"Do you see anywhere yet?" I called over my shoulder, to where Jesse was stood with his head and shoulders out of the sunroof, scanning our surroundings for potential places to look for supplies as we drove on. We had been running on fumes for an hour or so now, and I was worried. Not only did the noise of the car draw in the infected, meaning that if we stopped suddenly we'd probably be attacked soon after, but leaving the car behind at this stage seemed like a death-wish in itself. Chloe was sat in the passenger seat beside me still pouring over the map desperately.
"If we could make it about 150 miles more we'd make it to this little intersection here, there's bound to be something like a gas station there." She was saying, when Jesse suddenly fell back into the car, beaming and yelling.
"GUYS! I see something up ahead, a gas station! Turn right here."
"Are you sure? Does it look safe?" I asked, disbelief clouding my sense of overwhelming relief.
"Yes Beca, just turn right okay!" He laughed, and Chloe voiced her agreement, also grinning.
"We're going to be okay!" she whispered, and I bit my lip and nodded, still wary but at the same time rejoicing along with them. I turned off as the station came into view, and pulled onto the forecort carefully, already looking around for signs of the infected. It seemed eerily quiet as we cautiously exited the car, weapons at the ready. I had given Chloe the handgun after a quick explanation of how it worked, and myself held the rifle, pockets once again loaded with spare rounds. Jesse was still favouring the axe, currently resting it on one shoulder as we crept out from the car and moved to the pump, checking if it would still release the petrol that we so desperately needed. Thankfully the mechanism hadn't yet shut off, and the petrol flowed freely. We topped up the tank and the six spare canisters, all relaxing now that we had found what we needed and seemed to be safe. This was short-lived, however, and as we laughed and began to make our way to the empty shop itself to check for supplies, they came. The first of the infected launched itself through the glass door ahead of us, screeching wildly. I yelled to the others to get back to the car and fired a shot, hitting it right in the forehead as it flew through the scattering cloud of broken glass, mouth agape and eyes rolling. It stumbled to a halt, reeling backwards with the force of the shot. I began to run backwards towards the others, who were now by the car, when I heard Chloe scream, and I turned to see her struggling to batter back the arms of an infected.
"Chloe!" I cried, sprinting across, watching in horror as both she and Jesse were attacked. Jesse was hacking his attacker back with the axe, and as I approached I fired into the head and shoulders of the one attacking Chloe, allowing her to gain the upper hand and push it back. More of them were hurtling towards us now, from out behind the building, and the ones that had already fallen were already re-animating.
"Are you alright? You've got to get in the car, okay?" I breathed, clutching at Chloe's waist as I stared into her eyes. I could see the pure terror within them, and I knew that she wasn't up to fighting these things off. We had a better chance of escape if she was out of the way. She looked reluctant to leave me, but then a creature hit me side on, and I pushed her into the car, slamming the door behind her as I fought my way over to Jesse, who was being overrun. If I could just get to him and get us both safely into the car, we could escape. The problem was that they just kept on coming, and not just in the sense that they wouldn't stay down. A steady stream of them were pouring out from somewhere or other, and they were unrelenting, as always. Jesse and I were backed up against the car, trying desperately to fight them off. In the car, I glimpsed Chloe with her head in her hands, shoulders shaking with sobs, and I longed to hold her through them, but there was no way for me and Jesse to get into the car without being bitten. One of us could cover the other, but then there'd be one of us left alone. I was actually starting to consider if I'd rather die from a bite or a bullet when I heard a new sound. It sounded like the demented war-cry of an australian war-lord, and every creature in the immediate vicinity of it stopped completely to look to the source of the sound, including me and Jesse. Over on the opposite side of the forecort, a blonde woman was still yelling and waving her arms crazily, and behind her a group of about five others all wielding sharpened sticks were stood in loose formation, apparently ready to take on the mass of creatures who were just now beginning to lope across to them, grunting and screeching as they went. Jesse looked to me now, eyes wide with confusion.
"Who… who are they? They saved us!" He was right, the calls of the blonde woman had removed the threat of the creatures, but now of course we had to return the favour.
"Come on you bastards, I've wrestled crocodiles bigger than you! You want a piece of the fat power?" We gaped as they all began to charge the group of infected, cutting them down one by one, and suddenly I had an idea.
"Jesse, you see that truck over there?" I asked, pointing out the large truck sitting beside the building. He nodded.
"Right, you think you can hotwire that? We need to do a driveby, pick all of them up in the back of that truck and get the fuck outta here. Got it? If you can hotwire it then take Chloe in the car, I can do the driveby." He nodded again, already running across to get to work on the truck. I quickly opened the nearest door to the car and reached across to grab Chloe's hand.
"Chloe.. Chloe, it's okay, some people saved us, but now we're going to help them, okay? Jesse's just hotwiring that truck for me and then he's going to get in this car to drive you. I'm going to do a driveby and pick up the other group in the back of the truck, then we can all leave, okay? It's going to be fine, I promise." She looked up now, tears staining her slightly flushed cheeks, and she stared back into my eyes for a minute, before becoming distracted by something through the windshield.
"Oh… oh my god…" she whispered, sitting up and leaning further forward now to get a better look.
"What?"
"It's them!" She screamed, pointing desperately to the group who were currently fending off the army of infected. "It's my friends! I have to go help them!" She started trying to push past me, and I stopped her.
"Chloe! I know you want to help them, but you have to let me get on with the plan, if you're out there, in danger, I won't be able to concentrate and someone will end up getting hurt. I can't risk that being you. Just wait here, Jesse will be back any minute and I'll pick your friends up, then when we're somewhere safe you can see them again, okay?" She nodded slowly, sighing in resignation, and just then Jesse ran up behind me, panting heavily and beheading an infected that had stumbled away from the group.
"It's running. Go!" He clambered across into the drivers seat as I squeezed Chloe's hand one last time, before sprinting across to the truck, gun ready in my belt. I was soon in the cab of the truck and revving up the engine before driving towards the group and swinging around to where they were now backed up against a short fence. I leant out of the window that had long since been shattered, and yelled over to them.
"I'M GONNA DRIVE PAST SLOWLY, THE BACK IS OPEN - GET IN!" one of the girls, a taller blonde, nodded and called to the others, who began to ready themselves as I drew nearer. I had no idea if I had got them all as I drove past their group, but suddenly I heard someone banging on the partition from the back, and I sped up now, also hearing the back being closed. In my mirrors, I could see that in fact by some miracle I had picked them all up, and the mass of the infected was now just a milling clump of confused creatures, with no immediate source of prey. I flashed my fog lights at Jesse, who started up the car engine and drove off down the road, with me following close behind. I couldn't quite believe that my plan had worked, but I wasn't arguing as I pushed down on the slightly resistant accelerator pedal and sped away as fast as the beat up old truck could manage. Fifteen minutes of driving at about 80mph later, I figured it was safe enough to stop, and I waved out of the window to Jesse to signal that I was pulling over. Soon, I was dismounting from the cab and Jesse and Chloe were running from the car to meet me. I had just leapt down from the last step when her body collided with mine, her arms pulling me into her as tightly as she could manage.
"Hi." I exhaled into her neck as she held me, reveling in the feeling of her heartbeat jumping through the veins closest to my own. We were both still alive. Thank god.
"I'm sorry I froze up back there, Beca. You gave me a gun, I should have… I mean, I know… I-" I shook my head, cutting her off.
"Don't. Don't apologise, there's nothing wrong with not wanting to kill them, I understand. I mean, I had to 'kill' my own parents for fuck's sake, I know how hard it is, and I get it. You don't ever have to lay a hand on anything for the rest of your life so long as I'm around; I promise I'll protect you."
"Thank you." I could hear the start of a smile in her voice, and allowed my own lips to relax into one too.
"Right, so how about we go say hello to your friends over there?" She pulled back out of my arms now, turning her head to look at the group of people now crowded around Jesse, who was animatedly explaining something or other to them. Suddenly, one of them glanced across at us and spotted Chloe. Her eyes grew wide and immediately filled with tears, and I winced as she shrieked and began sprinting over.
"CHLOE!" The two girls crashed together into a massive hug, both now sobbing almost hysterically.
"Oh my god, Bree, I thought I'd never see you again, I can't believe we found you!" The others were now also rushing over, one of them coming over to me and shaking my hand with an air of deep gratitude.
"I'm Stacie. I just wanted to thank you, for everything really. Saving Chloe… she means a lot to all of us, she's like our sister and we love her. Especially Aubrey, who's been taking her disappearance hard. That and saving our asses back there. I know we stepped in to help you first, but in truth even if that hadn't happened I bet we'd have walked straight into all those infected. Besides, you could have just left us there. So thank you." I was shocked at this sudden influx of information from a stranger, but smiled and shrugged good-naturedly.
"Any time. Thanks for helping in the first place, we were screwed until you showed." Jesse was now at my elbow, tapping my shoulder and gesturing that I talk to him a little way off, over by the cab of the truck.
"Sorry, I'll be right back." I apologised to Stacie, who rejoined her friends as I made my way over to where Jesse now stood fidgeting nervously.
"What's up?"
"Uh, I was just wondering what the plan was from now on.. Like, are we gonna group together with these people?" I glanced over my shoulder to where Chloe was now talking to the group, pointing to me and Jesse every so often. I sighed, and looked back to Jesse, who was still exuding a sense of nervousness.
"I hadn't really thought that far ahead. I guess I'll need to talk to Chloe about it but yeah, being in a bigger group could be helpful. That was part of my original plan, to band together with some other travelers, safety in numbers and all that." He nodded distractedly, eyeing up the two male members of the other group.
"Those guys kinda set me on edge is all. I don't know what it is about them…" I nodded.
"I know what you mean. Well, I'll ask Chloe about them, and we can keep an eye on them. Remember, they only had pointy sticks against the infected; we're way better off for weapons. If I have to pull a gun on them, so be it, at least then they'll know who's in charge around here." Jesse seemed a little more relaxed at that thought, and I decided that it was time to introduce myself to the others. We made our way back over slowly, only to be met halfway by an excited Chloe, who was beaming and waving her arms wildly.
"Beca! Come and say hi to everyone, they can't wait to meet you!"
"This is starting to feel like a weirdly formal dinner party." I laughed as I allowed her to drag me over to the group who were now staring at me intently.
"Chloe, you're dating a midget." chuckled a blonde woman who I recognised to be the one who had been yelling at the infected earlier.
"Nice to meet you too." I smirked, used to the jokes about my height as even my younger brother had been way taller than me for years now.
"Red's been telling us a lot about you. Apparently you're a pretty decent shot?" I opened my mouth to reply, when Jesse cut in.
"Better than decent, she's awesome with a gun. Show 'em Becs." He grinned at me, raising an eyebrow. I blushed, scanning our surroundings for a target.
"Uh, okay… you see that acorn hanging down off that branch over there?" I pointed to the thing in question, and the others murmured an acknowledgement.
"Okay, well keep your eyes on it." I swallowed hard, took aim and steadied my breathing. Once I was satisfied that my hand was completely steady, I took one last breath in and fired just before the exhale. Seconds later, there was a crack that echoed back off the trees towards us where we stood a little way off by the roadside, and the acorn disappeared, crashing down into the undergrowth a moment later. There was a stunned silence.
"Dude…" One of the guys whispered, turning back to look me up and down incredulously.
I just shrugged and blushed again.
"I've just had practice. So, I guess now we need to discuss what happens next…" I trailed off, looking to Chloe for help. Before she had a chance to speak up, the tall blonde that she had been stood close beside since they had first been reunited stepped forward and with a commanding air, spoke.
"Well, seeing as Chloe is our friend and apparently now your girlfriend, I see no other alternative than to join together to make one big group. We've got two vehicles now, and we can split our supplies, although what we have is next to nothing. Still, we can help with defense and scouting for supplies. Do you have any objection to us joining forces?" I shook my head quickly, slightly intimidated by her piercing gaze.
"No, not at all, that's what I had in mind, actually. We just need to agree on where we go next; Jesse, Chloe and I had been aiming East, anywhere away from Atlanta. Our main goal was to find a small farming town somewhere remote. We were thinking that somewhere like that is less likely to be infected. What do you think?" The blonde nodded, a small smile curling at her lips.
"We had the same sort of idea; head away from Atlanta. Your idea to get to a farming village sounds like a good plan, I think we can all get on board with that. Right guys?" The others all nodded in agreement, and Chloe squeezed my hand, evidently pleased with how things were going.
"Great. Well, I say that we should keep moving until dusk, get as many miles between us and that lot back there as possible before settling somewhere for the night. We usually stop somewhere an hour or so before sunset, cook whatever food we're going to eat over a small campfire and then travel as far as we can before the sun actually sets so that we can sleep in relative safety. That way we can have a fire without being in danger the whole night. Chloe, do you still want to be in the car with me and Jesse? I mean, I get it if you don't-"
"No no, I'll stay with you and Jesse in the car, if that's okay Aubrey?" The tall blonde, who I now took to be the famous Aubrey Posen that Chloe had been telling me about, nodded curtly, and announced that she'd drive the truck.
"Aww, come on Aubrey, I totally called dibs on driving!" The australian girl whined, crossing her arms. Aubrey merely rolled her eyes.
"Amy, there's absolutely no way I'd trust you to drive that truck with all of us in it, even if the world wasn't overrun with zombies!" Everyone laughed as Amy huffed, and then we all dispersed and got into our respective vehicles. I pulled out ahead of the truck, leading the way down the otherwise deserted highway, turning up the latest CD that I had been listening to and singing along for the first time in what seemed like forever. Chloe joined in, her hand finding my knee in the rapidly growing shadows as we sped along, finally stopping for dinner and then later to rest. Aubrey and I, apparently the unspoken leaders of the group, reconvened in the back of the truck whilst the others settled down to sleep to organise the watch schedule.
"Your people look pretty exhausted Aubrey, we can handle tonight. We've been sleeping a lot safer than you for a while, it's no trouble." I began, and I noticed her instant relief at the offer.
"Thank you. That would be much appreciated. As for supplies, would it be possible to keep half of what you have in the truck in case we ever get split up for any reason? That way at least we wouldn't be completely screwed." I laughed, and nodded.
"Sure thing. Jesse and I will bring it across in the morning." I turned to leave, and Aubrey quickly grabbed my wrist, stopping me momentarily.
"Beca, I just… thank you for taking care of Chloe. She's my best friend, and I'm so happy that she's okay, and that's all thanks to you. So, thank you. Besides, she seems so much happier now that she's got you, she just came out of a really abusive relationship before all this happened so I'm glad she's found you. But if you hurt her, I swear I won't hesitate to run you over with this very truck, you hear me?" I gulped, and nodded again. Aubrey seemed lovely, but damn, she sure could be terrifying. I hopped down from the back of the truck, closing the doors as quietly as possible behind me and using a bit of fishing wire that had been in the breast pocket of my jacket, tied them shut. Hopefully that would keep them secure in the event of an infected stumbling across us in the night and attacking the truck before any of us in the car could reach the doors. The sun had now disappeared completely on the horizon, leaving nothing but fat, blotchy clouds dragging across the sky as it darkened. The air was cool, and I took a moment to lean against the edge of the truck and inhale deeply, reveling in silence. My surroundings looked dead, and it struck me that it was odd how only now, in the face of such constant danger, I had become so hyper-aware of the state of what lay around me. When driving, I noticed every bird that soared across my windshield, felt every bump in the road shudder through my bones and that in turn reminded me of my incurable fragility as a human being. I didn't even notice her slip towards me until the last of the fading light shot through her hair, the sudden flash of red enough to break my reverie.
"Woah, hey Chlo, sorry I was miles away." I sighed, taking her hand. I could just about make out her half-smile in the darkness.
"I could tell. You coming in?" I nodded, and she tugged at my hand, leading me back to the car where we resumed our regular position squished up in the front seat of the car, Jesse already snoring as he lay stretched out across the back.
"I can't believe we found them, Becs. I keep thinking that surely I'll wake up tomorrow and it will all have been a dream." Chloe whispered from my lap, her hand resting on my cheek lightly.
"Yeah, it's kinda surreal. I mean, what are the odds?" She hummed in agreement.
"Bree likes you, you know." I chuckled.
"Yeah, she told me that she's glad you found me, although she did mention that if I ever hurt you she'd run me over with the truck." She giggled now, and I tightened my arms around her.
"She also mention that you just got out of a … a bad relationship. I just want you to know that you mean a lot to me Chloe and I would never.. I could never treat you like that. I hope you know how special you are to me."
"I know. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about that but I promise, when I'm ready-"
"No don't apologise, it's alright. I don't have to know anything you don't want me to, I understand if you aren't ready to tell me now or ever. There's no point in letting the past rule your life, that's what I think anyway." She didn't reply for a few minutes and I thought she'd fallen asleep. Then, I heard a faint whisper in the darkness.
"I love you." I couldn't see her face but I knew she was crying, and as I reached a hand up to wipe away the tears, I allowed myself to breathe freely for the first time in a long time.
"I love you too."
AN: I figured I'd give you a nice chapter for Christmas. Speaking of which, happy christmas to you all, I hope you have a wonderful holiday whatever your situation! This chapter seems too good to be true really, but don't worry it won't be so fairytale-happy for long ;) Anyway enjoy it, sorry it's been a while since I last updated but I've been busy with gigs, school-work and christmas stuff. I'll try to get the next chapter done asap.