Where The Lost Have Gone
I apologize for the pause in updates. New school semester started and I needed some time to acclimate back on to the school schedule. Anyways, I hope that everyone enjoyed their New Years.
Also, thanks so much for the good reception and reviews. Remember, constructive criticism is welcome, as well as encouraging comments and reviews.
Enjoy the story.
XxX
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Walking Dead or Halo franchise. All rights belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 2: Moira
Bloodshot eyes opened with a start, frantically looking around the area. Her dominant left hand swiftly gripped onto the small firearm laid beside her while her other hand clung around the child sleeping soundlessly beside her; her child. That was how Moira woke up. Her old .22 Winchester magnum poised in front of her in defense, Moira waved it purposefully around for any targets that may have snuck up on them. It took her several long moments to realize that no one was there, they were safe; at least for the moment.
Moira exhaled a deep and tired sigh, something she'd been doing often lately, and probably would continue to for the upcoming months; if she lasted that long that is. She clutched her forehead with her armed hand, trying to make sense of it all. The steady rising of her daughter's breathing told her that her actions hadn't woken the young child up.
"Good." She thought to herself. "Ash has been through a lot lately. She needs the rest." Moira smiled to herself as she gazed at the peaceful expression on her daughter's sleeping face. It helped her forget about the stressful times and bleak situation they were faced with. She raised her unarmed hand to move a few loose strands that covered her face before softly stroking her cheek.
Ash, short for Ashly, was only eight years old. She was a small girl with tan brown hair and beautiful porcelain features that made her almost doll-like. In her eyes, Ashly was the most beautiful creature that she had ever laid eyes on. From the moment she was born she had cherished and loved her daughter wholeheartedly. She was her everything, the sole reason to get up every treacherous morning and continue on.
This love however, did not extend to her father. The good for nothing waste of space had left her life before ever knowing of Ash's existence. Not that it mattered to Moira at all now. Moira had cursed the bastard for many months after his untold departure, but that hatred had withered when Ash was finally born. If anything, Moira was thankful to the man for giving her Ash, but that was as far as her gratitude extended.
Moira raised her arm and checked the time on her wrist watch, frowning. Moira wanted nothing more than to continue to lay there with her soundly sleeping daughter in her arms but she knew that they had to leave. Gently, Moira shook her daughter's shoulder, elapsing some moans and unintelligible mumbles from the child. Moira bent her mouth down to her daughter's ear, whispering silently to encourage her to wake up. After several moments she succeeded. Ash rubbed her tired eyes before trying in vain attempt to stifle a loud and exaggerated yawn. Seeing the yawn, Moira imminently imitated the act, hand over her own mouth. She half-glared at her daughter. "See what you gone and done. Yawning is contagious I tell you," Moira admonished in between yawns as Ash giggled cutely at her mother's antics.
Moira smiled. At least she was still able to get a smile out of her Ash, even under these circumstances. Raising both arms in the air, Moira stretched her back, getting a few satisfying pops. Time to start the day, and quickly. She tucked the Winchestor snuggly between the back folds of her pants where she could hide it from view with the hem of her shirt.
Moira told Ash to get ready for the day as quickly as she could, which her daughter obliged obediently. With that settled, Moira went on to scavenge whatever she could find of value in the house. The two had been traveling all day yesterday until they arrived in this quaint little town known as Augusta. Exhausted from the previous day's events, Moira managed to infiltrate one of the houses that lay near the outskirts of the town, away from the main structures and hopefully from those things. She didn't like the idea of invading someone else's home but given the circumstances she felt that she had no choice. Whoever had lived inside the house had long since left. Drawers and closets were hastily left open and clothes were left strewn in some places. The house had been locked prior to Moira's arrival so it couldn't have been from scavengers like herself.
Moira scoured through the kitchen for any edible food. The family had been mostly thorough in their emptying of the fridge and pantries, though they had left behind some food. Most of what was left in the fridge were already beginning to spoil and mold over. Moira sniffed some leftover cheese, but threw it back in the fridge after nearly gagging from the sour, pungent smell it was exuding. Scavenging what she could, Moira called for her daughter. Ash held onto the stairs attached handle as she descended the steps of the staircase. Ash had put on a fresh new pair of clothes and looked more awake. Moira gave a nod of approval; Ash was properly groomed for the day's events.
Once she was certain that they had gathered what they could, Moira prepped them to leave safely. A quick peek from the upstairs windows gave her a good view of the street they were on. Looking to and fro, Moira couldn't spot a sign of any Walker in sight. "A lucky break", she thought.
Grabbing ahold of Ash's hand, Moira encouragingly ushered her daughter out the door, where they made a mad dash for the car they had parked up in the drive way. The car was a small night blue Hyundai, comfortable enough to house four occupants; five if they wanted to really cram someone in. It wasn't perhaps the most glamorous of vehicles, though it had gotten them this far along their trip. The stick shift may be of an older model, but it was all she could afford with the funds she had prior to the impending apocalypse. Moira cared little for aesthetics in this case; the car provided what they needed and had a desirable gas mileage. The little Hyundai wasn't equipped with automatic locks so Moira had to manually unlock it with her set of keys. Moira swiftly unhatched the trunk door, hastily throwing both her and her daughter's found valuables in next to their already existing luggage. Slamming the back, Moira slipped into the front seat, where her daughter was already patiently waiting for her in the passenger seat, as per her mother's instructions.
Strapping her own seat belt, Moira ignited the engine. The car whirred a raspy noise that soon deflated.
Moira frowned, trying the ignition again, and again, and again. After the umpteenth, unsuccessful venture, Moira lashed at the dashboard in anger. She cradled her hands with her face and silently damned her ill luck. Ash's cute face was full of concern for her mother. "Mom…" She spoke tentatively, unsure of how to console her mother.
Moira heaved a heavy sigh, doing her best to orient herself. "Get your shit together woman." She mentally chided herself. Now wasn't the time to brood, she needed to get her act together; if not for herself then for Ash.
"Okay…" Moira whispered softly to herself. She turned to her daughter and gave her the most reassuring smile that she could muster. "It's okay sweety, Mommy's okay. We're okay." She gently caressed her daughter's cheek. The small smile that her daughter returned only fueled her inspiration to keep the girl safe from harm's way.
"Alright, this is what were gonna do…" Moira began to go over the hastily drawn plan that she had elaborated. With some hope, and a little luck, everything would go smoothly.
XxX
Light had begun the steady crawl over the horizon's edge, relieving the starry night sky with the warmth of the sun. Li moved through the thickness of town, unimpeded by the heavy luggage he carried and careful to make certain that his heavy weight didn't elicit too much noise as to attract unwanted attention his way.
The hulking Spartan ll crept closer up to the glass window on the side of the town's local library; the only one he'd seen for miles. Peering inside through the transparent glass, Li gazed upon his objective; a 36x24 inch poster map of the world displayed for visitors to see and held by large thumbtacks wedged onto each of its four corners. He'd need the map to properly coordinate and set up his next set destination. By now, he had doubts of any survivors within the small town. Everyone left were either dead, transformed into one of those undead walking nightmares, or had long since abandoned the town.
Li's trained eyes took notice of one of the undead creatures standing maladroitly near the front desk, arms dangling loosely at its sides. Its head looked around slowly in a dazed manner, mouth agape wide enough for a fly to enter. The graying hair on its head had been loosened from its bun, leaving it disheveled in many areas. Glasses connected by a thin chain, hung awkwardly around its peeling neck. The once normal, female turned monstrosity could have perhaps been the librarian or customer service attendant.
Setting his luggage aside against the libraries wall, Li crept closer towards the decaying corpse. The slow witted creature made a wheezing noise as it was alerted to the Spartan's incoming presence. Before the creature could act, Li had silenced it with deadly efficiency, making sure to aim squarely for the brain, as that seemed to be the only sure method of effectively killing these things. Li stepped over the corpse, noting the librarian's nametag pinned onto her deflated left breast. The sight of the nametag bothered him more than it should. It brought a sense of humanity to the creature. Memories of his time fighting the Insurrectionist along with his fellow Spartans came flooding back. Times before the threat of the Covenant, when war seemed simpler, when humans fought against humans. Li banished his line of thought. Reminiscing about the past would only distract him from the present, where things mattered most.
Li pricked off the thumbtacks and tore the map off the wall. On the back was a more detailed map of the local area, including the current town he was in. His fingers strummed across the flimsy film of paper, eyes trailing down and marking any routes of interest and importance. Rolling up the tan brown paper, Li grabbed his luggage and exited the library.
Amply supplied with the essentials he acquired from the department store, Li figured that now would be an appropriate time to find a weapon. While it was true that he had extensive knowledge and experience in close quarters combat, Li didn't feel comfortable going into the unknown unprepared and without proper gear. He was beginning to miss having accessibility to any of the UNSC ordinance weapons, and it was always better to have more options on hand.
According to the map, there was a gun shop not too far from his location; a few minutes walk on foot. Of course, it would be a gamble heading towards the gun shop. There was always the chance that it may have already been cleaned through by other scavengers, but the risk could potentially be worth it. There was also the possibility that some of the armaments were still in their locked containers, untouched. Distance wasn't necessarily an issue. The real problem was that the gun's store was located in the thickness of town, where he'd spotted larger contingents of walking corpses lurking about. So far, Li managed to maneuver around substantially large groups of them, using the clear side streets and alleyways that were available.
Li made a sudden change in direction, looking left and right before heading through the backdoor of an abandoned clothing store. Just as every building in the town, the power and lights were off, giving it an ominous vibe. The low amount of illumination didn't impede Li's vision, for he his eyes were enhanced to adjust in low lighting sceneries. Despite this, Li flickered on his helmet's installed flash lights, shining its luminescence across the dimly lit space. Li brushed past an abundant of clothing rackets before his eyes found the door leading to the roof.
The Spartan quickly pushed past the door and scaled the flight of stairs. Switching off his flashlights, Li moved closer towards the edge, gazing at the vast view of the town. Li accessed his HUD's zoom-in feature, bringing a magnified screen of the town square. His eyes scanned the few scattered buildings littering the area until they found the town's chokepoint; a nest of buildings, as well as a horde of shambling zombies.
Li pulled out the map once again, laying it out on the stone floor. The map made no indication of the sewage system, removing the option of traveling through the sewer passages as a possible route. Walking through the main artery path would be a tantamount to suicide. Li firmly believed that his MJOLNIR armor could protect him, but even he wouldn't try his chances through numbers that large. The EVA specialist stroked the bottom portion of his helmet, where his chin would've been, trying to figure out the safest possible route to the gun's store.
Li's head turned back towards the buildings, focusing intently. There had to be a way. Li took note of how closely packed the buildings were made. "Perhaps I can use that to my advantage…"
BOOOOOOMMM!
The back hairs on Li's neck stood on end as the Spartan was immediately alerted to the ensuing explosion sounding off in the distance. The sound echoed throughout the entire area. Li had no doubt that every creature within the vicinity, alive or dead must've heard it go off. Off in the distance, just a few blocks outside of the town square, Li could make out the trail of black smoke drifting upwards towards the cloudless sky.
Now Li needed to go to the Town Square. Whatever or whoever had caused that explosion was most certainly alive. It was highly doubtful that the explosion was caused by those undead creatures. There was also the way how the explosion was strategically fixed to go off just outside the radius of the zombie mass. They must have used the explosion as a diversion to lure the undead away from town square; a smart tactic. Whatever their reason, Li was now determined more than ever to find these survivors at all cost. They could have the answers he sorely needed. Not wasting a single second more, Li hastily stowed the map away before taking off at breakneck speeds.
End…
XxX
I hope you readers were happy with this chapter, as well as the introduction of two new characters that are indeed ones I made up. More of Moira and Ash's history shall be unveiled in the upcoming chapters, as well as a more accurate time of how long the apocalypse has occurred. I checked the Walking Dead wiki and I found a helpful timeline of events that I sorely needed, as well as other interesting information that I can further implement into the story's plot.
For those of you who are interested in my other story "The Hokage Of The League", I have taken a pause in it for a bit. Lost some motivation to write chapters and I felt I needed this new story idea to kinda jumpstart more of my old enthusiasm. For now it's on ice, but I will see to resuming the story eventually.
As a reminder, any questions you have shall be answered at the bottom of my chapters. The important ones at least.
I may or may not increase the length of the chapters, but I can't guarantee it to be a regular thing. Short length chapters like these are just easier to manage; plus it makes them easier to update them quicker.
Also, I still haven't been able to add Li to the character list on Fanfiction. It would be much appreciated if one of you readers could do me the favor of adding him to the list. An electronic cookie fresh out of the oven shall be their reward.
Until next time.