CHAPTER 26

ABANDON ALL HOPE

The Chapter In Which All Hope Is Abandoned

For the first month Liv had hope. After that disastrous night she had been able to find an abandoned house to take shelter in—squirrelled away in the pantry after she had coated the door in Walker guts—hoping that would mask her scent. She had wrapped her ankle with what she could and tried desperately to get warm. She hadn't wanted to risk starting a fire. She slept fitfully.

The next day she had been able to get her bearings in order—walking the long way to the highway instead of doubling back the way she came from. There was no way she was chancing the hoard again—not with her ankle swollen to twice its size.

It had taken three days before she got to the place where they had left supplies for Sophia. The others weren't there. They left her—if they were even alive. She had broken down then, crying. That had surprised her. She hadn't thought she had any hope left.

But they had left a sign and the supplies behind.

LIV + ANDREA GO EAST

Liv didn't know if Andrea was alive, even. She had been forced to leave her and Andrea had been swarmed by Walkers. But Andrea was made of tough stuff. If anyone could have gotten out of that situation it would be Andrea. Liv had been torn between sticking around and waiting to see if Andrea showed up or between following the road east like the message said. Liv had no way of knowing how far ahead they were. They could be miles away.

Finally, Liv had decided to chance going back to the farm. It had been a couple days since the hoard and there was a chance they might have cleared out. Liv figured she could go see if Andrea had that same idea in mind and—at the least—pick up any supplies that had been left behind.

Ultimately, it had been the best decision Liv could have made. There had been little Walkers and she was able to get the Caprice. Tony had abandoned it—he had gotten it jammed on a fence post. There was no sign of him, however—Liv had checked all of the bodies—so she was sure he had gotten away. She had also managed to pick up most of the supplies they had left behind so she was sitting pretty good. She had the Caprice. She had a shit-ton of medication and enough food and water to last her a couple of weeks—maybe months. She had left the remnants of the farm and driven east feeling pretty optimistic.

In the second month, Liv's hope began to falter. She had driven east—looked for more signs of where the group was headed but could find none. She had found a few notes at the start but they had dwindled off before disappearing entirely. She had thought about scouring the surrounding areas—perhaps they had gone off of the main road and into woods or even holed up in one of the houses she passed. Instead, she'd stay to the side—hanging back and observing. She didn't want to chance getting herself into trouble or cornered—by Walkers or other groups. And she didn't want to ditch the Caprice. It had all of her gear. And, it was a piece of Tony.

In the third month, Liv was bitter. Her tears had dried up. Her heart was stone. She hated the others. Hated Daryl. Hated Tony. How the fuck could they just leave her like that? How could Tony? She had thought she had known them pretty well. She had thought they were good people. Boy, had Liv been wrong. They weren't good. They were just as ugly and despicable as the Walkers. As that other group. She didn't care if they were dead. They deserved it.

She had ripped the cross she had taken from Dave's body a million years ago and thrown it away.

She stopped searching for the others and had instead switched her focus on survival and a half-hearted search for Jared. Even then she was losing hope she'd ever see him again.

She had decided it was smarter for her to keep moving rather than shaking up in some house. It was too dangerous on her own to get comfortable. She had to keep moving. Had to stay limber. She couldn't get comfortable.

At one point she had come across a small family on the decaying highway— a wife, husband, and teenage daughter. The perfect fucking nuclear family. All three looking starved. So skinny it looked like they had trouble keeping themselves up—walking seemed even more difficult. Liv had distrusted them on sight. They had talked to her—told her stories of where they had been, where they were going. Told her of their past lives. Liv hadn't spoken, just listened. Watched.

Then she had noticed it—the small, spastic twitching in their limbs. Small, almost unnoticeable. She noticed that the husband had kept rubbing at his arm, as if it was in pain. The teenager had kept hitting her cheek every time she tried taking a sip out of her water bottle, her coordination a mess. The mother kept taking slow, painful swallows—almost like she was trying to swallow cotton. She had spoken in slow, even tones—as if she had to concentrate on every word. And they all looked like they were suffering from chronic insomnia.

Liv could recognize symptoms when she saw them. She had stood up and pointed her gun at them in silence. They seemed to understand she knew their secret.

They had begged her not to kill them. They wouldn't eat her, they had promised, they only ate the bad ones—and only out of necessity! Liv had been disgusted. These people were monsters. And she no longer a woman who believed in giving people a chance.

Liv killed her first three living people that day.

It was in her fourth month alone that she began to lose track of time. She didn't really care anymore, either. Why should she mark how much time has passed? What good would that do her now? It didn't change anything. She was still abandoned. She was still alone.

She was getting more proficient by herself. Before the end of the world, she had been good at hunting… with a gun. Using other means of tacking and trapping were a mystery to her. But she had learned. She had been able to find some of those Self-Help books in abandoned bookstores, among others. She now had a library in her backseat. And, despite it being winter, Liv was able to stay alive by herself.

It was hard, though. It was a cold winter and it was getting harder and harder to find gas to fill her tank with. She couldn't leave the engine running to run the heater. She had managed to scrounge up a bunch of blankets but she could still feel the wind biting on the worst of nights.

She had finally gotten off the highway. She no longer saw a point in driving endlessly east. She doubted the other had and, well, she didn't give a flying fuck about the others anymore. She was forging her own path, now.

She had taken back roads, whatever had taken her fancy, really. And besides, she had seen a helicopter fly this way a couple of weeks ago. She was curious. Maybe there was a City or something that hadn't been overtaken. Liv wasn't convinced she actually wanted to find out. But she kept driving anyways. Why not? She had nothing better to do.

On one day she had gone out hunting. She was far enough away from any significant civilization that she trusted leaving the Caprice alone. The area was pretty good, all considering. It didn't seem like a lot of survivors had come this way. There wasn't as many cars left behind or bodies scattered about. There was more game to hunt.

But then she came across a trap—a net trap like one those you saw in the movies. Liv didn't think those actually existed in real life. But, then again, she didn't think that the Dead could get up and start walking, either.

She had almost missed seeing the trap, nearly walking into it. It had been covered in dead foliage and a light frosting of snow—nearly invisible. But then she saw rocks piled up and around in an unnatural foundation and, upon further investigation, had seen that they were prying apart the net. Liv found a big rock and threw it in—the net snapped around it instantly. It was like a snare. And it was for game—big game. Maybe for deer?

Liv looked around. There were foot prints too and from it. Someone had been here fairly recently. Liv looked up at the trees and felt her blood run cold. She took a few hesitant steps towards the small black object that was pinned up in the tree, pointing towards her. Liv stepped in closer, not really believing her eyes. Was that a—

Yup. A camera. And it was pointed directly at her. She quickly turned and high-tailed it out of there, not wanting to be around for whenever whoever was behind it came looking. Who put that camera there? How was it working? Was it even transmitting?

Liv slowed down at that thought. Perhaps it wasn't transmitting anywhere. Maybe it was just recording—although Liv had no idea why that would be the case. She forced herself to calm down—it was probably a group's camera who used it to check on their game. She wanted to think it was left over from when the world was alive but the recent footprints had her doubting that. The camera and the net were linked. The lens had been pointed directly at it.

Liv jumped in the Caprice as soon as she got back and driven away, leaving it behind her. She didn't want to chance anything—she drove until she felt safe. Even then she had a fitful, restless sleep, expecting demons to come out of the shadows.

But she didn't expect a knock on the car window to awaken her the next morning, nor the two people outside her car—a male and a female. She glared at them, refusing to give them an inch before the female finally stepped forward and spoke.

"Olivia Bridges? We're here to take you to safety. Your brother Jared sent us."

Short and to-the-point. A filler chapter, really. Hope you enjoyed!

- Delaney Trask