked grandpa. “Where are we going?”

     “Dad, we didn’t know this until this morning,” mom said. “Olive got to watch the news while she was in the hospital. We need to go somewhere so we can at least know what is going on.”

     “Can we go to Wyoming?” asked grandpa.

     “I have relatives in Minnesota,” said grandma. “Do you think that we can go there?”

     “I’m not entirely sure,” the driver answered. “I haven’t traveled further than Wyoming because I’ve been working on rescue efforts over there.”

     “Let’s just go to Wyoming and take it from there,” said Jason.

     He helped them into the back of the truck. Mom entered behind them after helping another couple into the truck. Olive pulled Jason to the side before he got into the truck.

     Jason rolled his eyes at her, “We have to leave.”

     “Can we not go to the medical facility?” asked Olive. “Everyone there is sick. The doctors and nurses are sick. The radiation is passing from the survivors to everyone else.”

     He placed his hand on her shoulder, “There was an emergency medical shelter here when we arrived. When there was a fire we headed down the hill and we were blocked by the avalanche. We had no choice, but to return up here. When we returned just about everything was burned to the ground including the medical shelter. There is nothing left to stay here for. People are sick here. On our way up here there were dead people floating down the river. I don’t want to join them.”

     “So, you want to join the dead in that cesspool?” she asked.

     “I’d rather go to a place where I have a chance at surviving,” he said. “You are alive aren’t you? Are you coming?”

     She glanced at her mother who was waiting for them, “Yes, but we will need to find a way somewhere else fast.”

     They got into the truck. The tailgate was closed behind them. The truck was headed off to Wyoming.