It was slow going on the way down to Arkansas. Many of the main roads were flooded with abandoned vehicles, and several times Jason and his ex-wife had been forced to turn around and consult a map to find the best route. In the end, it became apparent that the majority of their travels would have to take place on back roads. 

That third night- the first since they'd decided to head south, but the third since they'd stolen the trucks- Jason and his ex-wife slept in shifts. They parked the vehicles in the middle of a field out of sight of the road. It didn't give them a very good tactical advantage, but it did mean that they wouldn't be spotted by anyone just driving by. Luckily, a few coyotes in the distance and the sound and shadowy movement of what Chambers figured were deer were the only things to catch his attention this deep in the country. 

The next day the kids woke up early. Knowing that it was rough to keep them in car for so long, they ate some of the MRE's Jason had saved and relaxed before getting back on the road. The kids ran around and burned off some energy while Guinevere turned her phone on to read the news. What she saw confirmed the suspicion that Jason had based his decisions on. The world around them was starting to plummet into chaos.

"Yeah..." Jason commented as she showed him the headlines that popped up on her phone's news feed, "it was time to go. I'm just glad we got out when we did. I'm not even going to turn my phone on. Not until we get somewhere we can stay for a while. By then the phone might not even be working anyway. You should turn yours off for now- save the battery."

Cleaning up the boxes and bags from their breakfast, Jason used a small entrenching tool to dig a little hole and the matches from one of the MRE's to set their trash fire, putting as much of it into one bag as he could fit. It would probably go out after a while, but he wasn't going to bring the garbage with them, and it wouldn't do the environment any good just blowing around.

The next day and night was much of the same- very slow going taking back roads to get where they wanted to go, especially having to turn around several times when they came to dead ends. But it was the next day that they encountered their first real challenge. Coming over a hill, they realized a bridge at the bottom of it was the only way across the creek that ran across their path, but in front of it were four vehicles, set up to block anyone from crossing from either way. As soon as they realized what was going on, a large camper pulled out from behind a barn behind them, parking directly behind them in the road so as to block their escape. Five men stood in front of the vehicles near the bridge, while three more got out of the camper behind them.

"This is bad," Guinevere's voice trembled over the radio, "Real bad. The kids and Grandma are in the car between us. Even if we ran... This is bad."

Jason listened to her while he grabbed the plate carrier loaded with his magazines and tactical equipment and threw it on. They weren't going to let them go without at least taking almost everything they had, and Jason couldn't just run- they'd never get away with all three vehicles. Either way, someone wasn't walking away from this.