Alive inside (Book Three)

Resolution Part Two

Ch. 12

'Resolution Part two'

[Dusk, Outskirts of Baltimore]

The trio walked along the cracked, overgrown highway, which was clogged with abandoned and rusting cars, the sky above was turning orange as the sun would soon set behind the shells of the once breathtaking skyscrapers.

Blake was in the lead; his background with the Saviours gave him knowledge of the city, a boon to the group.

Summer brought up the rear, her bow in hand, as they couldn't be sure that the Saviours were utterly wiped out; her archery skill could help cover their escape.

Genevieve was in the middle, her work shirt tied around her neck to act as a sling for her right arm; her black shirt with the radioactive symbol had been a gift from Aiyana; now, it served as a memento as well.

The sound of a wayward walker trapped in a dilapidated car could be heard as the trio moved between the old vehicles.

With the large and rusty sign hanging above the highway, Blake pointed to it as they walked through the ever-growing darkness, threatening to envelop the trio.

"That's our exit, we'll cut through a suburb, but after that, we'll be in the clear," Blake said as he led them back to the settlement.

"Didn't you guys ride horses here?" Genevieve asked as the group turned onto the exit ramp.

"We lost them in the process of finding you," Summer sighed, looking over her shoulder to ensure everything was clear and safe.

Genevieve lowered her head as her mind created the image of the horses being ripped apart; the sounds she imagined made it far worse; closing her eyes, the teenager tried to push the thoughts away.

"It'll be a couple days before we hit the settlement; long road ahead of us," Blake boomed in his most uplifting tone.

The buildings native to the suburbs started cropping up; identical houses as far as the eye could see lined the once pristine lawns that now we're overgrown and littered with a cacophony of different things, from trash to bones.

The group rounded the corner, and Summer saw that the way was blocked by two semis that had jack-knifed; what wasn't blocked off by them, it seemed someone had filled in the gaps with cement, and the houses surrounding the wall seemed to have been boarded up as well.

Hearing Summer's groan, Blake turned his head to his sister. "Now c'mon, sis, do you think I'd lead us to a dead-end?" Blake said playfully as Summer gave him a look of pure, unadulterated tiredness, tired of his indomitable personality. "I know my directions!" Blake said, darting his index fingers in multiple directions.

"Is this a choke point?" Genevieve asked, breaking Blake from his silly reference.

"Kinda like a corral, really; the dead are on that side," Blake said, pointing past the wall. "This is the end of the 'safe' zone," Blake explained, making sure to use air quotations for the word safe.

"We've seen so many walkers inside this zone; what happened?" Summer asked, looking back at the skyline of Baltimore.

Blake shrugged his shoulders as he didn't know exactly how the dead got in the zone. "My best guess? People turn without being bit or anything, right? So people dying in their sleep, and people too scared to own up to being bit or stuff like that could do it," the man surmised as he walked towards the wall.

Looking around and rummaging through the overgrown grass against the first trailer, Blake leaned over and pulled a ladder out of the weeds, and walked upright before setting it against the trailer.