“I’m in; I mean what’s the worst that can happen?” he said.
Matt always felt he needed to be optimistic when things felt dramatic in the group. Alex gave Matt the side-eye, he did not find risking their lives funny. The only reason he was going was because he knew Landen needed him, he was a navigator and good at it. He knew maps and he knew coordinates.
“Nobody has to do anything they don’t want to do; I just wanted to see if my best people would come with me on this.”
Landen was riding on hope that whoever was on the end of that radio may have some answers to their questions.
“You know I’m always in, boss.” he said.
Alex shoulder shoved Matt as he passed by him. The two had it out for each other ever since Alex had threatened Matt over his love for a woman he lost to the infection. It was a woman he had met on the road, she was kind, she was beautiful but she was infected. Matt ended her life to save everyone else at the campsite on her request; she did not want to risk hurting anybody. Alex never forgave him, in his eyes Matt was a murderer for life.
Kris stared at the dancing flames, the light reflecting in her blue eyes. Her blonde hair was tied back in a messy braid; she covered her slim shoulders with a blanket to help stay warm as the cool evening breeze brushed against her warm skin. Matt stood beside Kris and bumped her with his shoulder to get her attention. He looked at her and stared a little, he had always thought she was so beautiful. She quietly turned and faced the others, nodding in agreement; she was going on this quest. She wanted to find out as much as they did what this all meant. They had already gone far too long living in the dark.
Landen thanked everyone for agreeing to this mission. They would rest the night and gather the supplies they’d need for the trip the next day. They would leave in less than 48 hours. Landen stood up and shook hands with Alex. He appreciated any help they could get when it came to going on these dangerous adventures. As everyone began heading back to their tents, Landen and Matt stayed back at the fire pit.
The sun was setting over the campsite as people got ready to head inside for the night. There were no zippers or doors on the tents, just old sheets and material hung in each doorway to give the people some sense of privacy. The evenings were cool, the fire pit was warm but the heat would not last an entire night.
***
Landen tossed a piece of wood into the fire, he and Matt had been talking about what they would need to bring and how long they could last with the supplies they had. They were mapping out the safest and quickest route; they knew they would have to set up camps on the ground to get sleep while they traveled.
Matt picked up the radio and took a detailed look at it. It was old and made mostly of cheap plastic with metal components. The color, originally army green, stained with what looked like dirt and blood caked around the radio button. Matt took his knife out and began picking around the button.
It’s too bad this old thing doesn’t work, he thought to himself as he began twisting the knobs and pressing the button. Even if it did work, it had been a very long time since anyone had luck finding others that were still alive. Either people had gone well into hiding or they were dead.
He pressed the button harder; the radio began to make static noise again. Matt put the radio up to his ear. He could hear a broken voice coming from the static in the radio.
“Hello?”
“Lo? Is anybody...there?”
Landen grabbed the radio from Matt’s grip. Matt stood up beside him and listened. He spoke loudly as he pressed the button, hoping that whoever it was could hear him clearly on the other end.
“Hello? Hello? Are you there?”
His voice was becoming hoarse from speaking so loudly.
The voice on the other end came through but barely.
“My name is Doctor Maxwell...I need help!” said a man’s voice.
Static took over and the frequency trailed out as Landen moved around to try to get better reception. Nothing, it was useless to try any longer. They needed to find better ground or get closer to the other radio’s location. He tried pressing the button one more time.
He could feel the beads of sweat forming on his forehead as he pressed down harder on the button and spoke louder into the radio for that Doctor Maxwell to repeat himself. Did he hear what he thought he had just heard? Was there really someone on the other end of this radio?
Landen switched it off and looked at Matt. They both knew what they heard. If this guy was who he said he was, Matt knew what was about to come next for the group. They weren’t just going to find an old mine, they were going to save this doctor.
***
Back at his tent, Landen laid in his cot staring at the rips in the fabric ceiling. Sleeping was always difficult, there's were always so many thoughts haunting his mind. When he did sleep, it was in brief moments. If it wasn’t sounds from outside waking him up throughout the night was terrors of the day the infected took over. He knew he needed to shut his mind off and get some sleep but every time he closed his eyes he relived his own nightmare. He lay there, thinking about what had happened, things he had been through and how he did not want to continue to go through them. He wanted to be the one to tell everybody that it would all be okay, that these things were going to just go away, that life would once again be normal. After what felt like hours of staring at that slanted ceiling of the tent, Landen’s eyes became heavy as they closed and forced him to sleep.
Chapter 4
Matt grabbed two containers of gasoline from the storage tent. He was up as early as he usually was, helping the others get the last of their things ready to go on yet another run.
“Make sure you write these out.” He said as he walked passed Mae.
She was an elderly woman with white hair and glasses. She had seen many different kinds of worlds over her years but none could ever compare to this. Mae may have had years on her but her memory was sharp as a whip. She kept tabs on the campsite’s food and water supplies, clothing, building materials, gasoline and weapons. They didn’t have much of anything but if they took care of it and kept track of it, they could make it last a while at least.
“Good luck Matt.” She nodded as she wrote out the inventory on her clipboard.
Back at the gate, Kris stared through a scope checking out the surroundings. The scope was set up to give a 360 degree look around the outskirts of the campsite. This gave the people a sense of security as there was always someone on watch. She could see Infected in the far distance.
“They’re too far; they probably won’t even pass by here.”
She passed the scope to Matt who had stopped to take a break from carrying the gas. He put his eye to the scope and took a look. The infected seemed to be moving at a steady but slow enough pace, it would take a while to reach the campsite.
“It should be fine. The others will be here keeping six until we get back.” He said.
He set the scope back down and the two headed toward the van to meet up with the rest of the group. They began loading their things into the back of the van. Alex stood by the back doors of the van with his arms folded, looking frustrated.
“Save some room for us!” he whined.
Matt piled another large duffle bag into the back.
“There’s enough room for your scrawny ass, relax.” He laughed.
They were already starting to get on each other’s nerves. Alex thought Matt was reckless and needed to grow up while Matt thought Alex was way too uptight and needed to relax. These two were complete polar opposites in all the wrong ways.
“Would you two knock it off, you’re starting to give me a headache.” Kris snapped at them.
She hadn’t slept well the night before and was in no mood for anyone’s banter, especially from people she would be stuck with for the next while.
“Alright kids, that’s enough. We need to get going, the more daylight for us the better...” Landen clapped his hands in an attempt to get their attention. He felt like a ba
bysitter more than a leader at times.
The rest of his army got into their positions in the van. Landen started it up and off they went to unknown places.
“According to our map, we need to keep going west until we come across a four way intersection, it looks like we won’t be on pavement for much longer so I suggest everyone buckle up.”
Alex kept looking at the map. “From there we head east for about 100 miles before...”
His sentence trailed off and his eyes squinted trying to follow the line on the faded map.
“The road trails off; someone drew in their own lines.”
Sydney and Kris sat on either side of him in the back seat of the van. They were a little confused.
“So, what does that mean?” Kris asked with widened eyes.
“It means” started Alex as he took a deep breath and pointed at trails on the map.
“We have to go this way. By the looks of the terrain, it would be impossible to drive the van through without wrecking it, too much forest. I say we have to hike it, my friends.”
Sydney looked up at the rear-view mirror, her eyes met Landon’s.
“Let’s hope this drawn in line isn’t going to bring us on a wild goose chase.” He stepped on the gas and kept on driving.
***
The drive along that unfamiliar road felt never ending. An hour or more went by before the group finally saw anything other than dead forest trees and more trees on either side. The group chatted quietly in the van; it was the first time Alex had come out on a difficult mission like this. Although he too could read maps, Cal was too old to take the risk and there weren't a whole lot of options left at the camp to bring along. Tom and James were strong but they were in charge of watching post when Landen wasn't there to do it himself. Mae and the others were not as strong. They knew how to survive but they lacked bravery in fighting. He knew the people in this van were the alpha-heroes, the ones who showed no fear; they were the strong ones.
This mission wasn't like the others. Usually it was hunt and gather, the most trouble they ran into were the infected. This time they weren’t so sure. What if that doctor wasn’t alone? What if someone was setting them up for something bad? It was a lot different than just going to try to find and gather supplies.
“It’s the intersection, just up ahead!” pointed out Matt.
“Roll up the windows; it’s going to get cloudy!”
The broken paved road ended as the van travelled past the dirt road intersection. The once solid ground became shifty. Keeping in the same direction as the map instructed, the van bumped along the dirt road creating a cloud of dust behind them. After several miles, the dirt road came to an end blocked off by fallen trees and fallen infected.
“That explains the drawn in lines, someone made this map. They definitely knew their way around here.”
Landen pulled the van over and slowly drove closer to some nearby bushes. There was no way they could carry all of their gear and weapons, the least important stuff would have to stay. They got out of the truck, Matt and Landen walked around to find some branches, leaves and anything else they could use to cover up the truck and their remaining supplies. They would need those supplies for the trip back. They camouflaged the truck and Matt tied a red scarf around the closest tree as a marker. Landen threw one small pack over his shoulder and joined the group heading down the path following the map.
The sun wasn’t hot that day as the clouds helped give the group some shade as they hiked along the trail. The air was still humid which caused the group to need lots of water to avoid dehydration and tiring out. The trail seemed to go on in one direction for miles. Whoever made this trail, made sure nobody wanted to follow it. The terrain was rough; it hadn’t been used in a long time. It looked as if that trail had been an old shortcut used by trucks. They could tell by the two horizontal trail lines side by side that had been partially grown in by grass and various wild weeds. It was quiet, almost too quiet along the trail. Not an infected in sight which was a rare thing no matter where you went.
“It shouldn’t be much further, according to the map. There should be a river up a couple of more miles”
Alex used his shirt to wipe the sweat from under his glasses. He adjusted his cap which stuck to his hair from the humidity. The group traveled on, each becoming a little more tired as the hours rolled on.
“Maybe we can fill up at the river.” Matt held up his empty water bottle.
The group could hear the sound of water as they came closer to the river that Alex had mentioned. The group was getting closer to their destination. They got closer to the river and had a better look; they could see what looked like a bridge. It wouldn’t be as easy as they thought to cross over this bridge as it had fallen, split in half with several infected caught between the old, rotten planks of wood. They snarled and grabbed at the wet pieces of bridge, trying to escape and follow the scent of the living.
The group carefully approached the broken bridge to take a look at the situation they had before them. The river was much wider than they had anticipated; they could not walk across nor swim. Who knew if there were more infected up the river bed? As they got closer to what was left of the bridge, the ground beneath their feet became unstable, thick mud; it almost felt like quicksand.
“Watch your step, this mud is thick enough to lose a boot in.” Matt took large, strong steps through the mud toward the beginning of the bridge.
He knelt down and stared at one of the infected like a child stares at an ant. It flailed its arms furiously in Matt’s direction but he made sure to keep his distance. He lifted his handgun and pointed it at the skull of one of the infected. He was about to pull the trigger when Landen’s hand came down on his shoulder.
“No, guns are going to attract unwanted attention.” He said sternly.
Matt had almost forgotten how sensitive the infected were to sound. They could hear an unsilenced gun go off a mile away and if there were some there, more could have been close by. He put his gun back into its holster and reached for his hunting knife. He plunged down hard thinking the skull was solid bone but to his dismay his entire fist pushed through the infected head like a rotten pumpkin. Horrified and somewhat embarrassed by what had just happened, Matt backed up quickly and began washing the blood and brain matter off his hands at the side of the river bed.
“I guess you don’t want to refill that water bottle now?” laughed Alex.
He took every opportunity he could to pick on Matt and irritate him. Matt glared at Alex and stood up, flapping his wet hands in his direction sprinkling him with the dirty water.
“That’s just immature!” said Alex as he wiped the drops of water off his face.
Kris lifted her bow and shot a wooden arrow through the remaining infected. They didn’t have time to fool around, every minute mattered. Kris was taking this mission very seriously, even a little too seriously as she hadn’t said much during the trip. She was thinking, preparing herself mentally for anything that could have been thrown at them. She leaned over and pulled her handcrafted arrows out of the bodies.
As she reached for her second arrow a hand grabbed the collar of her jacket from beneath the planks, scratching her neck in the process. It burned like a thousand bees stinging her at once in the neck; she had never felt anything like it. She could see the face of the infected underneath the water. Kris grabbed her knife and stabbed it.
"Are you alright? Did it get you?" Alex saw what had happened and was genuinely concerned.
"No, no. I'm alright, thanks." Kris straightened the collar of her jacket, hiding the bleeding cut and moved out of the way of the broken bridge.
"Let’s move out slowly, one at a time.” Landen said.
He signaled to the group to follow him and put his right foot onto one of the planks, left on the next and carefully made his way across. The rest of the group followed behind, one-by-one. They gathered at the other end of the bridge to figure out their next move, Alex held the map.
They headed in the direction of the wooded area, being careful and watching their surroundings for any threats. It was quiet as they walked, other than the sound of dried up foliage crunching beneath their feet and the odd bird calling from above. The surrounding trees made for some shade which helped hide them from the hot sun. They were almost at their destination; they couldn’t give up at that point.
Chapter 5
Alex and Kris walked beside each other several steps behind the rest of the group. It had only been a couple of hours since the bridge; Kris’s walking pace was slowing down; her breathing deep. She already looked exhausted for someone who had always been so fit. Alex noticed the blood stain on her collar.
"You're bleeding Kris." He pointed at her neck with a look of disgust on his face.
"Oh its fine just got clipped by a branch." She tried to cover it back up. Alex tugged on her collar to get a better look.
"It looks deep." He continued.
Kris slapped his hand away. She hated being touched as much as she hated being accused of lying, even though she knew she was.
"I'm fine!" she snapped. She could feel her mood switching like night and day; she shook her head to try to snap herself out of it.
It wasn’t like her to lose her temper so quickly. Alex couldn't help but think she wasn't telling the truth. He had seen scratches and bites from the Infected before. If she was scratched, she could be a danger to the entire group. Alex had to tell the others before it was too late.
The forest went on several miles and the ground was rough underneath their tired feet. There wasn’t much of a trail left as everything had grown over the months. The group came to the forest edge and looked around.
“So? Where is this place exactly?” questioned Kris.
Landen peered through his binoculars and scoped the area. There was nothing but forest and what looked like an old mine covered with debris. The infected seemed to be drawn to that direction, tripping over each other, clawing and moaning. Was that old mine their mark? Did they need to go further?
End of the World (Book 1): Infected Page 3