|TPEC|Glowing Embers Book 1|

Chapter 26: Forest of Pain

6 months have passed. Scientists made a good amount of progress on the cure, but it'd still take years for it to be done. Alice grew a very close relationship with Sammy, he even held a bit of a crush on her. They both also became good friends with Mr. Jenkin. All of them were like a grown friend group. Alice's skills in the military had improved a lot as well, and she became one of the best soldiers there. Hazel would've been almost 13. Roman and Lizzy became kid scouts, and helped explore the woods to find food. Alice also started going with them, they all had a blast. The kids even learned how to fight with bows and knives. Rose was still the best medic, and she began to cheer up, now that Jade could walk, she spent more time with her daughter, and gained a bit of confidence. Jake was, of course, still infected in the basement. Nobody checked on him since the day he was locked in there. Most of the people in the place thought he was dead, even Rose lost hope in curing him. Now, it's the present day, and Alice was in a forest with her siblings.

"Sister, there's a tulip!"

"That's nice, Roman."

"I found a flower too! But I dunno what it is.."

"Why don't we bring it back to the base? I'm sure Mr. Jenkin would love it."

"Okay!"

"Can I bring my tulip too?"

"Of course buddy."

"Yay!"

They all wandered along, the woods were quite beautiful, now that humans weren't chopping all the trees down. There were some deer, birds, butterflies, and so many gorgeous things that flew around. Sammy was with them as well. Alice began to speak to him, they chatted and walked. The kids ran around, picking every flower in sight. However the excitement didn't last long.

"STAMPEDE! RUN!"

Sammy screamed. What seemed like hundreds of infected started running towards them. Alice picked up Lizzy, and snatched up Roman's hand, she ran beside Sammy.

The kids stared back at the infected. How quickly something beautiful could be destroyed. That's why some people in TPEC called this the forest of pain.

"Alice, there's a huge rock there, run behind it and keep the kids quiet."

"You're coming too, right Sam?"

"I'll distract them. And yes, I'll be there once I lure them away!"

"Just come with us! I can keep running."

"No, you guys need to hide."

"Fine, but you better not be lying!"

Sammy ignored that sentence. Alice hid behind the rock, and held the kid's mouths shut. Alice peaked behind the rock, she saw the infected running in the opposite direction, but she didn't see Sammy. They waited for almost 2 hours. He didn't show up.

Now he's gone.. Why? Why can't anyone just keep a promise? He can't be gone. He'll be back. He will. He's hiding. Right..?

Alice didn't realize tears filled her eyes until she snapped out of her thoughts. The kids were asleep. She suddenly realized that they were lost. The map she had fell out of her pocket when they were running. Luckily, she had her radio and a survival kit. Alice turned the radio on and selected the station of TPEC.

"Hello? Mr. Jenkin? There was a stampede. I'm lost. Sammy.. He's gone.. He ran off with the infected somewhere. Please find us."

The radio was static. Nobody answered.

There's no connection, that means we went far. That's not good..

Alice reached into her pocket for the survival kit.

It's gone.