As the bus exits the highway then enters the quaint little town of Springfield the group alike stare with awe as they drive by. the untouched town seemingly like it hasn't ever been touched by the apocalypse all the buildings are in pristine shape yet empty. the small little brick post office on their left, still clean with nothing but plastic bags rolling around. the grocery store laying to their right all in top condition almost looking like its been untouched by the horrors and time of the undead roaming.
"I don't like the feel of this place, it seems too quiet..." Stan says cautiously as he pulls into the parking lot of the grocery store, looking down he notices that they wont have enough gas too go anywhere else.
"Yeah I don't see any dead anywhere" Kevin says as he steps off the bus first.
as the bus occupants unload and form into their own little groups with a few standing guard looking for undead who have mysteriously not appeared. all of the survivors speaking quietly to one another as David sits on the sidelines whispering something too himself that no one else can hear. a small group forms on the other side of the bus consisting of Kyle, Kenny and Craig.
"We need to scope this FEMA camp out first, before we even think about going in." Craig says
"Agreed" Ill take a few people and see if i can get an angle on that camp" Kenny mumbles through his parka enthuasticly, as he disappears from their line of sight behind the bus.
"If this place doesn't work out" Craig pauses for a couple seconds before he speaks again "I'm leaving the group, and I'm going on my own".
"WHAT!" Kyle practically shouts first in an angry tone then he repeats again in a softer tone. "You cant leave, what about everyone else?" Kyle asks as he shakes his head in complete disagreement.
"they'll understand ive always been able to survive by myself. I just see this unfortunate accident at the school as an out" Craig says as he quickly walks away from kyle before he could say anything else. Kyle lingers behind the bus before he hears Stan calling everyone back to the front. He makes his way to the front of the bus. with piercing angry eyes he glances at Craig whos standing next to Kenny and Clyde for a second then rejoins the group next to Bebe and the other girls.
"Kenny volunteered to go scope out the FEMA camp" San says effectively hushing the all other crowd conversations. "Soooooo" Stan slurs his words then adds "anybody else willing too volunteer to go with Kenny". as Stan looks at Kenny whos standing triumphantly in the middle of the group.
Everyone looks at each other wondering whos going with a unheard of voice shoots out from the back of the group. everyone turns in unison seeing David with his hand raised far up in the air as he says in a calm distinctive voice " I'm in".
Another voice shouts out this time its Craig with a smile. "Count me in as well". he says in a monotonal voice. Kyle steps forward despite Bebe telling him not too volunteer
"Ill make sure everybody comes back safely." Kyle says with a smile, not noticing Bebe furiously stomping off.
"anyone else?" Stan asks clearly suprised by the amount of people choosing to volunteer.
"Ill go" a weak voice rings out from the group of girls. Heidi Walks toward the center of the group taking notice of everyone standing in disbelief that she would volunteer.
"Are you sure you wanna go?" Kyle asks looking at Heidi".
"Yes" she says calmly as she walks toward the front of the bus along with the rest of the volunteers.
"Alright" Stan says "anybody else?" the group is silent again. a few seconds of silence pass by "ok so I guess where don here, everybody meet by the bus and ill see to it that your get what you need for the trip". Stan says as he takes his backpack off and lays it on the busses hood pulling out water bottles and other supplies.
The crowd dissipates as a few people enter the mini grocery store hoping for supplies to take, while the rest remain outside keeping watch and conversing with one another.
The volunteers surround Stan by the bus as he hands Kyle his AR15 rifle. "you'll need it more than me if it gets bad over there" Stan says with a smile.
He turns to the rest of the volunteers, handing them backpacks. "These have some food and water, enough for a few days if need be." Wendy walks up behind Stan tenderly placing her hand on his shoulder, she whispers something in his ear that makes him chuckle. Stan backs away from the group and makes his way toward the post office with Clyde following close by.
Wendy inspects her clipboard for a few moments as the volunteers stand there silently waiting for her too speak, Wendy looks up from her clipboard. "I drew you guys a map from the board ive seen earlier on the highway I remembered most of it, it should get you there, Wendy hands the crudely drawn map too Kyle as he stuff it in his pocket She gives Heidi a long hug, Wendy pulls away she looks at Kyle "Bebes not happy" she says with a smirk "ill do my best too calm her down before you get back."
"Thanks" Kyle gives Wendy a friendly hug as the volunteers head off down the road directly towards the FEMA camp that's a few miles down the road.
The group of five head down the left side of the road surrounded on each side by the more urban part of Springfield. the larger buildings are shown as they line farther down the road as far as the eye can see. the group carefully makes their way past each building, always watching for signs of the undead but to their surprise no undead have been seen this far.
Not long after the group of scouts make there way through the streets they end up in the town square surrounded by building on all four sides the group place their sights on the FEMA camp. it is surrounded by tall concrete walls with empty guard posts on the end of each wall with huge gate metal gate. The survivors head to an adjacent four story building building across from the camp. all the survivors show eagerness to reach the top except for David, he lags slowly behind, climbing the steps at his own pace.
"It seems abandoned" Craig quickly adds as they climb the circular stairway of the four story building.
"How do you know?" Heidi mumbles as she's almost out of breath from the long stairway.
"There aren't any guards I could see in the posts". Kyle interjects before Craig could explain.
"Maybe they didn't post any guards today" Kenny questions, but nobody responds.
The group reaches the final floor, they head down a short hallway that eventually leads to a door in the distance. Kenny slowly opens the door as Kyle raises the rifle, he peers through the slit of the half open door and calls out that its all clear after seeing nothing in the room ahead of him. the survivors rush into the room, revealing a slightly dark expansive room with a couch and tv sitting in the corner with a large kitchen across from it. on the other side, large windows with torn curtains, overlooking the entire FEMA camp.
David makes his way toward the corner of the living room, carelessly plopping his backpack down as he sits against the wall, hugging his knees with his head buried in between them, all the while with that same depressed look on his face. Heidi walks toward the kitchen and starts looking through the kitchen, first she opens the fridge, she gets blasted with the smell of rotten food she quickly slams the fridge door shut all the while Kenny chuckles from across the room with his legs propped up in the couch seat. Heidi mumbles as she look through more cabinets. all the while Kyle and Craig crouch near the window hoping to see if the camp is really occupied.
Kyle pulls away at the curtains blasting sunlight in the almost dark room, the window gives a clear look, directly above the camp. the boys look down at the camp and taking notice that infact the camp isn't empty as some of their group originally thought. Craig looks down into the camp seeing multiple building surrounding each other with some crudely built shacks and some makeshift tents lying everywhere. the boys spot people walking in and out of the shacks. their clothes look matted and dirty with many of them holding various handguns and rifles. as another group of people walk out of a large tent in the middle of the camp all three of the men laugh as they walk towards a semi truck parked close by, one of the men holding what could be identified as a rifle opens up the back compartment and slowly walks into it as the other two wait outside.
"They don't look military Craig" Kyle says as he shakes his head "all I see is regular people".
"Hold on lets check them out first, we gotta know if this place is safe". Craig says while not breaking his gaze with the two men near the semi. Kenny walks up standing behind the two boys as he looks out the window.
"Soooo" should we approach them or what?" Kenny asks scratching his head.
"I have a bad feeling about this place" Kyle says sound uncertain.
"We have no gas for the bus and hardly any supplies where do we go, if not here Kyle?" Kenny asks with a slight sound of anger in his voice. Craig and Kyle suddenly and almost violently pull Kenny down to the floor effectively drawing the attention of the other two survivors toward the window in curiosity.
"What is it Kyle?" Heidi asks in a whisper.
"They aren't friendly that's for sure" Craig says confidently.
"How do you know?" Heidi asks in a scared tone.
"Look" Kyle says as Heidi moves toward the window instantly taking notice of the three men pulling out tied and gagged men and women from the back of the semi at gunpoint.
"Shit" Heidi says as she backs away from the window.
"We should get out of this town quickly" Kyle says in a rush as he quietly crawls away from the window.
as the group move away from the window a shot rings out from the camp, Kenny moves back towards the window out of curiosity despite everyone's objections he stands up to the window to get a better look he quickly notices that the bullet fired wasn't in the camp its was toward something else he looks around noticing the camp is empty and devoid of people. as Kyle grabs Kenny hand to pull him away from the window a bullet whizzes through the window shattering the window. the group looks horrified as they look down at Kenny who is on the floor with a bullet in his shoulder. Kenny screams out in pain as shouts are heard from the camp. the sounds of the door being broken down at the bottom floor of the building, Kyle and David prop the door open and sticks his rifle out the crack of the door overlooking the hallway and the steps the rifle shakes in his hands from the sounds of the men shouting and quickly climbing the stairs. all the while with Kenny shouting from the pain Heidi pulls Kenny away from the window and presses her hands firmly against Kenny's wound.
"Your gonna be ok!" Heidi shouts with tears down her eyes from the stress and the fear.
"We need to find a way out now!" Kyle shouts at David.
"The only way out is Through this door!" David shouts angrily.
"Shit!" Kyle shouts as he hears the men reaching the top floor of the building.
TOO BE CONTINUED.
Authors Note: I was able to complete this chapter quicker than I thought. Tell me in the comments what you guys thing of the story so far. the next chapter should be released fairly soon. big thank you for all the people who support my stuff thank you and ill see you peeps later :)