Driving down the darkened Route 95, Max found it rather peaceful and relaxing. The night air was cool compared to during the day and it was a welcomed relief after driving through most of the day in the hot sun in the middle of a desert. Although the old Toyota van's A/C still worked, he refrained from using it to save on gas. Especially since he didn't know when he'd ever come across a gas station that might actually have some fuel left, or any abandon cars for that matter.

It had been days, maybe even a week and a half, since he last encountered a walker, or a herd for that matter. The road had been empty and clear of any sign of former humanity for a long while now, he hadn't even seen any abandoned cars for close to 100 miles. This was how he knew he was in the middle of nowhere.

With the steering wheel in one hand, and his ipod in the other, he fingered through his play lists before finally selecting one. A guitar intro started up and almost instantly he recognized it as one of his favorite songs, a Japanese Rock song by the Pillows called Scarecrow. "Ah..." a grin began to form as he turned the volume up. It was especially one of his favorite songs to listen to while driving at night, especially a clear moonlit night like it was now.

yume no mukou made
boku wa tabi wo tsudzukeru tsumoridayo
kimi wo tsurete
dareka ga katatta
genjitsu to iu na no monogatari ga kotaejanai ze
(Translation: I'm going to continue this journey
to the far side of my dreams
and I'm taking you with me.
Someone was talking
about this story people call 'reality' - it's not the answer.)

It was probably still a long way to Mt. Charleston, much less he wouldn't know if he'd be able to find his Uncle's hideaway place. All he had was a crudely drawn map that his Uncle had drawn for him before all that hell. It was no secret in the family, though... That his Uncle was paranoid and obsessed with the end of the world.

Yawning a big yawn, he started to feel the beckoning of sleep coming to visit."What time is it?" He muttered to himself as he picked up his ipod and check the time.

11:44pm

"Holy Crap..." He didn't realize it was this late, much less he didn't know where he could pull off to sleep. He didn't want to just pull off on the side of the road out in the open like that where people could see the van. That would be like advertising "Hey, come See what I got!" on a big and bright neon light sign. He'd have to continue further down the road until he found a decent location to park.

yume no mukou made
boku wa tabi wo tsudzukeru tsumoridayo
kimi wo tsurete
(Translation:I'm going to continue this journey
to the far side of my dreams
and I'm taking you with me.)

Almost as soon as the song ended, he spotted what appeared to be an old gas station with a mechanic's garage coming up. "Sweet.." He then turned down the volume on his ipod to help lessen the amount of sound emanating from the van, although the old Toyota van wasn't the most silent of vehicles.

Slowing down and turning into the gas station area, he stopped a short ways from the building, putting the van in park with it's headlights shining at the building, high beams on. Reaching over to the passenger side, he grabbed his rifle before opening his door and stepping out, cautiously approached, racking on the rifle's charging handle to chamber a round.