Until Dawn

Chapter Seven

Until Dawn

Chapter Seven

I leant against the hood of the car, my fingers wrapped firmly around the shotgun in my hands as my eyes searched the area around me. It was a few hours after midnight and we had stopped at a petrol station in the middle of nowhere so that we could fill up the car's fuel tank and the women could all have a break and go to the bathroom. I looked past the girls stretching their legs a few meters away, keeping my eyes on the darkness behind them. There were hardly any zombies away from the main cities, but that didn't mean there couldn't be one. We weren't that far from Pittsburg and I didn't want to take any chances.

"Hey, Chapman," Watson joined me, having filled up the tank and a petrol can that she had stowed away in the back of the car. "I know you've been asked this a hundred times already, but where are we going?"

I glanced at Janae briefly before turning my eyes back towards the road, a small frown marring my brow. Since when had I become the leader of our little rag tag group of women? "I don't know. Why is it up to me?"

Janae shrugged. "Well, I don't know about them," she gestured towards the rest of the group. "But I don't really got anyone on the outside and honestly? You've been kicking ass since we got out of the Litch, you know? You're smart, you know your shit and I know I'ma have a better chance surviving all this shit if I stick with you. So, wherever you're going is where I'm going."

"That's kind of romantic," I smirked, watching as Janae grimaced out of the corner of my eye. "Where you go, I go. So what, am I your Warrior Princess, now?"

"Well, like I said, you're kicking ass," Janae shrugged again, a small smile making its way onto her face. "And I don't got any problems being an Amazon Queen. That bitch be ripped."

I laughed, louder than I meant to, causing more than one head to turn in our direction. I found myself captured by one gaze in particular, a perfectly sculpted eyebrow rising in question as I chuckled. I just shook my head, causing Alex to turn back to her conversation with Nicky and Morello. I spent the next few moments watching my dark haired ex-girlfriend as she talked with our friends, the corner of her mouth turning up in a smile as she listened to Nichols speak.

With a sigh, I turned my attention back to Janae, who was watching me with a knowing smile; my lips quirked in acknowledgement, before I nodded towards the group. "I think we should vote. I've never been a favorite amongst these girls, and I don't want to add bossy to the list of negatives in my personality."

"I think it was already added, but sure," Janae said, pretending to rub her jaw to hide her smile. I scowled playfully at her, before whistling softly, causing the group of women to wander closer, listening intently as I started to speak.

"I know that a lot of you must be wondering what the plan is, now that we've escaped Litchfield and have been on the run for the past several days. I also know that some of you have been looking to me to answer all your questions," I let my eyes wander over the group, meeting their gazes for a moment before continuing. "But, unfortunately, I have no answers. I don't know what the plan is or where we're going, so, my question is, where do you all want to go?"

The group was quiet as they glanced between each other, their faces thoughtful and unsure. I knew that a lot of them didn't have family on the outside, at least not family that truly cared about them. Some of them didn't even have homes before they came to prison or a place for them to go, except for crowded half way houses. I waited patiently, my eyes focused just behind the women, particularly in the shadows where trouble could be waiting for us. I turned my attention back to the group when Red finally spoke up, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I do not think we are going to find anywhere here that is not full of the dead," she said quietly, to nods from the rest of the group. "I think our best chance is to leave. Get away and go somewhere free of people."

"I didn't know you could fly, Ma," Nicky said flippantly, earning a cold glare from the older woman.

"I cannot," Red finally shrugged. "But, we are all criminals, are we not? And some of us have more connections than others."

"If those connections aren't feeding on human flesh," I added quietly. "Not to mention the fact that those connections would have been some of the first people to get the fuck out of the country once all of this started."

"I could make some calls," Alex finally spoke up into the silence, readjusting her glasses as she looked around at the group before focusing her gaze on me. "I've tried at everywhere we've stopped, but the lines have all been out. I think if we were to get into one of the bigger cities though..."

Her words drifted off as I looked up and met her eyes, feeling as if a bucket of ice cold water had been thrown over my body. We all knew that the bigger cities were the most dangerous, completely over run with zombies. I knew that we might have a chance in the day light, but things could still go wrong. My mind instantly flashed with images of all the possibilities, and I assumed Alex must have been reading my mind, because she cringed as if she could see the horrors racing through my head.

People could die. We all could die.

I continued to stare at Alex, watching as her eyes softened as she looked back at me, hearing what I was saying without even speaking a word. I don't want to lose you.

You won't, the words were so clear in her eyes that I finally nodded, shrugging my shoulders as I turned back to the rest of the group.

"Does anyone have any better ideas?"

The silence was my answer.

/

I looked at the map that was spread across my lap, sitting in the back of the car for the first time since we started driving. I could see Janae was a bit perturbed by this, constantly glancing between Red and me as she drove. The Russian was sitting in the passenger seat, having been the only one with enough courage to take it when I stepped into the back of the car, without a word. I didn't want my friends to see me as the leader of the group. This was not a dictatorship, it was a democracy.

I was sitting in between Alex and Poussey, with Nicky sitting directly behind me and Lorna seated in her lap while Jones and Taystee sat on either side of them. I was staring at the map, trying to figure out which city we should stop in. Pittsburg was still only a few hours away but Washington was more likely to have a working phone, but it was a much longer drive.

"What do you think?" I asked, leaning forwards in my chair and directing the question at Janae who glanced at me before turning her eyes back to the road. "We could be in Pittsburg in a few hours, or we could keep going to Washington."

"More chances of a phone in D.C," Janae replied thoughtfully to which I nodded with a sigh. "But that place is gonna be overrun and you know it."

"Yeah," I muttered, running my fingers through my hair. "I don't really want to take the chance, but if we could actually get in contact with someone that could help us, wouldn't it be worth it?"

"No way of knowing if we will find working phone either," Red responded with a frown. "But what choice do we have? If there's a chance, we must try."

"Wise words, Captain," Janae smirked, playfully wincing when Red smacked her lightly on the arm. "But I agree with you, we gotta try."

"Yeah," I sighed again, leaning back in my seat as I passed the map over to Red. I closed my eyes, feeling as if the weight of the world was on my shoulders. It only lasted a moment before an arm wrapped around them instead, the tension disappearing as I was pulled against a warm, strong body. I almost immediately relaxed; quite involuntarily as I felt fingers caress my shoulder, soft lips pressing against my hair in a kiss that made a shiver race down my spine. I wanted to pull away but instead, I let myself soak in the comfort that was being offered to me, if only for a little while.

Well, it looked like we were walking into Hell, but at least I was in good company.