Back Woods

Chapter Eleven

As the vehicle hummed along the highway, the atmosphere inside grew increasingly heavy with silence. Inside, despite the occupants sharing a common mission, there was little conversation and Glenn, had exhausted all  usual topics of conversation a while ago. Now, the only sound was the rhythmic hum of tires against asphalt. As they neared the city, Tess gazed solemnly out the window, staring at the once bustling highway that now lay desolate and hauntingly silent. The road leading into the city was empty, but on the other side stretching as far as the eye could see, there were rows upon rows of abandoned, frozen in time like relics of a bygone era. Papers and debris littered the ground, remnants of a hurried exodus as people fled in search of safety and sanctuary.

Amidst the sea of cars, there were signs of desperation and despair. Suitcases lay abandoned on the roadside, their contents spilling out in a haphazard jumble. Tattered remnants of clothing fluttered in the breeze, caught on broken branches and twisted metal. The vehicles, once symbols of freedom and mobility, now stood as silent witnesses to the chaos that had unfolded. Some were overturned, their twisted metal frames bearing the scars of violent collisions. 

Amongst the abandoned cars that cluttered the road, Tess grimaced as her eyes settled on a particular vehicle. As they approached, the faint outline of a body became visible, slumped against the driver's side window. The glass, cracked and shattered, offered a macabre view of the grisly scene within. A ghastly figure, its flesh pallid and mottled with decay, hung limply out of the window, suspended by a tangle of seatbelt straps that dug into its decomposing flesh. Flies buzzed lazily around the cadaver, drawn by the promise of sustenance in its decaying flesh.

The corpse's vacant eyes stared sightlessly into her own and her lips turned downward and her eyes squinted in disgust. Glenn glanced at his friend sitting beside him, his eyes turning away quickly from the sickening site that she was intently staring at. 

Determined to break the tension, Glenn cleared his throat.

 "Has anyone ever seen that viral photo of all the cars leaving Chernobyl?," he ventured, gesturing vaguely towards the rearview mirror, "that's what that looks like," 

His attempt to spark conversation hung in the air for a moment, met only with the sound of the engine's steady purr. Daryl stared quizzingly at him for a moment, before he resumed staring blankly out the window, nibbling nervously at the skin of his thumb. In the rearview mirror, he awkwardly met the gaze of T-Dog and Rick as both their eyes seemed to take it in turns to stare at him, accompanying their actions with a raised eyebrow.   

Twisting her head that was nestled on the palm of her hand, Tess gave him a small smile, ""Yeah, I guess it does kinda look like that," 

Matching her smile, Glenn was grateful for any sign of interaction from any occupant within the car as he tried to distract himself from the nervous thoughts that infiltrated his head. A couple of minutes later, the group agreed to abandon the vehicle on the outskirts of the city, which was suggested by both Glenn and Tess due to their many excursions. Exiting the vehicle, Tess grasped the handles of her backpack and checked her various weapons that were on her body, giving her brother a small nod as he did the same. 

Crouching low, Tess held her breath in anticipation as she heard guttural groaning behind a bricked wall. Carefully, T-Dog maneuvered the wire cutters against the cold, unforgiving metal of the wired fence. Each snip of the blades caused her body to tense and her eyebrows furrowed as she gnawed her bottom lip between her teeth. She felt like the sound amplified in the quiet.  

With each cut, the wire yielded reluctantly, resisting T-Dogs strained efforts with a metallic groan that seemed to echo.  With one final, decisive snip, the last strand of wire fell away, leaving a gap just wide enough for Tess to slip through  first. Pausing for a moment, she listened intently for any signs and peered around the corner of a dilapidated building.