The Ruins Of Tomorrow

32. Where The Road Leads Us

The sun was barely awake as I met the others near the gates. I saw Dean discussing the plans with Liam as he held out a map. I hadn't seen Liam in a while, but it made me glad to know that he has been doing better. He carried a backpack and a radio on the side of his pants. I wasn't expecting him to come along, but I was still glad because we could use the extra help.

Liam turned around as he saw me. He waved a hand at me and smiled brightly. "Hey, it's been a while," he said. "I'm actually going in place of Ashley, since she hasn't been doing well lately. Gabrian is also coming with us."

I heard the car door open and saw Gabe toss a bag in the back of the beat up jeep. He fumbled with his belt and adjusted the radio strapped around him. He was talking to a young girl earlier just before he came to meet with Dean as well. "I might not be much help, but I'll make sure to watch over your guys' backs," Gabrian said. "I had to tell my little sister to watch over our nanny who is sick."

"Is she going to be alright?" I asked.

He gave me a specific look and shrugged his shoulders. "She's diabetic, and she's been low on medicine for a few days now. She usually gets dizzy spells and sometimes falls because of it. My little sister watches over her when I'm not around. I told them I would try to find more medicine for her, and that's why I'm going too."

The guards hollered at us on top of the walls as they slowly opened the gates. We hopped in the vehicle, strapping on our seat belts as Noah started the engine. Liam rolled down his window to talk to a guard. They nodded in agreement while I peered over my seat and saw another vehicle pull up behind ours. Dean and Melissa were talking, but whatever conversation they were having ended abruptly as she looked away with moisture in her eyes.

I slumped back in my seat, resting my head on the cold glass of the window. I let out a sigh and met Noah's eyes in the rear mirror before looking away quickly. "This might be late coming from me, but what plan did Dean tell you Liam?" I asked out, gripping the headrest behind Noah's seat.

Liam scratched the back of his head and let out a sigh as well. "It's not much of a plan, but we're hoping to find a bit more supplies to last us during winter," he said. "He said Cambridge has a lot of shops and small stores to look through. Maybe we can find and take some stuff back home with us. But...anything could go wrong of course."

"Do you have something in mind?" Gabe joined in, crossing his arms. "I hope we're not driving to some place that could be filled with the dead."

"It doesn't matter if we are," Noah said, tapping on the steering wheel. "It shouldn't be a surprise if there are a few dead lurking around in Cambridge."

Gabe slumped back in his seat. "Yeah, try fighting through a hundred of those things with limited ammo and a gun. Most people will die if there's a lot of roamers hanging around a big city."

I hope he wasn't jinxing us.

Life was different years ago. Anyone could go out for a walk and enjoy the warm summer, or drive to the nearby store for ice cream. The grass was greener and the roads were filled with bright lights, and people would do barbecues in their front yards. Towns and cities were loaded with people, loud chatter, and dogs barking. Everything now for the most part is... dead.

We continued going straight and took a turn in Newberry Street and resumed on that path for over a mile. A lot of storefronts were vandalized or taken over by the dead. Others were shut with gray shutters or barricaded with planks of wood to keep anything and everything out. The tall brick buildings reached high in the air and there were bodies piled on the side of the roads. Some were still roaming in the narrow alleys and trapped inside vehicles.