"Let's sit over here for a second. We need to plan our next move." Louis says, leading the dawdling trio behind him over to the rug on the floor.
Liam nods quickly, speedwalking over to his boyfriend to sit next to him. Harry calmly comes over and plonks down on the other side of Louis, who has now set out an old-looking parchment, containing their map.
Harry looks up to see Niall swaying slightly, looking behind him, unsure whether or not he should join the group or go back under his window.
"It's okay Ni, c'mere," Harry says, patting the floor beside him, indicating Niall to sit there.
Niall inclines his head in a nod, which was barely noticeable, before coming and sitting next to Harry, listening in to the conversation at hand.
"We have two possible routes we can follow from here," Louis begins, smoothing the parchment under his hands, eyes analysing the numerous red lines and circles dotted all around the map, all leading to one main place with a large circle inked around it.
"We can go this way," he continues, grazing his fingertips over one of the inked lines from one circle, "It is quicker, however, this will lead us into unknown territory and we will need to be on high alert 24/7. There are walkers littered through this whole route."
"Or, we could go this way," Liam says, moving his finger to the other line Louis' hand isn't occupying, tracing it up towards the main circle. "This way will be slightly longer, however, there are fewer infected, but more chance for coming across a dangerous beast."
"I'd say we don't take that route Li, we all know how Lou is, we can't risk another incident like the one before." Harry murmurs, making Louis playfully shove his shoulder.
Harry, feeling a light tap on his shoulder, looks over at Niall who looks sort of sheepish. Harry's movement grabs the attention of Louis and Liam.
"W-What a-are the c-circles and l-lines?" Niall whispers to the group, "S-Sorry for i-interrupting."
"The lines are routes that we are aware of, some of them are more dangerous than others. The circles are the numerous safe houses that we have built, this is one of them." Liam begins, motioning to the room around them, "The big circle over here is the safe house, if we can get there we know we can be guaranteed safety from the infected in the outside world."
Liam notices the slight shiver Niall produces at the words "safe house", however, decides against questioning him about it as Niall nods.
"T-There is a-a t-third route," Niall starts, leaning over Harry to get a better look at the map. The other boys perk up slightly at this newfound information, however, Harry gulps quietly and leans back on his palms. He wasn't sure if Niall would be comfortable having his abdomen so close to his side so he moved back slightly, immediately feeling the burn in his triceps.
Louis nods at Niall to continue, who places his finger on the current dot. He moves his finger along the unmarked stretch of parchment, leading all the way up to the safe house. Right in between the previous two routes Louis and Liam had announced prior.
"T-This way i-isn't t-too d-dangerous, m-maybe a f-few w-walkers are l-littered around." Niall retracts his hand halfway between their current location and their destination, "I-I h-have a s-safe house a-around h-here w-we c-can stay a-at to g-get more s-supplies, i-if you w-would l-like?" Niall suggests before he seems to remember something.
"I-I can o-only g-go so f-far b-before I h-have to l-leave y-you g-guys t-though." He adds.
At this comment, the lads all raise an eyebrow at Niall.
YOU ARE READING
The Corruption | N.S AU
Fanfiction**PREVIOUSLY TITLED MAN'S GREED** "It takes more courage to suffer than to die." Those were the last words said by the previous president before everything turned into a bloodbath. Everything slowly goes downhill until it is figured out that Niall...
