Age of zombies

[37] Detour

We backed away from the Eastport checkpoint, the weight of failure hanging in the air like a bad stench. Daisy clenched her jaw, knuckles white against the steering wheel, and I could tell she was furious. I didn't blame her. We were so close, and now the border was blocked off by a bunch of trigger-happy soldiers.

"Fk," Ethan muttered from the back seat, his voice a low growl. "Now what? We just keep driving until we hit a wall?"

"Shut up, Ethan," Daisy snapped, her eyes scanning the road ahead. "We'll find another way."

We took a sharp turn off the main road, heading down an old, barely visible path that led into a valley. The trees closed in on us as we descended, the shadows stretching long across the ground as the sun sank lower in the sky. The truck bumped and rattled over the rough terrain, and I gripped the door handle tight, feeling uneasy.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked, glancing at Daisy.

"No," she replied flatly, "but we don't have any other options. The main roads are a death trap. We'll cut through the valley and avoid the military checkpoints. We just need to—"

BOOM!

The world exploded around us. The deafening roar of the blast filled my ears, and in an instant, everything went sideways. The truck lifted off the ground, flipping through the air like a toy. My stomach dropped, and I felt myself slam hard against the door as the vehicle spun out of control.

We flipped again, metal screeching and glass shattering around us. I lost track of how many times we rolled—two, three, maybe four—until finally, with a bone-rattling crash, the truck landed upside down, skidding to a violent halt.

For a moment, everything was still. The only sound was the ringing in my ears and the faint groan of the damaged truck settling in the dirt. I gasped for breath, feeling dazed and disoriented. My body ached all over, but I was alive. Somehow, we were alive.

"Fk... everyone okay?" Daisy's voice came from somewhere nearby, groggy but intact.

I blinked, trying to clear the dizziness from my head. "Yeah... I think so."

Yabe was next to me, her eyes wide with shock but otherwise unharmed. "Senpai... what happened?"

I groaned, unbuckling my seatbelt as I carefully crawled out of the mangled truck. "We hit a mine. Shit, I didn't even see it."

Ethan's voice came from the back seat, muffled and strained. "I'm alive... barely. Jesus, that was close."

Liza, tangled up in her seatbelt, was already cursing loudly as she struggled to free herself. "Fk this shit! Are you kidding me? We just survived a goddamn landmine!"

Daisy was the first to pull herself out of the wreckage, her face grim as she took in the damage. The truck was a total wreck—upside down, one side completely blown apart by the explosion. It was a miracle none of us were seriously hurt.

"Holy shit," Ethan muttered as he climbed out, rubbing his head. "How the hell did we survive that?"

Daisy let out a long breath, clearly still in shock but trying to stay focused. "Doesn't matter. We need to move. This truck's done for."

I nodded, shaking off the last bit of dizziness as I looked around. "Let's salvage what we can."

The others quickly followed suit, crawling back into the wreckage to grab whatever supplies were still intact. A couple of cans of food, some water, our weapons—anything that hadn't been completely destroyed in the blast.

Yabe held up her backpack, which, miraculously, had survived the crash. "We still have the medicine," she said quietly. "Thank goodness."

"Good," Daisy said, her voice tense. "We'll need that. Let's get moving."