Wow. I must be obsessed or something, with all these quick updates. I guarantee you that a big part of it is your reviews! I'm loving all the feedback, so please keep it coming! Some of you have expressed your wish that certain characters should just get together already... But you'll have to wait a little longer yet :) After this chapter, we'll finally be getting to the good stuff. I've got the next few chapters planned out, so unless something goes horribly wrong, you'll get a few updates pretty quickly here. But for now, enjoy Chapter Three :)
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Ever since the run-in with Asshole's group in the town three weeks ago, Addison spent more time in the woods and avoided anything that resembled civilization until she needed more supplies. She had to admit, however, that she was getting pretty tired of sleeping in trees, using her rope to strap herself to the trunk so she didn't fall in the middle of the night.
The past several days had been scorching, sapping all her energy nearly instantaneously every morning. Addison stayed in the shade of the trees, although it hardly made a difference, sun or shade. She followed the highway. She wasn't sure why. She had no destination in mind. But between sticking to the highway and hiking through the middle of the forest, her plan seemed to be the lesser of two evils. Besides, it would be easier to find food in the cluster-fuck of abandoned vehicles.
There was a low rumble of thunder in the distance. Addison looked up to see dark clouds rolling rather quickly across the sky. Lightning began to scatter across the cloud cover, and Addison was suddenly seven years old again, cowering under the covers.
The lightning lit up the room even though the curtains were pulled together. The digital princess clock that stood on her dresser at the foot of her bed displayed 2:47 AM. The rain pounded against the window and the wind threw twigs and leaves into the glass, barely audible over the frequent cracks of thunder. Addison heard her door creak open and chanced a look above the covers.
She saw her brother come into her room. Will was eleven and so much braver than Addison was. He had come to check on her, knowing she was terrified of thunderstorms. Lightning struck again and Addison ducked under the covers again.
"Addi," she heard Will say gently, "it's okay. The storm can't hurt you. It's just light and noise." She felt the bed sink by her feet as Will sat down. He began to hum the lullaby that their mother used to sing to them when they had trouble sleeping. Addison focused on her big brother's song, slowly tuning out the rumbling thunder. She hadn't realized that she had fallen asleep until she woke up in the morning, the sunlight coloring her room orange and pink as it filtered through the curtains.
Addison fell to her knees in the overgrown saw-grass as the rain started to fall. Will. The only person who could calm her when she was scared. Thunderstorms, their mother's cancer diagnosis, the end of the world, anything. She could face it all as long as her brother was by her side. But he hadn't been there in a long time. Addison pounded the heels of her palms into her head several times in a futile attempt to stave off the guilt that plagued any memories associated with her brother. When that didn't work, she started tearing up the sharp grass around her, hoping the fresh pain would mask the old pain.
Thunder rumbled again, but at the end of it, there was a different sort of rumbling. Addison pressed her hands to her thighs for a minute to stop the bleeding cuts from the grass. She climbed up the side of the ditch to the highway. The rain came down harder, making the slope slick. The water mixed with sweat, making her hands and arms sting. Finally, she made it to the pavement. The noise she had heard after the thunder hadn't stopped, and it was quickly getting closer. Addison pushed dirty blonde strands of hair out of her face as she crept between the cars, trying to get a look at the source of the noise. She squinted in an attempt to see through the pouring rain. Lightning flashed and she resisted the urge to flinch.
There. A second flash glinted off a bit of metal that hadn't been there before. It was on the other side of the grassy median. Addison slipped between the cars to get a closer look. It was a motorcycle. It was weaving around the cars cluttering the highway. As it came closer, she saw it was one of those redneck motorcycles, with the handlebars higher than the driver's head. Addison crouched behind a grey sedan, peering through one of the windows as the biker roared past. She let out a long sigh, fogging up the window. "Asshole. Of course," Addison muttered to herself. She watched him until he was out of sight and then went back into the relative safety of the woods.
…
She was cornered and there were too many of them. She tried to aim the handgun, but her hands were shaking so badly that she kept missing the kill shots.
Without warning, the closest Roamer dropped to the ground in a spray of blood and brains. She looked around to see Will running up on her left, his hunting rifle in his hands. "Addi! Addi, shoot!" He skidded to a halt, shouldered his rifle, and took out another Roamer. "Come on, Addison, you gotta focus!"
She took a deep breath and pulled the trigger. The bullet drilled through a female Roamer's head. More of them crumpled to the ground as Will took them out. "Okay, Addi, let's go! We gotta run for it now!"
She sidestepped the pile of corpses and backed toward Will. The remaining Roamers turned to follow her, some tripping over the fallen. She turned to run but stopped short. More Roamers had been drawn to them by the gunfire. They were shuffling up behind Will, whose focus was completely on her. She cried out, pointing at them. He turned and hurriedly began to reload his rifle, but the Roamers had closed the gap. Will gave up reloading and swung the butt-end like a baseball bat. There was a sickening crunch as it connected with the side of a Roamer's head. Will brought it around for another swing, but the Roamers had close in around him and there wasn't enough room.
She watched as grey, rotted hands grabbed at Will's shirt. A scream rose over the ravenous moans, and she realized it was coming from her. She started to run again, aiming the gun ahead of her. She had taken out one Roamer and hit another in the back when she heard him shout, "Get the hell out of here, Addi! I'll be right behind you – RUN!" She found her legs following the orders without any conscious decision of hers to do so. Then she heard the –
Addison woke with a start, holding her breath in the darkness. Something was coming through the forest, and not too quietly either. She quickly untied the rope and stuffed it in her pack. After dropping out of the tree, Addison pulled out her knife and watched the trees for any sign of what was coming. Whatever it was, it was big.
She heard them before she saw them. At first, it was only three. They staggered through the underbrush, somehow avoiding tripping over tree roots. Then there were four more. Then eight. The groaning increased in volume as more and more came into view. A herd. That was the only way she could describe what she was seeing. Addison knew there was no fighting this many. Climbing back up the tree was out of the question. They'd smell her and she'd be stuck for days before they got bored and moved on, if that even happened. So Addison sheathed the knife and did what she did best: she ran.
Her tree had only been about a hundred yards or so from a rest stop off the main highway. She sprinted back towards it now, keeping her eyes peeled for low hanging branches that could take her down. The Roamers sounded close enough that if she fell, well, she didn't want to think about the possibilities.
Addison made it out of the trees, only about sixty yards to go. She saw an odd orange flickering light up the side of the rest stop building. Even knowing what was coming behind her, the sight forced her to stop. Shadows moved back and forth in front of the light. Somebody was camping here for the night.
Addison hesitated a minute too long. There was a hungry growl behind her and she was abruptly pulled off her feet by the pack on her back. Addison let out an involuntary scream and kicked, connecting with the Roamer's face and felt its cold blood drip on her cheek. She pulled her arms out of the straps of the pack and scrambled to her feet, making a mad dash toward the camp.
The people were yelling and some of them were running through the grass towards her. A skinny Asian boy reached her first, holding a shotgun. "How many?" he asked frantically, holding an arm out to stop her.
Addison gasped for breath, shaking her head. "Too – too many," she panted. All of a sudden, a young boy darted past them, a handgun clenched in his fist.
"Carl, no!" the Asian boy shouted. He left Addison to chase after the kid.
Without thinking, Addison followed, wrenching her knife out of the sheath. She was faster than the Asian, and quickly overtook him. The kid had stopped and was taking out Roamers one by one, but they just kept coming. Soon, she could tell, he'd be overwhelmed. Addison heard others from the camp shouting the kid's name. He ignored them all and turned to the right and shot, slaying another Roamer. He didn't see the one coming up behind him.
"Duck!" Addison yelled. She got lucky and the kid obeyed instantly. Addison launched herself at the attacking Roamer, dispatching it with a swift knife to the forehead. She grabbed the kid's arm and hauled him back with her. By now, the rest of the group had made it to them.
If Addison believed in fate or destiny or whatever people wanted to call it, it would be clear that someone up there had a twisted sense of humor. The man who grabbed the kid from her was none other than the one who thankfully hadn't pulled the trigger in the town nearly four weeks ago. He looked about as stunned to see her as she was to see him – or, rather, would have been, if running into the same people over and over again could still surprise her at this point. If that man was here, Asshole was too. The others of the group began to shoot, and the air was filled with the deafening gunfire. Addison only had a knife and knew she wouldn't be any use. She moved around the man and the kid, leaving the group behind her.
"Ain't you gonna help?!" a familiar voice roared.
Addison spared a glance to her right, seeing Asshole glaring at her. She turned away and kept running.
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