Waiting For the End || Blake Dixon Book One

Chapter 2 ||"I remember my dream now"

The aftermath of Ed's beating was odd, Blake watched as Carol tried to scoop Ed off the ground from where he lay a groaning bloody mess. Carol continued crying as she struggled to lift him. Finally seeing enough Blake moved forward to help the woman. She bent down and pulled the man up by his arm and slung it over her shoulder. She was supporting most of his weight, him seemingly unable to use his own legs as support. Andrea quickly moved to the man's other side and copied her actions taking some of the weight.

Carol continued crying as they hauled the man up to his tent. It was a long walk made even longer by Ed's dragging feet. But they got there eventually, Blake dropped him on his cot unceremoniously and exited the tent quickly wiping the sweet from her brow. She hiked her way up towards the RV where Dale was standing watch and climbed up next to him.

"Perfect timing, there's something I wanna go check out." He told her, handing the binoculars off to her as he passed on his way to the ladder.

"You good to go alone?" She questioned as he started down the ladder.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm not going far. Just have to go talk to Jim real quick." He responded now on the ground readjusting the strap of his gun that hung over his shoulders. Blake just let him be after that, turning instead to look out over the land surrounding them.

It was really quite beautiful out here, the sun was out in full force, not a cloud in the sky to interrupt its fierce beating. And the quarry reflected back, a blue turquoise color, against the tall gray cliffs that surrounded it. They were the only people in sight with Atlanta's tall buildings looming off in the distance interrupting the green grass and forests that looked to go on for miles. She watched as Amy and Andrea piloted the canoe they had acquired from Dale back to the shore and started their way up to the camp, a string of over a dozen fish in hand as they seemed to smile and laugh with each other. It was peaceful and homey, a feeling that Blake rarely felt in the time before the end of the world. It was a shame that it took the end of the world for her to find it.

She did one last glance over catching sight of Dale talking to a sweating Jim up on the hill before climbing down as another member of camp, a man named Allen maybe she wasn't too sure, relieved her with a small smile which she returned. By the time she climbed down Amy and Andrea had arrived sporting big smiles as they showed off their haul for the day. Carl seemed the most interested in the slimy fish that Morales, a nice hispanic man with a couple kids and a wife, showed off.

"I, uh... I don't want to alarm anyone, but we may have a bit of a problem." Dale said as he joined the camp. Shane walked up beside her at the declaration concern visible on his face. Dale pointed over to Jim who was still shoveling away on top of the hill. Everyone stood there staring at the man.

"Well, let's go check on him," Blake said, breaking everyone from their stupor as she started walking towards the man. She heard lumbering quick footsteps as Shane jogged to catch up with her along with gravel crunching under everyone else's feet as they followed.

"Why don't you drop back with the rest of the kids?" Shane asked but she knew it was more of a demand. She looked at the man once before rolling her eyes and falling back to walk next to Sophia and Carl who were bringing up the rear. She wasn't sure what Shane thought she was going to do up front but she didn't quite care. She was a kid in his eyes, and he wasn't going to take her seriously anytime soon. They came to a stop in the clearing that Jim was working away in.

"Hey, Jim." Shane tried getting the man's attention, but he just continued working away at the dirt with his shovel. "Jim, why don't you hold up, all right? Just give me a second here, please." With that prompting Jim finally stopped shoveling and stared at Shane.

"What do you want?" He asked, obviously annoyed at the interruption.

"We're all just a little concerned, man. That's all." Shane told him and he just let out a little huff in answer shaking his head.