Thirty minutes later they were finished with the room and back in their own. Brad was asleep on his bed so Sarah and Jess decided to go for a walk outside. Jess grabbed her gun and tucked it in her belt. Sarah eyed her strangely.
"What? It's for security," she answered.
"It's just a walk," said Sarah slowly, though in the end she grabbed hers and a small pack of other items as well, hiding them in the pocket of her large sweatshirt.
The air was warm and thick with the haze of the smoke from the fire. It was so thick that the sun was dulled slightly. The wind had died down and the rain clouds had passed. The temperature was comfortable and it was quiet.
They walked in silence for a while then stopped at a small, deserted park. Sarah sat down on a swing and Jess stood nearby.
"I wonder why they even have a park here, I mean, this place is completely deserted. There aren't any homes or businesses out here. Just old rundown buildings and dirty yards," Sarah said as she began swinging.
Jess said nothing as she watched her friend swing back and forth, listening to the squeak of the metal chains.
They were startled by a woman's sudden screams not far away. Sarah jumped off the swing. They got out their guns and they tore down the road. The screams led them to a dark alley only about thirty yards away. Jess was not surprised at what came into view when they turned into the alley. A zombie walked toward a red-haired woman it had cornered at the alley's dead end. The woman was holding a child and to Jess' dismay, it looked as if the child had been attacked. This was all determined within the first second. Within the next, Jess fired a bullet straight into the back of the zombies' head.
"Don't worry, we're here to help you. It's dead now," Sarah said making her way to the woman. Jess went to the child, a boy.
"My name is Celia," said the woman. "My son was attacked by that… thing while he was playing outside. I couldn't stop it. I managed to get him away from it eventually but he'd already been hurt. Is he going to be okay?"
"Well, first of all, are you okay? Did it get to you?" asked Sarah.
"I'm fine it didn't touch me but what about-"
"He's dead Celia, I'm sorry," Jess answered in a quiet voice.
"No," Celia whispered.
She fell to the ground, stunned. Jess gave Sarah a silent signal. Sarah moved behind Celia and pulled out a syringe from the bag she had grabbed before they left. She emptied its contents into Celia's neck and almost instantly, she went limp, unconscious. Sarah leaned her up against the wall and looked to Jess.
"I hate this. He can't be more than ten. We know what we have to do though," Jess said.
Without another word, she finished the job. Then Sarah and Jess worked together to carry Celia to a payphone. Jess dialed 911 and told the dispatcher about Celia and where they were. When the ambulance and police got there, they were questioned for nearly an hour.
Eventually they were aloud to leave and walked back to their room in silence. Brad was still asleep when they got back and since it had been nearly three hours, Sarah woke him up.
"How long have I been asleep?" he asked.
"About three hours. We went out for a walk but didn't get back until just now," answered Sarah.
"Well, did anything happen?" Brad asked yawning.
Jess told him about what had happened in the alley and about the night before. After a moment, Jess turned on the T.V. for the local news program. There were all kinds of reports about people disappearing and of people seeing strange creatures walking around. There were reports of people who where found murdered. The victims were eaten alive. The most disturbing of the reports was a story about several bodies disappearing from the morgue. Jess turned the T.V. off. They'd heard enough.
Brad decided to go back to sleep, Sarah got out her book and started reading and Jess just sat there, thinking. Jess got up after about thirty minutes. She went to the bathroom, stripped and took a shower.
Her mind still reeled on and on with thoughts about the events that were taking place. She thought about the mission, about the person they'd seen on the screen of the computer, about Packard, and about the Boss. She thought about what had happened earlier that day, what had happened the night before and what had happened at the police station.
When she was done in the bathroom, she put on her pajamas and walked to her bed.
"The lady at the front desk said that someone rented out a cabin for us not far from here. She said it's been paid for up to two months," said Sarah, putting down the phone. "What do you think?"
"What the heck, I'm interested. I'd rather stay in a private cabin if you ask me, what do you wanna do?" Jess asked her.
"I'm in, Brad doesn't mind either," replied Sarah.
"Where is he?" Jess asked realizing he wasn't in bed.
"He went to the bathroom down the hall. He should be back in a minute."
Jess and Sarah packed their things. Sarah packed Brad's bag after she was done with her own. Not long after Brad came back in the room and went back to bed. Sarah went down to the desk and told the lady they were leaving. She paid enough money to stay one more night, then her and Jess went to bed.