Chapter 5

It was quiet for most of the drive down the highway, that is until we hit a lot of traffic. "No, no, no. You've got to be kidding me!" Scarlett hit the wheel with her hand in frustration as we pulled into the backed-up highway. "Looks like everyone and their mother had the same idea to use this highway." Logan chimed in, "This is bad, this is really bad." Scarlett replied I could tell that we were going to be here for a while. Traffic was completely backed up, nobody was moving and it seemed that traffic stretched out to about five miles. I rubbed my face with my hands and brushed my hair out of my face, letting out a frustrated sigh. I have no clue what other highway we could possibly take, most of the highways we had to take in order to head towards Philadelphia were either completely backed up or were too overrun. I looked out of my window, noting that some people were standing outside of their cars, talking with others. As I looked at the cars beside us, I noticed the view we had of the city from here. I could hear sirens blaring in the city, making my heart clench as I realized the city was most likely gone now. From this view, we could see much of the city's most populated area. Some fires had been sprawled out across the city, some big ones and some that only pertained to one building. "It looks like we'll be sitting here for a while. Might as well go to talk the people outside." Scarlett suggested, "I'll go see what I can find out about any information about the refugee camp in Philadelphia. Someone has to know something." I unbuckled my seatbelt as Scarlett turned the car off, unbuckling herself as well. We got out of the car, my eyes adjusting to the darkness outside as only several streetlights were shining overhead the highway. I reached down on the floor, placed my bookbag on the seat, and grabbed a slightly room-temperature water bottle. I had stocked my bag with all kinds of drinks, besides just water. There were a few energy drinks that actually belonged to our roommates, some sodas that I kept in my mini fridge, and juice. Which reminds me, I need to call my parents. I dug through my bag, hoping that I threw my phone in there. I smiled to myself when I felt it and pulled it out of my bag, however, that changed when I noticed the battery was low. I know that my charger was somewhere in my bag, meaning that later I was gonna have to dig through my bag to find it.

"You guys want anything?" I asked Logan, shoving my phone in my pocket. "What do you have?" He stepped closer to me, "Water bottles, some sodas. Take your pick."

"I'll take a water and a soda for Liam here." I reached back into my bag, handing Logan what he asked for.

"Thanks," Logan smiled at me, I couldn't help but notice just how cute his smile was. We hadn't seen it before, especially under the circumstances of how we met.

"No problem," I gave him a soft smile, he turned away and handed Liam the soda as I opened my water bottle and took a huge swig of water. I placed the water bottle back in the car and closed the door, I heard Logan making small talk with Scarlett and Liam and headed off to find someone. As I walked away from the car, I looked to my right and noticed that there were many kids around here. Families had packed everything into their cars and some people even had their dogs or cats, it surprised me that they even had time to grab their pets. I looked around and found someone who had a police uniform, he stood with a woman with long brown hair and her daughter, who looked a little younger than Liam. For a moment, I hesitated in going to talk to him but I needed information. So I shook off my nerves, silently praying that he had some sort of information on the camp in Philadelphia. Maybe he knew about another one possibly closer to us, either way, I just hoped he had some sort of information that we could use.

"Excuse me," I tapped on the officer's shoulder.

"Yes?" The man turned around and my eyes widened when I recognized the face of the man standing before me, "Blake?" He asked, looking confused and surprised. He had straight, short brown hair which was finely shaped, he stood taller a few inches taller than Logan. He had tan skin, amber eyes, and was broad-shouldered. I couldn't believe who was standing before me, "Oh my god, Clark." I pulled him into a hug, my eyes tearing up slightly. Clark is an old friend of mine, actually, he's Scarlett's older brother. Clark hugged me back, obviously relieved to see me. "Oh thank god, you're alright." He said, he then pulled back from the hug to look at me.

"If you're here... Then what about Scarlett?" He asked.

"She's back at the car. We had a lot of problems trying to get down the highway to get to Philadelphia." I explained.

"You're trying to get to the refugee camp?"

"Yeah, that's where we're headed." I nodded.

"I'm sorry, I'm being so rude." I looked at the woman standing with her daughter, she was a very pretty woman and it seemed that she could be around Clark's age. "My name is Blake. Clark and I know each other because his sister, Scarlett, is my best friend." I held my hand out of her to shake and she took my hand, "You weren't being rude, I think it's amazing that you two reunited. My name is Jamie and this is my daughter, Iris." Jamie took my hand in hers and shook it, Iris did the same thing and smiled at me. "It's nice to meet you, Jamie and Iris." I smiled, "Likewise." Jamie smiled. "You said that she is by the car?" Clark asked, I turned my attention back to him. "Yeah, come on. I'll show you." I waved for him to follow me, "Jamie, stay with the car." Clark said, Jamie nodded and ushered her daughter to get back into the car and the two of us walked away. "So.. who is Jamie to you exactly?" I asked, wanting to tease him a bit. Clark let out a chuckle, picking up on the teasing tone in my face. "It's not like that, Blake. Jamie is my partner's wife and Iris is their daughter. When we got the first call about those zombies we ended up at a school and got separated from each other. He made me promise that if anything happened to him, I would take care of his family and get them to safety." He explained, "Ah, I see." I nodded.

"How did you guys end up this way?"

"We tried to get on the highway to go directly to Philadelphia but it was backed up, just like this one. Then the 'Infected' came out and started attacking people, so Scarlett drove away. We ended up on the same highway where there was a huge car accident, we had to leave that one and then got another one and found Logan and Liam."

"Logan and Liam?" He looked up at me.

"Yeah, two brothers. Their family got attacked on the highway and Logan and Liam lost their entire family.."

"Knowing you, you couldn't let them die." Clark smiled at me, "Yeah, you would be correct. I helped them." We soon reached the car, Logan and Liam still talking. Scarlett sat inside the car, talking with the two. "Scar, look who I found!" Scarlett poked her head out of the car, her eyes widening when she saw Clark standing beside me. "Oh my god!" She quickly got out of the driver's seat and ran around the car, throwing herself at her older brother who welcomed her with open arms. "Oh my god," Scarlett broke down in tears, sobbing on his shoulder as he comforted her. I smiled, leaning against the car as Logan got out of the car and stood beside me. "Who's the cop?" Logan asked, "Scarlett's older brother, Clark."

"Wow.."