(http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs6/i/2005/045/c/3/Deserted_Street_by_claricatmajestic.png)<br/><br/>At one time Caldwell was an average Northeast Texas small town, with a population barely breaking the 1,000 mark. It's most successful time of the year was during football season when people coming to watch the games held at the Texas A&M main branch, which was only about a 45 minute drive, would spill over and take up rooms in the numerous hotels that dotted the town, buy from local businesses, and generally keep small mom & pop stores open when they would have had to shut down otherwise.<br/><br/>In the opening days of the viral outbreak an evacuation point had been set up at the college to the North, using it's airport to fly locals out by both military and civilian airplanes. As a result Caldwell was quite literally abandoned. Its entire population had left their homes, businesses, and land for the promise of safety at one of the governments 'safe zones.'<br/><br/>As the sun slowly rose on Caldwell, and the remnants of the caravan that had taken shelter outside the town's city hall, the reality of Caldwell's only residents' situation began to hit home. Several members of the caravan had left during the night taking almost all the vehicles and leaving only enough to accommodate those who remained. In the space of a single night, without the hope of a safe destination, the caravan had fallen apart from a group of 24 to less then a dozen....<br/><br/>A small folding table with a map spread across it  and a small battery powered radio on one corner, sat between the cars and tents set up by the caravan's members. It was the place that had been agreed on as where they would talk things over in the morning.