They Called It The Apocalpse

Chapter 24

Approximately an hour further ahead they found a wooden sign, rotting slightly in one corner and stained a paler colour by the wood. It had brown stained letters that Jason read swiftly. His arms stung with the effort of holding Thalia's body and his leg throbbed violently. He turned back to Cassie, she still had her hand hooked round Tate's arm because every time she released it he seems to stop walking and stare down at the floor. "A camp site." He explained, nodding at the sign to signal to Cassie where they were heading next, "We should stop for the night. They might have secure pitches." Cassie nodded silently and followed Jason down the dark dirt track towards an unlit building. At the end of the road they reached a gate, it was pulled closed and there was a rusting padlock on one end. Jason walked straight up to it, attempting to juggle Thalia to just one hand but almost dropping her in the process. He turned back to look at Cassie but she looked exhausted as she positioned Tate in front of the gate. "Tate." Jason muttered, marching towards him, "Come on. You have to snap out of this. We're all shocked, and we've all seen some pretty horrendous sights but I need you're help right now because we can't do this alone." He looked over at Cassie, she had red rings round her eyes and she was paler than the last time he'd looked at her. He figured that the shock hadn't hit just yet for her. Tate stared straight at him, it seemed he hadn't heard anything of what he'd just said. Instead of trying again Jason's immediate response was to lay Thalia gently on the floor then stomp back over to Tate, he almost stopped in front of him and shook him like they do in the movies but he thought his other option was the best way forwards. He drew his fist back and threw it into Tate's face, punching him straight in the nose. The lights came back on behind his eyes and his hands flew to hold his nose as it throbbed. "Ow! What the hell did you do that for!" He cried, tears welling up in his eyes and threatening to spill over. He blinked rapidly, trying to get rid of them as he rubbed his tender nose. "I need you to carry Thalia while i get this gate open." Jason explained, pointing over to Thalia where she lay still of the ground. Tate nodded slowly, moving over to her and carefully lifting her into his arms. "She's barely breathing..." he whispered as Jason mooched around the edges of the path, "yeah, she did get some pretty horrendous injuries form that bear. I'm not surprised she hasn't recovered yet." He found what he had been looking for, a hefty rock and retreated to the campsites gate. He drew it up above his head then smashed it down again the padlock, a fraction of the metal chipped away and he raised it again, hitting the padlock with a clunk. It took him a total of five tries to get the padlock to break enough for them to open the gate. He pulled back the long metal bars and walked it over to the other side, securing it in place with a large, rusting metal hook that was hidden amongst the grass. He signalled back to Cassie and Tate and they entered the camp grounds.

The whole premise was quite large, it had a check-in building at the entrance that still had intact glass and shelves of groceries inside the little store. Signs pointed in various directions and labelled where everything was, while dusty gravel paths ran winding courses through the fields. Pitches for tents had been marked off with wooden pegs that had to be hammered into the ground and fraying rope but it looked like the layout hadn't been changed in years because of the green algae growing on it. A couple of the pitches seemed to be in use, there were tents, two large green ones and a tiny pink one as well as camper vans and motor homes parked up on grass verges. Jason headed up into the first field and picked out a camping spot in the far corner, he thought that it would be the easiest to keep a look out and felt safer behind he safety of the camper vans in the pitches in front. He waved Cassie and Tate over as he set down the tent and began to unzip it, he took a few minutes to assemble the poles then began to thread them through the designated slots. Cassie wrestled the other tent off of Tate's arm as he juggled Thalia to try and keep her balanced and eventually she got it free and set to work on building it. Before long Jason had created his tent and Cassie was finishing up hers. She stepped back to admire her work then unzipped the front and crawled inside, when she appeared a few seconds later she gestured to Tate, who brought Thalia over. They manoeuvred her gently into the tent and made sure to wrap the blanket over her chilly body. Whilst they sorted Thalia, Jason found a bench in one of the neighbouring pitches and dragged it over, he positioned it straight, in front of the tents like a block at the front of their camp. "What now?" Cassie asked and Jason nodded over to the bushes and trees beside them, "Firewood." He replied, as he drew out his knife and set to work cutting a few branches down.