They wove around curves and up and down hills, with the rain falling hard on the windshield. When the road finally grew flat, he pushed down on the gas pedal until the vehicle reached 70. There was a time when he would have worried about getting pulled over going so fast in a 55, but since the virus had hit, he didn’t worry about getting caught. Besides, they needed to get back to the crew.
“Brody, slow down!” Dayken sounded irritated, and when he glanced over, the older man was gripping the grab handle.
“Relax, man. I’ve got this.” The vehicle slid a little on the wet roads. It had been raining all day, which was good for their rain barrels, but the driving conditions weren’t great.
“Yeah, it looks like you have it.” Brody could feel Dayken’s eyes on him, but he ignored them. “Do you need me to drive?”
“You worry too much. I’ve got this, really.” He glanced over at the older man and tried to give him a smile.
Dayken wasn’t smiling. Even through his dark colored beard, Brody could tell he was angry. He was in his late thirties, but the worry of the past year added ten years to his age, and to Brody’s 20 years, he seemed like an old man. He rubbed a hand through his red hair and tried to smile. His partner didn’t smile back. He had to wonder why they’d been assigned supply duty today; they were probably the worst pick for partners out of the group, but Captain Minnow had insisted they go together.
They couldn’t be more opposite. He had on jeans, a white tshirt and a black leather jacket, with tennis shoes on his feet and a baseball cap on his head. Dayken also had on jeans, but that’s where their similarities ended. He wore cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, a flannel shirt and a Carhart jacket. It wasn’t just the clothing that separated them either. They were as different as night and day, from their taste in food, the way they spent their days, and even the color of their skin. Dayken was the last person he’d chose to work with, and yet here they were. He looked over and tried to crack a joke to get the older man to smile, but they didn’t even make eye contact.
“Watch out!” Dayken screamed and pointed to the road, but it was too late. Brody looked back just in time to see one of the biters flying across his windshield. A herd of them were right behind him, and they hit a couple of more before he was able to brake. The windshield cracked and the air bags went off before they stopped. Dazed, Brody tried to see how Dayken was, but everything went black.
My A-muse-ing Life 