FRIDAY


"Suzy…hey Suzy…get up." Donna remarks.
"Huh? What's going on? What time is it?" you answer half asleep.
"I dunno, I think it's getting up for the afternoon. Really I'm sort of surprised you didn't at least stir a little since you fell asleep last night. You really are a deep sleeper."
"Guess yesterday's cannibal killing and grand theft auto really took it out of me. Hey we're not moving." You say looking around and seeing that you're parked off the side of the road.
"No, I pulled over to sleep sometime after midnight."
"What? That was dangerous! You should've woke me up then! I could've kept a look out or even taken over with the driving! I mean we could've been attacked by who knows what during the night!" you exclaim.
"We were fine. While I've seen a few abandoned vehicles, I haven't seen a single person driving on this road since we started yesterday. Nobody behind us, and nobody coming from the other direction either."
"I don't care if we were driving in a fucking desolate wasteland, we've got cannibals running around, a break down of society and there's still the potential of angry rednecks coming after us! Next time THINK!"
"Okay…okay…sorry Suzy." Donna says rather meekly.

You give Donna a dirty look, but tell her to forget it. Actually you're sort of surprised she didn't put up more of a fight since it's not like her to back down from an argument, but maybe she's becoming a little afraid of you.

"Well, seeing as things are deader than a tomb around here, we might as well take this opportunity to dump our passenger in the back." You say.
"Oh, yeah." Donna replies.

As you step out of the truck, you look at her to do likewise to help.

"Oh. Wait, you wanted me to help?"
"That was the idea."
"(Sigh) Alright."

You and Donna go to the back of the truck and open up the tailgate. The redneck woman's head that was propped up on it slumps in front of you. Flies have already begun gathering on her face.

"Ugh. She's already beginning to rot." Donna says and chokes a bit.
"She was pretty tall that's for sure. It is sort of amazing she managed to jump in the truck bed without us realizing it. Maybe it was when you ran over that other girl." You remark.
"She fucking attacked us with a hook too. That's like something out of a horror movie."
"Everything about what's happened to us this week is like something out of a horror movie. I saw Tina with one of those hooks yesterday, I think they were moving bodies with them. Y'know, I never officially met her…but I think this was the infamous Butchie Billie I'd hear about every so often. Anyway, let's pull her dead ass out."

Grabbing one arm and Donna grabbing the other, you pull what you believe to be the corpse of Butchie Billie out of the truck. Donna doesn't have that great of a hold on her and drops her end causing you to nearly fall to the ground too.

"Goddamnit Donna, you can't…argh. Fuck it. I'll do it myself!" you say in exasperation.

You proceed to kick and roll the body further away from the road and into the brush.

"Good enough." You say breathing a little heavy. "Whew, open up one of my bags, I'm fairly certain I packed a few bottles of water in there."

Donna gets in the bed of the truck and starts unzipping bags. Eventually she finds the water and passes you one and takes one for herself.

As you drink, you notice both of your back tires are completely flat. You knew one of them was, but you guess the other one gave up during the night.

"Our tires are fucked. I mean we could still drive on them, but it wouldn't be a pleasant ride." You say.
"Doesn't matter really, judging by the gauge last night we're almost out of gas too. Jimmy apparently didn't keep this truck gassed up in case of an emergency." Donna says.
"Great."
"I mean I suppose we could just keep driving until we can't anymore or we possibly find an auto shop."
"Auto shop? Out in the sticks?"
"Well I dunno, don't they usually have those last chance gas mechanic things along roadsides like this? Besides I think we're starting to get past the farmland and should be hitting more populated areas soon. Security City is this way after all." Donna says.
"Given what happened to our town, that might not be a good thing. We still don't know what the fuck is going on. All we do know is the government declared martial law and there are rabid people running around." You say.
"Well I wasn't suggesting we go to Security City, I was just saying we should be hitting more populated areas due it being close by. Look, obviously I don't have a good idea of what to do next, so if you got a long term plan, then by all means let's follow it."

Before you can reply, you hear the sound of vehicle. You peek your head out from behind the truck and see a car heading in your direction. It's going at a good pace, but MAYBE you can stop it.

"Donna, a car's coming. Quick, tear your clothing and go out in the road and look like a slutty damsel in distress!" you say.
"What?!"
"Just fucking do it!" you say and check to see how many bullets you have.

Donna, gets the picture quickly, though you can tell she's not entirely happy with this arrangement.

You hide behind the truck's side away from the road, while Donna gets in the middle of the road and waves her arms. You can't believe you're actually enacting a plan you thought up in your head just yesterday.

You just hope whoever the driver is; they actually stop and don't try to do something like say run over Donna instead.

The car approaches and actually starts to slow down and then eventually stops, but it does so at a distance. Someone then steps out of the passenger side armed with a sub-machine gun.

"Alright honey, if you want to live, I suggest you don't move." He says.
"Don't shoot! I'm completely unarmed! This isn't some sort of trick! Please, I just need help, my truck has flat tires and I don't have any way now to get to Security City!" Donna exclaims.
"Security City? Hah! You don't wanna go there trust me. The whole place is fucked! If the military doesn't round you up and kill ya, the cannibal freaks running all over the place will." The man shouts.

Well you know that place is definitely off the list now.

"Oh no! I don't know where to go then! I'm just so lost by myself! Where are you guys going? Can I come with you?" Donna asks.
"Come with us? Look, I dunno if that's a good idea. We're pretty full up with shit and there isn't much room in this car…"
"That's okay, I won't take up much room. I mean I'll sit on your lap if I have to."
"Sit on my…"
"Look I'll do anything you and your friend want! I'll suck your cocks and fuck you if I have to! Just I can't be alone! Not after those things tried to kill and eat me yesterday!" Donna screams and starts to rub her eyes and sniffling.

At this point the man with the sub-machine gun pauses.

"Hold on." He says and then converses with his driver buddy for a moment. You continue to wait patiently hoping they take this bait.

"Alright honey, you can come with us, but that payment you just offered? Well we'll be taking it now, so I hope you're ready to back up your promises." The passenger shouts and then gets back in the car, which slowly drives up closer to meet Donna.

When they drive up near the other side of the truck, you wonder if you should wait a little longer to make sure they're completely vulnerable or sneak around the truck and open fire now.

You wait a little longer

You decide that it would be best if they were completely pre-occupied. If you shoot now, the driver could either manage to drive off or the passenger could start spraying the place with bullets.

Still, you sneak around towards the front end of the truck so you can at least ambush from behind when you do strike.

"Okay baby, where are we doing this? The back seat of the car is pretty full as you can see. We can do it in your truck if you want. Front seat or the bed of it. Doesn't matter to me." The passenger says getting back out of the car.
"Uh, no not the truck. It got all shot up yesterday, back window broke and there's broken glass everywhere. Don't want to potentially get cut up."
"Hmm, well the hood of this car then?"

At this point Donna walks up to him and starts to do what she does best. Namely act like a slut.

"How about I do the both of you at the same time? That way you both get off and we can be on our way a lot quicker." she says and starts rubbing up against Mr. passenger.
"Well now. That's an interesting suggestion…how were you proposing the logistics of this?"
"Oh that's easy… you see, first I take off my clothes…" Donna says and quickly takes her clothing off until she's completely naked.

"Next, I just get on my knees in this front seat here… and start to unbuckle your friend's pants…"

You can't see the driver from your position since he's never moved out from his seat, but he's obviously okay with this since you hear a couple of moans of pleasure.

"And now…well don't just stand there silly. My ass is right in front of you, start fucking!" Donna commands.
"Wait, you want me to fuck you in the ass?!" Mr. passenger asks.
"Well it's not gonna fuck itself. Do what you want. I gotta concentrate on wrapping my lips around this nice hard cock…mmmmm…"

Holy shit, talk about taking one for the team…hell taking TWO for the team.

At this point Mr. passenger can't err on the side of caution any longer. He places his gun on the roof of the car and presumably starts taking your sister in a way that you imagine many men have taken her before.

With one dick in her mouth and another in her ass, you're fairly confident now that Donna's distracted them both to the point that you have the complete advantage.

You step out from the front of truck and walk towards the car parked near it. Mr. passenger's eyes aren't watching as he's focused on thrusting into your sister. His head is a perfect target and with a single shot, you end him as a threat.

"Oh shit! Oh shit! ARGH! MY DICK! FUCKING BITCH!" you hear the driver shout.

You rush over to the driver's side and point the gun at his head before he can start beating on your sister's head in an effort to get her off his dick.

"You move to your hands to hit my sister and you die. You try to start up the car and you die. If you want your life AND your dick to stay intact then I suggest you follow my orders. First thing, car keys."
"OKAY OKAY! ARGH! JUST TELL HER TO STOP BITING MY DICK!" the driver shouts and hastily hands you his car keys.

"Okay, that's a start. Alright, Donna, you can release his dick now, I'll take it from here."

Donna complies and then spits in the driver's face before he staggers out of the car with his pants half down. You tell her to grab your bags from the truck and put them in the car.

"Okay, we're going to be taking this car and everything in it. In exchange, you can take our truck. Granted it has two flat tires and is low on gas, but if you're lucky, you might just reach a trailer park that has lots of people willing to help you. You ready Donna?"
"Almost." Donna remarks.

You turn back to the driver who is still mostly holding on to his dick wincing in pain.

"Okay, well I guess this is where we part ways. Thanks for the info about Security City. We'll be sure to avoid going there…and uh…bye. Oh, and watch your head."
"Wha…?" is all the driver says before you shoot him and get in the car.

"I thought you were letting him live." Donna says.
"What? And let a man who defiled my poor sister's mouth walk away to brag about it? Not fucking likely." You say and start the car up.

As you spin the car around to head back in your original direction, you ask Donna if she's okay since she's fidgeting a bit in her seat.

"So…um, are you okay?" you ask.
"I'm fine. It's done. We worked together and we succeeded. I think we both know our established roles are in this team. We all have our talents. Let's not talk about it." Donna says.

She doesn't exactly sound angry, but she obviously isn't leaping for joy about what she did. You almost want to talk more about what just happened, but given that your sister doesn't you don't press the issue and just drive.

As you're driving, Donna suddenly speaks up again.

"Next time, don't fucking kill the guy while he's still inside me. Tell him to move away or something first. I had a dead man's dick shooting cum in my ass for a split second before he fell. I'll admit to being a free spirited gal comfortable with my sexuality, but I didn't want to include necrophilia in my list of things I'm willing to do."

Wow. You didn't really expect to hear that graphic detail. It's actually a bit nasty and you can see why Donna's in the mood she's in.

"Okay Donna. Damn, sorry about that. I wasn't thinking." You say.
"Well like I said, it's done. Let's just not speak of it again. (Sigh) Probably for the best he didn't go the traditional route or else he might've impregnated me when he shot his load and I might've given birth to zombie babies or some shit." Donna remarks.

The situation is pretty fucked up, but you're having a hard trying not to laugh now.

"I don't think it works that way Donna. Pretty sure you would've given birth to a normal baby." You say with a stifled chuckle.
"Yeah, well that would be just as bad."

You decide not to make any more comments even though there's a really twisted part of you that is finding this all pretty amusing and wants to make jokes. It's almost like you're sort of getting a kick out of Donna's discomfort. Maybe it's pent up hostility you've had for her due to how she's acted towards you in the past. Maybe it's some sort of sadistic side you've always harbored and it's just recently come out due to this week's events.

In any case, it's slightly worrying to you, since you're starting to wonder how far you're going to start abandoning "civility." You've already committed murder on several occasions, and while the first time was in self-defense, the ones following it have been getting progressively more predatory.

A few more remorseless murders and you're going to be just like your Uncle Ed. (Now you're wondering if it's genetic)

You and Donna continue to drive. A couple of other cars do pass you on the road. You imagine they must be coming from Security City or fleeing it from your previous information. You're just glad you haven't come across any military trying to block the road.

You continue to drive for about a half hour before you see something of interest in the distance. Namely a truck stop, which apparently has been converted into a minor fortress.

"Well that's interesting." You say.
"Is that a truck stop?" Donna asks.
"Yeah I think so. Looks like whoever is there are trying to block the place off by putting trucks around it. They even got people standing on top of the trucks with rifles as lookouts. " you say.
"Are we stopping there?"
"I dunno. Whoever is there probably isn't going to be too trustful of anyone. Though, we still don't have that much of long term plan. A place like this might be a safe haven of sorts. I mean it already looks way better defended than that trailer park."
"Well, it's up to you. But I think we're going to have to be more careful at a place like this."
"We might as well chance it if only to catch a breather and maybe get some directions because I can honestly say I don't know where the fuck we are or where we should be going. That's assuming they even let us in."

You and Donna drive to the truck stop, which immediately causes the lookouts to point and raise their rifles in your direction. When you stop in front of it, there are a lot of shouts for you to stay in the car.

"We're not just letting anyone in here. Who are ya, and state yer business!" the lookout from above shouts.
"Just a couple poor souls trying to escape the chaos out there! Our home town was overrun by military and crazy people. We've also been attacked by others who would try to take advantage of us. Please, we're just looking for some sort of refuge even if it's temporary. We got some supplies in our car."
"Hrmmm, well whatta you got?"

You turn your head to look in the back seat to actually see what you "inherited" since you never looked before. You see a first aid kit on top of a pile of bags.

"Um…we got some medicine. Maybe that could help?" you say.

There is a long pause and he tells you to wait before climbing down the truck and disappearing from sight. Eventually you hear his voice again which is now coming from behind the truck barricade.

"Okay, we're gonna move this truck, but one funny thing happens and you're the first one getting a bullet to the head. Alright, we're letting this one in, everyone keep extra look out for those rabid bastards!"

As soon as the truck is moved out your way, the man who was barking orders at you waves you in and motions you over to a parking spot with some other cars. As soon as you drive in they put the truck back. Either they're really safety conscience or they don't want to risk having you get away.

"Well let's hope these people are just normal people trying to survive and aren't a gang of rapists." You remark.

From this distance you see several more people in the building part of the truck stop. Looks like it's a general store/diner combo. Most of them are watching you from the windows, though a few of them come out, one of them is an older man with a cane who walks directly towards the car.

"Okay, I want the two you in that car to exit it slowly. I don't care if you got weapons, but don't point them at me or anyone else in a threatening manner." The old man shouts.

You take your pistol and shove it in the front of your pants. As for your newly acquired sub-machine gun, you just leave it in the car when you and Donna exit it. Naturally rifles are pointed at the pair of you, but the old man with the cane shouts telling them to calm down.

"You lot, stop pointing your guns and start unloading the car. Sorry about that, everyone's a little on edge. Name's Henry. I own this place." He says.
"My name's Suzy, and I get it."
"So what are two pretty young girls doing driving around in this mess?"
"Long story, but I'll just say, my sister and I are grateful for the shelter if only for awhile."
"Hm, think nothing of it. Really though, if you two are willing to pull yer weight around here, yer welcome to stay as long as you like. Right now we've got plenty of supplies and whatever useful supplies you have can be considered payment for your way in here."
"Well, that's certainly an offer to think about, but I'm not exactly sure what we'd do around here." You answer.
"We can find something I'm sure. Anyway, I just mention it because I've been trying to contact various places on my Ham Radio, and all I can gather is what's been going on is pretty serious and I'm not sure if there's any place I could direct you where to go that would be as safe as this place right now. Security City is completely overrun and the closest military Fort around here, Fort Timons doesn't even know what the fuck is going on other than the obvious. Besides, I don't think you'd get in there anyway, not being military and all."
"This place is really safe huh?" you ask.
"Well not to brag, but we just fended off a big horde of those rabid freak things that I imagine wandered from the city yesterday. Didn't even lose anyone either. Wasn't fun though and I'm glad no more of those things have popped up, but yeah, I think we're doing good job of keeping this place safe. Anyway, you're good to stay for the night, unless you let me know you want to stick around longer and we'll find something for the both of you to do. Okay, I'm going to go make sure these boys don't take EVERYTHING of yours in that car." Henry says and then walks over to oversee his people unloading your car.

Well it's a similar situation you had in the trailer park. Pull your weight or get the hell out. Funny how that worked out.

Maybe you could try to do the "community" thing again. The trailer park wasn't exactly filled with welcoming people, maybe things here could be different and you could actually feel safe here. This place does seem a little better organized and definitely better defended. Really, the only reason why you left the trailer park to begin with was at the insistence of your sister and the fact that it was getting pretty dangerous there.

Then again, this place could turn out to be just as bad where you don't get along with anyone and everything eventually turns into a cluster fuck. Maybe you might as well save yourself the bother by leaving tomorrow.

You make long term plans

While this place might very well not work out, you decide you need to at least make a go of it. Given that you turned to murder and banditry fairly quickly you think you need some semblance of law and order to keep yourself from becoming a complete savage, but more importantly you think Donna needs this more than you do.

This whole week, Donna's been flip flopping a bit on the whole "trying to get her life together" thing. Granted she hasn't had a great foundation, but if you stay on the road and just drift, about the only thing she's ever going to be useful for is…well bait for whomever else you decide to rob in the future.

"Hey Donna, I think we should stay here and by that I mean try to do what we were doing in the trailer park until we ran out like a pair of thieves."
"Suzy, you know that place wasn't turning out good for us."
"Yeah, I know, that's why I ultimately agreed with your plan to leave it…but I can't help think that if we'd done things a little differently…well doesn't matter. My point is, I think we BOTH need some structure."
"Structure? You're joking right?"

At this point you grab Donna by the arm and go to speak to her away from the earshot of those nearby.

"No Donna, I'm not fucking joking. Thursday, we stole a truck and killed two people who were just trying to stop us. Earlier today, we basically did the same thing except it was premeditated. You see a pattern emerging?"
"Hey, I didn't mean to run over that woman at the trailer park and I didn't know you were going to kill those two guys with the car."
"Donna, don't play the babe in the woods routine. Granted I'LL take the blame for murdering those guys in cold blood, but you knew damn well that it was a possibility. You went along with it."
"I went along with it, because you were practically shoving me in the road, telling me to strip to get those guys attention in the first place. It wasn't YOU who had to role-play a pig on a spit to distract them. Besides, we had to do it for survival."
"And that's my point. First we're doing it for survival, how long before we start doing it for fun? I mean…(Sigh) I don't know about you, but for the past few days, my mind has been going to a dark place. Quite frankly a place I didn't think I had. I mean I've killed several people at this point and I don't feel particularly bad about it. Like I don't feel anything."
"Geez, Suzy…"
"Yeah, I'm apparently more fucked up than I ever realized, but what about you? I mean you've relied on your looks and sex to get what you want for the most part. Do you really think that's a great way to go through life? I even used you as slut bait so we could rip off someone a lot easier. Hell, I pretty much pimped you out and I think it's the only thing fucked up thing I've done recently that I HAVE actually felt bad about doing on some level. You shouldn't have to be taking random dicks in the ass and mouth just so we can get by. And I'm really sorry for that. We both NEED a better plan for our future and drifting from place to place isn't it."

Donna's silent for a moment.

"But what would we do here? How would we contribute?"
"I dunno, but I'm going to go talk to that Henry guy about it." You say and then head over back to Henry who is overseeing his people taking all the shit out of your car.

"Oh hey there…Suzy wasn't it?" Henry remarks.
"Yeah." You answer.
"Well Suzy, you'll be happy to know we haven't taken much, save for the couple of first aid kits you had. We got tons of food and water, so we really didn't need any of that. Oh, didn't take your weapons either. Got enough of those too."
"Um…thanks, but I wanted to talk to you about staying."
"Good, we could use the help, so what skills do you have?" Henry asks.
"Well, I killed a lot of those cannibal freaks. I also had to kill a few regular psychos as well this week. Guess you could say I've become a fast learner in the ways of the gun…so do you need another lookout?"
"Wouldn't turn one down if you're feeling up to the task. Not many here actually want to do it. Anyway, I'll make sure to get you a rifle, but what about your sister? What's she do?"

Before you can answer, your sister Donna has come up to speak for herself.

"I'm a people person! I used to plan parties and other similar social events. Made sure people had a good time. Now while that might not sound very useful, I think given our current situation it could be. I mean I can't imagine spirits around here are very high. And when spirits aren't very high, everything else goes to shit. I think I could help out in making sure people stay positive." Donna says with a chipper tone and a smile.

Henry scratches his head and returns a brief grin.

"Well now, that is an interesting proposal and I have to say you do have a pretty cheery attitude. You're right in that everyone has been on edge and not in the best of moods. I'm really not sure how you propose to change that, but if you can do it, well that would be pretty helpful. Though you're still going to have to do something else in the meantime, I think the wait staff in the diner needs help with going through the inventory. Go see Anne in the diner; she'll be able to direct you. Okay, well that's settled. You ready for your assignment Suzy?"
"Yeah, hold on. Just want to talk to my sister for a moment."
"Sure."

Once again you take Donna aside away from earshot.

"Donna, what was all that about planning parties and shit?" you ask.
"What? I did used to plan parties over Julie's house remember?" Donna says.
"I didn't think you guys actually planned them so much as you just invited a bunch of people over."
"Well okay, yeah most of the time that was the case, but really I was the main one that got those parties going to be more exciting than they actually were. I also curbed the more destructive elements that actually occurred at those things by keeping people positive and happy."
"So…what? You're going to turn this place into a rave orgy?"
"No…well I mean I wish, but all I have to do is take my interpersonal skills and channel them in some way that will work here. Look, you said we need to try to start over. Well, I'm going to improvise with what I can so we can make a go of it here."
"You're right Donna. Okay, well I'll leave you to it."

Before you leave, Donna moves in to hug you. You weren't expecting it, but you return the hug.

"Be careful Suzy, don't get eaten." Donna remarks.
"Don't worry about me, you just focus on what you need to do." You say.

With those parting words, Donna heads towards the diner and you go back to Henry for your assignment.

Henry apparently has already told some of his people that you'll be joining them on the truck tops keeping a look out and hands you a rifle. Henry also mentions that this decision was met with mixed results. Some were happy since it meant they could take more breaks, others didn't like the idea since nobody really knows who the fuck you are and don't see why they should trust you yet. Still, Henry is pretty well respected you guess around here, because other than some grumbling nobody is outright making a major case out of it.

Henry takes you to the far back end of the truck stop. He says he hasn't really put many guards up here since its away from the road and borders the wilderness and so far nothing has come out from there yet, other than the occasional wildlife.

"Now I don't think anything actually will be coming up this way, since I imagine if we did have another cannibal attack they'll be coming from one of the other directions, but hey we shouldn't just keep our back completely undefended. Now you'll be here until about midnight, I hope you're up for that." Henry remarks.
"That's what I'm here for."
"Hm. Well like I said, there probably won't be much going on and about the most likely thing you're going to have to fight off is boredom. Um, if you need to go bathroom, there are some port a johns nearby, though suppose if you REALLY need to, you can go run over to the diner if you're a little more concerned with cleanliness, but whatever you do make sure you at least tell Larry over there so he can keep extra watch while you're gone." Henry points to a man over on top of a truck on the far side of where you are before continuing.

"Anyway, that's about it, and if you see anything that looks dangerous, yell your head off and warn us."
"Okay, got it." You answer.

You climb up the ladder propped against the eighteen-wheeler and take you place as a guard.

A few hours pass and just as predicted, nothing happens. You're not really bored yet though since you're taking a mental count of the number of rabbits you see hopping around in the field and making up little bunny names and little stories about their little bunny lives.

Every once in awhile while you're walking back and forth along the truck, you wonder how your sister is doing. You also wave to Larry once in an attempt to be friendly, but he doesn't return the wave and ignores you.

Eventually he has to pay attention when nature calls.

"Hey Larry!" you shout.
"What?!" he answers in an annoyed tone.
"I gotta pee!"
"So? Go over the side of the truck, its what I do when I gotta piss."
"Yeah, I'm not a guy and I don't have the luxury of the world being my toilet. I need to use a proper bathroom. Henry told me to let you know so you can keep an extra eye on things until I get back."
"(Sigh) Fine, don't fucking take all day though."

With Larry's acknowledgement of your bathroom needs, you go down the ladder and run to the diner. (You sure as hell aren't going to use those disgusting port a johns)

When you enter the diner, you find a variety of people singing songs and joking around. You then see Donna dressed in a waitress uniform wave to you.

"Hey Suzy! You done with protecting all of us?! This is my sister Suzy folks! She's the one that saved my life more than once this week!"

At this point everyone says hi to you.

"Um…hey. I actually just came in to use the bathroom" You reply caught a little off guard.
"That's Suzy, always the social one." Donna laughs and then goes back to talking to the crowd.

After taking care of business in the bathroom, you wash your hands and see Donna entering the room.

"Gotta hand it to you Donna, it hasn't been a few hours and already you've got the people here in a good mood." You say.
"Yes, and I didn't fuck all of them to get them that way in case that's what you were thinking." Donna says.
"Sheesh, I saw some children out there. I know you're not a degenerate Donna."
"Well, I'm glad you don't think I am. Never thought I'd say this, but your opinion of me has started to matter more this week. So how's guard duty?"
"It is what it is. I'm not quite the people person you are though, so all I've managed to do is piss off the one person assigned near me. On the bright side, I've managed to stave off boredom by making up stories in my head about the bunnies bouncing around in the fields."
"Heh, well you always were the imaginative one. Well I'll see you later."

You leave your sister and return to your guard duty, which continues to be uneventful. As the night comes your stories about rabbits give way to stories about wandering possums and raccoons instead. Thankfully no cannibals though.

Eventually someone comes to relieve you of duty. Some guy you haven't seen before, but at least he's a little more cordial than Larry.

You return to the diner where you find most people now asleep. Donna is still awake and sitting behind the food counter playing solitaire. She waves you over.

"Suzy, there you are. I waited up for you so I could show you where we'll be sleeping. Come on." Donna whispers and takes you through the back kitchen.

"Hey you didn't eat today did you? There's a lot of food here you know. There's also a shower in the waitresses' private bathroom if you need." Donna says.
"Nah, I'm good for now. I'll worry about that stuff tomorrow." You reply.
"Okay, well here it is." Donna says and opens up a small storeroom, which doesn't have much space.

"I tried to make it as comfortable as possible with a few blankets I borrowed. There are our bags of clothing. I figured those might work as pillows of a sort." Donna says.
"Well I guess it will have to do." You answer.

You lay down on the make shift bed on the floor and try to get as comfortable as possible. Donna does likewise and you drift off.

Next day...

SATURDAY


You wake up to a body spooning you, and an arm holding you tightly around your mid-section.

"Donna! Hey! Wake the fuck up!" you shout pushing your sister off of you.
"Huh? Wha? The hell are you pushing and hitting me for?" she exclaims groggily.
"Because you were about to commit incest that's why!" you exclaim.
"Oh. Sorry. It wasn't intentional I assure you. I probably was dreaming about Julie."
"Excuse me?"
"Well one time over her house her heating system broke down and we had to sleep together for warmth for a week."
"Okay, I don't want to know anymore about your little lesbian encounters with Julie." You say.
"Oh geez Suzy don't be so heteronormative, we weren't lesbians. We just had some fun on occasion. (Sigh) I wish she was here with us." Donna says getting a little tearful.

You pat Donna on the shoulder.

"I wish she was here too Donna." You say.

After that moment of silence to remember your friend, the both of you get up.

"You know what time it is?" Donna asks.
"No, but I know it's time for me to take a shower. You said I can use the waitresses' private one?" you say.
"Yeah, but you might have to wait for other people."
"Damn, speaking of waitresses, what's with the uniform?"
"Oh this? Well I needed to change my clothes yesterday and I was offered one of their uniforms. I figured I'd wear it to fit in a little better, besides its kind of cute don't you think?" Donna asks.
"It's kind of stripperish if you ask me. The skirt barely covers your ass." You reply.
"Well I think that's the point. This is a truck stop remember and they probably want the waitresses to look a little more on the sexy side."
"Hm, well I'll stick with my old non-stripper clothes."
"Prude." Donna snarks.

As you and Donna leave the storage room to start the new day you both suddenly hear a loud noise and a faint rumble. You then hear some screams and shouting from the front of the diner.

"Oh my god that was a fucking nuke!" you hear someone shout.

You and Donna just look at each other. Maybe its due to the week you've had, you're not entirely phased by this.

"(Sigh) I guess they finally went and did it." You say.
"Perfect way to start the day." Donna replies and the pair of you head to the front of the diner.

When you get there, you see a waitress trying to calm her children down. A couple people are arguing. A few are just sitting in a silent state of shock. Henry is actually outside the diner looking in the direction of where the bomb must've gone off. You can see the lingering remnants of a mushroom cloud in the far distance even from inside the diner.

"Well I can only hope we're far enough away that we aren't suffering from horrible radioactive fallout." You say.
"Yeah, I suppose not much can be done now if we are, just um…shoot me if my hair starts falling out okay?" Donna asks.

You briefly wonder if this bomb was the result of the nuclear war those Ground Zero ads kept harping on about or if this was just some internal thing to take care of those rabid people.

Either way, you suppose it doesn't really matter, life is going to be severely different from now on.

At this point Henry steps back in the diner and after calming some of the arguing truckers. He begins addressing the situation and stating that nothing has changed and that the situation is still the same, namely if people help, then they are welcome to stay. If not or if they don't want to stay then they are free to go.

A couple of the truckers who apparently have families elsewhere do leave. Everyone else stays and the work towards creating a permanent new "home" is begun.

After washing up and having something to eat, you head out to do your guard duty rounds. Donna comes to see you before you leave.

"Hey, Suzy."
"Yes?" You answer.
"Whatever happens next, I just want to say…I'm glad we're dealing with all this together."
"I'm glad we're seeing this through together too." You say.

And with those words, you and Donna hug and go contribute in your various jobs in this new community.

Funny that it took the collapse of society before you re-connected with your family again.
Sisterhood


The future…

"Hey, those trailer park rednecks had been fucking assholes to us for years. It was high time that we burned that whole heap of trash to the ground like it deserved. It's just too bad we couldn't do it when we were temporarily stuck in that hell hole." You exclaim.
"Yeah, I know I just sort of wish there had been another way to deal with them. Wiping out entire communities isn't really something that is particularly popular you know. I mean there were children and other innocents there too." Donna says.
"Well that's why we can blame that shit on the Cult of Tiamat. They're the crazies that took things too far, or whatever…I dunno, you know how to spin this shit, you're the politician not me."
"Oh yes, the alliance with the cultists. That's going to be an easy spin…(Sigh) I can't believe you convinced me THAT was a good idea."
"Hey look, if we had gone head to head with those trailer park assholes by ourselves, it would've been a bloodbath for us. Considering the cult was also their enemy, it was a good opportunity to re-establish an old contact as it were. Besides, Bobby's bitch of a sister Diana wasn't around anymore so I knew I'd have more clout. Not to mention we've got a peace agreement with them now so that's TWO less enemies in our immediate area now."

Donna gets up from her desk and pours herself a drink. She downs the whole glass in one gulp and pours another shot.

It's funny; she used to drink for enjoyment at one time. Nowadays she drinks to keep herself from being overwhelmed with all the shit she has to deal with. That party girl is long gone and when she took over New Security from Henry she disappeared completely.

Popularity was always her specialty, but you've always been the stronger one. Without you Donna probably would've failed at this community leader thing a long time ago.

Of course without Donna, you probably would've gotten lynched by an angry mob a long time ago. That "good girl" that once hid out in the basement is long gone too. While you didn't become the "outlaw savage" that you worried about becoming, you still lost that "civility" and over the years as you had to deal with shitty things in this shitty new world, well it was just easier to be the cold bitch that would kill someone without hesitation.

And that's why you're a team.

"So Suzy. You and Bobby rekindle something?" Donna asks putting down her glass.
"Hah, no. Bobby's one true love nowadays is his blessed Tiamat. Followed by his sister Helen. Still, it doesn't hurt that I was an ex that I imagine he still has the occasional fond memory."
"You think he'll leave us be?"
"Sure. I mean we'll always keep an eye on his group, but now that those rednecks are gone, more territory has opened up for Bobby. He'll be satisfied in the foreseeable future."
"Okay…(Sigh) ugh, I don't feel like going out there and giving a fucking speech right now…"
"Look, I know you're stressing about this, but I promise you the people of this town aren't really going to be that upset by the destruction of a bunch of hostile trailer trash. Some of them will probably throw a party. This isn't the old world anymore where you got the U.N. or some shit waggling their finger at you for war crimes. People are back to the mindset that their tight knit communities come first and fuck everyone else. Besides even if you do have some idealistic fools screaming about injustice or some shit, you've still got the support of our militia of which I am currently head of. I'd say you're not in any danger."

Donna smiles and shakes her head.

"Jesus Suzy. I'm sure glad you're on my side." Donna says.
"Hey, sisterhood forever right?" you say extending your hand.

Donna nods and grips your hand followed by a hug.

"Sisterhood forever Suzy."

And with those words, Donna straightens her clothing and heads out of her office to address the public and you follow close behind.

A few winks, a few smiles and a few lies later and Donna has the public in the palm of her hand just like you knew she would. She just needed your support for that extra boost of confidence.

Not bad for a party girl and a basement dweller.