Ch. 35
'Resolution Part two'
[Dusk, Outskirts of Baltimore]
The trio walked along the cracked, overgrown highway, which was clogged with abandoned and rusting cars, the sky above was turning orange as the sun would soon set behind the shells of the once breathtaking skyscrapers.
Blake was in the lead; his background with the Saviours gave him knowledge of the city, a boon to the group.
Summer brought up the rear, her bow in hand, as they couldn't be sure that the Saviours were utterly wiped out; her archery skill could help cover their escape.
Genevieve was in the middle, her work shirt tied around her neck to act as a sling for her right arm; her black shirt with the radioactive symbol had been a gift from Tina; now, it served as a memento as well.
The sound of a wayward walker trapped in a dilapidated car could be heard as the trio moved between the old vehicles.
With the large and rusty sign hanging above the highway, Blake pointed to it as they walked through the ever-growing darkness, threatening to envelop the trio.
"That's our exit, we'll cut through a suburb, but after that, we'll be in the clear," Blake said as he led them back to the settlement.
"Didn't you guys ride horses here?" Genevieve asked as the group turned onto the exit ramp.
"We lost them in the process of finding you," Summer sighed, looking over her shoulder to ensure everything was clear and safe.
Genevieve lowered her head as her mind created the image of the horses being ripped apart; the sounds she imagined made it far worse; closing her eyes, the teenager tried to push the thoughts away.
"It'll be a couple days before we hit the settlement; long road ahead of us," Blake boomed in his most uplifting tone.
The buildings native to the suburbs started cropping up; identical houses as far as the eye could see lined the once pristine lawns that now we're overgrown and littered with a cacophony of different things, from trash to bones.
The group rounded the corner, and Summer saw that the way was blocked by two semis that had jack-knifed; what wasn't blocked off by them, it seemed someone had filled in the gaps with cement, and the houses surrounding the wall seemed to have been boarded up as well.
Hearing Summer's groan, Blake turned his head to his sister. "Now c'mon, sis, do you think I'd lead us to a dead-end?" Blake said playfully as Summer gave him a look of pure, unadulterated tiredness, tired of his indomitable personality. "I know my directions!" Blake said, darting his index fingers in multiple directions.
"Is this a choke point?" Genevieve asked, breaking Blake from his silly reference.
"Kinda like a corral, really; the dead are on that side," Blake said, pointing past the wall. "This is the end of the 'safe' zone," Blake explained, making sure to use air quotations for the word safe.
"We've seen so many walkers inside this zone; what happened?" Summer asked, looking back at the skyline of Baltimore.
Blake shrugged his shoulders as he didn't know exactly how the dead got in the zone. "My best guess? People turn without being bit or anything, right? So people dying in their sleep, and people too scared to own up to being bit or stuff like that could do it," the man surmised as he walked towards the wall.
Looking around and rummaging through the overgrown grass against the first trailer, Blake leaned over and pulled a ladder out of the weeds, and walked upright before setting it against the trailer.
"Oh, smart, rooftop travel," Genevieve said, sounding hopeful.
"Heh, no, the big boss of this division didn't want to build anything outside the zone, and the houses aren't close enough together to jump across safely," the ex-Saviour explained as he began his ascension.
At the top, Blake could see it was clear of undead on the other side.
With a wave of his hand, Summer ushered for Genevieve to go up; next, Summer hoped she could catch the child she had helped raise should she fall.
Wrapping her fingers around the rung about eye-level for her, Genevieve put a foot in a lower rung and hauled herself up.
Without her other arm, it proved a little challenging to do the climb, but with enough time, she made it up intact.
"Careful; it's getting rusted through up here; I told Marcus we needed a different roadblock here," Blake grumbled as Summer did the climb quickly and quietly.
"But then again, Marcus never was the type to actually do things till he really had to," Blake continued, bringing a hand to his chin in thought.
Scanning the homes in rows on each side of the street, Genevieve couldn't discern any movement other than some leaves and a tattered drape wafting gently in the breeze.
The sound of insects buzzing and birds singing was all that Genevieve could hear; it was almost peaceful.
Down below, Summer readied herself for the climb, exhaling quickly before taking hold of the ladder, hoisting herself up, one rung at a time; once at the top, Summer could see what Blake had meant; the container's roof had a little give to it each time she stepped forward, the feeling that the roof would fall through any moment became too real, when the party had started moving to the end of the makeshift barricade, the group collectively heard a low metallic groan beneath their feet.
Freezing in place instinctively, Genevieve's eyes snapped down to her feet before she looked for the small ledge they were walking towards.
"Run!" Summer exclaimed, bursting forward towards the safety of the ledge, mere feet in won't of her.
Blake and his sister made the jump from the crumbling roof of the container; Genevieve, who had been farthest away, did not make it.
The roof caved in sideways, forming a slide that Genevieve tumbled down in a not-so-graceful way.
Genevieve had barely had time to take a step before the floor beneath her gave way, falling roughly on the rusty metal thuds emanating from her every impact with the hard surface, landing hard on the cracked asphalt, groaning in distress, her shoulder throbbed in pain, radiating in waves coming and going in five-second intervals.
When she realized how loud that must have been, Genevieve went silent as she surveyed the area for any threats, panting as she tried to ignore her injured arm.
"Shit, cover me!" Blake said before dropping prone and extending a hand for his teenage companion to grab. "C'mere, Lil lady!" Blake exclaimed urgently.
Genevieve saw shadowy figures looming in the desolate houses, struggling to her feet; the survivor heard Blake's call and stumbled towards his voice.
A horde of the dead made their way into the street, investigating the noise from outside their lairs; when they saw the injured Genevieve, they roared in their guttural, breathy, and gurgled voices, shuffling towards the teen.
The corpse would never lay a finger on Genevieve as an arrow penetrated the walker's forehead, the pointed tip protruding from the base of the undead's head.
Summer pulled another arrow quickly after, pulling it back, she fired again, hitting another in the eye, tumbling to the ground; the dead walker tripped another undead, it wore a tattered red vest with a name tag reading Phil.
Grabbing hold of Blake's hand, Genevieve felt her body be lifted up in the air, she knew she wasn't heavy, but her companion made her feel lighter than she probably was, hoisting her up onto the roof with what seemed like only the lightest of strain.
After releasing his grip, Blake immediately started looking her over, and Summer quickly followed suit.
"You're ok, right?" Blake breathed in concern.
"I am ok," Came the answer from the young survivor, picking up her pant legs to show there were no bites on the only body part the undead could have reached in time.
Satisfied, the siblings took a sigh of relief; too many had been lost to this damned blight, good people, bad people, too many.
The sound of the plague's victims roaring and trying to bring the house that the group was currently perched upon.
"Good," Blake sighed, looking over the edge at the mass of undead heads and arms flailing about, smashing into the sides of the building.
"Let's get a move on," Summer said, looking south towards their home.
Genevieve looked over the other side and saw a speckling of walkers in the back yards of these suburban homes. "There are not as many back here," the young survivor chimed in, turning to face the siblings.
With a collective nod, the trio carefully made their way down to the ground, the walkers taking notice of the potential meals and making their way toward them with outstretched arms and gnashing teeth.
"Get behind me!" Blake exclaimed, gently pressing an arm across Genevieve, urging her to move to where he could protect her more easily.
Summer pulled her bow out and began firing arrows, two of the six fell to the ground, and the remaining four continued their assault, unfazed by the prospect of being shot.
Genevieve would generally defend herself; while her arm had been fixed, it still hurt a considerable amount; she stepped back for Blake to take the barrage of undead, Summer giving him a hand.
Blake walked forward with his hatchet in hand, shoving the first one into the walker behind, stunning those two long enough for Blake to slam his hatchet into the temple of the corpse, flanking his left, Summer switched to her knife and moved in to help him.
Blake smashed his bladed weapon into the next walker's face before it got a hold of his sister; summer stuck her Bowie knife into the undead opponent's temple before sweeping his legs and putting her arms lit to catch the last walker before it bit her, grabbing it by the collar of it's worn out shirt, wrenching the walker, which had lost a considerable amount of weight due to decay, off its feet and into the blade of Blake's waiting ax head.
It had been years since Genevieve had seen this; the two siblings had a synergy about them, they worked together well, and it was nice to see them together; it was nice to see Blake alive; Genevieve hoped it would last this time.
A ghost of a smile appeared on Genevieve's face, remembering the fond memories of fixing a vehicle with that man just ahead of her, demolishing the undead hordes in her defense; so soon as it came, the smile disappeared, wiped from existence at the reality of the situation around her, they could have easily been killed while trying to get her back, had she died, and they found her; what the siblings had done then?
For now, everyone was safe, and the dead were defeated; for the time being, no telling for how long, though?
Genevieve pushed her thoughts away as Blake and Summer moved for wooden faces that had seen better days; they stood about five feet tall, these fences sectioned off each respective house, and each house had a gate near the front to serve as an additional entry to the yard, they would be hard to vault over, but the wood looked pretty weathered.
Walkers could be seen on the other side of the chain-link gates barring them from the backyards.
"Those ain't gonna hold them long," Blake said as he looked for a way to the other side of the fence; a moment passed before Blake grabbed one of the boards and pulled; the fencing opened up quite quickly, and the old boards came off with little to no effort. "Here, c'mon through!" Blake ushered the girls through the hole he had made.
Ducking under the top support board and stepping over the bottom support simultaneously, Blake scanned the yard and saw there were undead piling on the gate of the yard he was in.
Genevieve ducked through, and Summer moved quickly through as well; the trio could see the fencing on the other side of the lawn had already been damaged by a vehicle driving through it, and the remains of the car resided in the skeleton of the shed it had pulverized, it didn't take much to see the car had been on fire when it crashed.
The group started walking through the tall, unkempt grass; the sound of metal snapping jolted the three survivors to look for the source; all eyes fell on the chain-link gate; the sound had indeed originated from there as the walkers rambled through, giving chase to the living.
The sound of metal breaking behind and in front of them had the survivors on edge.
"Run!" Summer exclaimed; the group began rushing to the hole in the fence.
Blake ran through the hole first and nearly ran into a wall of walkers, skidding to a stop, mere inches out of their reach.
"Watch it!" Blake shouted, warning his allies of the danger before bringing up his hatchet and killing the closest threat.
"Down here!" Summer called out, motioning to a few boards that had broken low; they could crawl through if they were fast.
Not breaking stride, Genevieve saw Summer begin to elect her to go first. So, Genevieve didn't wait for the invitation, falling back and allowing her body to slide through the opening like a baseball player would.
Surprised by the acrobatic maneuver, Summer furrowed her brow for half a second before following after her in a less flashy way.
Blake made it halfway under before Summer and Genevieve grabbed Blake and tugged him through.
Weaving their way through the suburbs, the group made it to the open road, the straightest path home.
[The following morning]
The weather had held up so far, their journey home had been uneventful, Genevieve was donning the work shirt over her T-shirt again, her shoulder was still tender, the young survivor rolled her arm to see if it improved the situation some, not much to discern from the action.
"So, uh, I never apologized for uh, fighting you," Blake said, breaking Genevieve out of her thoughts.
"Hm? What?" Genevieve asked, turning her head to engage with Blake.
Silence had fallen over the group again, similar to when they were on the highway only a couple of days ago.
Genevieve watched the ground in front of her, thinking of what her welcome might look like when they got back. Will Ian be there? Melissa? Maybe they would be displeased with her actions?
She wouldn't have to wonder for very long; the sights around her were all familiar; they were at the bottom of a small hill, past that, and the settlement would be in view.
The trio took the hill simultaneously; Blake and Summer made it up a few seconds before Genevieve did; the duo stopped at the top of the ridge.
Rotating her previously injured arm, Genevieve felt the range of motion was adequate once again, creating the top of the hill; Genevieve saw what had her family's mouth hung open.
The settlement that all except Blake had called home for the last four and a half years was decimated, the walls were strewn apart, and the buildings were nearly all burned to the ground; people that had once inhabited this haven were now aimlessly wandering about as undead monsters.
Genevieve felt a weight fall on her chest when the sight hit her, everyone she knew and traveled with had been here, but now it was gone.
"We must find something; maybe some of them got out!" Summer cried out as she ran down the hill.
"Ah, shit!" Blake breathed, tailing his sister, not wanting her to get in trouble.
Genevieve took a moment before following the siblings, jogging down after them, hoping that someone had survived, but she doubted it.
Summer ran past the outer wall and looked frantically for someone, anyone, to be alive. "Melissa!" Summer shouted, throwing caution to the wind. "Ian!" Summer yelled out, no answer to be heard.
Her grief turned to seethe with anger as a walker behind her began growling and mounting an attack.
Turning around quickly, Summer pulled her knife out while in motion and grabbed the walker by the neck, jamming her weapon into its eye; when its mouth opened in response, Summer pulled her blade out and stuck it in the walker's maw.
Blake caught up just in time to watch Summer stomp on the undead's head, smashing it and killing it.
"Do you know where anyone lived near here? Melissa, maybe?" Blake questioned, looking at the walker that Summer had killed.
"uh, no, she lives on the other side of town; Ian's house is over there," Summer answered, pointing to an almost wholly destroyed house.
Blake took the initiative and quickly went over to the site and opened the rickety door, blackened by the heat of the fire that had raged throughout the settlement.
"Ian, you in here!?" Blake shouted with his hatchet ready as he checked the corners of the house.
Summer walked soon after with Genevieve close behind; the girls soon saw that Blake had a map in his hands; he seemed as if he were gauging something in his mind.
Summer looked over her brother's shoulder but did not get a clear look at it in the drab lighting.
Blake turned around soon after and presented it to the duo; it had some heat damage but overall was legible; in red marker, the city of Atlanta was circled, and a message was scrawled under it.
"Melissa is with me; come find us! You know where I lived!" the message read, scrawled in hasty handwriting.
"We haven't been to Atlanta since…." Genevieve began, remembering the train ride through that God-forsaken city, the war in the streets, the city had been on fire, and everything had been in chaos.
Summer looked up at her brother, knowing how grueling the distance of such a trek would be.
Blake looked to the girls, almost silently asking for their approval; both Summer and Genevieve locked eyes with him and nodded.
Returning their nod, Blake folded the map over and let out a cleansing breath as he put the carefully folded map in his pocket before uttering his following words.
"Let's go get them back."