After Death

Chapter 10 (Without Being Seen)

Chapter 10: Without Being Seen

Rudolph Alinsky

May 2028

About 6 years after outbreak

Arizona

Season 5/The Final Season

-----------------------------------------------------

"Dada, where are we going?"

"We're going to find our family."

I didn't want to have to leave but I can't keep living in the agony of waiting. I fear that if I wait too long I'll be too late. I knew I should have left a long time ago. Airi's my daughter and I feel like I've let her down. I know I have because I only decided to do something after Steve left. He wasn't my number one priority but I treated him like it.

I didn't want Ethan, or anyone for that matter, to chase after me. I knew that the only way I could be satisfied was if I did this myself. I wondered if that was the right choice, it probably wasn't but there's nothing I can do to change it now.

Arizona is probably my least favorite state that we've migrated too. Between the heat, the fact that your clothes stick to your body like glue, and the dry rivers, it's all a wasteland. No one in their right mind would even try to survive here. That's probably why we haven't seen many of the dead. We were even more surprised to see the living.

It had been a few days, longer than I said I'd be gone. I didn't want the others to start worrying but I also didn't want to go back with nothing. I made the decision to keep going, to stay in this hell hole alone longer, I thought there was nothing out here. I thought I was the only one dumb enough to hike in this weather. I thought my group was the only ones dumb enough to try to live here. I was wrong. I was very wrong.

I heard the familiar sound of multiple generators in the distance. The light smell of blood mixed with the smallest hint of gasoline was faint but it was there. Curiosity struck me and I had to know what it meant. I wish I had known how much of a risk I would take.

From afar, it looked like a simple campsite. A few people lingered around, tents were spiked order less into the ground, and empty cans slept wherever it was convenient for the residents to throw them. I wasn't going to go closer, I didn't think it was important, but then I saw what I thought was a dream, maybe even a hallucination from the heat, but no, it was real. Seeing her like this made me wish it wasn't.