Day 1, November 4th, 2020, Approx. 5:10 AM (11:10 GMT)
Leaving the disaster situation at the auto parts store behind you, you pile into the semi-trailer truck and drive off. You are not entirely certain of where you will be going, but out of town seems like the best idea.
As you pull out into the street, you are met with a veritable flock of survivors. Some of them try to jump onto the truck with little success. Others even try to fling themselves in front of you, either to get you to stop, or possibly just because they wish to end their lives. Thankfully you manage to avoid putting anyone's death on your conscience and make your way safely to the edge of town, but not without a bit of rough going. Several times you are forced to stop to remove debris from the road, some of it quite sizable. At these points it often becomes tense as onlookers beg for you to allow them to go with you, but the truck is simply overloaded as it is. Much as you might like to show these unfortunates charity, there just isn't room. Sometimes you allow people to ride along by holding on to the side but these few don't last long. Most jump off after twenty or thirty minutes.
As you reach the edge of town, Xavier reminds you that his family's farm is perhaps a good place to hole up as they have stocked many provisions and it is clearly outside the blast radius. However you are also harrowed by another horrifying sight. James is the first to notice it in the gleaming twilight. Another mushroom cloud off to the east. It is quite smaller, but by the look of things it has had some time to disperse; it likely formed around the same time as the Chicago cloud. Terrence muses that it must be right over Gary, Indiana. A sudden sense of impending dread falls over everyone as you look out the left window. This wasn't just an isolated incident in Chicago. All of the Midwest, possibly the entire country is under attack! Who knows how many cities have been affected?
Traffic quickly becomes unbearable as you head south down I-57. It is apparent that everyone with a vehicle is moving as far away from the blast as possible. A general panic seems to have overtaken much of the populace. You see old jalopies careening down the shoulder of the highway alongside bicycles and even skateboards. Countless others walk down the side of the highway carrying whatever belongings they can hold. You talk with a few folks and some hold out hope that Champaign, Illinois is intact with electricity and running water and that shelters are being set up. No one seems to have conclusive evidence of this, though. It seems like many are running on blind hope alone. Even the state troopers and other emergency personnel who try desperately to keep a semblance of order along the roads don't seem to know much. One officer even admits that there has been no radio chatter from Champaign whatsoever.
All the radio stations on the dial are dead. Those in the passenger's seat scan through them countless times, never giving up hope that one of them might bear news of what exactly has transpired. But the hours spent attempting to find a radio signal bring nothing, until finally, around 9 pm, you receive a faint signal from WONU 89.7 FM. You listen intently but all you can make out are occasional words and phrases. Of particular note is the broadcast, "There *static* been an *static* on all *static* ...tral Illinois. Shel... *static* in Olivet Naz... *static* ...versity for the *static* ...gees fleeing fr... *static* ...ted cities. We wi... *static* ...p you updated as *static* ...ws. Again, *static* seems to ha... *static* nuclear attack on *static* ...jor metropol... *statics* Illinois. Shelters *static* set up *static* University for *static* ...possessed refug... *static* cities."
Most of the rest that you hear is indecipherable. None of you are capable of understanding exactly what is going on from this piecemeal broadcast, but the phrase "nuclear attack" causes the hair on the back of your neck to stand on end. You hear no other broadcasts for the rest of the night.
Around midnight, you begin to have engine trouble. The truck stops several times and while you are able to get it going again with much turning of the keys, it quickly dies again each time after a few seconds. If the gas gauge wasn't telling you that you had at least a third of a tank of gas left, you would think that the truck was out of fuel. But at this time of night in this poor light, there is barely anything you can do. You resolve to check the engine in the morning.
Some of you refuse to wait however, and decide to carry forward on foot. Xavier manages to convince a number of your party to follow him back to his farm. He leaves those of you who stay behind with directions and wishes you all good luck. In all, only Terrance, Francisco, Janice, Kyle, Harry, and Aziz remain. Aziz seems to have stabilized, but he is in no condition to be moved. His condition is part of the reason Kyle chose to remain behind. Francisco was one of the few who had any idea how engines worked. The rest didn't want to leave the others alone.
You settle in for a long night on the side of the highway, hoping that tomorrow will bring better things.
[sblock=Janice]Your dreams are tormented this night. You see a circular object, shimmering blue and glowing with an otherworldly radiance. It's very presence seems to make you unsettled and you sense that there is something very unnatural about it, almost as if it knew what you were thinking. Just a simple ring, you keep reminding yourself, but the object will not let you be. You are suddenly roused around 5 am by a frightening event when the ring morphs into a giant maw filled with jagged teeth that seems to lunge for you. You awake in a cold sweat breathing heavily. The road is still noisome with vehicles and travelers passing by you in all directions. You look over to Terrence who is sleeping peacefully in the passenger seat. The ring he took from creature. It is somehow alive![/sblock]
