TWO MONTHS LATER.
Alice gripped her baseball bat tightly, treading lightly on the wood floor, floorboards creaking beneath her thick hiking boots. She could hear the raspy deep moaning of the mutant just up the stairs, and was careful to make little noise, as she ascended up the steps leading to the second floor of the house. Finally reaching the top of the staircase, she listened closely, hearing the mutant approach her from the neighboring bedroom.
She backed away, luring the mutant to the top of the stairs. It flayed it's arms wildly, reaching out at her chaotically. Lunging forward, she grabbed the mutant by the arm, and flung it down the stairs. It fell hard, making a snapping noise as it landed at the bottom, bending it's neck into an awkward position. It continued to moan, unable to move. She trotted down the stairs, and brought her bat down on it's skull, finishing it off quickly.
It didn't take long for her to finish searching the house, and she quickly rummaged through the bedrooms and garage. However, she mostly managed to find medications in the bathroom, which she stuffed into her backpack, along with the food and supplies she found. She also bagged one other item; a survival guide which she found in the master bedroom, figuring it could be useful.
She made a quick exit through the sliding glass back door, and went to reunite with the others. She'd spent more time than usual searching, and she presumed they were waiting for her back at the large store they'd set up camp in. The sun was almost down, most of it obscured by the surrounding buildings. It was only a quick jog away to their camp, and she was panting as she arrived at the front door.
"Good," Said Adam, opening the door for her, "You're back. The others have been waiting."
He led her to where the others were waiting, next to a small bonfire contained in a circle of rocks.
"Well look who finally decided to show up." Remarked Abby.
"You find anything useful?" Asked Dick.
"Sort of," She replied, setting her findings on the floor for the group to see.
"Well," Said Lana, "At least it's something."
Morales gave a grunt of agreement.
"Oh yeah, and one more thing." Said Alice, removing a rectangular box from her back pocket, "I found this."
She presented an unopened package of spaghetti, placing it down next to her backpack.
"Spaghetti night!" Proclaimed Abby, throwing her fist into the air.
"Let's get this cooking now," Suggested Riley, "We could all use some sleep."
"Amen to that." Agreed Lily, retrieving a pot from her own backpack to cook the pasta with.
[The others still hadn't found out about Lily's pregnancy, and it was a secret that became harder to keep every day. She was cranky, tired, and often times didn't interact with the others. Frankly, I'm surprised they didn't figure it out. Then again, we all had things to deal with that were far more important. Food was scarce, now that all the food we'd taken from the garden back at the cabins had depleted, and our main source of food was food we found on supply runs. Sometimes we'd have one meal a day, occasionally two. Some people suggested going back to the cabins, but it was obvious that there was no going back. We were somewhere towards the border of Arizona, but none of us were sure exactly where we were. We'd been looking for a map for days, to no avail. The landscape was desert in many places, making it even harder to find supplies. Truth is, we had no idea what the hell we were doing.]
The group ate quickly, devouring the pasta with ferocity. They were hungry, and it had been quite a long time since they'd eaten anything remotely good-tasting. They were tired of eating granola bars and ramen noodles, and it felt good to have something fresh for once. In a matter of minutes, they were finished.
"Let's put the fire out before we go to sleep," Suggested Dick, "We don't want anyone knowing we're here. Plus, we don't want too much carbon monoxide in a place like this."
The group extinguished the fire, and set up their sleeping bags by the embers. Dick took first watch for the next two hours. Alice drifted away quickly, exhausted by the day's events.
"C'mon!" Exclaimed a joyful Clark, leading Alice by the hand through the mountain trail. It was bright outside, and the cabin roofs shimmered in the sunlight. Leaves fell around them, and she quickened her pace, trying to keep up with him.
Clark led her down to the creek, and jumped in. The creek was deeper than usual, and Clark's contagious laughter filled the air.
Suddenly, something grabbed her foot, and began to drag her into the depths of the creek. A mutant. The ravaged hand of the mutant continued to drag her down. Away from Clark. Away from the sunlight. She sunk deeper, until nothing but darkness remained. She was alone, somehow able to breathe in the shadowy waters.
"Alice," A voice called, distorted by the water, "Wake up."
"Alice, it's your turn to keep watch. Wake up."
Alice awoke from her dream to the sound of Dick's voice, and his gentle push on her arm.
"Wake up," He said, "Sleepyhead."
She rose up from her sleeping bag, and rubbed her eyes.
"Hey," She greeted, slipping into her jacket, "Dick."
"I'm going to bed now," Said Dick, "You gonna be alright on your own?"
"Yeah."
"'Night."
"'Night."
She rose up, taking her baseball bat and gun with her, then trotted over to the front door of the supermarket. She didn't mind being up this late, she had always been somewhat of a 'night owl', and it wasn't easy for her to get tired. She often had trouble sleeping anyways, so taking the night watch gave her time to clear her head.
It was pitch black outside, and the darkness was a little intimidating. She had been afraid of the dark for a large portion of her childhood, but as far as she was concerned, her childhood was over. She didn't have time for fears. It was somewhat cold outside, and she crossed her arms to keep warm, covering her hands with her soft jacket. She could see her breath in the air, as she sat down in a chair next to the door.
She could see some movement in the distance, mostly mutants and objects being blown by the wind, as far as she could tell. Out in the distance, for only a short moment, she saw one object that stood out from the others. It was moving quickly, and was out of sight before she could see it's form. She dismissed it, and continued keeping watch, albeit cautiously.
The next morning, Alice awoke late, after almost all the others.
"C'mon Alice," Said Lana, nudging her, "Get up. We've got to get moving."
She was groggy and comfortable, and wasn't in the mood to get up. However, she didn't have much of a choice. She got dressed as quickly as she could, and left the supermarket with the others, continuing their journey.
They walked at a steady pace on the gravel road, putting down any mutants that came too close. Lily was obviously exhausted, but did her best to hide it from the others, panting and grunting often. Alice felt bad for her, but knew there wasn't anything she could do. And so, she continued walking next to Leo.
"So," She said, tired of the awkward silence, "You on board with the whole 'Safe Haven' thing?"
"I guess," Replied Leo vaguely, "No reason not to be-...yet."
"You don't seem too attached to Lily and the others, you new to their group?"
"You could say that."
"...You don't talk much, do you?"
"Do you?"
"Good point."
[Out of all of Lily's group, I had the most respect for Leo. He wasn't exactly chatty, or extensively friendly, but me and him could relate, in a way that I couldn't with most of the others. Either way, he seemed like a decent person. He was a survivor, not to mention a damn good one. He certainly wasn't hard on the eyes, either.]
"Excuse me for a moment," Said Leo, removing his machete from it's sheath. A certain mutant had gotten close to the group, and he walked straight to it without hesitation. He brought the blade of the machete down hard, making quick work of the mutant, reducing it to a corpse quickly. He pulled his machete from the mutant's skull, and continued walking.
"Nice machete." Complimented Alice.
"Thanks."
"Hey guys," Called out Adam, "There's a car up ahead! We should search it if we can."
"Yeah." Agreed Dick.
The group reached the gray mini-van quickly, and Alice ran ahead of the group.
"I got this." She said, slamming her baseball bat onto the passenger window of the car. It made a loud noise, but the window barely cracked. Another hit extended the crack, but failed to break the window.
"Need a hand with that?" Asked Leo, extending his hand to take her baseball bat.
"Be my guest."
He took the bat in his hands firmly, and brought it down on the window. Hard. The window finally shattered, sending bits of glass flying onto the car seats. He reached through, and unlocked the door from the inside, holding it open for Alice.
"Nice." She said, climbing into the car, careful to avoid the broken glass.
"I'm no stranger to baseball."
She searched the trunk, finding a case of much-needed water bottles. Searching the glove compartment, she pulled out a large slab of paper.
"Yes!" She exclaimed, showing the paper to the others. It was a map of the region, something they didn't currently have.
"This'll come in handy," Noted Dick, taking the map from her and folding it into his pocket, "Nice job."
[In a way, Dick had become the leader of our group. He was certainly one of the smartest people there, and he was almost always analytical and intelligent. He often gave the orders, and we often followed. He never said he was leader, but he was definitely thought of as one by most of the people in the group. Although there was still some segregation between Lily's group and mine, everyone still looked up to Dick. I was no exception.]
"Let's keep moving." Said Leo, leading the way further down the road, gravel crunching beneath his feet as he walked.
It was a few hours until the group reached their destination; Baker Woods national park, and it's visitor center next to the road. The visitor center was on the edge of a relatively deep canyon, gray and rusted, with a small gift shop inside.
The group cautiously entered the visitor center, Alice leading the way. A lone mutant dressed in an employee outfit emerged from the gift shop, knocking over a rotating shelf as it stumbled towards the survivors. Lana took charge, stalking forward with her knife. She struck quickly, digging into the mutant's eye with the blade. The mutant fell to her feet, dripping blood onto the floor.
Lana motioned for Alice and the others to follow, and continued walking cautiously through the visitor center. It didn't take long to search, and the group failed to find any more mutants.
An exhausted Alice sat down on the marble floor, relaxing against the wall. Riley walked over, and took a seat next to her. The others were out of earshot, most of them out of sight.
"Hey, um," Said Riley, "I've been wanting to talk to you about something."
"Yeah?" She replied.
"Ever since what happened with Kelly-...Look, the point is, you, me, and Dick have been together since the beginning. If what's going on with Safe Haven doesn't work out, or something happens with Lily's group-"
Alice gave him a strange look.
"Look, what I'm saying is," Said Riley, "It's you, me, and Dick until the end. If things don't work out, we stick together. Right?"
"Right."
"Us until the end." Said Riley.
"Us until the end." She echoed.
[I didn't exactly like the idea of forming a "pact" with Dick and Riley, but they were obviously the ones I could trust the most. Us until the end.]
ONE MONTH BEFORE THE OUTBREAK.
"Clark? Clark, are you here?" Whispered Alice, stalking through the park just after midnight. She and Clark had agreed to meet at the park, and she had gone through quite a bit of trouble to sneak out of her house to make it on that particular day. However, seeing him again was worth the trouble. She hadn't seen him since the day she left the orphanage, and he rarely had the opportunity to email her, making it all the more exciting to finally see him face-to-face.
She heard rustling on the grass. Suddenly, a hand grabbed her shoulder from behind, causing her to yelp in fright.
"Boo." Said Clark, with a grin.
"Don't scare me like that!" She whispered, punching him hard in the arm. Immediately afterwards, she gave him a tight hug, burying her head into his chest.
"I missed you too." Said Clark, pulling away from the hug. Neither of them knew exactly what they were-...friends? Best friends, maybe? Something more? It made no difference to her. He was there for her like no one else was, and that was all she needed to know.
"So, um," She said, "What do we do now?"
"Wanna go look at the stars?"
"From where?"
"Just follow me."
In a matter of minutes, she and Clark had climbed the closest tree, and were lounging in the branches, staring up at the clear midnight sky. The branches were a bit uncomfortable for her, but she didn't mind. She loved to climb, especially with him. She rested her head on his shoulder.
"So..." She said, "You're getting adopted...right?"
"From what I've heard."
"You happy about it?"
"Yeah...yeah, I think so."
"I am too."
"...You think we'll see each other again?"
"Of course."
The two kids remained silent for the next hour, silently observing the glistening stars and constellations above their heads.
PRESENT DAY.
"Keep an eye out for mutants," Said Dick, leading the way through the forest, "You can never be too careful."
Alice and Dick didn't have much else to do, so they decided to search the forest for anything useful(or at least interesting). Scanning her surroundings intently, she saw an object in the distant, enshrouded in trees. A tent.
"Dick," She said, "I think there's a campsite up ahead!"
"Let's go check it out."
She and Dick crept to the campsite, looking about to see an extinguished fire, a small clothesline, and some supplies lying about.
"Looks like somebody's been living here," Noted Dick, "Recently. Very recently."
"Now why would you suspect that?" A adolescent, gravely voice behind the two of them startled her. It was coming from a tree.
Twirling around, she and Dick looked up to a certain tree, in which a small teenage boy with brown hair, a cleft-chin, strong jawline, and chocolate brown eyes stood, aiming down at them with a pistol.
Cowering behind the tree which the teenager stood on, a younger boy stood, his face staring at them cautiously. He was smaller than the teenager in the tree, and looked to be related, with similarly-colored hair and freckles on his face, with dark brown eyes.
"Who are you?" Asked the younger kid curiously, stepping out from behind the tree.
"Stay behind me." Ordered the older boy, motioning for the younger kid to stay behind the tree.
"Look, whoever you are-" Began Dick.
"Drop your weapons," Ordered the teenager, "Then we'll talk."
"You got a name?" Asked Alice, as she dropped her gun and baseball bat to the floor.
"Yeah...Slade."
Author's Note: Hey guys, thanks for reading! As usual, I'd appreciate any reviews and suggestions you can give.
Chapter 12, "Long Road Ahead" Preview/Synopsis: Alice faces the threat of newcomers, along with other dangerous threats.
Reader-made OC Credits:
Adam - Created by Cowardlygurp
Leo - Created by Grimrephr
Abby - Created by The Internet Sass Queen
