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stations?”
    “That’s my plan.”
    “I like it.” he nodded.  “We’ll start tomorrow.”
    “Sure you’re feeling up to it?”
    “I’m tough, remember?”
    Jessica rolled her eyes.  “And careful, cautious, loyal, I know, I know.”
    “Good.  I’d hate to think you were taking me for granted.”
    “Never.” she assured him.  “Not in a million years.”
    His smile turned mischievous.  “Okay.  So, strip.”
    “What?” Jessica blurted, sitting up quickly.  She could feel blood rushing to her face as she blushed.
    “The Taurus.” he said, pointing at the holster on the right side of her belt.  “One of us is cleaning it, and if I’m the guy, then you’re gonna strip it down.”
    Jessica drew the gun and hit the magazine release.  “Your choice of words is a little forward.” she said, eyeing him merrily.
    “What’d you think I meant?” he asked slyly, then made an ooof sound as she tossed the magazine at him.  “Hey, I was shot, remember?”
    “How could I forget?”

Chapter Three - Surprise
    “Stop pouting.” Jessica said as she turned onto US-80 and headed west.
    “You have any idea how much fuel we could fit in those tubs?” Austin asked reasonably.
    “I know their lids aren’t water tight.” she replied.
    “Fuel, not water.”
    “Same difference.” she told him.  “If they spill, we’ll have gas all over everything.  Including the food.”
    “The food’s mostly canned.”
    “Some of it isn’t.  The pasta is just boxed, and the flour bags are just double layered paper.”
    “We’ve got those three cases of ramen noodles that are double wrapped in plastic; per package then each case.” Austin said in the tone of someone looking for a bright side.  “And we can make do without the flour if worse comes to worse.”
    “Food is food; what happens if we get down to our last meal and are thinking about gas soaked flour?”  Jessica frowned.  “There’s also the clothes, the boxes, and the odds and ends back there; none of it needs to be drenched in gas.  We’re not driving around with two thirty gallon storage tubs full of gas in the back unless the lids are water proof.”
    “Nothing says we have to fill them all the way up.”
    “Austin!”
    “Okay, I’m just pointing it out.”
    “You pointed it out.” she said, glancing over and trying to soften her expression so he wouldn’t think she was mad at him.  It wasn’t a totally bad idea – fuel was the difference between riding and walking, and between the supplies and having no means to bring them – but she was serious about not wanting to carry unsecured fuel inside the SUV.  The gas cans made her nervous enough, and they had solid caps that went on tight.  And were designed to carry fuel, so their plastic was thicker.
    “Well we’ve got that five-gallon can we found a few weeks ago, and the four little dinky two-gallon ones we’ve picked up along the way, so that’s thirteen, which isn’t even half a tank in this beast.” Austin said.  “I never would’ve guessed people living in the sticks wouldn’t have gas cans in their garages.”
    “Maybe they took them with them when they left?” Candice said.
    “Doesn’t help us much though girlie-girl.” he sighed.  “But I guess you’re probably right.”
    “That’s a lot of people who left.” Jessica muttered.
    Austin glanced at her, but when she darted her eyes toward the back seat, he just nodded slightly.  She was both grateful, and surprised, to see so many of the houses in the area were vacant.  It wasn’t that many houses – this was the middle Georgia sticks after all – but she would have assumed more of them would have stayed put since they weren’t near cities.
    Apparently that hadn’t been the case.  She was past wondering where they’d all gone, but it was a little curious.  Whether they were dead or merely evacuated, they weren’t around now.  The area wasn’t deserted, but only about one in seven or