Author Update: Hi, I hope you're all staying safe during these times. To start off, I want to apologize to all the readers out there, I haven't updated this story in almost a month, and I've getting emails from some of you about what was going on, so I'll reply all those questions here. I haven't abandoned the story, and I don't plan on doing so. I have gotten busy with finals, classes, etc. I have been brainstorming for this story as well, I don't plan on ending it any time soon, there's alot of great ideas in play for everyone in the story, plots, etc. I'll try to upload more frequently, hopefully every week. Stay safe everyone! :)
Amanda, Bonnie and Claire had ran off in the direction of the highway, letting take shelter inside the deserted cars along the road. Once it was clear, they decided they had to make a plan.
"I have to get back, my dad, my sister, theyre-"
"They'll be fine, trust me. They managed to get away before it got bad." replied Bonnie, who was trying to reassure confidence in her.
"Do you... Do you think whoever shot us had something to do with those guys in Atlanta?" Asked Amanda, who thought it was something odd.
"I doubt it," shrugged Claire. "Atlanta is like 100 miles that way, I don't they'd follow us all the way up here. Either way, we have to keep moving, I have a feeling that horde is still around," They all nodded as they began to walk down the road, away from the area.
Back at the Gas Station, Mika shrugged Clem's shoulders to wake her up.
" What is it?" she asked, as she slowly got up.
"It's daytime. We should keep an eye out for anything, or anyone that comes around,"
"Are we just going to sit here and wait for something to come?"
"What? No, that's not the brightest idea. We're gonna keep going down the road. And keep a eye for any of the group, chances are they might be around." She said, as they pulled back the shelves that were protecting the main doors.
Everything look the same as it the night before, but they couldn't be too sure.
"Over there," Clem pointed to a walker, coming down the road by himself.
"Let him get close." Mika observed it, slowly shuffling across the road. She observed its clothes with detail as it got close.
"What...? No..." She thought to herself. The outfit that it had was identical to the kind Evelyn and her people had, it was the same type that the walker had on in the building back down the road. Once she killed it, she began to loot its body, to find any evidence of what was really going on.
"Anything useful?" Asked Clem, who was keeping an eye out.
"No.. Nothing. Just stay alert, stay close." she said, as they kept moving down the road.
"There!" Clem whispered, as she pointed to a group of armed men, coming down the road, a few hundred feet away.
"Shit... Over here.." They both jumped over a small set of ruined cars, as they could hear them slowly approaching.
"Should we believe what that guy is telling us?" One of the men asked.
"Of course, we're gonna save his daughter from dying, I think that's a good reason to believe him." Someone else replied.
"What do we do when we find them?"
"Take them in, that's what." the group went down the path.
"Were they talking about Carter?" Asked Clem.
"No idea. By the looks of it yeah. Cmon, we shouldn't waste time, let's go." they got back on the main path and continue their trek.
Back with Lee and the others, they were planning their next move.
"There's some walkers up front, we can take them. I guess we can cut back along the road," Cristy said, as she was looking out the window.
"If we're gonna find the rest of the group, we gotta look, and look real good," added Coach, who began to fill the weapons they had with the little ammunition they had managed to take with them.
"It's a bit chilly outside. That should help us." said Emile.
"How? It's basically slowing us down," replied Cristy.
"I don't know if you've noticed, but the cold weather slows down Walkers. Not by alot, but it'll save your life." he added, as the group went back out the door towards the woods, taking out the walkers they had seen before.
Back somewhere else, Mika and Clementine continued along the path they were on, we'll aware of a group of people around them, so they tried to be careful. They went off trail for a bit, as they stumbled upon what looked to be a small camp site. They slowly inspected it, noticing a low lit fire, meaning someone was here, recently.
While they searched it for whatever they needed, as they slowly crept away, they could feel and hear someone draw a weapon on them.
"Hold it right there. Did you take anything?" The person said.
They both slowly turned around to face him. He was wearing the same uniform she'd been seeing for the last few days.
"No. Look, I'm not looking for trouble, I'm just trying to get out of here." she replied.
"Aren't we all, wanting to get away from it all? To not live through the shit we see every day? I'm getting carried away. I don't want you both to think I'm some kind of.. Bandit or whatever."
"What are you then?"
"You both seem decent, and you didn't steal, which, is a good thing. My name is Sam, and I'm a recruiter for the Force."
"The force?"
"We're a group that bring together good people, that are willing to fight for what they believe in, and to defend what belongs to them."
"Okay, I see what you are. Now, who exactly are the enemies here?"
"We all share a enemy, the walkers. But there are others, who want to just go around, killing and destroying things without hesitation."
Mika hesitated at her next words, but she felt like she was onto something.
"My group, we were attacked by some people, in the woods. They were all wearing black armor, and their face was covered,"
"I'm sorry to hear that. I hate to ask this, but where did this happen?"
"Uh.. I don't remember, a few miles down the path."
"Damnit."
"What is it?"
"Your description matches the one we have of one of the enemies, they hide when they attack, and they do it quick, you don't even know where they came from, nor where they're coming from."
"Look, I don't know what's going on here, but all I want is to find my friends, I don't want to get involved in any war or whatever is going on here."
"I can see that, we can help you look for your friends, as long as they're in the area, but I can't do anything from this point, come with me back to our main camp, we can try something from there."
Mika took a deep breath and rubbed her face, trying to wipe off some of the stress and nerves she was feeling.
"He looks honest. Maybe we should check it out." Clem added.
"Yeah.. As long as it helps us find the others," she replied, as they began to follow Sam down the path, towards their main base.
He walked ahead of them, with his rifle holstered and a small pistol in hand.
"Where were you guys heading?"
"Just looking to survive. Just like everyone else." Mika replied, while staying close to Clem and still keeping a considerable distance from him.
"That's good, but don't you think it gets to the point where you want to settle down, maybe find a nice community where you'll be safe?"
"We've done that before. It never ends well." she replied, remembering Ridgedale.
"I understand. Well, this is it." He said, as they walked out of the woods to the main camp, which was pretty big, built into the ruins of a parking lot and a small shopping mall, several guards were perched on towers they had built, and fires were around the area to maintain the area warm.
They opened the gate for them, and they walked in. It was something that they had never seen before, or at least in a long time. The parking had been turned into what looked like a shopping center, several makeshift tents were set up, offering services like drinks, sports, clothing, and occasionally weapons.
They walked into the biggest tent of them all, where there were several weapons leaning against the main table in the middle, and a large map of the roads of Georgia in the corner.
"Philip, I found these two along a path, a few dozen miles north. They were part of the attack I mentioned before." Sam told the man in the tent. He was wearing a old jacket, with a bandana over his head, covering most of it.
"I'll take it from here." He replied, as Sam nodded and walked out.
"I know what happened, Sam told me about it. He also told me that you're looking for others, that were in your group?"
"Yeah."
He smiled a little.
"That's something rare. Usually when these.. Attacks or whatever happen, and groups get separated, they usually don't go through the danger to find them, they just go on their way."
"We've been through a lot together, I'm not going to let them go just like that."
"I understand. But my point here is that while we are at war against the others, we need all the help we can get."
Mika rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms.
"I clearly told your guy that I'm not looking to join your militia or whatever, neither is she," she pointed to Clementine, who was taking in all the information she could get by looking around.
"Then why are you here?"
"Because your guy "Supposedly" was going to help me find my own people. If that's not going to happen, or at least try to, then we'll be on our way."
"We can't just help. We have enough problems as it is, and I'm not going to waste valuable resources on you, if you don't want to cooperate."
"That's completely fine with us." She replied, as they started to walk out of the tent.
"You know, it is dangerous out there." He yelled out at them.
"We've crossed the whole state, we'll manage." she replied without looking back at him, as they made their way to the main gate. All the people in the area looked at them like aliens, as if they did something horrible.
"Why did you let them go? They seemed like good people. And she had a girl with her, you know how we work with them." said Sam after entering the tent to find out what happened.
"She wasn't willing to cooperate. She just wanted help without helping us back? That's bullshit. Also, I need you to make sure she doesn't come back with a army of walkers or the other fuckers in the woods. Stay sharp." Philip told him.
"Yeah.. Sure.." he replied. He felt good, that he had brought back someone friendly, but now that they had left, he didn't feel any different.
"I shouldn't have let them go.." He muttered to himself.
Back down on the road the trio consisting of Amanda, Bonnie and Claire, they observed what looked like a abandoned house, with several walkers wandering around the area.
"I think we should ignore it. We might find something down the road," Amanda suggested, who felt a bit intimidated after seeing all the walkers.
"It's getting dark and cold, and there's no guarantee that we'll find something better along the road. I say we head there, clear it out for the night. We'll manage." Bonnie replied. They made up their mind as they converged on them, taking them all on at once. At times, they felt as if they were being overwhelmed, but they got through with it.
"Now inside the house. Keep a eye out." Said Claire, as she barricaded the door with some heavy drawers to help keep it closed. The house was empty, no bodies or anything. While it's heating system was disabled, there were still some blankets around to help keep them warm.
Meanwhile, Lee and the others left the building they were taking shelter and continued their trip down the road, for the next few hours. The cold weather was gone, and it was turning into the traditional Georgia, with humid temperatures.
"Let's check out that gas station. Could be something useful." said Cristy. The others nodded in response. Once they got there, they saw that most of it was barricaded from the inside, but they managed to get in. Any supplies that were there were gone, but they did notice makeshift beds on the floor, 2 of them.
"This looks recent. Let's keep a eye out," said Coach, who was holding his rifle in one hand, and a knife in the other, he was very efficient with both hands in using weapons, a useful trait.
Lee checked the back rooms. It had been ransacked, since there were alot of empty boxes and crates around the area. There was also a dead walker on the ground, while he didn't pay much attention to it, he kept it in mind as he came back to the main area.
"We should hold down the fort here. Seems sturdy enough," said Cristy, as she tried to put back some of the wood barrings up.
As they inspected the area, a bullet pierced Coach's shoulder, causing him to stagger a bit. Lee quickly threw himself at the shelf, avoiding the rain of bullets. He got a quick glimpse of those who were shooting at them.
"They're the same assholes!" Yelled out Dalvin, who was taking cover behind a overturned table, as they returned fire. Coach dragged himself back to cover. His big frame and his strength let him quickly get up for the fight, ignoring the wound on his shoulder.
Meanwhile, Mike, Kate and Zoey were walking down the road as they could hear the gunshots down the trail.
"Did you hear it? That's pretty close." said Mike, who's guard was up.
"It's down the road. We keep going in the same direction we'll see what's up." said Zoey. She loaded her rifle as they began to jog down the road. They turned the corner and saw the small group of men, resembling the same ones that attacked them a few days earlier.
" Got them." Said Kate, as they began to open fire on them, taking out most of them. Only a few were left, but they weren't spared by the bullets.
"Let's see who they were shooting at." said Mike, as they slowly approached the gas station.
Lee, Coach, Dalvin and Cristy slowly came out of the station, observing the bodies that were on the ground.
"Well I'll be damned." Said Mike. A hint of happiness and excitement could be heard in his voice. They all quickly embraced a hug, something that made all of them feel good. It made them feel hope.
"I'm glad to see you're all still alive. Looks like we came at the right time." said Kate.
"We can say the same. But I'm not so sure about Clementine, or the others. Still no sight of them." said Lee, with a hint of disappointment in his voice.
"They must be out here, the rest of them." One of the men they thought they had killed suddenly got up and began to run and flee.
"I got it. We're getting answers out of this one." said Dalvin, as he pointed at the man with his bow, and hit him in the knee with pinpoint accuracy, causing him to fall to the ground.
They dragged him back to the store, pinning him against the wall.
"Who the fuck are you people, why are you following us?" growled Dalvin. The man, in pain, reached for his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper, and died before he could do anything else.
They unfolded the sheet of paper, revealing a map of the area they were in, with several markings on it.
There was a large circle drawn onto it, next to the road, and it was labeled with "Listening Post.".
"That's down the road. They came from that direction." Said Cristy, as she looked at the map. While it was understandable, it still didn't give them the answer they were all looking for. The location of the others.
They all agreed to try to reach the listening post down the road, hoping not to find any other enemies along the way. Walkers occasionally came out of the woods, especially after the firefight that had just occurred.
As they came around a curve, they saw several barricades on the road, making it impossible to continue in a vehicle. But the barricades were military, meaning that they had been there for a while. Several destroyed vehicles were lined up against it.
"Watch your footing," said Dalvin, as they all jumped over the barricade. Several bodies were on the ground, but they were all lined up together, with a bullet in their heads.
"This was a execution. I highly doubt military did this." said Zoey, as they avoided trying to step on the corpses.
"It did happen when it started. In hospitals. But at this point, I don't know." said Coach, who looked at the corpses in disgust, as they reached what appeared to be the end of the line of bodies that they had seen.
There was a small building, almost like a shack, on the side of the road. 2 of them went in to inspect while the others waited outside to keep guard.
"There's nothing here. But there is a radio, and alot of burnt paper." said Kate, as she tried to look for anything useful.
"The radio is busted. Stuff burnt, almost makes it seem as if they didn't want anyone else to read whatever they had here." said Zoe. Her father was a police officer, so she often remembered the old techniques used to inspect a scene.
"Walker, over there." said Dalvin. He jogged up to kill it, where it was standing on the road, as it fell to the ground, he saw what was behind it, several dozen miles away. It was the largest Walker Horde he had seen. It was hundreds, maybe thousands, but it was big enough for it to be seen dozens of miles away. He quickly ran back to the group and informed them.
"Which way then? Maybe we can backtrack around it." said Zoey.
"I don't know if you've been around hordes, but you can't go around a horde. They'll just keep coming. We gotta keep going down the road, and we're not stopping for anything, now let's go!" said Lee, as they ran out of the shack and continued down the road, at a faster pace, to try to have some separation from the horde.
Meanwhile, Amanda, Claire and Bonnie had seen the horde before the others, some time after leaving the house they had found. It was much closer to them, so they had to be almost running to avoid it.
"Just.. Keep going.." said Bonnie, who was out of breath, trying to stay away from the horde was getting more difficult by the second.
"Down here!" Claire threw herself into the dirt and mud in a small ditch on the side of the road, and began to cover herself with the dirt and other things on the ground, to mask her scent. The others did the same. They layed in the prone position, staying as quiet as they can, as the horde passed by them on the road. Claire closed her eyes, all she could hear was the groans and moans of the walkers, and how they shuffled their feet, also the stench of death they had.
At this moment, it was life or death situation. One wrong move, and they were dead. She couldn't afford to die before knowing what happened to the others, more importantly, her father and sister, who ran off during the fight. She hoped she had the will and the power to find them, before it was too late.