Chapter 41 "So Close"
Day 98; Group B

The group awoke later than intended, which seemed to be happening a lot lately. They had planned to all get up shortly after sunrise and to head out as soon as possible, getting on the road quickly. However, they woke up late and decided to take their time in packing. Things were hard, and they had constant reminders of that all around them. It was getting harder and harder to get up and find the motivation to head out.

"Should we even go anywhere?" Seth asked Shawn as everyone packed.

The farm boy sighed and looked around at everyone, patiently getting their things together. "Really," he said quietly, "I'm not sure. I want us to keep moving, but everybody's just giving up."

"Should we ask them?"

Shawn studied the others once more with a frown on his face. "No," he finally said. "No one's asking to stay, so we're going to move out. I guess, hopefully, something good could happen."

"I sure hope you're right," Seth stated as he shoved some toilet paper into his bag. "I'm not sure if I — or any of them — can take much more losses."

Hope was running low, and no one was certain how to replenish it. They all needed a good, long taste of it; something to remind them that everything is not bleak and depressing. They wanted to find their family, but even a stranger out there would suffice. They would have to be careful, but they needed it. They needed some signal that they weren't all that remained of the world.

No matter where they went, the moans of walkers was never too distant. Even if it was just one, the sound was still there. It was like a haunting, annoying reminder. A deathly call to the people they had lost; all the people the world had lost.

They left, slowly making their way to the RV. Everything was so slow and dreary. Usually, they left a town with a lot of "maybe"s, many "hopefully"s. This time, they were more like "possibly"s. "I guess"s. "I doubt it"s.

After about thirty minutes on the road, they drove onto one-too-many dead ends in the national park, which usually led to houses or just nothing at all. On top of it, the roads were interconnected in weird ways which usually got them lost, repeating a cycle unintentionally for hours at a time. "We really need to get out of this fuckin' forest," Shawn complained, getting very annoyed. "Where's the damn map at?"

Selenis checked her bag, assuming it to be on top as per usual. She lifted a brow when she found it to not be where she expected it. The woman shoved her hands down the bag and began rifling through it, and she soon realized she had left it behind somewhere the other day.

"Shawn," she began hesitantly, knowing he was already annoyed.

"I swear to God."

"We lost the map."

"Fuck!" the man yelled furiously, making a sharp turn and halting the RV to a stop. He stood up, his arms raised. "You're fucking kidding me, right?! You're bullshitting me."

"No," Selenis said as calmly as she could. She wasn't afraid of him, she was just afraid of tensing the situation even more, with two people already injured. She had to make sure he wouldn't freak out and get them into even more trouble than they were already in.

"Knock that polite shit out!" He turned to Greyson, who looked on, slightly scared. "Did you see it?!" He turned to Seth. "What about you, man?!"

"Shawn," Selenis warned. "Calm down."

"Don't tell me what to-"

Seth grabbed the farm boy by the shoulder with a firm grip, doing his best to intimidate the young hothead. "Hear her out."

"Shawn," she restarted as the man held his tongue under the fierce grip of his much stronger companion, "just breathe. Now, really, why would any of us leave the map behind on purpose?"

Shawn made an odd noise as though he was going to speak, but immediately took it back, acknowledging Selenis's point.

"No, it's not because we're stupid," she said, assuming that's what he would say. That's what he always said when people pissed him off and he didn't have a good reason. "We're human. I'm human. It was my responsibility, and I forgot it. I made a mistake and I'm sorry. You don't have to throw a tantrum over it, though, now do you?"

Shawn sighed, realizing he probably had scared them a bit. "No," he said like a child half-heartedly apologizing after stealing their sibling's candy.

"Good," Selenis said, nodding to everyone. "So then what do you want to do? Keep going?"

"If we keep going, we'll just get even more lost," the farmer pointed out.

"It's not like we'd have much more luck turning back," Greyson said.

Seth and Selenis nodded, agreeing with the boy.

"We're only a few minutes away, aren't we?" Shawn questioned.

"I'm not sure," Selenis said, tapping the long-broken watch on her wrist.

Shawn rubbed his temples, completely fed up with nothing ever going his way. "Fuck it," he cursed, once again annoyed. "We'll find another one or something. We're wasting daylight."

Selenis and Seth looked to each other, hesitant, but nodded back to him. You've got to let your leader lead sometimes, even if he is a raging hothead.

It was late afternoon. The group had lost their map, and were now driving around almost aimlessly, hoping they could find a road that led to a town — at this point, they would even be happy with a road that just led to a house. They needed to find somewhere to settle in for the night, and they were beginning to consider giving up and just sleeping in the RV.

Seth yelped in pain at the shaking of the RV as they ran over a fat human carcass on the road, causing Greyson to accidentally jab his boyfriend in the face with a forkful of canned beans.

"I'm so sorry!" Greyson scrambled, hoping he hadn't stabbed one of Robert's bruises.

"It's fine," Robert groaned, "I'll be okay." The brunet forced a smile through the pain, attempting to reassure everyone he was getting better — which he was sure of. It was just taking time. Already, some of the bruises were beginning to lighten and go back to their natural coloration.

Coming from the east, they struck gold. To Selenis's left, which was to the south, they saw a sign and felt a surge of relief wash over their weary bodies. Finally, a place they could stop and rest.

"Welcome to Winona! Small town, big people!"

The group pulled into the first place they saw, a small trailer to their left, right behind the sign. When it was declared to be safe, they all settled in for the night, preparing themselves for a big day ahead of them tomorrow. Little did they know, it would be even bigger than they could anticipate.