“I don’t know, Zoey!” he shouted. “But they’re obviously following us, and I don’t like it, okay?”
“Okay, okay,” I said, breathing heavily. The car was gaining us, getting closer and closer, and it was close enough that I could see that it was a large SUV, black or maybe dark blue, with heavily tinted windows. It looked like a car that my dad would have driven. This made me nervous. This was not a typical car; most people did not drive cars like this. “Ash, they’re right behind us.”
He didn’t answer; just pushed his foot harder on the gas, but the jeep only increased speed by a couple miles per hour. It was old, outdated and had been pushed farther in the last few hours than it had in the past few months. We both gasped as the car pulled next to us. “Shit,” Ash said under his breath.
The window of the SUV rolled down, and a man peeked his head out, motioning for us to roll our own window down. He was older, maybe in his late forties or early fifties, judging by the small amount of gray dotting his hair and beard. He was yelling at us, but I couldn’t hear him over the sound of both engines as they sped along. He was dressed nicely, I could see the beginnings of a tie at the base of his throat, and I felt uneasy, uncomfortable. I hadn’t seen anyone dressed so nice, so impeccably since we had left New York. This wasn’t right.
The car moved closer and closer to us before bumping into us. The jeep shook, but Ash’s hands were still gripping tightly on the wheel, and he managed to keep us aligned. “Did they just hit us, or was that an earthquake that shook the car?” he asked, a shaky laugh in his breath.
“No, no, they hit us,” I said, my hands gripping the dashboard tightly. I felt like I was going to be sick. We only had to drive half a day. Half a day to reach Colorado, and we would have been able to find a place of safety. And yet, here we were. A shock ran through my body as the SUV made contact with the Jeep again, this time much harder than before. “Oh my god.”
“What do you want me to do, Z?” Ash asked, through clenched teeth. His eyes were intent on the rugged terrain in front of us as the Jeep bounced over rocks and grass. I didn’t know where we were heading, whether we would end up in a town or at a cliff. I could see hills in the distance, and I didn’t know what was over there. The SUV hit us again, shaking the entire car.
“Stop,” I said, the word bursting out of me. “Just stop the car, okay?”
He looked over at me incredulously but slowed down, bringing the jeep to a stop. We were both breathing heavily, and our eyes met as the SUV came to a stop about one hundred yards in front of us. A couple doors opened, and two men descended from the car and started coming over toward us. “Should we get out?”
The question was answered for me. They stopped in front of our car, stopping in the light of the headlights. The sun was coming up, a soft haze to the right of us. One of the men, the one who had been waving to us before, motioned for us to get out of the car.
“I’m getting out of the car,” Ash said, not taking his eyes off those watching us. “Don’t get out. I’m going to come around the other side to get you.”
“Ash, you don’t…you don’t have to do that,” I protested softly, meeting his eyes.
“Stay in the car, Z, okay?” he asked again, and I nodded, watching as he opened the door slowly and got out of the car. He walked across the front of the jeep and came to my side. I held my breath as he did so, watching the eyes of the men in front of us, as they too watched him. He came up to my door and opened it. “Ready?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said. “Yeah, I’m ready.” I unbuckled the seat belt and lowered myself out of the car. Ash shut the door behind me and laced his fingers through mine. We walked slowly toward the men, though Ash made sure he was a few steps ahead of me, shielding me from the strange men in front of us.
“Hello there!” The older man, the one who had been in the passenger side window, was the one who called out to us. He waved his hand in greeting.
I looked up at Ash, and we both looked back at the man, not saying anything.
“The name’s Rich,” he said, putting his hand down. “Don’t be frightened. I’m here to help you. I’m from the government. We’ve been looking for you.”
“Looking for us?” I managed to squeak out. “Why would you be looking for us?”
“Well, because you’re survivors!” He took a step closer to us, holding his hands out. “We’ve been looking for survivors all over the place. There aren’t many of you left, and we want to be able to take care of you.”
I thought about this for a long moment. He was dressed perfectly, in a suit, and I could see the gun strapped to his waist, just underneath his jacket. “You’re from the government?” I asked, my voice shaking.
“Yes, of course. The government has managed to put together a small force to find the survivors, bring them together and keep them safe so we can start over.”