Second Chance

Chapter 69

The next morning, Alex drives us through yet another abandoned town. Although, this one is much smaller than the other ones, to the point where it's more like a pit stop than an actual town to live in. Apparently this is the way to the city though, so I don't question it.

We make it to this large creepy tunnel, and I instantly have bad vibes about this place. "Do we have to go through there?" I ask Alex quietly, although I don't know why I'm whispering.

"Yes, it's the only way." She tells me, continuing forward.

"Great. That's fantastic. What if there's zombies in there? Or killer clowns? Or sex traffickers?" I demand.

"Justin, I assure you that you will not get eaten, murdered or assaulted. Okay? There's no one here, and there hasn't been for years." She says with an exasperated sigh.

"How do you know? You've never been here before." I point out.

"I don't know, but this is not the hang out place for people like that. They would be in more densely populated areas. If anyone would be here, it would be a weird demented cult or something." She explains, but that alternative isn't much better.

"Well, it's nice to know that we're about to be sacrificed to a bunch of demons. That's just swell." I comment grumpily.

"Are you always this sarcastic?" She asks me, as we slowly start to enter the tunnel.

"Only when I really don't want to do something." I answer. "It's sort of like my defence mechanism."

"Well, good for you." She responds, but I'm not sure she's listening to a word I'm saying, as she carefully maneuvers around abandoned cars and dead bodies.

I wonder if those are normal people, or infected. It's hard to tell from inside the car, but I'm just hoping none of them run at us, because that would be horrifying. They all appear to be completely dead though, so that's good I guess, in a morbid sort of way. We're about three quarters of the way through the tunnel, when I see an upside down and slightly burnt car. I don't know what it is about it, but I'm getting this weird feeling. It suddenly gets worse, as a sharp pain goes through my head, and a trickle of blood runs out of my nose. I wipe it away casually, and glance at Alex. Luckily, she doesn't seem to notice it.

I don't know why exactly I'm hiding this from everyone. Maybe it's because I don't want anyone to worry, or for them to feel like it's their responsibility to keep me alive. Maybe it's a pride thing too, where I don't want to accept help from anyone, since it would damage my ego. It might not even be anything, and I'm worrying over nothing. Maybe I'm totally fine, and nothing that bad is going to happen to me.

—-

We finally get out of the tunnel and down a long winding road. It leads us to a cliff that looks down at the large city that stretches for miles. It's pretty normal looking, and not super apocalyptic. That's probably because of the solidly built wall circling the entire perimeter though.

"So....what now?" I ask Alex, looking at her as she gets something out of the back seat.

"I don't know. What is your magical vision telling you to do?" She asks me, casually handing me a gun in the process.

"Uhhh, is this really necessary?" I ask her, giving the gun a concerned look.

"It is if you want to survive." She tells me.

"Look Alex, I already have enough blood on my hands. I don't need to kill anyone else." I say, trying to give the gun back to her, but she pushes it away.

"It's better to have it and not need it, then not have it and need it." She suggests. "Just think of it like a condom."

I laugh. "I never would of thought committing murder and getting a girl pregnant could be comparable."

She smiles at me. "Both lead to mistakes and regret if you're not prepared."

"True." I sigh. "So how are we getting in there?"

"Well, unlike all the other things I'm sure you manage to get into, this one will be hard." She admits. "The best option would probably be to wait until the outsiders start blowing up the wall. That way we can just follow them in and find your girlfriend easier."

"She is not my girlfriend!" I yell, scowling at Alex.

"Well maybe try to keep it in your pants next time and stop sleeping with her." She advises, although based on the grin she's giving me I can tell she's just joking.

"Yeah, I already made that decision myself, thank you very much." I grumble, sitting down and laying in the grass.

Alex joins me a moment later, and sighs. "So I guess we're just waiting now."

"Yeah," I agree, gazing up at the beautiful blue sky above me. "now we wait."