They Called It The Apocalpse

Chapter 19

They didn't get very far before Thalia's footwear began to prove impractical. She made it a couple of miles without complaint but soon after she managed to step on a large rock which, according to her, made her foot sore to step on. Cassie offered her the boots from her feet but Thalia refused and they continued, every few steps she would suck in a sharp breath and slowly let it out. She claimed it eased the pain, only they all knew it didn't. Jason began to get frustrated, they were going a less than ideal pace due to her poorly chosen footwear and no one seemed to care much about the delay but him. For around another mile no one spoke, Jason grew more agitated, Cassie's shoulder pain started to fade back into focus with the wearing off of her drugs and Tate walked silently behind them all. Jason turned back to Tate to talk to him just as he made up his mind, he pushed forwards and grabbed Thalia, hooking his arms under her legs and back. She cried out a little from shock as he lifted her then stared at him blankly. "What?" Tate grumbled, her mouth moved, trying to find the right syllable or sound but it never landed on one and Tate filled in the gap himself, "Yeah well, you were slowing us down." He stormed ahead and Cassie had to run to catch up with him, Jason quickened his pace, relieved that it wasn't just him running on a short fuse. "You know it would be a lot easier to carry you if you put you're arm around my neck." Tate said as he tried to shift her a little in his arms. It was awkward carrying her because of the strange way she was sat in his grasp. She complied silently, hooking her arms around his neck and Tate felt a little relief as some of the weight shifted onto his shoulders. Thalia watched the road ahead as she was carried, her skirt swishing back and forth with each of Tate's footsteps.

He carried her a mile and a half in total until they reached the next town. The buildings here were crumbly and old but like the towns before they had fully stocked shops and a distinct lack of joyous. "So, you think they rounded them all up from here?" Tate asked as he bent down to place Thalia on her feet, he looked around casually at the shop fronts as Jason headed for the grocery store. "I'm not too sure but it seems like it." Cassie followed Jason, limping after him with as much speed as she could muster.
"Where else would they have gotten that many joyous?" Cassie asked, her rhetorical question hanging in the air as she disappeared into the store after Jason. Tate turned back to Thalia and looked straight at her unseeing, then he turned and headed off further into the town, gesturing with his hand for her to follow. "Where are we going?" She asked, catching up with him swiftly then matching his pace.
"To get you some shoes, doll." His accent was different, mocking and she shook her head at his remark.

Jason stepped over a pile of rotting bags of bread then turned back to point it out to Cassie. She stepped over it carefully then gave Jason a cheery thumbs up. "So..." Cassie chimed as she wove through the groceries and towards the tinned isle. Jason seemed laser focused on the takes at hand because he kept silent until she spoke again. "What are we getting for dinner then?" She asked as the shelves of tinned food appeared. "Corned beef?" She asked as Jason put his hand out and started piling tins into his bag, "Maybe...oh, tinned hotdogs." She swiped a tin from the shelf and popped it into Jason's open bag, spying his depressed expression. "Are you...ok?" She asked, stopping the teasing and being genuine. "I'm...I'm fine, I've just got a lot on my mind." He replied as he started to fill the last space in the bag. He did have a lot on his mind and it was mostly Cassie's fault, he hadn't stopped worrying since he'd seen the blood on her lips the other day but he couldn't bring himself to ask her about it and although he wanted to confront her on the soft toy rabbit in her bag, he felt that he couldn't. He finally zipped up the bag, swinging it onto his back then looking at Cassie. He smiled, weary but still a smile then headed out of the store. She followed again but this time in silence.

Tate and Thalia met Jason and Cassie as they were exiting the store, they had significantly more stuff than before however because Jason had a full bag of food and Tate and Thalia seemed to be carrying canvas bags. "Whats in those?" Jason asked as Tate dumped his load in the middle of the street. "Well, we found a hiking shop, one that hadn't been looted and Thalia got a pair of boots." He gestured down at her feet which were newly adorned with beige walking boots, "Plus they had a load of camping supplies so we got...." He pointed to the larger canvas bags, "Two tents." His hand glided over to the other pile of camping supplies, "four sleeping bags, the thermal ones and....." he seemed to remember where the other item was, digging his hand into his pocket and pulling out a flint and steel. He held it up triumphantly and Jason smiled properly, "thats brilliant Tate." He congratulated, bending and picking up a tent and a sleeping bag in each hand. Cassie rushed over and grabbed a sleeping bag, reaching for the tent but Tate got there first, sticking his tongue out at her then grunting with the effort to pick it up. Thalia watched them collect their items with ease then bent down and grabbed the two remaining sleeping bags before trotting after them.

Jason stopped, leaning the tent against a tree as he fished out the map and unfolded it, the laminated paper felt smooth in his raw fingers after the tent had rubbed a small red line into them. He followed the trail they'd already took then found where they were heading, his finger ran backwards a little then stopped. He looked up ahead at their surroundings then turned to look behind hem at the edge of the town. It had been small and didn't take very long to traverse the whole place and wind up back in the woods. "So, we're here." He pointed to a leafy green part of his map then pointed ahead. "See, the terrain matches, only I don't know how long we're going to be in the forest for." He looked around his companions then back at the map, making his fingers into a small measure of how long the green stretch is. "That's because its quite a long piece of green." Tate sighed, throwing his head back in exhaustion and screaming quietly at the sky.
"Dammit! I hate the forest!" He cursed then looked back at the others, "Alright, got it out of my system so lets go." Jason nodded, reaching for the tent and hitching it further up his hand into his palm, Cassie watched him struggle and wished to reach out and help him but for some reason she stopped herself and Jason pushed on ahead.

They walked for a long while, the scarce small trees growing into a dense wall of older ones, Tate chatted casually as they walked, speaking about how he lived before he met Jason and Cassie in the apocalypse. He seemed to have a lot of tales and Cassie wasn't sure whether they were all true or mostly lies but she listened intently, every now and then dropping in a clever response that showed she was still engaged in the story. Tate blabbered on for most of four hours with the odd interruption from Thalia when she was tired or hungry. The party seemed to work well together and as they left the town there seemed to be a lot more life in the woods surrounding them. Creatures stirred and rustled through the undergrowth, Tate claimed to have seen a bear but like his stories it was probably just his vivid imagination. However, they did have one encounter that shook Thalia completely. She hadn't realised how little she knew about the world now until a buck popped out of the forest, it had magnificent antlers that curled up towards the sky, she felt her breath taken away by its beauty until she looked closer. Its head jittered uncontrollably and when it turned to look at them its eyes were bloodshot with yellow. Blood dripped from its nose and it had gauges left from human nails down its side. Thalia felt herself fill with dread, the buck took a step towards them and raised its head. As it did so Thalia flinched at the sound of a gun, a deep red creator appeared int he deers forehead and it slumped forwards, a mix of yellowish disease and pink flesh poured down its face as it slumped forwards and hit the floor. Thalia turned in horror to find Jason putting his gun away. "What did you do that for?" She cried, tears brimming her eyes.
"It was evolved. It would've killed us." He said bluntly as he secured the gun into its holster then pushed forwards. Everyone stepped over the deers stiff carcass but Thalia edged around it.

The sun fell away and the sky grew dark soon after this incident and they found themselves coming upon what used to be a truck stop, a small space at the side of the road in which a driver could pull over and take a rest. Jason veered towards it, heading for the dusty ground. He dropped the tent then proceeded to start kicking the larger stones away from his desired spot, he bent down and picked up a larger rock, tossing it off to the side then stepping back to look at the dirt road. "We'll camp here for the night." He explained, dragging the tent open and unzipping the bag. Tate came over to him with the second tent and Jason pointed to the other side of the clearing, "Over there's fine Tate." He muttered as he pulled a lump of canvas from his bag. He dropped it to the floor and a cloud of dust blew up the edges, carefully he opened out the sides of the tent then began to put the poles together. Thalia dropped the sleeping bags where she stood and groaned, she put her hands on the small of her back and seemed to massage it into feeling less stiff. Cassie laughed, putting her own things down and smiling at Thalia, "you never really get used to it." She chuckled as she pinwheeled her arm in an attempt to rid herself of some of the stiffness, she desperately needed another pain relief tablet but she didn't want to alert anyone to the problem in her shoulder. "Get used to what?" Thalia asked naively.
"The aches and pains of the apocalypse." Cassie explained before limping over to hold up on of the side of the tent for Jason as he struggled to make it stand upright.