Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

good. I don’t know the backroads anyway, and my GPS is on the blink.” Rob tapped a plastic headlight on the front of his bike, grinning.
    “Remember GPS?” asked Winky. She sighed in forgotten pleasure. “Life used to be so easy. I never appreciated stuff like that when I had it.”
    I expected Bodo to chime in, but he remained silent. He hadn’t said a word since we’d spoken in the garden spot, except to answer questions asked directly of him by Rob and Winky. It was worse than awkward; it was painful. It was like his spark had died out, and I’d never fully appreciated how nice that spark was until it wasn’t there anymore. Now he seemed like just a sullen guy with an accent and a good body - a stranger.
    “So what’s the plan?” asked Paci. “I know you can’t know everything we’re going to have to deal with, but I’d like to have rough idea of what we’re doing.”
    “Well, Peter gave me a wish list of things he’d like us to bring back, along with all the people who want to come, but I’m not sure if any of it is possible.”
    “What’s on it?” Rob asked.
    I laughed, kind of bitterly. “Looms, horses, goats, ovens…”
    “Sounds reasonable,” said Paci
    I looked at him to see if he was kidding, but his expression was totally serious.
    “Yeah, we’re going to need that stuff if we’re going to have a life in Haven,” agreed Winky.
    “Uhhhh, yeah. Whatever.” Apparently my friends were living in an alternate dimension where we still had UPS delivery service and vehicles of our own to move things.
    “I am very strong, but I don’t know dat I can carry an oven on my beck,” said Bodo, still facing forward.
    “Obviously, none of us can do that,” said Paci. “We’re not suggesting that at all.”
    “We need to get some trucks or something,” said Rob. “Convoy everything. People included.”
    “Is that even possible?” I asked, warming to the idea of a much faster trip than we were capable of making on bikes.
    “Why not?” asked Winky. “Don’t you drive?”
    “Of course I drive. But where are we going to get these trucks?”
    “We have trucks,” said Rob mysteriously. “You leave that up to me and Paci.”
    “But I need you guys to help fight if necessary,” I said.
    “No one’s going to get any trucks until all the fighting is done,” said Paci. “Don’t worry. We’ve got your back.”
    Bodo pedaled faster, pulling ahead of us.
    “What’s his problem?” asked Rob quietly. He dropped back to ride next to me. “You piss him off about something?”
    “You could say that.” I wasn’t about to give any more details. It was humiliating enough having Bodo know them, and I hated being in the middle of boy-girl drama.
    “He’ll get over it,” said Winky. “I don’t think you can keep Bodo down for long.”
    I didn’t want to argue with her, but he’d done a pretty good job of staying depressed so far. I wasn’t so sure he’d bounce back as fast as she was suggesting. The kiss with Paci along with the loss of his hawk, Nina, had maybe been too much for him to deal with. I was afraid it would be a while before he was his normal self. Maybe he’d never be the old carefree, silly Bodo with me again. The very idea made me super sad. This world could get very dark and depressing. Goofiness was a much needed release, both for the one goofing off and the ones being entertained by it. And Bodo was a very entertaining guy when he wanted to be.
    I let the subject drop, and we all went silent. I was worried any canners that might be waking up in the nearby towns might be headed to the highway, and I didn’t want them hearing us before we heard them.
    As we drew past another entrance ramp, I noticed something off about the cars along the highway. The way they were arranged was different or something. It made me uneasy.
    “What the hell happened here?” asked Rob, gesturing to a vehicle parked in front of us.
    We pulled up closer to it and stopped, all of us frowning as we tried to figure out what the hell had happened to it.
    “It looks like it’s been in one of those smash-em-up derbies,” I said.
    “It’s been slammed on all four sides,” said Paci, getting off his bike and walking around it. He looked up and down the highway. “There’s nothing out here that looks like it did this.”
    “What do you mean?” asked Winky, looking around in confusion.
    “I mean, something smashed this car into a crumpled up box, but that something, whatever