( Author's Note )
Hey, Everyone. Long time no talk. Even in the other fictions I do, I've left out an Author's Note, so I haven't written one in a while. But I thought it was finally time to get Dead Falls: Infected started. I don't know how many of you are still reading, but if you are a reader that's been with me since the beginning, welcome back. If you're a new reader; Welcome. I hope
( Dipper Pines )
Dipper made his fifth round of the school he and Mabel were in. Checking every chained door, making sure every window on the ground floor was barricaded, with boards, and metal repurposed from the desks. Normal infected people were kept out by just wood, but this Apex predator was much stronger. Him and Mabel had taken Black Beauty and left the sanctuary of the Corduroy's safe haven.
Again.
Not that they had wanted to, but this predator seemed to only be tracking them. Him and Mabel. Since the talking infected had referred to the thing as a 'tracker' it did make sense.
Once Dipper had figured out it was tracking him and Mabel, they decided to leave the camp and get away until they figured out how to shake the thing. At first they had driven hundreds of miles, through mountains, through curvy forest roads, pretty much anywhere they could lose the thing. To no avail.
Every place they had went to, seemed to be alright for a week or two, then the tracker was spotted. Which caused them to up and move again, then again, then again. Before they had found a high school to hold up in, they had pretty much given up on unpacking anywhere. Only using what they needed, only to return it to a box for when they left again.
Once they settled on a town not far from where the cabins were. That was close enough that one of them could go to the cabins if they needed anything. That and Wendy and Pacifica did not want to be too far from them.
They hadn't learned anymore about the talking infected. Dipper couldn't tell if they followed the tracker, or not. But according to the surveillance videos, they hadn't been near the cabins again.
The School was big, but it was solid. Dipper didn't normally cared for large places to barricade, and guard. The school had solid brick rooms, inside of brick walls. It didn't require much guarding, not once it was barricaded. Normally, he didn't make this many rounds of the school. He would make a trip or two, or Mabel would check all the doors and windows.
So. If he hardly made rounds of a building that couldn't be breached easily, why was this the fifth time?
Because Wendy, Tambry, and Pacifica were late. Once a week, they delivered food, water, and medication. Any parts that they might need for any of the equipment. Of course they visited other times, at this point it would almost take a herd of zombies to keep Pacifica away from her 'beloved'. There wasn't a set time for when they delivered, plus they had to radio to find the location of the tracker. While it hadn't become aggressive towards anything but zombies, they didn't want to risk running into it.
'They are usually here by now.' Dipper thought as he climbed the stairs. He didn't want to say he was worried but they arrived mid morning, so they could spend more time before night fall. Sometimes they would stay with them for a few days, so it would take them a little longer to get things they would want for the visit. That could be what they were planning.
Maybe planning to stay a bit longer?
'Wendy would have radioed in.' He thought to himself as he moved through the hallways, and up another flight of stairs that would take him to the roof.
Dipper looked out over the roof, planters, and built raised gardens covered the roof. They had spent weeks making this garden just so the others wouldn't have to deliver so much. Plus, what they didn't use, they could send back so it can be preserved. He walked to one of the corners of the roof, the corner that faced the way they would come.
"You up here worrying again, Broseph?" The voice caused him to jump. He turned to look at his sister. Large sweater, sweat pants, and swaddled up in at least three scarves. It was no secret Mabel didn't care much for the cold. Even now, when it wasn't even that cold outside. Not for being this far north anyways. Though, only this last year she had what she had needed. They had spent the last two years barely making it. "The infected have started moving south, there isn't many here, and the tracker thingy isn't interested in them. There's nothing to worry about."
"They should have been here though. They've never been this late." Dipper sighed not really sure why he was worried. Every time he worried it always turned out okay.
"Maybe they forgot what day it is. Without real clocks, and calendars, it wouldn't be hard to forget the day." she came to him, putting her arm around his shoulders. "C'mon, lets go make some grub, and I'm sure they'll be here soon enough."
…
Two days later and still no delivery. They had been low on food waiting for Wendy to show up with the others, though they still had food, even if food wasn't their main concern. Even Mabel now was concerned that Wendy and Pacifica hadn't shown up. Mabel thought something had to have happened, which was why they were collecting their weapons. The rest of their food that was transportable, the rest they wrapped to help it survive the cold weather. The equipment could stay here, if everything went well, they would return.
Dipper holstered his gun, and slung a rifle over his shoulder, as Mabel holstered her own weapon. Something two years ago, he never imagined that Mabel would have taken up a weapon. He was proud of his sister.
"Ready to do this?" Mabel asked as they locked up the school from the outside, and made their way to Black Beauty.
"Yeah, we need to make sure everything is fine." Dipper got into the large truck, as Mabel got into the driver's seat. She had become quite the driver of the large vehicle. Again, she had come such a long way.
They had made their way through the city, down the streets that he and Mabel had spent hours clearing, then when the tracker started getting close, they would return to the school and wait for it to start its slow trek around the school.
The beast in itself was fast, Dipper didn't know why it slowed down and circled their location. Yet, it always found them no matter where they had gone, almost instantly. Which meant that the creature, whatever it was, could be immensely fast.
"We have the generator right?" Mabel asked. Slowing down.
"Yeah, I grabbed one of the charged solar ones." Dipper turned to his sister.
"Good, we'll top up the gas tank before we leave town." Mabel made a turn towards one of the gas stations. Without power, they needed the generator to power the pumps. They had to use the gas before it was too late. Most of the regular gas would expire after three years. Diesel had a year, maybe two longer than standard gasoline, but he wasn't too sure on the exact times. Which was one reason that Dipper had made it a point to get as many solar generators as he could.
While Mabel was topping up the gas, Dipper was looking for anything salvageable in the store. They tried not to clear out any of the stores of all foods. They knew what it meant to find food when they were starving, when they had nothing. So, they made sure to leave enough to feed people for at least a few days. Sometimes they left food when picking were sparse.
As for gangs, groups, and any other survivors. They hadn't seen many in months. The last time they had saw groups they were heading north. The cold weather kept the infected away. Dipper didn't know if something in the infection didn't like the cold. If what left of the humans mind tried to protect it's body from extreme weather, something primal left.
"Dipper, tanks full! What's it look like for my tummy?" Mabel called from outside the store.
His attention turned back to looking for snack. Dust covered two year old jerky, old chips, chocolate, and candy. Didn't look like anyone had been here for a long while. Luckily the gummy candies like Mabel liked tended to stay good for a while. So, he grabbed a few bags of her favorites, knowing that they wouldn't find her Gummy Koalas were, for some reason, a Gravity Falls thing. So she would have to deal with Gummy Bears. Canned soda seemed to do well over time, the bottled ones, however, did not.
"Looks like your tummy will be happy." He gathered a few more items before making his way back to the truck. His loot in hands.
…
"This must be why Wendy and them didn't get to us." Mabel said standing in front of the truck next to him., looking at the area in front of them.
He looked out as mud longer than the truck covered the path. The truck wouldn't be able to make it through, and neither would any of the other vehicles they had at the camp. This was a area that they were not completely familiar with. Wendy would be more familiar, since she usually drove.
"Looks like we'll have to back track, find another road back to camp." Dipper headed back towards his truck, "We still got that map?"
"Yeah, it's in the back seats." Mabel said climbing up into the driver's seat, and he went into the back to get the map.
Dipper unfolds the map making use of the spacious back part of the cab. He traced his fingers down the various roads, after he had found their general location. He sighed softly, letting the map go. In the city you could just take the next road, and could still get where you are going. In rural areas, you might have to back track a few miles, but would still be able to get where you want fairly easily. In the areas between far cities, it could back you up hundreds of miles to get back on track. The amount of forests, mountains without roads, made it very difficult to find a new route.
"The west is out, between lakes, and mountains, plus the lack of gas stations." He sighed again, looking up to the ceiling, "We'd never make it. There are no roads east, not that have places we might be able to get gas. South, we'll have a chance to fuel town to town, maybe a few stores with enough to get us by. Hopefully some gas cans. That would make it much easier."
"So, we go south?" Mabel started the engine, and turned the truck around, "So, let me know when we need to turn."
…
Dipper wasn't exactly sure how many miles it was out of the way to go south, to get around the avalanche, though he knew that they had already hit two hundred miles. While it was the only path available to them, Dipper didn't like it. There was a lot of infected wandering around, even in the more rural areas. Now they were in a town, looking for a gas station they could get gas from, there were too many infected.
"We have to pick one, Dipper." Mabel said pointing to the gas gauge.
"I know, we'll find one, lets just try to find a less populated one." Though he knew that there wouldn't be much in the way of empty stations. It was almost as if the infected knew that survivors needed gas stations.