The group had finished gathering their belongings and weapons out of Rick's police car. The officer himself was busy kicking the front-left wheel once or twice out of pure frustration and anger, but eventually after a few kicks he just sighed and resigned himself to acceptance.
The car had run out of gas and they were still a good twenty miles from Atlanta.
The group themselves were just as annoyed at the situation as Rick was, but they understood how they got to this point. Along the way they tried over and over again to get gas at any gas station they could see, but alas every single time the pumps were offline. Rick and the others decided that since they ran out of gas they would have to simply walk the rest of the way to Atlanta, and if they find gasoline then they would bring it back to the car and resume their journey in that. But the others were only going to follow him until they get close to the city itself. After that they would have to go their separate ways as Rick had to go and find his family, whereas the group had to try and find their friends.
Rick had grabbed a red gas canister and a large bag full of police-issue firearms out of the trunk of the police car and he slammed the trunk shut after that. The group all readied their own weapons and then they all proceeded to follow Rick down the highway together. If they were lucky they would hopefully find some new transportation somewhere between here and Atlanta...
Hopefully they'll actually make it to the city...
Dylan, Chase, Kyra and Rebecca were all walking through the forest together with their weapons in hand. The camp had a shortage of guns, so Chase and Kyra had their handguns whereas Dylan and Rebecca only had knives. Chase had his own M1911 pistol since before the apocalypse though, so thankfully he didn't have to worry about finding a gun for himself. Hopefully within the next few hours the teens would successfully warn whoever was approaching Atlanta, and perhaps even find some good supplies to bring back to the camp.
The group walked through the trees and down a short slope, being extra careful not to accidentally slip and tumble down. Rebecca actually almost did exactly that, but Dylan managed to rush forward and grab her arm to save her before she could tumble down. Rebecca and Dylan both breathed a sigh of relief at this, and Rebecca rewarded her savior with a loving kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks, sweetie." Rebecca smiled.
"No problem, 'Becca..." Dylan smiled back.
Both Kyra and Chase smirked at the site as the lovers quickly regained their composure and resumed their way down the slope. The two teens followed Rebecca and Dylan down until they got to the bottom, and after a short walk through a treeline they saw that they had reached the highway that led to Atlanta. If the person on the radio was anywhere near then it would most likely have to be on this highway, at least that's what they were hoping.
"We really should try to find a car or a truck or something as well... The group could always use another car, or at least we can." Kyra stated.
"Definitely. A lorry would be very useful right now." Rebecca agreed.
"We'll keep an eye out for one..." Chase assured.
The group continued their trek down the highway and kept an eye out for walkers the entire time. At one point Rebecca almost fired her pistol when she heard some rustling in the trees close to them, but thankfully it only turned out to be a squirrel or two. The teens walked for about another thirty minutes until they noticed a small farmhouse in the distance, with what appeared to be a red truck in the parking lot. The group's hopes were raised and they immediately began hurrying towards the farmhouse, hoping to find supplies and to get the vehicle working.
"Careful, guys!" Kyra warned.
The group listened to Kyra's advise and stopped at the driveway of the farmhouse, which was at a bit of an incline with the truck itself being about thirty or forty feet up it. They readied their weapons as they cautiously walked up the driveway and split into groups of two, with Chase and Kyra going to check the barn and garage whereas Dylan and Rebecca went to check the house together. The couple cleared each room one by one and checked them thoroughly, but eventually they separated to cover more ground. Dylan went to check the master bedroom by himself, and he cautiously kept his knife raised as he entered. Unfortunately what he didn't realize was that there was a walker that was standing behind the door, and it quickly made an effort to try to bite Dylan. The teen was taken by surprise and unfortunately he accidentally dropped his knife as the walker and him fell straight to the ground, resulting in him struggling as hard as he could to push it off.
"Shit! Rebecca, I need help in here NOW!" Dylan exclaimed with panic.
Dylan grunted and used all of his strength to try and push the walker off, but much to his horror he could see the walker's face was inching closer and closer to Dylan's neck. Thankfully it never got the chance to bite him as a knife was shoved in the back of its skull courtesy of Rebecca, who twisted the knife and then kicked the corpse off of her boyfriend.
Sitting up and breathing heavily from the experience, Dylan watched as Rebecca yanked her knife back out of the skull of the walker and cleaned off its blood by wiping both sides of the blade on its torn and ragged shirt. Rebecca then put the knife back in its sheath and she turned to look down at Dylan, smiling as she then offered him a hand. Dylan smiled and felt very relieved as he accepted it.
"Thanks, sweetie..." Dylan smiled.
"No problem, Dyl." Rebecca smiled back.
Rebecca pulled Dylan's arm and soon he was back up on his feet, where he brushed himself off. The two could soon hear rapidly approaching footsteps and looked just in time to see Chase and Kyra approaching the bedroom door, wide eyed at seeing what was in front of them.
"Holy shit, guys..." Chase said with shock.
"Are you two okay...? That looked like it was a close one..." Kyra stated with concern.
Dylan and Rebecca glanced at each other and then back down at the dead walker, staring at it for a few moments before the couple looked back up at Kyra and Chase and nodded.
"A walker ambushed Dylan. It was close, but I think we're fine now..." Rebecca said.
"Good to hear... Try not to get bit at all, okay? I really don't wanna lose either of you." Chase said.
"Not happening anytime soon, bro..." Dylan promised with a smile.
Chase and Kyra both smiled with relief at hearing that and seeing that Dylan and Rebecca were fine. After this little fiasco Rebecca searched the pockets of the walker she killed, and when she found nothing the group went back to searching the farm. Obviously they absolutely made sure to stay in two groups of two this time and not separate at all. After ten more minutes of searching the buildings they thankfully found no more walkers, and after that all four of the teens went to regroup over by the truck. Chase opened the driver's side door and began looking inside of the truck, noticing that it was empty and with no walkers inside.
"Okay... This truck looks like it's in working order." Chase announced.
"Do you know how to hotwire it?" Rebecca asked.
"Yeah, but it's been a really long time since I even practiced it... You think that walker had a key?" Chase asked with a shrug.
"I checked, he had nothing on him." Rebecca sighed.
Chase sighed with disappointment and he resumed checking the truck, trying his hardest to remember how to hotwire since there now wasn't a key to be found. He popped off the plastic steering column with Rebecca's knife after she handed it to him, and he began trying to figure out which wires he was to cut in order to start the truck. Hopefully the battery was good and there was enough gas in the tank...
"This might take some time..." Chase pointed out to the others. "Hey, Dylan, Rebecca? How about you two head down the highway and see if you can find a place or two to scavenge and maybe try to make and put up some warning signs about Atlanta? You can borrow my gun if you need it." he offered.
"Alright, we'll do that." Dylan nodded.
Chase nodded and he pulled out his pistol to give it to Dylan. Thankfully Dylan already knew how to use it, and he checked the magazine to see that there was eight bullets in the gun, which would hopefully not need to be fired. And with that the two began their trek further down the highway, leaving Chase to try and hotwire the truck with Kyra watching his back...
With luck, they'll get the truck started and maybe they'll be able to warn whoever is trying to get to Atlanta before its too late...
The Lyoko Warriors and Rick were continuing their trek down the highway together, making sure to keep an eye out for walkers. They had already ran into one or two, but they managed to take them down pretty easily along the way. The teens were still very reluctant to actually kill any walkers since the stigma of them only being sick people was in a part of their minds, but even so they knew that it was either kill or be killed at this point. But how exactly was this even happening...? For all they knew this was completely XANA's fault, but this is incredibly horrific even by his standards!
The teens never thought they would think this in a million years but they were REALLY missing the simpler stuff that XANA caused. Stuff such as the giant possessed 'Teddy Godzilla' thing from years earlier or the possessed flying food... that glowing pink necklace from a few St. Valentine's Day's ago or that once instance with that godawful laughing gas... Hell, even the time XANA possessed a bus with Ulrich, Patrick, Miranda and Odd inside of it and tried to crash it into a petrochemical plant to blow up part of Amiens somehow seemed like paradise compared to this hellish scenario...
Ironically enough the group realized that they already did have some experience with creatures that were somewhat like walkers, as XANA had once possessed Odd's dog Kiwi and used his bites to transform everyone into what seemed to be undead creatures... They didn't kill any of them of course, but the memories remained. All of these attacks and many more were stopped thanks to Aelita or Chase entering Code: Lyoko inside the towers on the sectors of Lyoko, followed always by a Return Trip entered by Jeremie... But how in the hell could they stop XANA this time? They're an entire ocean away from the factory, and who knows how many people were dead by this point... a Return Trip couldn't bring any of them back, not even William. After they find the rest of their friends they could plan on what was to be done next, hopefully...
The group had to push these thoughts out of their minds for the moment as they still had to focus on the task at hand. A walker had suddenly appeared out of the treeline and began limping towards the group, causing Rick and the others to raise their weapons at it.
"Hold on, guys... I got this." Ulrich interjected.
The group all glanced at Ulrich but they also lowered their guns, granting his request. Ulrich unsheathed his samurai sword and slowly inched closer to the walker, and when they were practically face to face he raised his sword and slashed it straight through its head, sending the corpse straight to the ground. Although still unnerved at the sight of the undead having body parts being chopped into pieces, the group was glad that he took care of it. After this the group continued their journey towards Atlanta, and they walked for several more miles before they noticed a small house in the distance...
"You guys think there could be some supplies in there?" Yumi asked.
"I'd say its worth checking out at least..." Rick replied.
"Everyone keep an eye out for walkers, though... Check around the house and watch each other's backs." Odd added.
The group all nodded in confirmation and then they began walking straight towards the house. When they approached the residence the group looked around for any trace of living human beings. There was a brown truck outside in the parking lot, but where was the people who owned it? If the owners had some extra gas then there was always the chance they could borrow some and just head back to the car to refuel it...
"Hello...? Police officer out here!" Rick announced.
The group didn't hear anyone make a noise inside of the farmhouse... Cautiously the group began to approach the house while they readied their weapons once more, hoping not to have to use them...
"If anyone is in there, can we borrow some gasoline...? We really need to get to Atlanta!" Jeremie called out to the house.
Once more there was silence... What the hell was going on here? The group all spread out and began trying to look through the windows on all sides of the house, trying to see if anyone was home. Rick and Aelita walked up the steps to the front porch together as they wanted to simply try the front door. Rick knocked on the door and looked through the window on it to try and see if anyone was inside.
"Hello...? Anyone home...?" Rick asked.
That's when the pair heard something that sounded like an insect hitting glass... The two were drawn over to a window that gave a clear view of the home's living room, and when they looked inside they got their answer on if anyone was home, much to their mutual horror. Inside they could see what seemed to be thousands of flies and other bugs swarming over the corpses of what may have been a husband and wife, of whom the husband had a used shotgun laying in his lap to kill them both. Their heads were completely blown off with bits of their skulls, brains and blood covering the wall behind them. On a separate wall they could see the words: "God Forgive Us" written with their own blood...
Aelita immediately felt bile rising up her throat from the sheer horror and disgust at what she saw through the window, causing her to run over to the railing of the porch where she proceeded to vomit right over the side, her knees buckling as she struggled to stay standing upright as she puked straight down into a small garden of flowers. Rick just simply backed away from the window as like Aelita he was deeply disturbed by what he had just seen inside the house. As he walked off the porch to sit down on a small stone bench in the front yard in order to think and mourn, Jeremie came from around the side of the house in time to see Aelita vomiting, causing him to have a growing feeling of concern as he ran to see if his girlfriend was okay.
"Aelita?!" Jeremie asked as he ran to her, gently placing his hand on her back to support her a bit as she vomited once more.
After she finished emptying the contents of her stomach onto the ground, Aelita wiped her mouth with her sleeve as she shuddered at the thought of what she saw in the house. That image of their mutual suicide would be burned in her memory forever... Those poor, poor people... and there was so many who were probably just like them. Regardless she had to keep herself together though, and she knew that. Those two in there? Those two broke... she absolutely couldn't break like how they did, no matter what happens.
"I- I'm fine, I'm fine..." Aelita assured as she took deep breaths, trying her hardest to calm herself down.
Ulrich, Yumi and Odd all came from the sides of the house to meet back up with their friends. The three likewise felt concern when they saw Aelita leaning against the railing with a disturbed expression on her face and a small pool of vomit on the ground in front of the porch.
"What's wrong, Aelita?" Odd asked.
"Just... Just don't look inside the living room, okay...? It's bad..." Aelita sighed.
"Are you sure you're okay, Princess...?" Jeremie asked out of concern as he gently rubbed her back to try and support and comfort her.
Aelita took one more deep breath and cleared her throat before she nodded at his question. Truth be told she was going to have a lot of trouble getting the image of that dead couple out of her mind, but at least she was regaining her composure. Yumi walked up the steps and curiously glanced inside of the living room window, causing her to gasp as her eyes widened with the horror she saw in there. Although she didn't vomit like how Aelita did, Yumi immediately pulled away and walked back down the steps, wide eyed with a deeply disturbed feeling that was settling within her. Ulrich, Jeremie and Odd quickly realized that there had to be some dead people in the house...
"We should bury them..." Aelita suddenly spoke up to her friends. "They didn't deserve to pass like that... I just don't think we should leave them like how they are. It's so sad..." she said.
"I think we should try to make as much ground as we can before nightfall... but I agree. We should at least give them a burial..." Yumi nodded.
Jeremie, Ulrich and Odd all nodded in agreement with this as well, causing Aelita to actually form a small smile on her face as she saw they were all in agreement. The smile she currently had was the first one she has had in days...
"There's a pair of shovels in the back of the house. Odd and I can dig a spot for them..." Ulrich informed.
The group then heard a noise from nearby that sounded like a horse neighing. They turned to see that Rick was across a metal fence and was cautiously approaching a brown horse. After a few moments he managed to gain its trust and he grabbed the horse tack that were sitting on a horse saddle, and he placed the tack upon the animal itself. Rick noticed that the group was seeing this so he tied the straps of the tack to a pole next to the saddle to keep the horse from running off, and he began walking over to them.
"You found a horse?" Yumi asked.
"Sure did... He seems like a good animal." Rick replied before he sighed and crossed his arms. "I noticed we were getting pretty close to Atlanta, about ten miles or so now..." he added.
The Lyoko Warriors realized that Rick was referring to their agreement, that he and the group would stay together at least until they would get close to the city of Atlanta. He had to find his family, they had to find their friends... they had to separate now.
"We understand. You need to find your family..." Aelita stated. "Rick, you've been a great help to us and we wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for you... I have no idea how we can ever repay you." she stated gratuitously.
"Y'all finding your friends will be more than enough..." Rick smiled. "You're all tough and you're all very strong. You'll find your friends and you'll get through this together. I'm sure of it."
Aelita smiled when she heard that and she immediately walked over to hug Rick in gratitude for all he has done for them. Rick was surprised by this but he quickly and happily hugged the teen back, and after they broke it Rick made sure to shake the hands of all four of the other teens. After that, Rick went to pick up the saddle and he placed it onto the horse's body, strapping it onto the animal. He put the bag of guns on his back and climbed up onto the saddle and settled in, and although he hadn't been horse riding in what seemed like forever he would need to trust that this animal can get him the rest of the way to Atlanta. Ulrich went to untie the strap from the pole and Rick soon rode the horse out of the fenced-in area, and with a smile on his face he took off his hat and held it in his hand to show respect to the group and to say goodbye. The group all smiled and waved goodbye to Rick before he turned the horse to face the highway, taking in a deep breath as he hoped the horse wouldn't buck him off.
"Let's go easy, okay...? I haven't done this in years..." Rick said to the horse.
With a 'hyah!' and a snap of the reins the horse quickly began to bolt down the highway pretty fast, much faster than Rick intended, but after a few moments he got the horse to slow down a bit and they were both on their way to the city of Atlanta. The group was going to miss Rick and they were all everlastingly thankful for what he's done for them that day, and now that they were close to Atlanta maybe they could finally start their own search for their friends. But at the moment they had a burial to attend to... Odd and Ulrich went to get the shovels from the back of the truck to go and dig a pair of graves in the backyard whereas Yumi, Jeremie and Aelita went to try and break open a window or one of the doors to get inside the house and get the bodies of the couple wrapped up in blankets or something of that sort...
The couple will be buried side by side together... a much better fate than what a great many have already received.
Dylan and Rebecca were walking down the highway together side by side and were keeping an eye out for any walkers that could be in the area. Thankfully the couple hasn't ran into any so far and soon they had ended up a few miles from the farmhouse that Chase and Kyra were at. The pair had put up a few warning signs about Atlanta using some scavenged wood and nails, but they still needed to put up some more along the way.
The couple were holding hands and held their knives in their free hands as they walked, enjoying each other's company and the peaceful sounds of nature that were coming from the forests nearby. It was pretty rare to have some time alone together these days due to all of the time they spent in camp with everyone else...
"It's nice being alone for once, just the two of us... I swear I was close to losing my mind at the camp before we went on this run." Rebecca sighed.
"Definitely... We could definitely do this more if it wasn't for those damn walkers..." Dylan agreed.
Rebecca smiled as the couple kept walking down the highway, noticing something off in the distance. The two were surprised to see that a man in a police uniform was riding a horse on the road, and he appeared to have a large bag on his back that looked like it was full of firearms. Rather than risk any confrontations, the two teens quickly dived into the treeline next to their location and they waited for the man to pass them.
When the officer on the horse got close he actually stopped right at the spot on the road where they were before they went to hide. Dylan and Rebecca watched the officer closely before they saw him turn to look straight at the location the two were hiding at. For some reason the officer just turned his head back forward and resumed his journey down the highway, as if he didn't actually notice them. Whether he really did notice them was anyone's guess, but after a few more minutes just to make sure he was gone Dylan and Rebecca finally climbed out of the trees and brushed themselves off.
"Man, that was way too close..." Dylan stated.
"Definitely... Let's try to avoid that from now on, huh?" Rebecca asked.
Dylan nodded at Rebecca's statement and soon the two resumed their trek down the highway together, being sure to keep an eye out for any other travelers on the roads.
After another few miles of walking the two noticed a small farmhouse with a truck far off in the distance. They really had to find those people and put up more signs soon, but what was the harm in stopping at this last place to do some scavenging? The pair saw a walker approaching from the trees once more, so Dylan simply walked over to it and buried his knife in its skull, quickly kicking the corpse away after that. The two then resumed their trek towards the farmhouse.
"Still can't believe how sudden all of this was..." Dylan sighed. "One minute we're in our hotel rooms watching a baseball game, and then the military starts herding us out at gunpoint...? And Amy... God, that poor girl..." he added with a feeling of sadness.
Rebecca nodded in agreement as she mournfully remembered what had happened to one of her best friends. She hoped that wherever Amy Smith was now, that it was a good and peaceful place far from the horrors they were going through currently... She didn't deserve to die the way that she did...
"I hope the others back in France are okay... I know Chase is pretty worried about them, especially about Aelita. Hell, all of 'em, really..." Rebecca stated.
"Same here, sweetie... Aelita's my sister. I just hope that all of 'em made it to the factory or they're hiding somewhere safe right now..." Dylan replied. "I know what the news said on TV, but maybe now it's not as bad over there as it is here. Maybe they're getting everything under control back in Amiens..." he sighed.
"I'm sure they all made it, baby... They're probably hiding in the factory right at this moment trying to wait for this sodding mess to blow over." Rebecca assured as she gently gave his hand a squeeze and rubbed his knuckles with her thumb to show some support.
Dylan glanced over at his girlfriend and gave a small but reassured smile, and as a thank you he leaned over to give her a quick kiss on the lips. Rebecca blushed a bit and smiled at that, and the two resumed their trek towards the farmhouse. When they got close they both unsheathed their weapons once more as they had to be cautious for walkers. As they approached the front porch they were disgusted to see that someone had vomited over the side, and even more disgustingly they could tell that the vomit was fresh, meaning that there could be someone here at the moment.
Rebecca raised her knife and crouched as she opened the front door and cautiously went inside the house with Dylan, being careful not to make too much noise. They looked in the living room first, and they saw what appeared to be much blood all over the living room wall along with the words: "God Forgive Us" written in human blood...
"Christ..." Dylan muttered, gagging a bit from the disgust at what he was seeing.
Suddenly the pair heard the backdoor of the house open, causing their eyes to widen with shock and fear. They both immediately ran to hide in a bedroom as they heard footsteps coming inside of the house.
"That was so horrible, but I'm glad we were able to do that for them... Some good karma." they heard a voice say.
"Yeah, I agree... It's really sad what happened to them but at least they're resting together now." another voice said.
"We'll need to continue on to Atlanta soon... It's getting late and we should try to make some more miles before nightfall." a third voice commented.
They had to get out of this house before something bad would happen... Unfortunately they tried the windows in the bedroom and all of them gave off a loud squeaking noise with each millimeter it was opened, so if they opened it more the people in the house would notice them. They both knew they were going to have to try to leave through one of the doors of the house...
"Okay... I'll try to get out through the front door, you try to go out through the back... We'll meet up in the treeline across the street, okay?" Dylan whispered to his girlfriend.
"Alright, I got it... I love you." Rebecca whispered back.
"You too, baby... Stay quiet and safe, and don't stop no matter what." Dylan whispered as a reply.
Rebecca nodded and gave her boyfriend a really tight and affectionate hug along with a kiss on the cheek. Dylan returned the same to her before they let go of each other, and Dylan slowly and cautiously went to open the bedroom door. The two teens cautiously made their way out and turned in opposite directions, with Dylan now making his way to the front door and Rebecca making her way to the back. Rebecca was quicker and managed to get out of the house before anyone could notice, but unfortunately Dylan ran into a problem. His foot had hit a floorboard that was somewhat looser than the others, causing a really loud creaking noise...
...Oh shit.
"What the-?! Guys, I think someone's in here!" he suddenly heard a voice shout.
Fuck! He had to think of something! Seeing that he now couldn't get to the front door without the people in the house seeing him, Dylan ran towards the back door. He heard the sound of someone running for the back, so Dylan immediately dived out of the way and into a bathroom that had an open door. He shut the door and quickly readied Chase's pistol to defend himself, but his eyes widened when he began hearing what sounded like footsteps getting closer and closer to the bathroom... someone knew he was in there.
Taking a deep breath and building up his resolve to stay alive no matter what, Dylan aimed the pistol at the bathroom door and gripped the doorknob, waiting for the person to get a bit closer... When he thought that the person was just on the other side of the door he quickly opened it, thrusting his gun out so it would aim right at the person's face, and he quickly saw that a gun was also being aimed right at him as well.
"DROP IT YOU SON OF A-!" both he and the person shouted at the same time, cutting each other off.
But that's when Dylan noticed something... he saw pink. A lot of pink... His eyes slowly began to wide when he saw the all-too-familiar pink color of this person's hair... then he noticed the person was a girl, and that her eyes were green and that much of her clothes was pink as well... He cautiously looked directly at her face just as she looked at his, and when they both saw each other's faces both of them gasped with feelings of mutual recognition, realization and pure shock...
It was Aelita Schaeffer... it was his sister.