Zombie Exodus: Aftermath - Chapter 2

Continued from chapter 1 

You rush towards the side gate and duck under a wooden pole that fell over and formed a triangle with a trailer. Skirting around a dumpster, you hear the light patter of rain hitting the metal top. Ahead of you stands a defender with a rifle poised on his shoulder, blocking the way out. As you move closer, he points the barrel towards you and then swings it away. It's Butler. You've known him for a while, though you wouldn't call him a friend. He is one of the better defenders here and takes his position too seriously.

"Hey, Violet," Butler says. "Go ahead past me. There's a bunch of our people heading south along the creek. Catch up with them as soon as you can."

You hurry through the wide open gate, followed by your companions. A packed dirt road leads away from Tempest Point to the southwest. A trail of commoners runs ahead of you by a quarter-mile, high-stepping through the tall grass as the field reaches the creek.

Gunshots call from behind, and you look back while still running. Butler stumbles through the gate, his rifle hanging loosely from his hands. He takes two steps and drops to his knees. A figure in a red mask steps through the gate and behind Butler. He holds a long rifle with a blade attached to the barrel and shoves it through Butler's back. The blade pokes out of the young soldier's chest, and he grips it with his hands. You hear a shriek behind you, and Cameron runs past you on the left.

"Look forward, everyone," Jesse shouts. "We just have to make it into the forest."

Fifty feet ahead, the woods start with a row of trees packed in a semicircle. Yellow weeds poke from one side, and in it, the carcass of a rodent holds a swarm of insects, seeming to give it life. The crack of rifle fire ripples through the air, but you keep your eyes forward. You're breathing fast, your heart racing. As you approach the forest, the grass grows knee-high, forcing you to slow your approach.

"No one's following us. Are we safe?" Portland asks, chasing after you.

Twenty feet from the edge of the woods, a decaying trunk of a split tree bursts with an explosion of splinters on Jesse's right. She crouches and enters the embrace of the trees which hide her from sight. You glance back and see rifles aimed at your group, held out by a trio of Reds standing atop the southern fence. You reach the treeline with Cameron and Portland, and the three of you squeeze through the brush to escape the gunfire. Jesse has a dozen paces on you, and you catch her in glimpses as she maneuvers through the overgrowth. Running and running, on and on, you keep a constant pace on the hike through the forest.

Fifteen minutes pass, and the woods thin. Jesse sits on the ground with her back to a tall rock, and she pants and clears sweat from her forehead with a rag. Portland bursts into the clearing, bumping into you, and then rights herself, sweat covering her arms and hands. She collapses to the ground, lying on her side, and buries her face in the grass. You hear her soft sobs.

"What…do we…do now?" Cameron asks through heavy breaths.

"We have a few places we can go, but none are close. Looks like we're going to be surviving in these woods for a few days at least," you say. "We move by day and rest at night."

"Yeah, these roads ain't safe. Reds must have taken the zone. I'm not traveling when they got that kill-on-sight mentality. Assholes. We're all trying to survive, and they keep killing and taking," Jesse says. She plucks a blade of grass and chews it in the corner of her mouth.

Portland sits up, her eyes red and puffy. "How are we going to survive? We don't have much, no food, barely any water. If we got to a river, we could fish, but it won't be easy without a rod or line."

"I've been on watch duty for the last six months. My survival skills are out of practice," Cameron says.

Surviving in the woods may be the current concern, but you need to find a new community or even just a place with four walls and a roof. 

You sit on a tree stump next to Portland and rest. A gentle breeze blows through the forest, and night will bring the cold. Jesse removes one of her boots and stretches out her foot while Cameron lies on a patch of grass.

"I say we take a break for a few minutes and then head north," Jesse says.

Cameron lifts his head and places his plastic bag of clothes under it to use as a pillow. "I heard there's a new settlement northwest of here. Run by farmers."

"Do they have any security?" Portland asks. "They won't last long if they can't fight off the Reds and West Pointers."

Cameron shrugs. "I hear they are raising pigs and chickens and lots of vegetables. I don't mind going where the food's at."

Portland lifts her head and tilts it to the side. "Hear that?"

You rise from the stump and look around. Though you don't see anything, you can hear swift movement through the forest from the south. "I hear it now. We better go."

The four of you stand and head northwest. Jesse hops along as she puts on her boot. You move as quickly as the dense forest allows, with you in the back to listen for anyone following. Portland takes the lead, ducking under branches and skirting around fallen trees. She's so thin and wiry, she moves through the forest like a dancer. You travel for a few minutes until you reach a narrow creek stretching east to west. She stops abruptly and puts up one fist — sign language to tell you all to stop. Before you can even see it, you hear the gnashing of teeth on bone.

You move alongside Portland and see a body lying half in the water, its upper body on a slope of dry land rising up the northern bank. On all fours, a zombie perches over the body and eats from it like a dog at a bowl. Its long teeth chew at the shoulder, pulling off thin stretches of stringy meat.

Jesse takes out her revolver and points it at the creature. You step up next to her and place your hand on her forearm. "No," you whisper. "Too much noise." You reach for your to-go bag to look for something useful and quiet to use on the zombie.

You hear a sneeze and turn to see Cameron rubbing his nose on his sleeve. With a howl, the zombie looks up and bursts across the water. Jesse raises the revolver, but you shove her arm.

"What the hell?" she shouts at you.

"There are four of us. We can take out one zombie without using a bullet."

Without time to go through your pack, you grab a thick fallen branch off the ground and raise it like a samurai sword over your right shoulder.

Portland nods to you and claps her hands. She looks at the zombie and shouts, "Don't you look hungry. Come on, over here!"

She scurries backward, keeping the zombie in her sights, which chases her in a full burst. It splashes through the water, ascends the incline, and runs in a straight line, arms straightened and jaws wide. It's clothed in animal skins with thick wrappings around its feet and ankles and has a messenger-style bag around its shoulder which bounces as it moves. Portland keeps moving and ducks beside a tree. The creature chases after her, ignoring you.

Jesse now holds the revolver in both hands and looks between you and the zombie. You can see the indecision on her face, her eyes darting back and forth, and her arms shaking. As the zombie rounds the tree near Portland, Cameron dashes forwards and slides across the ground a short distance. His feet catch the back of the zombie's legs, which collapse when hit. The creature falls to the ground face first, and you take a running leap and bring the branch onto the back of its head. Its cries are muffled as you wail over and over onto its head. Cameron throws his body onto the zombie's back to pin it to the ground.

"I got it," he shouts.

You turn the branch in your hands and use it like a spear to slam the tip into the base of its brain, once, then twice, and then through its skull. The zombie stops moving, and you toss the branch to the side.

"That's what I call teamwork," Cameron says with a smile. He leaps from the zombie's back and dusts off the front of his clothes.

"Y'all are nuts. Should've just let me shoot it. You burned a lot of calories," Jesse says.

Portland steps out and leans over the corpse of the zombie. She pulls the messenger bag over its bloody head and checks through it. "Maybe we should do a gear check. We need to know what supplies we have as a group and things we're going to need to scavenge."

"Damn girl, that's the first good idea you had since I met you. Can we do it on the go?" Jesse asks, already crossing the creek.

As you follow her, you look through your to-go bag. Inside, you find clothes, a spare pair of sneakers, a bar of soap, and a roll of toilet paper. You open your bag and show them the canteen, first-aid kit, and a multi-tool.

"Good stuff," Jesse says. "I got this revolver, a few changes of underwear, a bottle of whiskey, and a can of pork and beans."

Cameron opens the small plastic bag he brought and looks inside with disappointment. "I only brought some clothes."

"I didn't have time to bring anything," Portland says.

"What's in that little Fanny pack of yours?" Jesse asks, pointing.

"In here? I've got half a tube of Chapstick and a photo of my sister. Some tissues and a piece of chalk. It's not like I had a lot of time to pack."

"None of us had time, girl. Don't matter now. Let's get going," Jesse says and starts through the forest.

You all follow after her, and the four of you walk for several hours. A cold wind has picked up through the woods; the temperature has fallen by 15°. Cameron rubs his bare arms as he walks and now wears an extra T-shirt for warmth. Portland slips her arms out of the sleeves of her hoodie and hugs her body. Jesse seems undisturbed by the drop in temp. You find a windbreaker in your to-go pack and put it on. 

Your stomach growls, and your feet ache from the constant walking. You've shared your canteen and gone through half of it. Though you've passed a few creeks, you haven't stopped to boil water, so your canteen contains all the water you have. This is not where you want to be. You always thought of Tempest Point as a home. Even though you've only been there for six weeks, you were getting comfortable with the people, the security, and the resources. Now you're back to square one. Now you've got less than nothing. Out in the woods, you will suffer from the elements and be exposed to zombies and aggressive survivors. You may be the best suited in your group to this style of living, and that's not saying much. You need to find a place to go and need it fast.

"Are we ever going to take a break?" Cameron asks. "I hate to be the one to ask, but we've been walking for a few hours. I can't be the only one who's exhausted."

Jesse stops just before the peak of a mountain. "We are all tired. We've only got a few more hours of light, and then it's going to get cold. We only have a few options here, so let's discuss them. This is a democracy, after all."

"You said something about a farming community nearby?" Portland asks. "What about that?"

Cameron sits on the ground and stretches out one of his legs. "Yeah, it's northwest of here, maybe a few days' travel. I've heard it has lots of food, and there are really good people there. As long as you work, you can earn. I just don't know how they keep it safe. Maybe they're paying off the Reds or some other group for protection."

"West Point has a large outpost to the north." Portland crouches on the ground and wets her lips with Chapstick.

"You want to seek shelter with those assholes?" Jesse snaps.

"They have food and shelter. Any outpost of West Point will be secure," you say. "Of course, that comes at a steep price. They are militant and believe in strict order. We would be working our asses off. But we'll be alive. We don't have to stay forever, just long enough to get back on our feet."

"TradeWorld is far west of here," Cameron says, shrugging.

Jesse puts her hands on the top of her head and grunts. "I don't want to go there, but it may be worth a shot. That place is chaos. No rules. Run by different gangs. It may be safer than living in the woods but not much safer."

"If you get in with a group, they will take care of you. You can work in one of the casinos and make a good living. At least that's what I've heard," Portland says. "We also don't have to stay forever. Like West Point, we can work until we have supplies, and then we can leave and find somewhere else for the long-term."

 "Let's hit the farming community. It sounds like it's out-of-the-way and offers the best chance for all of us to thrive for a while," you say.

"I don't hate that decision, "Jesse says and starts hiking northwest.

Continue to chapter 3 

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