WARNING: Hobbit self betas. Expect errors. Hobbit will attempt to fix issues as they are found.
1
"You have to be fucking kidding me," the redhead groaned as she watched the inferno consume what had been the CDC building, "Three goddamn weeks to get here, just to see a fireworks display. Fuck!"
"Meadow!" a member of her rag-tag group belted from his perch atop a bright yellow pickup, "Mea, vehicles are moving on the other side of the fire! It looks like they ran from the building!"
"Which direction are they headin' Lee?" she called back while scrambling up the side of the Humvee her group had commandeered from undead cannibals a few days earlier, "Hand me those binoculars, would ya?"
Matt stretched out from the driver's side window and held up the requested piece of equipment, "Looters?"
"Dunno yet," she confessed then grunted a negative upon catching sight of the line of retreating tail lights, "Probably another group of poor bastards who had the same idea as us, so I guess we aren't the only people shit out of luck today."
"We can't stay here much longer," Lee's twin, Jett, declared as he dangled from the Osh Kosh's window, his rifle at the ready, "The fire is drawin' Z's like ants at a picnic."
Matt twisted around to peer up at the stocky woman still watching the other group, "Are we followin'?"
After a moments thought, she finally lowered the binoculars, one hand moving to absently scratch at the thick rope of scar tissue trailing from her right nostril toward her right ear as she did, then bobbed her head in affirmation, "It's better than sittin' round here with our thumbs shoved up our asses."
Upon her whistled signal, they swiftly loaded into their vehicles and were soon barreling down the darkened road.
Whilst Matt did his best to navigate the debris clogged blacktop, Meadow retrieved a pack of menthols from her pocket and lit one. Her mind was reeling with a thousand possible eventualities that could result from her decision. Would this other group be amicable to a partnership? Or would they be yet another gang of assholes hellbent on rape and theft? The thought had her twisting around to worriedly gaze at the two smaller figures dozing in the back seat.
"They're alright?" her companion murmured, his blue eyes briefly flitting over to meet her own sharp green orbs.
"Still sleepin' like rocks," she confirmed, righting herself in the seat, "Wasn't any sense, waking them up, with the CDC bein' a no go. Things are gonna be hard enough to explain come tomorrow, so I might as well let 'em sleep while they got the chance."
Matt hummed his agreement and the truck fell quiet once more, each person lost in their own contemplation's.
*line break*
A hand on her arm catapulted her back into wakefulness, which resulted in her narrowly avoiding plunging a knife into Lee's head.
"We've found a place to stop for a few hours," the younger man informed her while she pushed her frizzy mane away from her face and gathered her bearings, "Belle and Jay are already stretching their legs."
She huffed an acknowledgment and hauled herself out of the truck, only to wince as her weary body cracked and popped in protest. Ignoring the sharp spikes of pain, she fired up another cancer stick and scanned the mist-shrouded area with a critical gaze, "Where are we?"
"Best guess? A pawnshop that dabbles in camping gear for tourists and some Army surplus shit," he shrugged a weary shoulder, "Dawn caught sight of it when we slowed down to avoid that wreck across the way. She took Matt and Jett to check it out."
"I'll go give 'em a hand," she declared whilst reaching into the cab to retrieve her machete, "Keep an eye on the kids, would ya?"
He gave her an indignant look, "Of course I will. Ain't gonna let nothing happen to your niece and nephew, Mea. You know that."
"Alrighty then, be back in a bit," she grinned and dropped the blade onto her shoulder as she plodded toward the building.
*line break*
"I cannot believe this place hasn't been picked clean already," Dawn happily crowed, her pale blonde hair bleached white inside of the lanterns halo, "I would have bet money for this to have been one of the first places to have been looted by people fleeing the city."
"Well I ain't complainin' babe," Matt countered through a mouth full of food as he held out the MRE pouch to his spouse, "This shit will keep us going for a good while, as long as we're smart about it."
"We ought to have enough room, between the three trucks, to take most of this with us," Lee added between bites of his own meal, "We do that and no one will have to immediately worry about supplies if we get split up."
"Aunt Mea, I'm going to bed," a quiet voice interrupted and the redhead swiveled around to flash her niece a smile. "Okay sweetie. Are you sleepin' in the office with your brother or out here with me?"
"With Jay," the girl clarified before shuffling away, flashlight in one hand, knife in the other.
"She's talking now," Matt mused approvingly from where he was now fussing with his sleeping bag, "That's an improvement I wasn't expecting."
"She's ten and Jay's twelve," She reminded him sharply, "Having to kill anyone, let alone your parents at those ages, would traumatize even you. Don't lie and tell me it wouldn't."
He dropped the blue contraption and raised his hands in surrender, "I wasn't saying anything bad about her, I promise. I was actually just tryin' to compliment the girl and the progress she's made since she's been with us, gods honest truth."
At his words, she blew out a hard sigh and ran a bone-weary hand over her face, "I'm sorry, still a bit out of it. Maybe we ought to follow her lead and tuck in for the night. Gonna have to make an early start anyways if we're still plannin' on finding that other group. I napped in the truck, so I'll take the first watch."
Dawn lifted her head from the map she had been pouring over to volunteer for the second watch whilst Lee grouchily accepted the last. That settled, the companions moved toward their sleeping places to rack up as much shut-eye as possible before the undead could come knocking again.
*line break*
"I'll ride with Lee for a bit today," the stout woman proclaimed during their last sweep of the store for anything salvageable, "Give you and the missus some time together without a chaperone."
Matt beamed and playfully nudged her with his shoulder, "You know Mea, you're alright, no matter what Jett says about you."
"Hey!" the aforementioned man squeaked from his post beside the entrance doors, "I didn't say nothing about you Meadow, I swear!"
"Except call me a damn hobbit when I have trouble reaching something on a high shelf," she fired back with a snicker, then snatched up an errant pack of batteries peeking out from under a magazine rack, "I'd say we're good to haul ass. Don't want that other group gettin' too far out of range."
Ten minutes later, the three vehicles were eating up pavement, their occupants in lighter spirits than when they had arrived a mere twelve hours previous.
*line break*
"How in the fuck did we lose them?" Meadow growled to herself and lowered the binoculars to peer over at Jett, "Are you certain you saw them? They were the same people from Atlanta?"
"Not even an hour ago," he confirmed and gestured toward a semi-clear road winding through the area approximately a quarter mile to the east, "Saw them head that way."
"Aunt Mea, look what we found!" Jayden's excited yelp cut through the blanket of tension, "We were helping Dawn get stuff out of that house and-"
"Well I'll be damned," she gasped upon catching sight of what her niece and nephew had discovered.
Padding up to stand between the siblings were two half grown pups. Both were filthy, but their tails were doing impressive imitations of helicopter blades. She could tell one may be white under all the grime whilst the other was rusted colored with some white markings. End of the damned world and they managed to find not one, but two strays that hadn't turned feral yet.
Isabelle gazed upward, eyes full of hope and happiness and so many emotions that had been absent from the child ever since Mea had found them cowering in the attic of their parents home. "Please can we keep them? They could help keep guard and fetch stuff and carry things! We could even teach them to hunts rabbits and stuff to eat!"
"We can't just leave them here," Jayden added, his hand dropping to stroke the spine of the darker pup, "They'll die without us, or get eaten, because they are just little kids and don't understand what's happened to the world."
"Load up," their aunt commanded as she dropped from the bed of the pickup. Their sadness and anger were nearly palpable as she moved to open the drivers side door, "They had better have good names before we make camp tonight cuz I ain't callin' either of them Cupcake or some stupid shit like that."
Instantly the kids were in motion, loading the mutts into the humvee with triumphant grins wrapping around their heads.
"You are such a softie," Lee chuckled as they pulled onto the road, the others following.
"Shut up before I make you eat your teeth," she snarled in return, but there was little heat in her tone. If two stupid dogs could make those kids smile and give them a bit of normalcy in this hell, then the damn dogs were here to stay.
*line break*
The downpour of rain came with almost zero warning, sending the group scrambling for a relatively safe place to wait out the storm. Thankfully Dawn, and her uncanny ability to find safe spaces, led them to a lumber yard protected by a heavy chain link fence that had yet to be compromised by either the shambling corpses or their living prey.
As the deluge maintained its veracity into the evening, the children were kept entertained by the pups and the adults vigilantly took turns walking the fence line.
"This storm has the zeds feeling frisky," Jett commented as he came to stand beside the shorter redhead, "I wonder what's up with that."
The question was no doubt rhetorical in nature but she chose to answer it anyway, "I think they are drawn to the noise, like the times you fire a gun and it never fails to draw a shit-ton of 'em, all looking for a snack. The thunder an' shit has 'em thinking the dinner bell's ringing just for them."
"Makes sense," he agreed then moved forward to drive his knife through the eye of a zombie who had wandered too close for comfort, "Matt and Dawn found a couple of vending machines when they went off for some alone time. Snagged a few bags of chips, some warm as shit sodas, and a handful of half melted candy bars, if you're interested."
"I could definitely go for a caffeine fix right about now," she grinned, the expression growing brighter when he held up a can of her favorite fizzy drink, "You know me too well."
"Only been with you since Huntington," he smirked, opening his own can. He took a long drink before adding, "I just might have learned a thing, or two, along the way."
She shook her head, still smiling, and allowed herself to indulge just a little whilst reveling in the fact that the rain had also, albeit temporarily, banished the ever present smell of the world rotting around them.
*line break*
After checking the maps that had been carefully collected on their trek southward, they agreed the other group was most likely going to try their luck on the highway and decided to follow suit.
Meadow opted to ride with Dawn in the over-sized Osh Kosh at the front of their miniature train because the beast had the ability to push stalled vehicles out of their way. It was slow going, partially because they constantly stopped to peruse the dead vehicles for supplies, and other times because the cars were packed together so tightly they had to move them one by one after clearing them of reanimated corpses.
When the sun was beginning to hang low in the sky, the mutts started making a ruckus before darting over the hill and into the woods lining the road.
"What the fuck?" Meadow called out when Matt abruptly abandoned the truck he was searching to follow them. "Matt!"
He was nearly to the tree line when the dogs trotted back into view, shepherding what appeared to be a child. Matt swiftly changed direction and intercepted them, then scooped the kid up after a few hasty words.
"She's not bit," he announced as he stepped over the guard rail, "She said she got separated from her group after they spotted a herd of zeds coming down the road. It's heading this way, so we need to vamonos right the fuck now."
"Shit," Meadow spit and turned to face the others who had gathered to see what the commotion was about, "Load up and stay quiet. There was an off ramp a few miles back, let's head for it and hope we are far enough out of range before they make it that far."
"What about the girl?" Dawn queried whilst everyone hustled to comply, "What if her group is the one we've been shadowing? Won't they be looking for her?"
"We can't worry about them, not until the herd is long gone," the redhead replied as they hauled themselves up into the cab of the massive truck, "Can't do shit if we-or they-are dead, so let's get this monster moving before we all end up chow."
Luckily, they managed to get the trucks turned around and retraced their path to the off ramp which almost instantly gave way to a chip and tar road, then a gravel path that slithered through the lush, greenery. Fifteen minutes of meandering later, the foilage unexpectedly gave way to a stretch of overgrown farmland ringed with sturdy fencing. In the distance stood a postcard worthy barn painted a pale blue and a cream colored farmhouse straight from a magazine. Meadow instructed Dawn to halt at the gate barring the property's driveway, then waved for Lee to assist in wrangling it open.
"We're losing daylight fast and this place looks as good as anywhere to wait out the zeds," she explained once they parked the trucks, "Matt and Lee will get the barn. Jett and I will take the house. Dawn, stick with the kids and keep an eye out for that girl's group. If they happen upon us, we don't want any misunderstandin's to go on."
Assignments given, they secured the gate then moved on to clearing the immediate area of any lingering undead.
The farmhouse held only a single dead cannibal and the barn housed five, but they were all safely ensconced within their new shelter by the time the last of the light left them.
*line break*
Meadow stood before the large bay window, surveying the land through the wooden slats the previous inhabitants had nailed into place. Her companions shuffled through the rest of the structure, either on guard or taking advantage of the running water which appeared to be fed from a well.
Jay, Belle, and the new kid-Sophia-were freshly bathed and currently clad in some clothing rummaged from the upstairs bedrooms. Lee hummed as he kept an eye on them and cooked dinner on the still functioning gas stove. The mutts, now officially named Pan and Puck, lazed about under the dining table after their own baths.
"What are you thinking so hard about?" Matt softly probed, rousing her from her thoughts. After a quick glance at the children, who were caught up in a board game, she nodded toward the door. He trailed after, a slight shiver coursing through him as they stepped into the cool night air.
She leaned against the porch rail and lit a cigarette before looking at him, "Do you think her group survived that herd?"
"They sound like a fairly resilient bunch, if she is to be believed," he answered with a shrug and mimed her pose, "One thing about this particular situation sucks. Knowing we will be leaving all this behind in the morning, if the road is clear. We could make something out of this place, especially if we found her group and they aren't a bunch of asshats."
As if on cue, the road lit up and several cars barreled passed them. They were struck silent until after their lights had faded, then Matt spoke, "Do you think we should try to go after them?"
She shook her head, "A sign we passed said this is a dead end road. They'll have to go by us again to reach the main road or the highway, so we can flag 'em down then. If they don't show tonight, we can go huntin' for 'em in the morning."
He nodded in agreement, then let the subject matter go as Lee called everyone to dinner.