L Akers - Fight Like a Man

She rolled her eyes and looked away.

They’d been on the road with him an excruciating two hours and had just barely made fifty miles. The back roads had been nearly completely blocked with broken-down cars out of gas. Getting around the stalled congestion from behind a bottleneck of other still-mobile cars had been like trying to thread a needle, especially with Larry driving and treating his sacred car as though it were made of glass. He’d finally detoured and hit the interstate instead and they’d made a bit of progress, although the situation was much the same. Miles of interstate was gridlocked. They were able to barely eat up miles by alternating between driving on the shoulder and weaving between stalled vehicles on the highway.

Hordes of people were walking in groups and many were alone along the highway. They walked on the road more times than not. Several had jumped out of his way just in time to avoid a bloody collision and Larry had hit the horn so much that Gabby was suffering with a near-blinding headache. At this point, it would probably be faster to walk, if only Olivia had some walking shoes.

A sign for a rest area came up and Gabby pointed it out, hoping Larry would take her up on her offer of sharing her Monkey Butt, and she and the girls could also find somewhere to relieve themselves. Assuming they’d be home soon, they’d all drank a bottle of water to re-hydrate. Gabby was also hoping for a hand-pump to fill their bottles up with before getting back on the road; she’d seen them at rest areas before.

Larry swerved into the parking lot amidst another wave of people.

The situation was even worse here.

The ladies looked around as Larry slowly drove through.

“This is creepy,” Emma said. “Looks like the walking dead.”

“Yeah, let’s just keep going,” Gabby answered.

Larry shrugged. “We’re here now. We won’t stay long.”

Refugees who had probably been on their way to or from the beach, just trying to eke out enough miles to get to the next exit for available gas were camped out in cars, tents, or tarps thrown over tree branches. Clothes hung from branches and trash littered the grounds. Hundreds of people were laying in the tents, under the tarps or just on the grass. Small campfires dotted the landscape. At a glance, anyone could see the people were tired, hungry, thirsty and downright dirty.

Gabby could feel desperation in the air. This wasn’t a happy crowd at all, but for the most part they looked like a harmless band of gypsies.

So far.

And there wasn’t a hand-pump for water in sight.

They slid into a parking spot beside an SUV that was obviously being used as housing. The back door was up for airflow, and blankets and pillows were haphazardly arranged inside. Two small children lay curled around each other in the back, asleep. Their mother and father were kicked back in the front seats, their legs tangled together on the dash, with all the windows down.

Larry climbed out the car, stretching and rubbing behind him, trying to bring blood back to his flat ass. He caught Gabby staring at him. “How’s it look?” He waggled at eyebrow at her.

She gave him a look of disgust. “Flat as a fritter from where I’m standing.”

He laughed it off and grabbed the talc from the floor. “Y’all stay with the car. I’ll be right back,” he said, adjusting his junk before he swaggered off.

“Take your time, not mine,” Gabby mumbled, marveling at his rudeness. What ever happened to ladies first?

She gazed around the make-shift campsites, suddenly noticing several men standing up, giving them the dirty eyeball. Two out of the largest group slowly made their way toward them.

“Emma, reach into my bag and get the gun,” she whispered. “If anyone tries to take the car, we need to be ready.”

Olivia was still sitting in the back seat looking at their highlighted route on the map that was paper-clipped to a picture of her and Gabby standing arm in arm in front of Jake’s truck, Ruby. She looked up in alarm. “Who’s going to try to take the car?” she asked loudly.

“ Shhh !” Gabby flashed wide eyes at her and jerked her head toward the men.

Emma dug through and pulled out the gun, stepped up beside Gabby and discreetly slid it to her. “Here, you take it.”

Gabby pushed it into the waistband at the back of her pants and stared back at the men defiantly. “If they try to take it, you both know what to do.”

“Fight like a man,” Emma whispered.

Olivia stepped up beside her sisters, more out of curiosity than bravery.

The men approached to within hearing distance when Gabby yelled, “Stop right there.”

“Gabby! Don’t be rude,” Olivia admonished her. “Maybe they just want to talk.”

“Shut up, Olivia. This is not the time for strangers to just want to talk. We’ve got a working car. They don’t,” she answered.

All three of the men looked mean, exhausted and angry.

One spoke up, “How much gas do you have?”

Gabby slid over far enough to hopefully block their view from the five-gallon jug sitting in the middle of the back seat. The rest were in the trunk. “Not much. Enough for a few more miles, probably, before we’re walking,” she lied. “How about you all? Is everyone stuck here?”

“Yeah, no. We just like living in a rest area,” he answered sarcastically and then sighed and rubbed his hands over his face in desperation. “Look, we got kids. Lots of them, and they’re in no shape to walk.”

There were dozens of kids, and they did look lethargic and weak. Kids didn’t normally lay down in the middle of the day on road trips. They ran, played, and laughed. Life was usually one big game to them, regardless of the situation. But everywhere they could see, these kids were huddled up on dirty blankets and pillows, or laying with their heads in their mother’s laps on the ground, or in cars.

They couldn’t help them all. They might be able to squeeze one or two in between them, but they’d need a bus to move this many children. Gabby nodded. “I understand. But like I said, we’ve only got enough to get a little farther down the road, and then we’ll be parked and stuck too, and we’ll be walking. I’m sorry we can’t help you.”

“Got any water?”

“No.”

“Any food?”

Gabby looked at Emma. She nodded and reached into the car, pulling out Gabby’s backpack. She dug through it, pulling out random food stuff.

The men hurried forward.

“No! Stop where you are. We’ll throw it over to you,” Gabby insisted, pulling out the gun and letting it hang beside her in full view, ready to aim.

Not surprisingly, they listened.

As Gabby kept a close eye on the men, Emma and Olivia threw the food; a bag of gorp, a can of spam, and a few energy bars. They gave them everything they could quickly find.

Larry wandered up just as they finished passing the food over. “What’s going on?”

Gabby stepped in close to speak to him, cringing at his breath. “These guys were asking about the car and gas. We can’t help them, but we gave them some food.”

“Yeah. Hell no, I can’t help ‘em. Let’s go,” he whispered, his eyes darting all over in fear.

“Uh… what about us, Larry? We need to use the… we need to pee,” Gabby whispered.

Olivia stepped up to whisper too, “I can’t wait another mile. Look at that end over there. Let’s drive that way as though we’re leaving and get away from this crowd, but then we can pull over and hurry into the woods and back. It’ll only take a few minutes.”

On the exit ramp leaving the rest area, there were only a few vehicles, looking long-abandoned, and only two women were in that area, far away from the group. They were laying down under a tree and appeared to be asleep. It was a good plan.