PART 3

            He quickly turned around, not wanting to be a part of the riot that was sure to follow the quick spreading of the news that there wasn’t even a public gas station there anymore through the line of cars. As he walked back, a few people asked him if there was a problem ahead, but he said nothing. He knew that he needed to get back to his wife and get farther from the city as soon as he possibly could.

            Since he was walking as quickly as he could without drawing attention to himself, he reached his can in only five or so minutes. Quickly uncovering, he then continued his fast march to where he had hidden his car. Upon reaching it, he found it to be unharmed and untouched, so he got in and started to drive it out of the woods. Upon reaching the edge of the woods and the start of the culvert between the road and the trees, he noticed a new problem that he hadn’t anticipated: the line of cars had grown. Now, instead of being at the back of the line, he was in the middle of what was rapidly becoming a massive parking lot style traffic jam. Thinking quickly, he pulled into the center of the relatively flat bottom of the drainage ditch and started to drive in the opposite direction of the now National Guard controlled station. Suddenly, he had an idea, one so obvious that he practically shouted it out loud to himself for no apparent reason.

            “Radio!” he realized. He knew that there would be updates, and any news he could get was fine by him.

            “The National Guard and regular military forces have seized all fuel temporarily” came a static-y voice from the speakers “we recommend that people stay indoors and do not, I repeat DO NOT, use any appliances that are run using power from the central grid” Mark breathed a sigh of relief. He had installed solar panels two years ago partly because the rising cost of energy and generous tax credits made it a financially viable option, and partly because his wife had had a brief phase where she tried to become more environmentally friendly, which Mark stopped as soon as she raised the idea of tofurky for the annual Thanksgiving meal.