Sorry for the brief hiatus everyone! Please enjoy!
Though Perry had wanted to make a clean escape the following morning, they found when they went up onto the roof that the warehouse was completely surrounded by dead ones. They weren't as vicious as they had been the day before, but there were still way too many of them to chance going out.
They had to spend another week in the warehouse waiting for the dead ones to thin out, but at least it gave them a chance to pack up as much of the supplies at the warehouse as they could. It was a tense, awkward time. Everyone was still mourning the loss of so many of their friends, and Perry was slowly distancing himself from the others as though by doing so it would hurt less when they finally parted ways.
That time came early one morning, when it was so cold that even the few remaining dead ones hanging around the warehouse wouldn't be any threat. Perry and David left first, heading off down the street without looking back. And then it was just the girls and their new charges.
They loaded their belongings into the back of the Explorer, Lauren and Ryan easily taking care of any dead one that meandered too close with baseball bats and axes. And then they scrambled in. Nary slid behind the wheel, as usual, and Carlin got the front passenger seat. Kiri took the middle seat with Betsy on one side of her and Grant on the other, while Ryan and Lauren took the back. With Carlin navigating, they got on the road towards Atlanta again.
Because of the snow (and the lack of snow plows on the highways and interstates), it took them an entire week of driving thirty miles an hour to reach the abandoned rock quarry where the Atlanta survivors had camped. Despite all the tragedy that had happened in New Harmony, Carlin couldn't help but feel excited.
It felt sort of like she was coming home, which was a strange thing to think, she knew. They'd spent nearly three months at the warehouse camp in New Harmony and only a few days at the camp outside Atlanta, but she supposed it was Daryl. She couldn't wait to see his face when they arrived. The endless driving became even more unbearable.
But when they arrived at what had once been the Atlanta survivor's camp, they found it deserted. The snow, which wasn't quite as abundant that far south, still covered whatever tire tracks might have been left.
The three older girls shared a worried look. "You guys stay in the car," Nary told the kids as she unbuckled her seatbelt. "We'll be right back." She, Kiri, and Carlin slipped out of the Explorer, wrapping their heavy coats more tightly about them.
"What do you think happened?" Kiri asked in a voice hardly more than a whisper, looking around at the deserted site.
"They obviously left of their own accord," Carlin pointed out, trying to think rationally through the blinding haze that was currently clouding her mind. She had been so excited to see him, to see Daryl. The disappointment was almost worse than dying. "Everything was packed away, so they probably moved on to another, safer place."
Nary pushed her long blond hair under the hood of her coat. "What's that?" On top of the hill nearby was a large, unusually-shaped object. Though it was covered with hard-packed snow, it seemed to be bright red.
The girls traipsed through the snow, soaking the legs of their jeans in the process, and swiped the snow off the object. It was a bright red car, probably quite expensive when new but now stripped and forgotten.
Kiri frowned, wiping snow from her hand off on her jacket. "Did they have this when we were here?"
"No," Nary shook her head. "I'd remember a car this nice. But it's been months since we've been here. It's not that surprising that we wouldn't recognize it."
Her twin continued to frown. "Weird, though, that they'd strip it and not use it." She stopped suddenly. "What's this?" As they brushed more and more snow off, they found what looked like a soaked piece of paper adhered to the side of the car. Kiri carefully peeled it off; it was so wet that it practically fell apart in her delicate hands.
"What the hell is that?" Nary demanded, wrinkling her nose.
Kiri looked closely. "It looks like a piece of paper. And it's got some writing on it, but it's too damaged to make out what it says."
Carlin hardly dared hope. "Do you think they left us a note telling us where they went? So we could find them?"
"Maybe," Kiri answered evasively, not wanting to get her friend's hopes up. "First we have to be able to decipher it."
"Can we even do that?" Nary asked next. "It looks in pretty bad shape..."
Kiri shrugged. "No idea. We've got to let it dry first."
So they returned to the Explorer and locked themselves in, and Kiri laid the soggy piece of paper over one of the air vents and turned the heat on high.
"What's going on?" Ryan asked from the very back of the car. He was a tall, gangling boy who had been going through a growth spurt recently. His shaggy, sandy hair was in need of a trim, and he always had a million questions. "What are we doing now?"
"We're going to spend the night here," Kiri answered, glancing back worriedly at Lauren. Since her father's death back in New Harmony, Lauren had become even more withdrawn and introverted. She said hardly a word these days, even with the others were especially sweet to her. "We'll figure out what to do in the morning."
Carlin didn't sleep at all that night, even though she was exhausted. She was full of bitterness and hope. She had really thought that she'd be spending the night in Daryl's arms, and here she was no closer to finding him than she'd been back in Indiana. She kept glancing at the little ratty piece of paper, hoping, praying to whatever god might still be out there that the note held something of importance.
Wow this is really stinking short. If I get a few reviews I'll post the next chapter tomorrow. Hell, I might do that anyway because this is so short. But review please! Thanks!