Was It Worth The Lives You Lost? (OLD VER)

The Push

Talia asleep in her bed was wakened by the light shining through the window onto her face, she held her hand in front of her face for a few moments to block the light before sitting up.

She looked beside her at Matthews side of the bed that was empty.

After getting dressed in proper work outfit she headed outside and checked on the people.

Hendrick came back from his routine hunt, his makeshift bow slung over his left shoulder with 2 rabbits hanging from his belt.

Talia saw him and walked up to him letting out a disappointed sigh, "Nothing?" Asked Talia.

"It's hard to find any big catches with the Zone frightening the wild life away." Said Hendrick with his naturally monotone voice.

Talia looked at the rabbits on his belt thinking.

"How long do you suppose we have until the wild life is gone?" Talia Asked.

Kendrick looked off a bit resting his right hand on his belt loop thinking before looking back at her, "About a month...max."

Talia put her hands on her hips looking down, scoffing before shaking her head. "Well Hell." She muttered to herself.

"I'll try the North-West grounds next sunrise." Hendrick stated looking in the direction he was mentioning.

"You have been doing so much work trying to keep the group fed, I don't know how to thank you." Said Talia Looking at him.

"Me? This has been day to day work for me since before the outbreak, I should be thanking you, because of you I have a place to call home. I don't know where I'd be without it." Said Kendrick with thankfulness in his voice patting Talia on her right shoulder while walking past her, taking the rabbits to be prepped for meals.

Talia looked over to see Matthew using a manual pump to inflate one of the vans tires, while Jayleen worked on the engine.

She walked over to Matthew, "What's the plan with the hunk of junk" She asked leaning her left side on the driver side of the car watching him pump the back left tire.

He pumped a few more times fully inflating the tire, unhooking the pump before closing the valve wiping his forehead with his arm.

"Well, you know that tow trailer used for hay bales in the barn behind the cabin?" He asked gesturing towards the cabin.

"Yeah, what about it?" She asked with the light arm cross she does when she's thinking.

"If we can get this van running then we can hook it up to the rear and use it to carry our people out as a escape option." Matthew said patting the van with confidence.

"Hey Matthew! Mind helping me with this?!" Said Jayleen grunting from the front of the van.

Both Matthew and Talia walked over to see what she needed, "Whats up?" asked Matthew.

"Ive been trying to get this dang tube out but its not budging. Would you mind, I don't know, making it budge off?" Stated Jayleen with clear frustration pointing to the tube in the engine, leaning backwards to stretch.

"Of course." Matthew said with confidence grabbing a wrench before reaching into the engine block to try loosening it.

He clearly struggled for a minute as Talia and Jayleen snickered, "You need some help?" Asked Talia trying not to giggle.

"I got it-" Matthew grunted a few moments before it started to unscrew. "Got it!" Said Matthew with victory then stepping back dusting his hands off.

"Yesss! Thank you so much, that saves me from having to go through the trouble of cutting it out." Said Jayleen with a big smile on her face returning back to working on the van.

Matthew turned to Talia, "Have you seen Marcus yet today? He went off to do recon around the area early this morning, you know, like he does. He was supposed to be back by now." Asked Matthew.

"No, I haven't seen him yet today." Talia responded.

Marcus walked up to them from behind the van in his military looking recon-esc outfit, "And now you have." Marcus sarcastically said.

"No need to ask anything just follow me." Said Marcus already walking back in the direction he came from.

Talia and Matthew shrugged at each other before following Marcus.

It was a 15 minute walk to where they were going to.

They arrived at a view point on a tall hill where they could see the Main City on the skyline with a purple fog looking haze around it, there was dark clouds over the city stretching all the way to about a 4 hour walk away from their location (aka The Corrupt Zone).

Marcus pointed at the obvious change in distance between them and the Zone having been at least a 9 hour walk 5 days prior.

"What the hell-" Said Talia shocked

"Recently the Zone has been increasing in speed and size since the last 3 weeks." Marcus informed.

"How long until it reaches us?" Asked Matthew

"Tough to say, from what info I've got I'd say around 2 weeks. Thats praying it doesn't double its growth by the end of this week." Marcus stated.

Matthew looked at Talia with the 'I know you know' look. Talia put her hands on her hips, they could tell she was thinking hard about the situation.

"Fine! We do it but I want a clear and thought out plan!" She stated with frustration.

Matthew looked at Marcus, "I need you to gather the main crew in the cabin for a sit rep as soon as we return to camp." Matthew commanded.

"Let's get to it then." Said Marcus walking past them as both Talia and Matthew followed behind.