It was still quite early in the day when the group had reached the designated area that Martinez had marked on the map. It had only taken them 20 minutes to walk there with barely any sign of the dead. Milton and Dan both popped their heads around a tree to survey the area; the parking lot of the gas station contained at least six emptied vehicles which was perfect as they only needed three of them.
The area however had a few stragglers shuffling along; Milton counted at least five of them that he could see. He turned around to raise his hand with all five fingers up; Philip nodded understanding exactly what he meant.
He turned to one of the women in the group; he smiled gently before he handed Penny off to her. Before they had arrived they agreed teams would be made if there were still some biters left and Penny would be taken care of by the only two women in the group.
Philip made his way up to Dan and Milton followed by Martinez; he took a look up ahead for himself and re-counted the number of biters. He grimaced, only a small number, but a pain as he didn't know what exactly took them down.
"So I'll go with Milton, Dan you go with Martinez, the other two are watching the girls. Let's just make this quick as possible." He sounded completely mono toned as he remained grimacing ahead. He looked down at Milton before handing him his bowie knife, Milton just stared at it clueless, he didn't even noticed the man was carrying that on him.
"Martinez and Dan are going for the stranglers, I'm going for the first car, and I need you to watch my back." Milton hesitantly took the knife in hand and nodded to his friend; he has never handled a knife in this manner and was frightened beyond belief. Never in his life did he think this would happen.
Philip clapped him on the back before saying go to the rest of them and they all hurriedly got to work. Martinez and Dan were already across the road and pouncing the first victim as Philip was already across, whipping open the car door to begin the process. He was grateful the car door was already open but no keys were in the ignition.
He got to his knees and began prying the ignition cover off; he already knew what to do and how to do it. He just needed this done and over with as soon as possible. Milton stood next to him; shaking. He was really hoping all the noise Martinez and Dan were making would attract the others to them so he wouldn't have to use the knife Philip had given him. So far none of them were near the two and it made Milton ease a bit.
The car came to life with in a few moments and Philip popped up and headed to the next, luckily this one had keys as he simply started the engine. Now he headed to the last one, he had become so fixated on the last car he hadn't noticed the incoming threat behind him.
Milton was turned and hadn't seen, but as soon as the predatory growl was heard he turned instantly to see one of the freaks was close behind his friend.
Philip heard the snapping of teeth and guttural noises and turned to come face to face with one of the dead, just a few inches away from his face. He went to reach for his knife but he soon remembered Milton had it; he backed up right into the car, hands instantly grabbing the shoulders of the attacker, but it merely kept trying to bite at him. Its jaw snapped at him hungrily making Philip turn his face to keep from being bitten.
The weight was becoming difficult to keep off, as fighting a dead sack of weight seemed more difficult than a livelier one.
Just in time before it could take another snap, blood spattered forward, it's milky dead eyes rolled back and body instantly becoming limp. It dropped to the ground revealing a horrified Milton, his hands let go of the handle of Philips knife as it dropped that was now embedded into the corpses skull.
"What the hell took you so long?!" Philip exclaimed before he leaned against the car, looking at him with a winded look; as big as Philip was, it didn't help him when it was an unexpected surprise and was practically being pinned to a car by a flesh eating freak.
Milton just stood there still slightly shaken that he had just done that. As much as everyone claimed they were dead and not human anymore, he couldn't shake the feeling they were still people. But he had to do it out of protection for a friend.
He didn't say anything still as he bent down to wedge the knife out of the corpses skull; his face went pale and he looked as if he was going to vomit when the knife came out, revealing the oozing gunk and blood.
Philip just rolled his eyes and opened the car door, to reveal another key in the ignition. Philip turned it on and came back up to see if the other two were done with their job.
Martinez gave him a thumbs up as Dan just stood there with a bat in one hand; he was completely covered in bloody while the other just seemed slightly spattered. The image made Philip cringe as he was starting to see the slight crack in Dan's personality. Sure he was selfish and also reckless, but to have such a killing look wasn't the typical Dan.
"I'll go get the others, just get into the car." He turned to look at Milton who looked as if he saw a ghost, eyes widened and his face was still pale and sickly. "Don't throw up on me now… Milt, are you going to be alright? Look at me." Philip waved a hand in his face before nudging a hand under his chin making him look up at him.
He gave him a concerned look as he studied the timid man, finally noting the blood splotches on his face and glasses. Small specks even got into his hair. Milton just kept looking forward with no recognition of anything or anyone around him.
Philip tapped the side of his face with his hand, "Earth to Milton."
He finally got a reaction as two pail green eyes looked up at him; at first he looked stunned before it quickly turned into a sick look. He finally registered everything and turned around, hunched over, throwing up on the pavement.
Philip cringed as he tried to rub his friends back as some sort of comfort, "Alright, just let it out."
Apart of him wanted to tell his friend to suck it up but another part of him had to be patient as he knew Milton was never meant for this type of thing. He didn't have the stomach for it, or the strength. But he certainly had the brains; Milton was his brain, his logical and rational thinker. He just had to make him get over this.
"C'mon now, we got to go. Get in the car."
Milton took a few minutes to get his breath back and to relax before he stood up; he complied with his friends command and walked around, plopping in the passenger seat of the vehicle, door slamming quickly after.
Philip's brow furrowed as his friend went from sick to the emotionless reaction. He merely waved it off and began heading back across the road to peer down the forested area, waving to the others to come up.
It took about 10 minutes for everyone to be divided up between the three cars; Philip would travel with Milton and Penny, Dan was with Alex and Liz, and Martinez had Mark and Sam. Once everyone was settled in, Martinez took the lead as he had the map with the directions; all followed behind, pulling out from the gas station and soon started down the road.
It was somewhat calming to be in a car now, it made them feel less exposed.
Philip kept looking in the back every few moments to look at Penny; she sat in the seat, looking out the Window, silent as usual. He was hoping this town really would be a good plan, it wasn't his safety that mattered, he could live without getting to an evac station, but there were two people that came before everyone else.
Penny's and Milton's safety were his top priority.
He would do anything to keep it like that, but even as he looked over to his friend who sat emotionless, while his body was still slightly shaking made him feel partly guilty. Maybe he should have had Alex or Mark take his place. The poor man didn't have it in him to do this; he was quiet, shy, easily frightened, but loyal and could be strong at a given moment.
He was everything Philip wasn't; Stubborn, headstrong, manipulative but compassionate and loyal to those he loved.
They were two sides of a coin.
"You going to be alright?" The question was simple as he glanced at Milton quickly before looking back to the window. There was still blood on Milton's face and glasses as he still remained shaking with no trace of emotion on his face.
"Milt?"
"Fine. Just, fine." Milton's voice cracked as he spoke; he was tired, and sick. He still felt nauseous, and all he wanted was to go back home and crawl into his bed. But that would never happen, he could never go back home, there would be no comforting feeling of home anymore.
In all honesty, he was far from fine, he was terrified and angry. He was partially angry at Philip from prying him from the safety of his home, but knew it was better he was taken, but partially angry at mother nature for playing such a sick joke.
This was a world he was never meant for. He was just a lonely man who landed on the spectrum of autistics.
He felt something brush his hand and he looked down to see Philip handing him what looked like a cloth. Milton looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "I found it in the middle compartment. Just wipe your face, you've got," He gestured to Milton's whole face making the man pull down the sun visor to look at himself in the tiny mirror.
He grimaced at his own reflection, seeing the blood spatters. He quickly began rubbing it off as best as he could, taking his glasses off and wiping them as well.
It was only two hours till they reached the welcome sign of the town Martinez had mentioned.
'Welcome to Woodbury' was shown across the large sign in front as they got closer. Philip smiled slightly to himself as the cars came to a stop one by one. Everyone began getting out of their cars and looking at the front of the town.
Philip turned to see Penny was fast asleep and just figured he'd keep her there while he looked with the others. He got out and headed towards where everyone else was with Milton right behind him. They both stood side by side looking at the empty streets; there were maybe three stragglers on the street but it looked pretty deserted.
There were parked cars and trucks along the streets still parked perfectly. It almost looked like everything was perfectly ok, that the people just got up and left. It was still pristine and untouched.
"So?" Milton murmured under his breath, "What do you think?"
Philip flashed a small smile to his friend before looking back up, "Home. I think this could be home."