“What’s this?” Ella asks.
“It’s in case we run out of gas.”
She looks at me skeptically. “It’s just a three hour drive. My car can go twice that far on a tank of gas.”
“I know, but sometimes there’s gas shortages and stuff and I want us to have enough gas to get back home.”
She nods as she considers this. “Good idea. That’s why I love you—you’re smart.”
I grin and take her face in my hands. She smiles up at me, but I can still see something off in her eyes. It’s like she’s trying to hide whatever is bothering her. We’re still standing at the gas pumps and there’s people in line behind us, so this is no time for romance. Still, I kiss her quickly and then we break apart. “Next stop, De Sota,” I say.
We pull onto the main road in Hockley, heading toward the interstate. I won’t need to turn on my GPS until we’re a couple hours away. The hotel is just a straight shot up I-45 until we get to De Sota. I turn up the music and glance behind me to make sure Ella is still following.
Hockley’s roads are busier than usual with everyone evacuating, but it’s not a big deal. We cruise for a few minutes, and then brake lights in front of me make me slow down. I look up ahead. We’re still a mile from the interstate, yet we’re stopped. As far as I can see, there are cars waiting to get on the interstate. Maybe there’s a wreck or something…
Thirty minutes later, we’ve creeped along at a snail’s pace and I can now see the entry ramp to get on the interstate. Only, it looks unlike anything I’ve ever seen. All four lanes of the large roadway are filled with cars, all moving maybe 10 miles an hour. The speed limit is 70. Holy crap.
It might take more than three hours to get there.
I call my parents, who tell me they’re also stuck in traffic. But they’re much closer than we are—only an hour away from the hotel. My mom says the traffic is thick but it’s not too bad and they’re still moving at a good pace. I can’t believe they got so far by leaving just an hour before we did. I’m kicking myself for stopping at that diner. It’s been several hours and Ella and I haven’t even made it out of the county yet. This drive normally takes about fifteen minutes. I glance in my rear view mirror and see Ella in her car, her head back against the headrest. We’re currently not moving, so it’s not like she needs to pay attention to the road.
Anxiety stretches over me, limb by limb, making me start to think about worst case scenarios. What if we run out of gas? And then run out of our spare gas? What if we never get there on time and the hurricane swallows us up?
I hit the steering wheel and curse out my frustration. I’m so pissed for not leaving sooner. This is completely insane. We’re stuck on the interstate surrounded by other people who are also evacuating and we’re barely moving.
Half an hour later, the traffic gets so bad that I just turn off my truck. We’re literally not moving so there’s no reason to have it on. Up ahead, a guy gets out of his car and chats with the person next to him. On the side of the road, a mom lets her kids run around in the grass, probably so they can get out their energy from being stuck in the car so long. Can’t say I blame them. I kind of want to get out and run too.
The other side of the concrete median that separates northbound and southbound traffic is a barren wasteland. All four lanes are completely empty. It’s totally surreal, being at a dead stop on a road that’s usually filled with speeding cars. I glance back at Ella again and see her yawn. With the engine off, it’s already getting warm in here so I open my truck door and step out, stretching my legs. I walk up to Ella’s car and tap on the glass. She jumps.
Then she rolls down the window. “Holy shit, I think I fell asleep.”
“That’s not very safe,” I say with a sardonic chuckle. “You wouldn’t want to get ran over by someone going a hundred miles an hour.”
She rolls her eyes. “At this point, I’d welcome the distraction. This is so damn boring.”
Even with all these stopped cars all around me, standing in the middle of the interstate still feels wrong. I turn back and look between the lanes as far as I can see, but it’s all just stopped cars. There’s too much traffic and no one can get anywhere.
Ella rolls down all four windows in her car and turns off the engine. “Wanna start walking to De Sota? I bet we’d get there faster.”
I stretch my arms up over my head, still trying to release the binding feeling of being cooped up in my truck for so long. “If only we had dirt bikes,” I say. “We could cruise along the grass beside the road.”
Ella squints. “Is that your phone?”
I hear it too, the sound of my phone ringing from my truck. I jog back to answer it. It’s Toby.
“Dude,” he says. “Are you stuck in traffic?”
“Yeah, like ten miles from home, too. It’s insane.”
“Okay, so we found a shortcut. Take the exit for county road 70 and follow it west for about twenty miles. There’s hardly any cars on these back roads. We’ve plotted out a route up north.”
I exhale in relief. I can see the exit sign for county road 70 up ahead. As soon as the cars start moving again, we can try to get over and take it. “Thanks, man,” I say. “I’ll do that.”
“I’ll text you all the roads we’re taking,” Toby says. “It’s way the hell out of the way, but at least you’re moving and not stuck in that hell hole. I saw footage of it online and it’s a mess. The interstate is totally dead stop traffic for about a hundred miles.”
“Damn,” I say, all the more grateful for his call. I was thinking that maybe this one part of the road was busy but that it’d break up and go faster once we got past it. Looks like that won’t happen.
“Thanks man,” I say. “I really appreciate it.”
“Stay safe,” Toby says.
When we’d first left town it was just after lunch. Now the sun is starting to set over the horizon and we’re only finally getting to the exit. No one else is taking it, and I feel guilty for keeping this secret to myself. But if I tell everyone else to take the back roads then those roads will get stuck with traffic, too. I tell Ella the plan and we inch forward slowly as the traffic takes forever to move. Finally, we reach the exit. I even turn off into the shoulder a bit just to get there sooner. Ella’s right behind me as we drive away from the interstate, take a left, and finally start moving again.
