Our four-vehicle convoy had now become a five-vehicle one but we had an agreement with Jesus' group that the Tacoma should be driving at the back for everyone's safety. At that moment, I remembered a huge recall of Tacomas having issues but almost all of them arose from high-mileage ones.
'But yeah... the total's more than the average for mid-sized trucks... But it's still fairly new though...'
I began having second thoughts about the vehicle we repossessed but I made up my mind about trading it in for something better or of equal value later.
With that said, aside from picking off stray deadheads we'd encounter, the road we were traversing was relatively safe until we reached towns that had survivors that weren't affiliated with the De Leon Family.
However, Jesus pretty much knew these people because they were all around the area—visiting them much more compared to their relatives even before the world ended—and he knew what to do on their "tollgates".
And after passing through most of them without issue, we came across a small town that had a small group of survivors we could easily take down with our numbers if they tried something funny. But since we were literally letting Jesus take the wheel, we found out that—like in the real world—we'd have more use for people if we let them live as long as we knew what they needed.
I know that it's the apocalypse and all but I was inclined with Jesus' methods.
Jesus jauntily stepped out of his station wagon and greeted the "guards" who were basically holding a checkpoint with mid weapons, "Hello~ Is Mr. Cruz here? We've brought some things you might like or need so we'd like to sweeten the pot if you'd let us have 'safer' passage, if you know what I mean?"
'Safer?'
The short and stout guy wiped his face shakily before replying, "H-He's here but what are you trading? Y-You got some 'spice' in there?"
Jesus shook his head, "Not today, sorry. The stock's a little... tight. But yeah, we have that Tacoma at the back up for grabs plus some random shit we managed to liberate from this rest stop you told us about before... Is Mr. Cruz sleeping or do we need to—"
"I can call him later but the toll will be double if you don't have anything to—"
Jesus cut him off, "Fine. I'll check my stash again but I'm telling you to stop taking, it's bad for your—"
"D-Don't tell me what I should and s-shouldn't take! I-I-I can take it alright?!"
"Easy, easy~ I just might have the right one for ya... Calm down, okay?"
At that moment, Jesus turned around with a bitter expression but instead of checking his 'stash' like he told the guy he was speaking to, he made his way to me.
"Hey man. I hate to ask you but do you have something that you know... can make it easier for a bit then make it fucking shitty the moment it fades?"
I replied, "Drugs?"
"They call it 'spice' over here. It could be anything, really."
"I thought you have a stash of some sort? Why are you asking me? D'you think I have drugs on me?"
Jesus was a little taken aback, "N-No man, I was just— I'm saving my last batch of weed and it's a little... you know? I know a place where I could get some but I dunno when I'm gonna need it so I'm looking for more options. Can you help a brother out?"
I shook my head as I looked back at Jesus, "I have a small bottle of Morphine and a tincture's worth of Mad Honey."
"Morphine? You still have those?! Wait, what's Mad Honey?"
"I only have a bottle of Morphine and we need it for emergencies so I'm leaning on giving you the Mad Honey. And yeah, Mad Honey is... honey that could make you numb and hallucinate if you take more than a tablespoon—"
*bzzt*
-
*bzzt*
"He's in a good mood?"
*bzzt*
-
*bzzt*
[Yep. That guy's a psycho when he gets a good night's sleep. He would've hacked Jim to death if he wasn't tired.]
*bzzt*
-
*bzzt*
"Huh."
*bzzt*
-
*bzzt*
[Anyway~ Just don't actually take his offer of staying the night. I'm just being courteous but the guy's fucking scary. I don't mess with scary unless I have to.]
*bzzt*
-
*bzzt*
"Noted."
*bzzt*
-
With that said, we continued the drive with the wonderful view despite the rotting corpses laying by the side of the road or totaled wrecks that had bodies that shouldn't be moving or parts that should be attached somewhere. We still drove into towns that were either empty or had people that wanted to do nothing with us, but as we continued on, the area was getting more and more familiar.
The road in these parts was starting to get narrow and narrow but it didn't take long before we started to ascent a steep road that was ten times more dangerous. The number of wrecked cars and flattened corpses at the bottom were already a red flag but Jesus and his crew just strolled in like it was a normal Tuesday.