Downfall Of The Living: An Anthology Series

A Road Leading Nowhere: Chapter 1

I

The sun was setting over the highway, leaving a rose-purple hue in the sky. Garrett looked over the horizon as the sun passed the highway, and a cool breeze flew through his hair. He had a bolt action rifle, slung on his left shoulder as he watched the setting sun. The sun was always there for him, even the moon. Despite the change in the landscape and his life, the sun and the moon remained static, unfazed by the Downfall.

"Garrett!" A voice called out. He looked down from the box truck seeing a woman with long black hair.

"Come up here, Chloe," Garrett said. "Quickly."

Chloe climbed up the truck and was lifted by Garrett's hand onto the top of the truck. "Beautiful ain't it?" He asked her as he pointed at the sunset.

"Yes," she observed. "It is."

"You don't get to see those very often," Garrett said. "It's like, a gift more than anything."

"You practicing that line on me?" Chloe smirked.

"It wasn't intentional," Garrett said turning away in embarrassment. "I really wanted you to look at the sunset."

"When are you gonna tell her?" Chloe asked. "It's been 10 months since you told me you had a crush on her."

"I don't know," Garrett said. "Maybe when we reach the safe haven in New Mexico."

"By then," Chloe added. "She'll be interested in a new friendly face that isn't us the past year or so."

"I don't want to think about that now," Garrett said. "At least when we're safe, just not now."

"What is this, a teenage drama?" Chloe joked. "Just do it, already. None of us got long, and well, worse she'll say is 'No'."

Garrett sighed. "Soon. So, are you taking over my shift?"

"Yup," Chloe said. "Go get 'em, Tiger."

"Thanks," Garrett said as he handed the rifle to Chloe.

Chloe sat at the edge of the truck, overlooking the highway and the group. Garrett climbs down the box truck and joins the others at the fire off a beaten dirt path of the highway.

He sat next to his friend Chuck, a big guy eating chili beans out of the can. Layla and Jenny stared at the fire as they mumble to each other about the past. Grace, a quiet young woman, sitting at the edge of the fire writing in a notebook. Edgar was warming his hands near the fire while the others eat their rations.

"Hey, Garrett," Layla said. "How was lookout?"

Garrett cleared his throat. "It's all good, no loners around us."

"We haven't seen any loners in the last few days," Edgar said. "We should be heading in a direction where it's safe."

"Safe roads should mean that a community is near," Chuck said. "Maybe the safe haven in New Mexico expanded recently?"

"That's a good theory," Garrett said. "But from what the last broadcast said, they were only about thirty of them. So hopefully that means they grew in size. Which should be good."

"It should be good," Layla said. "It means we're not alone out there."

"That's what we're hoping for," Jenny said. "Right, Garrett?"

Garrett looks at the group around him. "I hope wherever this safe haven is, we'll finally be able to feel safe. I promise you guys."

"It's gotta be there," Grace said. "Whether or not we find it, we have something to hope for."