Chapter 4
(Eliza's POV)
We drove a long time after that. It was mostly silent considering that most radio stations were gone. Presumably, the hosts were dead. I didn't even know where we were anymore. Just somewhere in northern Alabama. We drove through a lot of towns that looked abandoned, aside from the walkers. One man had ran towards us, screaming for help, but we couldn't afford to stop. He looked dangerous and we had no way of knowing if he was infected or not. It's ok. You had to leave him. He could've been infected. He could've been fine. You probably killed him. No! It's safer this way. He could have hurt us. No. You're just a heartless monster like them. Just shut up! It had only been a couple of days since everything started but from what I could tell, things went downhill fast. The only thing I had hope for was that StarDestroyer1999 and his family were ok. We never knew each other's real names but in the few months we spoke, I felt like we were good friends...
It always seems dark now. I'm not sure why, though. I had asked Clary but she didn't seem to know either. It was as if the world itself knew that it was ending. The clouds covering the once bright sky were starting to dissipate but I knew it would be a few days still until we saw the sun again. This was so much for me to handle. I mean, I'm eleven years old for heavens sake! My parents have died but I still feel very numb about it. I feel like if I don't let it out soon, I'll explode, but for now, I kept it in. I needed to be strong. We both did. Eventually, Clary stopped driving. I never noticed that we had gone off-road, far away in my thoughts. We were now in a small clearing somewhere in the woods.
Clary suddenly spoke up. "Here we are! This is where we'll set up our 'camp'."
"Camp? Should we really stop? I mean, we're completely out of our element here!" I was concerned. What if someone found us? What if we were ambushed. People get desperate when they're scared.
"You may be out of your element but I'm not! I've been camping since I was your age! Remember, I hunt too! We'll be perfectly safe here. It will be a while before any of those monsters wander out this far." I was greatly for Clarys' confidence. It made me feel stronger, more secure. We spent a little while setting up an alarm system. The rope went all the way around the clearing. Various bottles and cans covered it so that if anything happened to bump into it, we'd be alerted right away. I was wary about going to sleep but Clary assured me that she would keep watch as long as she could. After another long day of driving and finally setting up camp, comforting thoughts lulled me to sleep.
(Fast Forward a Month and a Half)
Clary and I have been here quite a while now but it's time to leave. We used to have very few monsters (or as I like to call them, biters) coming around our camp (the truck and our rope and cans) in the beginning but now we get at least one everyday day. Sometimes even two. It's not safe anymore. It didn't take long to pack up so we left around noon. Great. Another long drive. We were still doing well for food but I decided to take inventory just for something to do. My phone died long ago so I no longer had games to play or music to listen to. Boredom was taking over my mind. So now it's been just about two months since my parents died. I don't know why but I haven't really mourned for them yet. The numbness just stays. I don't really feel happy or sad anymore. I just do as I'm told. I guess that way at least I'll stay alive. I trusted Clary with my life. Over the past month, she has started showing me how to shoot her handgun. I guess if I wanted to survive, I'd need to know how. I understand that these things are monsters, not people. They only want to hurt me and the only way to stop from happening is to drive something through their brain, as we'd already discovered. I'm actually a pretty good shot, believe it or not. We didn't want to waste ammo but for the few times I had shot, I hit most of the cans we set up. I haven't actually killed a biter yet and I don't want to but I know the day will come. Let's just hope it won't be soon.