![[98 Epigraphs#017]] # Chapter 17 Rose sat shotgun in the truck as Rhett drove down highway 78. They weren’t far from Washington, but had several setbacks across the previous day. Rhett had found a safe place to park and run the generator overnight to recharge the truck. The roof solar panels Violet had set up only got a few miles per day. They weren’t efficient but good in an emergency. Rose hated to leave the rest of the group in such a dire situation, but Jack was right about how many to send off. The group had more than enough people to survive, and food would very soon be a necessity. *Or, gods forbid, a commodity.* Rhett seemed to enjoy their short break from reality, but it was only supposed to be a few days or a week. *I know better than that, though.* The day before, the same day Rhett and Rose started east, they’d run into a hoard, and took a half hour detour around it. After that, they had to haul a great oak tree off the road, which had sapped most of the truck’s battery. *As good as electric vehicles are, they haven’t progressed since the secession war.* The fuel preservation technology, however, had progressed greatly. They had, at the least, 4 months left on the gas, 6 or 8 on the diesel. “Ah, shit, Rose, that’s a log truck rollover.” Rhett said, pointing down the straight half mile of road they’d entered. The roads toward Washington were long and straight, with the occasional curve, and bordered by pines. Thus, Rose could clearly see the rolled semi down the road. It had been turning left across traffic, but rolled itself over. The logs were massive, old growth pines, and they completely blocked the road. They opted to go around, slowly, on the left shoulder. And after pulling through some thick pines, they made it through. “That could have been much worse.” Rose commented. “Hunter better be right about these damn deer. If he ain't, we will starve pretty fast. Even with the Aevala House’s power.” Rhett said grimly. *He’s right.* They’d done the math on the drive, it would take a minimum of 4 deer per meal to feed the entire group, not to mention multiple meals per day, over years. “What about elk?” Rose asked, Rhett considered it, messing with his facial hair. “That’s actually not a bad idea, Ava.” He finally said as they pulled into Washington itself. Washington was a much smaller city than Athens, it took about the fifth of the space inside the Athens perimeter. The place had two main roads, both of which were barren. “The people here must have totally booked it.” Rose said as Rhett pulled to a stop outside a local drug store. The streets didn’t even have trash on them or anything, just emptiness. The sign above the drug store looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years, but the pair made their way inside. The front door had been locked, so they tested the back door before busting through a window. Raspy breathing sounded from one of the offices to Rhett’s left, so Rose took the right two. Both were clear, bar some trash littered about from employees. Rhett met her in the main room, knife covered in gore. They were mostly stocked, but it looked like they’d missed a shipment pre fall. “Well this is promising.” Rose said, picking up a reusable shopping bag. The pair systematically went through the retail shelves, picking up various must have medications. Pain relief, fever, stomach meds, and anything else labeled for general use. Rose picked up dried baby formula, and sheepishly put it in her bag. Rhett noticed and smiled, continuing to work. “Want a kid sometime soon, eh?” “Someone is bound to have one, is all. This shit will be valuable.” “Alright then, i suppose,” Rhett said with an exaggerated sigh. *Bastard.* Just because she wanted to have his kids, didn’t mean she wanted them right then. After the retail shelves were sufficiently ransacked, they moved on to the over the counter meds. There the couple took everything. Steroids, pain meds, sedatives, and everything else. Rhett chuckled, holding up an old box of Sudafed, “Guess we can make some meth then.” Rose laughed out loud as they put their haul in the back seat of the truck. “Did everyone just abandon this place?” Rhett asked once more as they pulled off, down Robert E. Toombs Avenue. “Or holed up in their homes? There are so few cars around.” As if to her point, they passed a well parked, pristine Honda Civic. The street had many leaves, uncleaned since the fall. “Ooh, idea. Sheriff’s office.” Rose said, pointing to a sign on their right. “Worth a shot right?” “Good eye. If these people just left i doubt they’d leave the sheriff's office unturned, but we might as well check.” Rose heard the generator as the two got out of the truck. She raised an eyebrow and gestured for Rhett to hear. “*Weird*.” She mouthed. Rhett nodded, peering into the office doors. Lights were on inside, and when they tested the door, it was unlocked. They walked through the main corridor, then to the main room. “Wilkes county sheriff’s office, how can I be of service?” An annoyed middle-aged woman said at the desk. *What the hell?* “Uhh, what the fuck?” Rhett asked, reading Rose’s mind. “Where y’all coming from?” The lady asked, name tag reading ‘Julie Horne.’ “Athens. Did you guys not shut down after the fall?” Rhett asked, brow furrowed. “No point, we aren’t a city of idiots.” Julie replied, typing on a digital typewriter. “So what’s up with the drug store?” Rose asked slowly, Rhett shot her a look, but she ignored it. “The Epstein family left weeks ago. It’s free game now. Nobody’s done anything yet, too afraid we’ll get on their asses about it.” Rhett’s expression and posture softened. “In truth, we were gonna rob the gun stores.” “I can get y’all one weapon and some ammo each. Any preference?” “I guess an AK, or AR for each of us.” Rose said, hesitating. *What the hell is this place.* Rhett had the same look about him, and as Julie left, he finally spoke his worry. “I don’t understand why she’s here. This is all so strange. It gives me chills.” “Do we outta leave?” Rose asked, brushing her hand against his. Before he could reply, his shoulder turned red. Rose dropped to the floor, wielding a pistol. Julie came forward, having shot 6 times through the door. “Serves you idiots right. Why the fuck would the sheriff’s office be running.” Rose popped up, planting a bullet in the woman’s face. She grabbed a knife off her corpse, and began to cut Rhett’s shirt off. She felt her face turning bright red at the sight. *God dammit Rose, you are 18, he is your boyfriend, and he is hurt. Get some balls.* “You are cute when you are worried,” Rhett chuckled. She gave him a light slap, his blood now in a hand print on his face. “Do you want me to save your life?” He chuckled again, now putting his arms behind his head, in a restful posture. “You’ll treat me anyway. Can’t get enough of me it looks like.” *Dammit.* It didn’t take her long to patch him up. They didn’t have the luxury of a child of Aevala to help him heal faster. It was good that she was almost a hundred percent since the sickness. She helped Rhett to his feet, and the pair stepped over Julie’s body, into the back rooms. There was a strong stench Rose hadn’t noticed before. “Corpses?” Rhett asked aloud, regretting sniffing the air moments earlier. “Seems that wa-” Rose cut herself off, having opened a sealed room. Corpses lined the walls, deputies, random men and women. Keys were hung near the door, to all sorts of vehicles. Rose grabbed the keys, but shut the door behind them. “So that’s where all the cars went.” After raiding the armory, the pair went to the impound lot. As they suspected, absolutely full of civilian cars. “My strange addiction,” Rose smiled, mocking the old TV show. “You got that right.” Rhett smiled back. The armory didn’t have much, just a handful of rifles and several boxes of basic ammunition. They took all the body armor they could carry, and loaded up the truck once more. “Glad this is supposed to be a scouting session, that way we don’t have to produce anything but information.” Rhett said, rose opting to drive this time. “Wait no, we need like a map or directory,” She said, hopping out of the truck. She rushed inside, past the corpse and blood pooled by the desk. Inside the desk drawers on the far right side, Rose produced a folded map. The front label read, ‘Police use, professional and private businesses.’ The categorization underneath read ‘Wilkes county surrounding Washington.’ The map itself contained all of Wilkes county, but Rose quickly found maps for surrounding counties. She rushed outside, hopping into the driver’s seat. Rose’s blonde hair was now long enough to be annoying, catching in her mouth when she tried to speak. The only reason she didn’t cut it is that Rhett said he liked it. “Good finds,” Rhett commented, reading over the map. “It’s got everything from hair salons, to hunting property. Definitely has a law enforcement focus. Half of these are private properties.” “Anything promising?” “Up closer to Tignall there are larger ones, owned mostly by big corporations in on the hunting world.” Rhett smiled. “We might just have some luck.” “That sounds much more promising than smaller local ones.” Rose said, turning left onto Poplar drive, which soon became Tignall Road, before merging with SR 17 North. “Won't be as many people going, or anyone to care for it. And the population of this county is laughably low. Easy money.” The road leading to Tignall was even more boring than Athens to Washington. Not a home in sight for the entire extent of the drive. They came across the occasional Maw, but were able to avoid all of them. Soon they came across the small town itself. It was tiny, maybe a mile long, and consisted almost entirely of one road. The only thing similar to an attraction would be the lone Dollar General. It didn’t have much else. “Wanna go to a movie?” Rhett laughed, pointing to an old billboard. ‘All the movies you’d ever wanna see! Only 16.99 per ticket.’ “That has to be a fake. There’s no freaking way a ticket would cost that much.” “I mean, out here it is probably a monopoly.” The dollar general didn’t yield much, other than more maps. So the pair left the town, and began searching through the first commercial hunting preserve, ‘Deer and Country.’