As the jeep reached the top, the continuous rain falling outside the building appeared in Ark's sight.

  Seeing this, he sat looking at the completely dark road outside, before turning to his right to find Claire still sitting with her arms crossed, completely silent.

  This made him look past her toward Vic, who was at the exit sitting on his motorcycle, prompting me to turn the steering wheel to the right and step on the gas, causing the car to slowly turn toward him.

  That made me look at the front of the car, where the headlights were now shining on his back, which caused him to turn around and look.

  As I drove closer to him, I steered a little more to the right and parked the car beside him before turning to him on my left.

  Looking at my face, he spoke up while turning to look out at the road.

  "Turn off the lights."

  I reached out to turn off the lights, plunging us three back into darkness amidst the sound of the rain.

  Seeing this, he spoke up.

  "Looks like the rain won't stop anytime soon. I guess that's lucky for us."

  "So where are we going?"

  Vic, who had been looking outside for a while, spoke up.

  "Louisiana."

  "Louisiana?"

  He nodded and turned back to me, so after looking at his face for a moment, I raised my right hand to massage my brow, before quickly wiping my face down and taking a deep breath to face him.

  "Terrible choice of place to go."

  Vic tilted his head slightly before turning back to the front.

  "What can we do? The closest area is Louisiana. And besides, we don't have many options right now."

  I nodded gently and placed my right hand on the steering wheel, patting it a few times.

  "Just hope you're not taking me to be alligator food."

  Vic turned his face back to me with a slight smile.

  "It's just house-sized alligators, what's there to be afraid of?"

  Vic shook his head before sitting back properly and reaching out to grab the handlebars.

  "I'll head out 5 minutes ahead, and then you follow me."

  With that, he revved the engine, moving the bike out of the building before turning left, making me watch him as he drove off heading east.

  I let out a heavy sigh, but then I froze and turned to Claire to find her staring at me right now, which instantly made her look away toward the right door.

  Seeing that, I sighed softly and turned back to look straight ahead; after sitting still for a moment, I raised my left hand to pull down my right sleeve slightly, revealing the time to be 3:46 AM.

  Staring at the time for a moment, I leaned back, letting go of both hands to rest them on my lap as I closed my eyes, the sound of the rain and the wind blowing against my face.

  It made me open my eyes and raise my arm to check the time again, finding it was now 3:48 AM, and right then, a small sound of swallowing could be heard.

  I turned to look in the direction of the sound and found Claire sitting there hugging her own arms, her body leaning against the seat.

  Seeing her like that made me look back, leaning inside to use my left hand to slightly push the top box up while using my right hand to open the bottom box and grab a bottle of water.

  Back in my seat, I lifted the water bottle and saw it was about 80% full, so I opened the cap and took a small sip.

  The water flowed down my throat; after swallowing four or five times, I lowered the bottle, wiped my mouth with my left hand, closed the cap, and turned to Claire, reaching out to place the bottle on her seat.

  Even so, she still paid no attention, so I turned back to the front and checked my watch; seeing it was now 3:50 AM, I gripped the steering wheel and stepped on the gas.

  The car moved out of the building, and the rain hitting the vehicle splashed inside toward me, leaving my arms and legs battered by the incoming rain.

  Glancing at it briefly, I turned the steering wheel to the left as the car slowly drove around the side of the building.

  Then I drove straight ahead, causing raindrops to hit the windshield and streak past my side; I turned to look beside me.

  I met the rain streaking by, so seeing that, I focused back on the road ahead and hit the gas, the car speeding through the rain and the puddles on the ground.

  The car kept heading down the city road filled with countless buildings, while 10 kilometers ahead revealed numerous large and small houses trapped under the storm and the darkness.

  As Ark drove past the large buildings on both sides, he kept looking around while driving forward, then glanced down at the watch on his wrist, finding the time to be 3:57 AM.

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  Looking up, he drove past the houses on both sides, heading along the I-10 W highway as the pitch-black sky covering everything slowly began to transition into gray.

  The once pitch-black road gradually became clearly visible bit by bit, revealing both sides lined with green meadows stretching as far as the eye could see.

  With the rain still falling continuously, Ark glanced slightly to his left.

  The sight of the grass covered in small puddles caught his eye, so he turned back to the front and checked the watch on his wrist, noting it was now 5:23 AM.

  That made him press harder on the gas as the car sped down the concrete road, starting to reveal houses about 500 meters away.

  Seeing that, he slowed down from the 100 kilometers per hour he was driving, dropping it down to 70 kilometers per hour.

  And right then, the sight of Vic parked and taking shelter from the rain at a house on the left appeared in my view; seeing that, I slowed down and approached him slowly before stopping right next to him.

  He turned to me on his right, his eyes fixing on my face for a moment before scanning all the way down to my feet, bringing a slight smile to his face.

  "You look like a complete mess."

  "Aren't you exactly the same?"

  The sight of Vic's soaking wet body—whether his hair, his face, or even his leather jacket—made him reply upon hearing that as he looked straight ahead.

  "The rain is starting to stop. If we keep traveling at this speed, we'll reach Louisiana right when all the alligators are fully awake."

  "So what's the plan?"

  Vic sat in silence for a moment before nodding slightly and turning to me.

  "We're going to take a boat to Corpus Christi."

  "Take a boat?"

  I sat perfectly still for a moment before looking to my right, and after staring in that direction for a bit, I turned back to him.

  "You brought me to Beaumont, and now you're telling me we're going to travel by boat all the way back to Corpus Christi."

  "Yeah, and I remember there are boats along the coast of this city."

  I nodded slightly before speaking up.

  "At least it's better than Louisiana."

  "Of course. And besides, we haven't visited there in a long time. They've probably forgotten all about our exploits by now."

  I shook my head a little before turning my attention back to the front.

  "I sure hope so."

  With that said, I stepped on the gas and drove off, turning onto the road on the right, which made Vic shrug slightly before closely following right behind.

  Together they headed toward the coast, with Vic driving in front while I followed behind, as the landscape constantly shifted from houses into open fields.

  And from open fields, it turned into warehouses on both sides, before we drove through an intersection with a road branching upwards leading to other areas.

  But Vic and I just kept heading straight, re-entering a residential area filled with various houses until Vic gradually slowed down and turned his bike toward a house on the right.

  Driving behind him, I noticed that the road seemed to come to an end at a river, so I turned the car to park right next to Vic.

  After I turned off the engine and stepped out of the car, looking straight ahead, I turned to him as he walked to the side of a single-story wooden house.

  He stopped at the side of the house and pulled off a green tarp, revealing a large brown boat with an engine at the back.

  As he briefly inspected the boat, I walked over and stood beside him looking at it, while the rain continued to fall.

  As a result, the completely dry boat in front of us slowly began to get wet.

  "It's still here?"

  I murmured, while he tilted his head and spoke up.

  "I'm surprised it's still here too, but it's a good thing."

  Vic threw the tarp inside before turning back to the jeep and speaking up.

  "Come help me carry this stuff."

  Hearing that, I turned to him and followed behind as we walked to the back of the car, quickly moving all 8 boxes over to the front of the boat.

  After tying the boxes down to the boat with ropes, we turned to look at the jeep before I spoke up.

  "Guess we'll have to leave it here, huh."

  "No other choice. But help me load the bike."

  Vic walked over to his motorcycle, so I walked up to him and bent down to lift the front wheel, but after I exerted force to lift it with both hands, the front of the bike jerked up suddenly.

  It made the front of the bike literally point up to the sky, so seeing that, I looked at Vic who was getting ready to lift the back, making me let go of the wheel with my right hand to grab the frame instead.

  The motorcycle was lifted off the ground, and I walked over to the boat, laying the bike flat in the middle before covering the cargo and the bike with the tarp that previously covered the boat.

  And right as I was looking for a rope to tie down the boat, I glanced to my left to find a blue rope dangling right in front of me.

  I reached out to grab it, then looked up to find that the person handing it to me was Claire, who was standing right in front of me now.

  That prompted her to step up onto the boat, and I watched her cross over to the other side before bending down to use the rope in her hand to tie onto the other ropes I had secured earlier.

  Seeing that, I raised my eyebrows slightly before looking down to start tying my rope; once finished, I stepped back a little to find the boat looking almost like a cargo ship, with seats only at the very back.

  Right then, the sound of the jeep roared from behind, making me turn to see Vic driving closer before passing me and parking right behind the boat, where he leaned out and looked at me.

  "I'm gonna tow the boat to the shore."

  I nodded, untied one of the ropes attached to the boat, walked to the back of the car, and tied it to the rear of the vehicle.

  Stepping back to stand on the left side of the car, I gave him a thumbs up; seeing that, he got back inside and revved the engine, heading straight for the river immediately.

  The boat was towed from behind, slightly tearing through the grass and revealing the black soil underneath, as I walked alongside the boat with Claire.

  Steering the car all the way to the river, Vic turned right while towing the boat to park it beside the river, before stopping the car.

  Getting out of the car, he walked over, took off his shirt, and looked up at me as I just arrived, tossing that rope over to me.

  Catching it with my right hand, I watched him walk to the front of the boat while I walked to the back, looking down the grassy slope below.

  It revealed the brown river below with small, gentle waves; seeing that, I walked down the slope before pulling the boat down.

  As the boat was pulled down while Vic pushed it from above, with Claire helping out as well, the boat slid down the slope as I dodged to the side and let go of the rope, causing the boat to crash right into the water.

  The boat floated a little away from the shore, bobbing slightly on the surface of the water, prompting Vic to immediately wade into the water before swimming over to climb onto the boat, sitting right in front of the engine, and turning back to me.

  "Get on."

  Hearing that, I walked toward him, but Claire walked right past me before wading into the water and swimming up to the boat; seeing that, I paused to watch her climb aboard for a moment before following her as the last one to swim out and get on the boat.

  Once I was successfully seated up top, Vic turned back to the engine, using his right hand to try pulling the cord to start it up.

  But after his first pull, there was no response, so he pulled a second time, yet it remained completely silent; he pulled a third time, but there was only the sound of the rain.

  Seeing that, he turned back to me, looking down to grab an oar and tossing it to me; catching it, I stared at the oar in my hands.

  Before I could look up to make eye contact with him, he tossed another one my way; catching it with my left hand, I was left sitting in utter silence for a moment.

  Then I sighed and placed the oars on both sides, before beginning to turn the boat by moving the right oar, causing the boat to slowly turn around toward the back.

  That let me start exerting effort to row on both sides, making the boat begin to move before it went faster and faster, as Vic stood up to navigate and raised his left hand.

  Seeing that, I stopped rowing on the right and rowed only on the left, causing the boat to slowly turn to the right; that made Vic lower his hand before I started rowing with both hands again as before.