World's End

Chapter Five

They reached the edge of the bushlands on a hot mid-afternoon, the sun blazing down. No matter the fact that it had been freezing earlier that morning, all three of them felt like they had walked into the middle of summer. Nobody was wearing their winter gear now, their coats either tucked into their bags or slung over their elbows. It was sweltering.

"We're almost there, I think." Marissa said after taking a huge sip from her water bottle. She blew a raspberry as she tried to cool her face with her hand.

"Good. I think I might be melting." Ellie Rae was also fanning her face from the heat, her usually pale complexion turning a shade of red as she got sunburned. Marissa thought to herself that they should probably look into finding some hats.

"Where are we?" Lincoln said suddenly, stopping in his tracks. Marissa stopped as well. She had never been here before. "Dude? Where are we?"

"I.... I don't know." Ellie Rae had stopped as well. "I've been going off of a map in my head but I'm drawing a blank."

"What does that mean?" Ellie Rae pointed to a hand painted sign on the side of one of the buildings. It was one of the few buildings that surrounded them as they had moved into a less populated area, where there were more trees that created a ring between them and whatever was on the other side. There was what appeared to be a path running through the trees. Lincoln walked over to the painted sign and looked up at it. He touched it gently.

"It's fresh. Someone painted this recently."

"But what does it mean?" Ellie Rae reiterated as she wandered up beside him and looked up at it still, inspecting it. Marissa spun slowly around in a circle, taking in the environment they were in.

"We should keep moving." Marissa called to them. Someone made a noise that sounded like a grunt and Marissa turned to make sure they had heard. Ellie Rae was still glancing at the sign but was slowly coming over. Lincoln came up behind her, eyeing the environment as Marissa led them towards the trees. There was something not right about this place. Marissa couldn't remember this place. She didn't know if maybe the scenery had changed or maybe it was because she had never ventured this far into the city. She had memorised the maps enough to know that the bushlands were close by, but she didn't recall there being buildings near it. As they walked, Marissa pulled her gun out of the waistband of her jeans and put it out in front of her, flicking the safety off as she walked. They walked into the bush slowly, leaving the buildings behind them. The pit in Marissa's stomach grew deeper as a clearing appeared up ahead. There was a crack of a twig behind them, and Marissa shot around, aiming the gun behind her. Lincoln stood there, paused with a guilty look on his face. She narrowed her eyes at him then turned back around. She walked into the middle of the clearing and spun around, scratching her head.

"I have no idea if this is part of the bushlands or not." Marissa chewed her lip as she looked around. Behind them was the city they had left. Ahead of them were more trees. Lincoln screwed up his nose.

"I don't think we're in the city anymore, Dorothy." Lincoln replied.

"Guys..." Ellie Rae was facing the way they had come. Lincoln was the first to turn around and he let out a small yell, causing Marissa to spin around and curse.

Three people dressed in what to be in black leather had guns pointed at them, cruel grins on their faces.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

"This must be our lucky day!"

"And must be the worse day for us." Marissa retorted, keeping her gun pointed at the man in front of the three. He snorted.

"What are you doing in our territory?"

"Territory?"

"You saw the sign. Hercules over there left a fingerprint in it." The girl at the back raised an eyebrow, eyes roaming all over Lincoln. Marissa almost gagged.