The Survivor Chronicles: The Risen by Erica Stevens

water rushing
around the poles. The water became an actual evil entity in his
mind as it pulled at the posts and tried to eat away at the river
bottom that the beams had been planted in. The further they went
the more convinced he became that he was going to have a heart
attack before they made it to the other side.
    Driving the car in front of them, Riley
stayed directly in the middle of the bridge, a path that Carl
followed closely. For some reason he felt safest away from the
sides, as if being in the middle would somehow save them all from
death if the bridge completely gave out.
    They were more than halfway across the
bridge when metal rafters began to arch above them to form an open
roof. Carl craned his stiff neck to look up at the metal twisting
above them. If the bridge collapsed, it would be now with all of
that metal over them, he was certain of it. But they continued
onward with the asphalt solidly beneath their feet.
    His muscles eased a little when the metal
roof above them ended. A small breath escaped him as the car in
front made it to the freedom of solid road once more; he followed
closely behind them only seconds afterward. He tried to relax but
his muscles remained rigid.
    Riley pulled the car over to the side of the
road after a few hundred feet. Xander rested his hand on her
shoulder as her head bowed in relief; Carl knew exactly how she
felt as his trembling hand slid the truck into park. His heart
continued to pound out a rapid staccato against his ribs as Donald
parked the Caddy behind them.
    Carl was a little concerned his legs might
not support him as he opened the truck door and stood up. A pack of
cigarettes might not be enough to get him to calm down right now,
but even still, he didn't grab for his pack. He needed to move
about for a few minutes and try to shake off the lingering tension
in his muscles first. He walked to the middle of the road before
turning back to the others. They were grouping together near the
truck; their heads bent close together as they slapped each other
on the back and exchanged words that he assumed were
encouragement.
    He stretched his shoulders out before
walking over to join them. They had made a lot of headway today,
more than they'd made on any other day since this had started, but
the sun was now lower in the darkening sky. "How much further?" he
asked Al.
    "Normally about forty-five minutes to an
hour. If we make as good of time tomorrow as we did today than we
should be there by sunset."
    "No more sleeping on roadsides or in
abandoned houses," Rochelle said dreamily.
    "If all goes well," Mary Ellen said and
squeezed her daughter's shoulder reassuringly.
    "We're going to have to figure out a place
to stay for tonight," Carl said. "We can get off and try to find
somewhere, or we can stay on the side of the highway again."
    "I'm good with sleeping roadside," John said
as he eyed the sparse woods beside them.
    "This area was fairly well populated," Al
said. "Getting off the road might not be the best idea, and I think
we should try and go a little further away from here."
    Carl didn't like the look in Al's eyes and
he didn't like the buildings and roadways branching off of the
highway they were on. There was too much development in this area
for his liking and with more development came more people. "Ok,
let's top the tanks off and go," Carl said. "If we get caught up in
something the truck doesn't have enough gas to carry us far."
    "We'll see if any of these vehicles have any
gas left in them." Xander volunteered.
    John opened the backdoors of the truck and
pulled out two of the full cans. He passed them to Carl before
grabbing hold of the empty cans. He gave one to Xander before
seizing the tubing. Carl watched them walk over to the nearby
vehicles on the road before taking the full cans over to the
truck's gas tank.
    Lifting the can, he fit the nozzle into the
tank and lifted it so that the gas poured inside. He glanced around
in order to keep an eye on his