A story that needs editing and advise is appreciated on composing and punctuation

[happyearthhomes]

ahead he wanted to cleanup the garage tim offered to help and I headed in it smelled great in there it was full of the smell of the frying chicken and baking bread Kati had been hard at work with Lauri cleaning up behind her and setting out dishes I tried to beg some early food and was denied so I very quickly showered and changed Jacob and the boys came in he was also clean as were the boys they had had tim spray them with the hose in their under wear out in the shop and changed in the yard out of the stuff in the truck We sat down Kati wanted us all to hold hands and say a prayer Tim complained but she told him she had cooked dinner and if he wanted any he had to or he could go and eat jerky by himself in the van he complied as a few chuckles sounded around the table and alex nudged ben was heard to say she’s tougher than ma we’d at least get to take our food to our room Tim said than she should lead us in prayer and we all agreed she thanked the powers above for the food and friends then she asked them to look over us and our loved ones and to help all of us make it through the current times. Dinner was great we hadn’t had chicken or beef since day two of the occurrence and we all ate well having been busy all day. After words we went out onto the porch and sat watching the sunset. The girls set the kids up for bed and we went out to the workshop with some maps and we all talked about the best route to take as we had them laid out in front of us it became very obvious that we couldn’t just take I 80 all the way there like I had originally planned there was to many big cities along the way that by the time we got near them they would be all messed up and he pointed out the airports in the cities along the way and how there would be planes crashed near them or in the cities I mentioned the water way I had researched and after considering it we decided that it was an option but it also had its downsides of locks and possible blockage of barges Jamie pointed out that we could drive on the rail road tracks and that they would be clear her dad had worked in a rail yard until he retired in Gary she also pointed out that most of them would have just shut down and came to a stop gradually because the conductors had emergency manual brakes we decided that we would-be fluid in our route and would start off on the highway west of us like 8 miles and that would exit before davenport for sure and circle around from the south to a smaller crossing at Burlington of the big river. We had agreed that once we got across

 

[happyearthhomes]

we would try and get some local maps we only had an Illinois rand McNally map and a big u.s. map they were good for about 50 miles into Iowa and a general idea of where we were going but we needed better ones and local ones as we traveled west. With a plan made we decided to call it an early night and head out with sunrise. I woke up to Jacob nudging me with his foot He had already started coffee Jamie was sticking some biscuits they had made the night before on the stove to warm-up I woke up Laurie and went out to get Tim and Kati we all got dressed while drinking coffee we put on our vests and armed ourselves Jamie fed the kids some biscuits and goats milk from the day before and packed up what was left for eating while we traveled Kati volunteered to ride in the back of the truck with the kids and help keep them occupied. We loaded the dogs in and lauri climbed in the back of the van with them and we headed out towards the highway getting on to 80 west with no problems it looked clear and we made good time getting out to LaSalle in about an hour we seen our first downed plane a small two seater it looked like they had tried to land on the road and had crashed instead there was debris scattered for a few hundred of feet along the road and than an impact with some trees just off the road where it had caught fire and burned ten minutes out side LaSalle we had slowed down to look at it and Jacob said there was an airport just a few miles away that catered to skydivers and alternative plane enthusiasts. We came up on Lasalle and started to see people walking on the highway a man dressed in a dirty suit he looked to be about 35flagged us down and we eased up along side him he asked where we were heading and if we had room for another he was trying to get Des Moines about 200miles down80 told him that we were not planning on going to Des Moines he told us he had been on a train coming from Chicago going home and he had been walking for four days since he left the train with a group of people but they had stopped in small towns he had a wife and small boy at home outside DesMoine and lauri told him to get in before we got the chance to say no His name was Marcus and he had been attending a business convention for insurance agents and new policies workshops Tim asked if he had a the world gets fucked policy Marcus nervously laughed and looked around at our weapons and asked if we had seen any trouble we said no we just wanted to be prepared he said he had seen some that was why his group had left the train there had been some punks on the train going to California and they had got all drunk and were starting fights with the other passengers and that there had only been three railroad employees on the train and they had left with his

 

[happyearthhomes]

group after the second day stuck on the train with those punks they had came to a town and most of the group stayed there him and a couple others had kept going sleeping by the highway but those had gave up at LaSalle and he had begged some food from some people there yesterday and he had just started walking when we came up on him Tim told him we planned on getting of *0 and heading south to avoid daven port an the quad cities he said that was cool he had a cousin down in a town Gulfport right by the bridge over the big river into Burlington we said that was good and we agreed to take him down to Gulfport We exited the high way just before noon 20 miles outside the quad cities we had not had any problems and hadn’t seen anyone else since Lasalle on the highway we had seen some guys on horseback a little ways off from the highway but neither one of us seemed to want contact as they headed away from the highway as we watched them from the window slits lauri gave marcus some water and jerky and her biscuit and he dozed off in the back hadn’t ate much the last few days and being full made him tired we talked quietly as we drove and we stopped on the side of a small highway 15 miles off of 80 to use the bathroom and stretch Jacob and them got out and did the same Marcus wandered around meeting everyone and exclaiming over the trailer with the animals in it he commented that his son was a little bigger than Emily he got choked up we checked the maps and Marcus showed where his cousins place was a trailer overlooking the big river a few minutes north of Gulfport his name was Rich and he was in the national guard and a security officer at a juvenile detention facility over in Iowa so we planned out our route down taking gravel th e whole way it was slow going on the gravel roads and we pulled up to his cousins place around 3 in the

 

[happyearthhomes]

afternoon it was a shitty 1970s camper with a Harley out front and a big new 4x4 with a mid size ski boat hooked up to it as we pulled into the drive way a dog came running out barking but was pulled up by a chain attached to the front of the camper trailer we seen the blinds moving and Marcus got out he had been sitting in front and he yelled at the camper for rich to come out he did he was holding a pistol in his right hand a glock by the looks of it when he recognized marcus he walked up rich was about 30 balding and real buff he looked like he used steroids and all he had on was a pair of boxers and some flip flops he shook hands with marcus and stuck the pistol in his waistband in the middle of his back we were all introduced and the dogs were kept separate rich’s dog was a pitbull mix and mean so he warned us to stay away from it

 

[happyearthhomes]

well this is what i got so far i have been bored for the last few days sorry for the grammer and punctuation but this a rough draft please tell me what you think i will take any advice or critisism i know that the outcomes and events may not be factual and that is because this is fiction and a rough draft