On the Road--Day One

We hadn't been on the road that long--had traveled maybe fifteen, twenty miles and we already hit three road blocks. Each one was the same--a twelve foot high wall made of huge concrete blocks that stretched in both directions, as far as the eye could see. The walls were built when the epidemic was first discovered to be so widespread and so devastating. They had been a futile attempt to contain the sickness, but that was before it had been discovered the disease was air borne, so the walls had merely kept people more tightly packed, making it easier for the disease to spread. I hadn't realized the walls were still standing, or that it was going to be so difficult to reach Airepseh. We didn't have the fuel to be running all over the countryside just to get to the nearest town.

The walls being intact also meant that any of the Unlucky survivors in the area of Airepseh would also have been confined, so if we did find a way into the city, we might well find a great number of the diseased creatures there. With that thought in mind, I pulled the SUV over to the side of the road, an action which obviously frightened the children, for even though they had voiced no concern, they were aware of the danger we faced.

I explained to them that if and when we reached Airepseh, there was a high probability we would run into Unluckys and we therefore needed a bit more protection for the SUV, as well as for ourselves. The kids stared silently as I got out and went to the back of the SUV and removed three of the makeshift spears I had made, as well as several feet of nylon cord. At the front of the vehicle, I secured a spear to either side of the large grill and the third I attached to the underside of the bumper, thus giving us a, hopefully, three cornered wedge of protection.

A few more minutes of driving brought us to Arrow Springs Road, the only other route into Airepseh and of course, it too was blocked by a giant wall. This time, however, the barrier was not made of concrete, but of wood. It must have been one of the first walls built in this area. Before the Feds stepped in, it had been the responsibility of the local governments to construct the barriers and with what little funds were available at the time, they apparently had to make do with wood. I was again surprised to find the wall still standing, but after some fifteen years of weather and neglect, it had become full of dry rot and looked somewhat flimsy.