The Ruins Of Tomorrow

26. What's Your Name?

There were certain parts of the past that were buried deep in the core of my memory. Little bits of it were becoming clear to me. I didn't know why I had forgotten or why I was feeling confused about all of it. It was a headache, but I wanted to know everything.

Suddenly, I was remembering the Novas and Hunter again. We had gone for another supply run. Hunter took a large group with him and I had also tagged along, having to leave my brother back in camp. The town was called Cambridge. Hunter would occasionally bring me along with his usual crew. I wasn't sure if it was because he saw me as a vulnerable kid, just another weakling, hoping to make me stronger. Or because I was special for a different reason. He wasn't interested in anyone else but me. I couldn't figure it out then and even now.

We arrived at the town after driving for an hour. The Novas carried their heavy guns on their backs just like the military would, swearing to protect their people. It was what Hunter wanted to form. A group of fighting soldiers who are feared by others.

Things didn't go well for them, though. 

It happened so fast. We got surrounded by a large horde. I remembered the fear plastered on their faces, uncertain of what to do. But then it clicked in the back of my head. A lot of the Novas have never seen so many of the dead. A whole town full of walking corpses that wanted to eat us alive. There was so, so many. The most I had seen as well. I was terrified. 

They fought their way through the alleyways as the group got completely separated from the others because of the horde. We even lost Hunter at one point, he was trying to lead another group out of there. The small group I was following eventually got blocked by biters and didn't make it past the main street.

My legs were running as I was fearing the loud footsteps tailing behind us. A shriek made me jump as I whipped my head around to see one man getting tumbled to the ground as a biter bit down on his neck, spewing out a lot of blood. He screamed loudly, as someone else grabbed me by the arm to guide me away, but ended up getting taken down a second later.

Gunshots went off as the man screamed at me to go. "Get out of here! We promised Hunter to keep you safe no matter what!"

I froze for a second as I saw him get pushed to the ground by a pack of biters. They bit down on his arm, pulling back flesh as he screamed. I forced myself to turn around and keep running if I didn't want to end up like them. Maybe I could have tried helping or fighting back, but I was weak. So the best thing to do was to run.

I made a sharp turn, just when I forced myself to stop when I saw biters at the end of the street. I gasped, backing away and turned the other way until I sprinted down a sidewalk. I didn't stop hearing the screams or the gunshots going off in the distance. I didn't even bother looking for Hunter or any of the others. I just kept running.

I felt my chest hurting and aching, but I couldn't tell myself to stop. I saw the sky darkening as I was wandering in the middle of the vast forest. I stumbled down the hill just when I saw a cabin at the bottom with its lights turned on.

I peered over my shoulder and saw the horde creeping their way in my direction. I picked up my pace and ran down when my foot stepped on a glass bottle. I felt my body falling as I fell on to the shards of broken glass and felt something stab the side of my leg. I looked down and tried pulling out the piece of glass from my calf. I wanted to scream from the pain as I saw blood spew out.

My hands were shaking as I ripped my sleeve to tie it around my leg and used the rest of my strength to get back up. I limped my way to the chain-link fence and pushed the gate open, closing it behind me and approached the steps of the cabin.

The grass in the yard was nicely mowed as it looked taken care of. There were rows of crops and plants growing towards the right of the yard. What caught my attention was the pair of muddy boots sitting at the bottom of the stairs. I was deep in thought, hoping there was no one inside the cabin, or at the very least it would be somebody kind who would not try to kill me.