No Longer Saving Yourself

Two hours of careful, uneasy walking brought the five to a car dealership. They had yet to run into any creatures, but from experience, that didn't mean anything.

"Hummers? Seriously?" Annie said, shocked at their luck. A few of the Hummers were somewhat damaged. Tires slashed, windows smashed and scratches in the paint.

"Now if only there was a gun store right next door," Rian joked, inspecting the vehicles and trying a few of the doors. None of them opened, but the group expected that result.

"And grocery store. I'm starving," Jack said, rubbing his stomach. They were all hungry. But they had gotten used to being constantly hungry and holding back from inhaling any food they did find. With a scarcity of food, it wasn't hard to derive that eating in moderation was required.

"I'm going in to retrieve keys. I'm sure they're the sensor kind so it wont be that hard to find which car goes to which keys? Anyone have color preferences?" she giggled. The discovery of the cars made Annie loosen up for the first time in a long time. She was smiling for once, and full out laughing wasn't far away.

"You think it's safe?" Alex questioned timidly as she walked towards the dark and rather creepy looking building. But then again, pretty much everything looked creepy these days.

"We could all go," Annie suggested, noticing that they boys were all at least twenty feet behind her. She internally rolled her eyes. Weren't they supposed to be the brave ones? Secretly, Annie felt empowered with her bravery. It also meant she got to call the shots.

Reluctantly, the boys silently and carefully followed Annie. They carefully stepped around the broken glass scattered around and remained silent; listening for any signs of danger. Danger in the form of what used to be the human species.

"If I was a car key, where would I be?" Annie mused under her breath.

Jumping on top of the main desk, Annie was able to look all around the small yet expansive show room. Florescent lights were hanging from the ceiling and in true horror film form, water was pooling on the floor and papers were eveywhere.

Then, inside one of the offices, Annie spotted a white box. Bingo.

"Cover me," Annie said, stepping carefully towards the dark office. She tried turning the handle but it wouldn't budge. It was locked.

"Of course it's locked," Annie sighed. "We're going to have to check employee desks. Which will also probably be locked. I knew it was too good to be true. I guess we could always break the window."

"Maybe this will help," Zack said, hitting the lock with a fire extinguisher.

"Where did you get that?" Annie asked as Zack opened the door.

"Around." They both entered the small office and the white box opened with ease. Zack pulled out a few sets of keys tossed each of them a few. "See what the best ones are."

For the first time in a long time, the five smiled wide. It really was the best Christmas present.

If there was a soundtrack to this mess, Annie was pretty sure their hunt for cars would have been upbeat with a heavy bass. Annie loved music. That was one things she missed. Her ipod was crushed a long time ago, and she had yet to find another one. Having to keep it frequently charged was also difficult. She carried one cd. A cd her little sister had made for her. Today, she refused to leave the car lot without a car that had a cd player.

Beeps sounded around the lot as they tried to find the cars. They had forgotten the circumstances and made no attempts at hiding their location.

"I like this one!" Jack yelled, jumping up and down by a bright yellow Hummer. Annie shook her head.

"He's like a little kid." She smiled. Aniie pressed the button on the key ring to try and find her's.

"What does it have!" she shouted back as she kept pressing her button, looking for the matching car.

Turning towards Jack, she could see him crawl inside.

"Good shit!" he replied.

"Mine's good too!" Alex yelled from a red version.

Annie crawled into the black one activated by her key. She started it up and sadly realized something they were forgetting.

"Not a whole lot of gas in these," Zack said, coming to sit in the car's passenger seat. Car dealerships usually didn't keep full tanks.

"Fuck!" Annie shouted, resting her head against the steering wheel.

"There's one not far away from here. We should have enough gas to get there. And hopefully have a little luck." Rian said, coming over to her SUV as well.

"You're right. Okay, let's go. We don't need all five vehicles though. I say this one and Jack's. He seems attached to it," Annie said, looking over at Jack's expression as he explored the car.

"Let's go," Rian said, as he started to get into the black Hummer.

"Maybe you should drive the other one," Annie suggested. Rian nodded, knowing that letting Alex or Jack drive could be something they latter regretted.

So Rian, Alex and Jack were in the yellow Hummer while Annie and Zack took the black one.

"Ten points for every one you hit!" Jack's voice came through the speakers of the vehicle via satellite, one of the pieces of technology that seemed still intact.

"Don't wreck these cars Jack!" Annie scolded. She heard laughing in the other car.

"But Rian is driving!" Alex's voice rung out.

"You lead Annie," Rian said. She started the car and noticed the gas gauge go to the mark indicated there was a quarter of a tank left. In Hummers though, that didn't mean a whole lot.

"Okay once we get gas we need to make rules," she said through the satellite device on the dash.

"And look for food!" Jack exclaimed.

"Yes Jack. Food is next." Annie laughed. For the first time in a long time, Annie laughed. She was almost surprised at the sound.

Annie drove the Hummer onto the street and kept a pretty steady pace. Most of the cars had already been flattened or were placed that they could get through the once crowded street.

All the gas stations in the city were dry. Or at least Annie assumed they were after the fifth one.

"Let's head outside the city," Rian suggested.

"You lead," Annie said, trusting Rian's directions.

It took fifteen minutes to find a way out of the city, but once they cleared the last cross street, they found a gas station that seemed to be untouched. The five got out cautiously.

"Okay. Rian and Alex will pump gas. We'll take more with us, so I will take care of that. Jack and Zack, you're getting food."

"And break!" Alex said as if they were a football team preparing to take down their opposing team. They pretty much were. It was a mix between a video game, sports and a horror movie.

As they began to split up, Jack jumped up and down before running into the store.

"Jack!" Annie hissed. He turned around immediately.

"You have to be careful," she told him, tossing him a gun. His eyes went wide and he looked scared. Annie ignored it.

Wandering behind the gas station's store, Annie found a few federally approved gas containers, one already filled with the fuel. At least she hoped that's what the liquid was. Rian and Alex had the cars filled up when she brought the containers to fill up. Zack and Jack were still inside the rather large grocery part. Annie left Alex and Rian to go help them and make sure they weren't just loading up on junk food.

Jack and Zack both had large boxes that they were filling with bottled water.

"Make sure it's dated right," Annie said. They both nodded, their eyes still glued to the freezer.

Annie grabbed her own box and began to fill it with paper towels, toilet paper, and first aid items. There were plenty of canned foods as well. She grabbed them too.

Suddenly, a shot rang out.