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Sirius grinned. "And we'll want to stock up on food and such since we didn't loot the mall, to avoid upsetting Penny."

"Yeah and..." Xander glanced down at the dash and sighed. "We need gas, it's on empty and I could swear it was full just before I picked you up."

"If it runs out, I'll use magic to push it to the station," Sirius promised.

Sirius entertained himself, by flipping broken down vehicles off of the road with a flick of his wand, while Xander kept an eye out for potholes until they reached a service station.

Jake's Truck Stop was a lot more modern than Xander had expected and amazingly enough it still had power.

Xander and Sirius stepped out of the car and looked around – though there were cars and semi's blocking most of the pumps there wasn't a single body to be seen. Scraps of clothes and bloody spots on the pavement sure, but no bodies.

A radio announcers voice issued from speakers on the pumps, advertised some product to clean floors and use as a dessert topping before playing a top ten list that Xander was sure had been playing for a very long time.

The label 'pump then pay' made Xander grin, since it meant he wouldn't have to go inside and mess with things. It took Xander a minute to figure out the touch screen and what gas to use, since the station carried twenty different types including a gas insured to be cruelty free to penguins for some odd reason.

Xander slotted the pump in place and locked down the handle, so it'd pump until the tank was full. Turning to Sirius he found him holding a slowly spinning wand.

"No free roaming zombies within a couple of miles," Sirius announced cheerfully. "So let's go see what's inside."

Xander nodded, the Twinkies and beef jerky would still be good if nothing else.

The gas pump clicked past a thousand dollars behind them unnoticed.

Walking in the shadows, Chapter 8