Chapter 29 "Aftermath"
Day 92; Group B
They awoke late that morning, getting much-needed sleep as they huddled together from the cold. The herd had passed long ago, but they were much too cold and exhausted to get themselves going. Daniel drove for today, with everyone in the couch of the RV. They pulled into the road to see the house around noon, the lake behind it glimmering beautifully, just as it had the day they first found this house. Seth and Shawn sighed, seeing the clear difference between then and now. The house was now clearly decimated. Doors were off their hinges or scratched, windows were broken, everything was dirty and trampled. There were seeds and tools scattered around the garden, and all of the plants and soil had been flattened. They quickly noticed that the RV was missing, and after a while, they realized that the vans down at the house down the road were missing, as well.
"This is the aftermath," Robert said under his breath, only heard by Selenis and Greyson.
"I think they got out," Greyson said hopefully.
"Or they died and were looted," Seth grimly stated.
"Well, let's go find out," Shawn said.
They exited the RV, weapons at the ready. They entered the house to see many walkers around. "Put them down silently if you can. Don't hurt the face, we need to know if it's one of ours."
They took down the walkers in the house using their knives, axes, and screwdrivers. They found a total of seven walkers in the building, and not one of them looked familiar. Slightly relieved, they fanned out and took what supplies were left of the house, which was quite a lot. Anything that wasn't out in the open, thus wasn't trampled over by walkers or at least fondled by them, they decided was good and took it. The only things they took that were out in the open were inedible things, such as weapons, medicines in their bottles or packaging, and other such things.
They found their belongings, aside from Daniel's and Greyson's, along with Allan's, Mika's, Lyrik's, and the remaining belongings of Jessie, Ron, and Lizzie.
"Why didn't they take any of their stuff?" Robert questioned worriedly.
"Maybe they just didn't have time," Greyson reasoned. He knew Robert cared greatly for Lyrik, her being his only remaining friend from before all of this. The freckled boy envied Robert a little bit for that. His friends were all dead or gone. He had seen much of his family and friends die early on in St. Louis when this all began. The rest, he had no idea where they were. All he had was Daniel, who was a neighbor he didn't even know. They lived a few blocks from one another, but they never spoke before this began.
Seth put a hand on Robert's shoulder. "Come on, we need to keep moving."
Robert nodded, grabbing up the left behind supplies of their friends and throwing them into the RV.
Outside, Daniel was keeping watch. They knew the herd was still close, and it might not take a whole lot to turn them right around to sweep this house once more. He headed around to the back porch, and he saw another walker from behind. He smiled and pulled out his axe to approach and put down the walker. He whistled to it, and she turned around.
Standing before him was a dead, mangled corpse of one of his closest friends. Undead Patti stood in front of him, snapping her teeth. Daniel pursed his lips, overwhelmed with sadness. He gripped the ax in his hand as she approached, limping. There were holes and bites all along her skin, many places, including her entire right arm, were missing, gnaw marks left in their place. It was clear that the herd had gotten her.
He pulled the axe back and swung it when she got too close for comfort, jamming it in her neck. Annoyed he had missed, he lifted his leg and kicked her off of his axe. Freeing it, he drew it back once more and got her square in the head. Her body fell limp, and he yanked the axe out of her head using his feet to push her off once more. He sighed, and noticed she was carrying many bags. He put his shirt over his nose to try to keep the smell out, bent down, and grabbed the bags of from around her shoulders. They were her own, his, and Greyson's. She had tried to get their stuff for them… Or was simply trying to get as many supplies as possible. He sighed yet again and continued his watch.
When everyone seemed finished gathering supplies, Daniel told them what happened, showing them her corpse, and then pointing to his and Greyson's bags, explaining that she had probably tried to take them to keep their things for just in case.
They mourned, but did not bury her. They needed to get going. Too much time had already been wasted, and a proper funeral would only slow them down more. They had an impromptu service with Daniel, Selenis, and Seth vocally expressing their sadness to see her pass. When Greyson looked like he was about to cry, Robert pulled him into a hug. For once, Greyson did not fight back. He hugged Robert back, taking the comfort and caring Robert was offering to him.
After a few final moments, they loaded up and made their way south, following the tracks left behind by the vehicles, though they were quite flattened. Along the way, they found the abandoned vans with no signs of being recently used. They were empty of people and supplies, no signs of blood or a fight.
"What do you think happened?" Selenis questioned.
"Maybe they ran outta gas," Greyson suggested. "Had to pick up and leave."
"Or maybe someone stopped 'em," Seth said. "Took 'em hostage."
"Seth, shut up," Robert said, looking worriedly to Greyson.
As they continued down the road, they saw a large hole dug, and clearly a body was in the sewage. Everyone held their breath, both because of the stench and in case it was one of them, as Shawn used a large fallen branch to face the body towards them. They didn't recognize it, and thought it to be either Shakira or Mika at first, due to the size of it. They eventually decided that it must be a walker, and they continued on. They noticed small holes in the ground and the ashes of a fire. "They've definitely been here," Seth said.
They made it a ways further down the road, but saw the back end of the herd and sighed. This thing was going to be the death of them, they collectively thought as they backed away from the walkers silently. They kept driving around the herd, getting back to the other side of the path, where they found more, clearer tracks. They hadn't been trampled over, and it was clear that they were the tracks of the other RV.
They followed after it until it ran onto a road. They looked around the surrounding treelines and dirt roads, but only found animal prints and another track of tires, but they were clearly made by a large pickup truck and appeared to be old. They had no choice but to move on, and they found a log cabin to sleep in for the night, taking nice refuge from the coming rain. They cleared it out, only finding the walker of an old man constrained in a wheelchair in the back room, which was quickly and easily taken down and disposed of.
