Zombie Exodus: Aftermath, scene 10

Continued from scene 9 

“Let’s just sail while it’s still light out, and then we can find a place to camp. There are so many abandoned places, I’m sure we will find at least one.”

Everyone agrees and settles back into the boat. The wind persists for several more hours, keeping you at a steady pace along the stream which widens and flows into a river. On the shores, you can see signs of infected wandering about, sometimes spotting your vessel and following until they run out of land. A group of beavers follows your boat for at least a mile until they veer off. Jesse tries to find a way to lure one into the boat to kill it for meat, but Cameron blocks every attempt. It becomes more of a game than an argument. At least something helps pass the time.

As darkness settles in, and the sun appears just over the horizon, the river draws into a wide lake. On one side sits a series of cabins next to a central dock. Wooden pallets make tall walls, and some kind of workbench sits outside of one of the cabins. A sheet of cobwebs stretches from one of the pallets to the shore and gives the appearance of a long bridal veil. A broken raft sits atop the dock. No lights shine from the cabins nor do you see anyone outside.

“This looks like the best place for us to find shelter for the night,” you say.

Portland steers towards the dock, and you and Cameron step onto the platform and pull the boat as far as it can go. He finds a length of rope to secure the vessel.

Jesse steps onto shore and finds a piece of twisting wood in the shape of a baseball bat. She swings it through the air several times and then uses it to point at the first cabin. No words need to be spoken. You are all veterans of the apocalypse. Cameron lifts a softball sized rock from the ground, while Portland, who now shows no signs of an injured ankle, takes a wooden shard off of a pallet to use as a spear. Having no weapon of your own, you pick up a slender rod that must have split off a tree that you can use as a bo staff. Jesse lifts her fingers and counts down silently from three. When her hand turns to a fist, she yanks open the door. You run beside the opening and look inside to an empty room. It’s a one room shack with nothing more than a pair of bunkbeds, a tall shelf that stretches from floor to ceiling, and an old trunk.

“One down, two to go,” Portland says and the four of you move to the next cabin. No zombies again, so you move on to the last. Before you even open the door, you hear the low groan of a zombie inside. It must know you’re out there, as you hear it shuffling towards the door. Your companions all hear it as well. You have no idea the type of zombie you are facing. If it is one from an earlier strain, it will lack the energy to fight you. Those infected by later strains will prove more challenging.

continue to scene 11