— Bumper —

I just managed to make it back to my room without encountering anyone and leapt back onto my bed, throwing off my boots and shirt. Moments later, shouts went up from the wards below, and I knew it was the official time to wake up. Not wanting to deviate from my previous show of character, I waited until someone rapped loudly on my door to actually start moving around, putting my clothes and boots back on slowly and noisily. I was just lacing my boots as tightly as I could manage when the door suddenly crashed open, and I was dragged to my feet by the front of my shirt. To my surprise, the General himself was stood inches away from me, lifting me into the air. I wheezed uncomfortably, and he seemed to collect himself momentarily, throwing me back down onto the bed and stepping back.

"Your little crew has proved trouble for me again and again." He spat. Gone was the drawling man in control I'd met a few days earlier. In his place stood a monument to rage, his fury radiating from him with an almost perceptible heat. This was the man who had tortured Beca, I could see it now. We both walked around wearing masks, his was just covering something even more sinister than I could have anticipated. I suppressed a shudder as he turned his fearsome gaze to me, scowling.

"One of my best men is gone, and we nearly lost a whole batch of recruits too, not to mention a van." I thought back to what I'd heard moments earlier outside his office door. From the other officer's account, a bunch of recruits driving one of their vans had been picked up by another patrol near the state border with North Carolina. The terrified kids had originally been part of a search detail sent to locate and track my old group, with the ultimate goal of locating their permanent camp so that the General himself could be party to their capture and demise. That made sense to me. He was important so he couldn't go off constantly himself, wandering around the countryside searching for one girl. But, he couldn't bear to let anybody else have the honour of capturing her, or killing her. I understood that perfectly well. It transpired that by their account, Beca herself had shot the sergeant in charge of that unit, and the kids had fled, leaving behind all their weapons. The General had flown into a rage at this news, and I had decided I'd heard enough. Now, I was witnessing this rage close up, and it was intimidating to say the least. But how was I going to use that information to my advantage? I had to use it somehow. I had no real leverage otherwise, not knowing where they were headed. I had been surprised to hear that they had passed into another state, having relied entirely on the assumption that they would still be in the warehouse by the time I could get people out to search for them. Still, maybe if I could think quickly enough now…

"Now's your chance to prove your use to me, if indeed you serve any purpose here at all. Tell me where they're headed and where they're going to make camp." He growled, looming over me. The wheels in my brain began to turn, and I started to speak the words as soon as they appeared in my mind, not able to spare the time it would take to think them over.

"They're on Route 23, right? Heading into North Carolina?" I started, trying to sound confident even in the face of such tangible aggression. He looked surprised at that, and leant back a little.

Thank god I went and listened in or I'd be dead now. I carried on, bolstered by this, and trying to picture a map in my head. It came to me.

"They're heading further north, towards the mountains." He began to pace up and down, clearly considering this offering. It made sense. After our encounter here, it was hard to imagine that the group would be keen to try their luck with another big town, let alone any of the cities they could've otherwise been heading for. The only place I could see them going was into the National parks, into the wilderness. Either that or they were just going to keep going up the country, but again, I doubted they had it in them to keep up that kind of momentum. We'd all been ready to rest when we reached the warehouse, and enough time had passed since then with enough encounters on their part that I knew my guess was good. Clearly it was good enough to convince the General too, as his expression began to ease into one of thoughtful calm.

"And you're sure?" He mused. I nodded firmly. I'd already almost forgotten that I'd just guessed all this, feeling so strongly that I had to be right. He pulled me to my feet again, this time by my arm, and gestured that I follow him.

"Then let's get going. It's time we end this." Could this really be it, my dream of revenge coming to fruition? It all had worked out as well as I could've reasonably hoped, and now I was being taken to watch it happen. I allowed myself a small, victorious smile as we exited my cramped little room. I didn't bother looking back.

— Beca —

The following morning, we all stood around the map, trying to figure out a route. We had already started heading West now, and I traced my finger along the blue lines of Fontana Lake, snaking up towards the Dam where it became the Little Tennessee River.

"I think our best bet is to get north of the lake and travel further in from there." I said, thinking aloud. "I don't know how the infected interact with water really but I'd like to imagine they wouldn't swim across a lake or river. As for the hospital group, anything we can throw between us and them is good in my book." The others agreed.

"What about the vehicles?" Donald asked, frowning at the map. "How are we gonna get them across and up into that kind of terrain?" I gave a small sigh.

"I know. We could probably drive them over the Dam, but unfortunately I think it's pretty clear that we'd have to abandon them to get properly into the wilderness. The truck especially would never make it through, and we'll travel more subtly that way." I replied. Everyone looked uncomfortable at that, and I felt it too. We'd grown accustomed to the feeling of safety provided by the car and the truck. They were more likely to draw attention from infected and other people sure, but thinking about abandoning them entirely to travel on foot, sleeping entirely exposed at night… it wasn't a pleasant thought. But I was growing more and more certain that it was the only way. Thoughts of terrain and infected aside, I knew that we weren't out of danger from the hospital group yet, and travelling quietly and out of sight into the thick forest was the only way I could see us escaping them, bar continuing on and through to an entirely different part of the country. I'd considered that too of course, but honestly the only long-term plan that seemed to stick in my mind involved reaching the wilderness. We were only going to find more of the same anywhere we travelled. There would always be more infected, more people doing terrible things. The only thing that made sense was to retreat, fall off the map, and put down subtle roots somewhere nobody could find us. I knew the others understood, but it was nonetheless a bitter pill to swallow.

"Damn, she is right." Cynthia-Rose grimaced, and there was a murmur of assent. I ploughed ahead.

"Okay, in that case let's keep heading up Route 28 towards Fontana Dam. Once we get closer, I vote we abandon the vehicles and cover the rest of the way to the Dam on foot. That way it'll be a little less obvious that we've crossed it and headed that way." Everyone agreed, and so we gathered ourselves up and set off. It shouldn't take more than a few hours to get up by the Dam at our current pace, and I felt like the end was in sight. I'd felt like we'd been running from something ever since we left the hospital, and even though we wouldn't ever out from the threat of the infected, it would be good to shake the feeling of having this particular danger at my heels. We trundled down the highway, making light conversation in the car. In the wing-mirror, I could see Amy and Cynthia-Rose laughing uproariously in cab of the truck. Things felt hopeful. I exhaled, sending up a silent prayer to whoever might be up there to hear it: please.

— Bumper —

It felt good to be back out on the road, this time in a bulky van packed with soldiers and weapons. I felt strangely free, although I knew technically I wasn't. Still, it was definitely a welcome relief to be travelling in safety. We had set out almost immediately from the hospital, the General rounding up what I gauged to be about 80% of the military inhabitants. We all bundled into the fleet of vans waiting in the hospital parking lot, leaving behind a skeleton crew to watch over their base and keep an eye on their civilian inhabitants. And prisoners, I thought with a touch of bitterness. In total, we filled five vans, each containing five soldiers and officers. At the head of the fleet, the General and his right-hand man, a stiff-lipped Sergeant called Pearson, set a quick pace, and we followed dutifully behind. As we raced towards the highway I tried to control my excitement. It was almost unbelievable that I'd managed to pull this off. I couldn't help but imagine the look on their faces when they saw me. It was going to be almost as sweet as what would surely follow. Feet to the floor, we were soon bombing up Route 28 in no time, headed towards the state border. We had a destination and fast vehicles, and we weren't slowed down by the need to stop for supplies or anything like that, so I knew we'd catch up with them quickly. I couldn't take my eyes off the road ahead, watching as we ate up mile after mile and drew ever closer. It was easy to forget that there was no guarantee I had guessed their plan and approximate location correctly, but I was too excited to dwell on that now. I was thinking about what cool line I would say when they all saw me, when we suddenly screeched to a halt, many hours of driving later. Their vehicles, stopped dead in the road ahead of us and empty. My heart leapt, and I rose to my feet eagerly. This was it.