They Called It The Apocalpse

Chapter 27

When he arrived back at the bench, the campfire had died down to ash and Jason was climbing out of the tent, he stretched once then yawned and blinked up at the rising sun. Tate watched him silently before their eye connected and Jason opened his mouth to say something. "Don't even ask where I've been." Tate mumbled through gritted teeth, he was so frustrated that he'd gone through all of that for nothing that he didn't even think to question the bullet holes until much later. Jason crossed tiredly to the bench and took a seat, opening his backpack, which he'd dragged with him and rummaging around for some food. He found a tub of Lima beans and dug them open with his pocket knife, he dug in his spoon and ate a whole mouthful, pulling a disgusted face at the came and whirling it around almost immediately to find out what it was. He'd never been the greatest fan of Lima beans but since they didn't have a lot else to eat he kept cramming them in, chewing them fast so that the unpleasant experience lasted for less time. Tate shuffled over and rummaged around in the bag, finding his own can of food which turned out to be meat and potato hash. He pulled out his utensils, stolen from the diner, and dug in. They ate in silence, co-existing easily as the sun climbed up to its usual position. Jason finished his Lima beans first, putting the can down on the bench beside him and leaning back in the warmth of the sunlight. "Makes a change huh?" He muttered to Tate, who paused and looked at him like a rabbit caught in headlights. "What?" He asked through a mouthful of meat.
"The sun. Its been cold the last few days. I have to say I'm enjoying the sunshine." He gestured up to the sky, making a ring around the sun and Tate nodded, cramming more food in and putting down the empty tin. "Yeah, just better hope we don't burn." As Tate said that there was a rustling from Thalia's tent and they watched as she sat straight up, staring out into the beyond with fearful eyes. "Good morning." Tate mumbled, staring at her as she looked around herself then slowly replied, "Morning." Jason felt the need to examine her for any other medical concerns but he thought that immediately getting and crossing to her might frighten her if she was disoriented. "How do you feel?" He asked and she frowned like she wasn't too sure what was going on. "Like I got hit by a truck." Tate smiled and shook his head, looking down at his hands then back up at her. "Not a truck but you did get eaten by a bear." Jason stared at Tate, his blunt version of events was a lot for anyone to handle, "Oh and you died, but you came back, as you know." Tate continued, gesturing to her as she stared at him in silence. "I...I died again?" She asked and Tate nodded like they were having a completely normal conversation. There was a moment when we very one thought of what to say before Tate spoke again, "Yeah, do you think you're immune to joyous too cause like, you got bit, and you haven't turned crazy or anything." Thalia still looked completely confused but Jason was starting to put the events together in his head.
"Shit..." he mumbled, looking down at the grass as he worked out how everything was connected, "Thalia's immune, thats why she was in that tube and why she can recover from fatal injuries." He looked up excitedly at Tate, "She's regenerative, so she never evolves." A smile spread across his face, hope started to fill up his insides and he finally started to feel like maybe the worlds wasn't so against him. "There's a cure!" He cried, feeling so happy that he could cry, the others stared at him as he celebrated, waiting for him to o calm down and continue. "We...we ave to get you to the resting place Thalia! You might just be humanities only hope." He laughed, getting to his feet and running his hands through his hair, he never thought he'd see the day when they didn't have to be afraid of the evolution. "I'm gonna go wake Cassie." He explained as he scampered back to their tent and bundled himself inside. He couldn't wait to see the excitement on her face when he told her that they had hope.

She was curled up sideways when he got inside the tent, with her hands under her head like a pillow and her body tangled up in both sleeping bags. He touched her shoulder gently and whispered to her, "Cassie....wake up, its time to go." She opened her eyes wearily and blinked up at him, rolling over so she could get a better view through her constantly blurry vision. She blinked some more then drew up her hands to rub at her eyes, wondering if sleep was getting in the way and Jason peeked over her hands, "Are you ok?" He asked, and she nodded. Groaning as she tried to stretch out amongst their stuff, "Its just a little blurry." She saw his face fall a little front he bright smile only for him to hype himself up again, "Well, Thalia's awake-"
"She is?" Cassie cried, gripping onto Jason's arm and pulling herself up to a siting position, "that's brilliant. I want to see her." Jason smiled and laughed at the same time. "And you will, but listen, Tate and I, we've figured out why she was in that lab and all the other strange things about her. Cass, she's immune." He chuckled happily at the prospect of a future together and Cassie couldn't help but smile back despite all the other ideas swimming around her head, "thats great. Maybe when we get to the resting place we can figure out how to make others immune." She suggested, trying to ignore the sinking feeling inside of her gut.
"Exactly, thats what I thought." He watched her lovingly as she pulled her satchel on and bolted forwards, crawling to the light at the door. "Come on then, lets go." She smiled and Jason followed her out into the outside.

Thalia had moved from her seat in the tent to the bench and was gingerly sipping from Tate's water bottle. She looked tired despite having slept for a good long while and her dress hung limply from one shoulder but aside from that she seemed back to normal. "Thalia! I can't believe you're ok!" Cassie cried, jogging over to her and embracing her in an unexpected hug, she held her close and cradled her in her arms before pulling away and sitting beside her. They chatted for a while and Jason excused himself to pack up the camp, Tate followed to help him and they put the tents down together. "Jason." Tate said as they pushed a pole out of one side of the tent.
"Yeah?" Jason was busy folding the pole down to its smaller size so he never looked up at Tate's concerned face.
"When you were all sleeping, this morning, i went to try and find us a car to travel in and I couldn't find the keys to this car and then eventually i went inside of the camper van it was attached to and everyone inside...." He rubbed a stressed hand through his shaggy blonde hair, "They were all dead."
"Starvation?" Jason asked as he moved onto the next pole, threading it back through the lining and out the end.
"Nah dude, gunshot wounds." Jason stopped in his tracks and looked up at Tate, he didn't know if he should believe him or not.
"Did you put the bullet holes there Tate?" He asked casually and Tate frowned at him, throwing his hands up in the air dramatically.
"Come on dude, why would I do that!" Jason nodded, accepting his response as distress whilst Tate wandered in a little circle of worry.
"Alright, so someone shot and killed those people, but we haven't seen anyone else while we've been here so who could it be?"
"I don't know! Some psychopath trying to end the human race as we know it!" He cried and Jason could tell he was getting more and more worked up about it by the second, "I don't know who it was man, but I have a hell of a bad feeling about it." He rubbed his eyes between his fingers, pinching the bridge of his nose in an attempt to relieve his stress whilst Jason folded up the canvas of the tent.
"Don't stress out about it though Tate, we're leaving soon and we should be at the resting place by night fall. We're almost there." Tate nodded, trying to calm his nerves by smiling back at Jason and accepting his response but the gunshots didn't sit right with him, especially since it had been the kids and the dog too. They moved onto the next tent, putting it down swiftly and separating the stuff between them so they each had two sleeping bags and a tent. They thought it was only right that since they were in the best health out of everyone that they should carry the bulk of their supplies, so Thalia and Cassie just had to get themselves there.

They left he bench where it was this time and set off down the grassy verge, being careful not to slip and fall. Jason gritted his teeth as he walked, trying not to let the discomfort in his leg show but he pushed on because they were too close to stop now. Tate led the group, marching out up front with his hands full and the bag of rotting corn cobs over his shoulder. Jason followed up behind the two girls with his mountains of stuff and his painful leg whilst Thalia and Cassie walked between the two of them, chatting quietly to each other as they took another step closer to paradise. They didn't get very far before they had to stop. Cassie held up her hand, feeling the nausea beat its way back up her throat, and ran for the bushes, she hunched over and spewed up a whole load of bloody mess. Jason went over to comfort her, placing his hand gently on her back and she turned, knocking it off and staring at him with dark glassy eyes before blinking the haze away and sniffing up the snot coming down her nose. She wiped her mouth with her sleeve and pushed on, leaving Jason confused and fearful that she was getting to the point of no return in her evolution. They traversed rocky ground with uneven islands and cracks and the closer they seemed to get to their destination, the worse the surrounding environment seemed to get. On top of all of that Cassie could feel herself slipping away, she knew it was happening, the transformation into a mindless monster, she had done since she woke up with blurred vision but she wanted more time and she lived in constant fear that she was going to change and hurt her friends in the process.