It was later that day.
Bard left for supplies later than he would have liked, but that was better than not leaving at all. He was down to practically nothing now.
Hungry.
Thirsty.
He’d taken a break after eating and ended up going for a long drive through the mountains, stopping occasionally to walk whatever trails caught his attention.
He hadn’t meant to spend so long doing it.
There were some seriously fascinating cactuses out there that almost looked like people. Hundreds of them, maybe. Bard made a mental note to come back sometime with his camera.
If he’d been paying more attention to the fuel gauge instead of driving through random hills, staring at buildings and signs and wondering which facilities were government, private, or God knew what else, he could have gotten his supplies and saved himself some gas.
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But for a little while, Bard had been living the high life.
He knew he had plenty to do.
He also knew he couldn’t immediately go flying back into the trailer park without probably running into those buttheads again.
So Bard lollygagged.
And now he was out of gas alongside Route 4 in a rainstorm.
The nearest place where he might be able to get supplies was maybe a mile away.
Unfortunately, the wind had become nothing worth laughing at.
Bard sat behind the wheel and looked through the windshield into the darkness. He didn’t want to run down the battery with the headlights, but their fading glow had given him just enough light to make out a dilapidated store farther down Route 4.
He had no choice.
Bard climbed out and went around to the trunk. He grabbed his red gas can and started walking.
“Okay. Toilet paper. Canned food. Water. Gas. Minimum.”
He thought about it.
“When was the last time I had a Monster?”
That might give him an edge.
Actually, he was craving that shit right now.
Bard broke into a half-jog through the rain, splashing through puddles while his little lifeline disappeared into the darkness behind him.
Eventually, he reached the strange store.
A swarm of bats exploded into the rain.
Television light flickered through the only functioning window.