Life After Death

Chapter 42

Vivian and the others were shortly led in another direction, to a new camp, by Leesa, Theo and the other man - Henry.

They'd been introduced to Henry as they started their journey, wasting no time in lingering. Recognising him already, having passed him in Serenity and working alongside him before undoubtedly. He was taller than the rest, and older too by the looks of it. Perhaps mid 40's, with darker hair and a forming bald patch. Though if anything, that could just as easily be down to stress.

And as they followed their lead, the group took note of their considerably less dirty clothes, hair, and faces. They were by no means pristine, but they took it as a sure sign that they had to have an adequate set up somewhere within the vicinity.

"Any injuries or bites we should know about?" Theo enquired, he'd already looked them up and down discreetly and was fairly certain of the answer but was satisfied none the less when he received their verbal confirmation.

"No, we're fine."

Theo refrained from asking anything too personal at the minute. A blind man could tell there was some tension lingering between the group for whatever reason. And he didn't want to delve into any unsolved drama there may be until they at least had a seat and a fire surrounding them. As well as witnesses.

"Do you still have your truck, Jace? Or any more belongings?" Leesa now asked, shifting her glance from him to them all. Having regained her composure remarkably quickly given the news just broken to her, especially considering her age.

"Yeah, I parked it up a way back there," He gestured in the direction with a thumb over his shoulder.

"We'll go back for it tomorrow, once you've all had a night's sleep," Theo said, not so subtly implying that they looked an exhausted mess - not that they could take offence, given that it was true. The days gone by having left their mark on them.

Surprisingly, Aanya's voice was the next to speak, not even being there in person. The voice coming over Theo's own walkie talkie, rather than their own. Clearly having a direct line of communication with him. Serenity did have a number of radios collected, after all, they must've grabbed some or had some pre-packed.

"Had any luck out there?"

"Yeah, we found some people," His voice almost professional, but there was an undeniable look of glee - and relief - about him and his expression. Finally having a win, and a good one at that, "Vivian, Jade, Jace, Whitney and Javon. We're bringing them back to you and the others now."

After all, it was a proven strong, capable group. That, and he had grown to be quite fond of the teenagers.

"Others?" Jade picked up on and questioned. For a second, despite her previous actions and comments, and supposed new mindset, she allowed a flicker of hope to trespass into her thoughts.

"There's a group of us, maybe 25 so far. Including you guys now. Most of us must have fled in the same direction, on foot or by car, because it only took a few hours for the first of us to reunite. We still have hope for others that may be out here."

For the rest of the short lasting walk, they informed them of those they had seen fall on the night of. Even Skelly. Those they knew they wouldn't be found anywhere off road or in plain sight.

But their spirits were lifted from their now dim mood, as they finished climbing their way up a muddy hill, and into a neatly tucked away part of the woods. Shaped as a crescent, with fairly steep hills three quarters of the way around, perfect to conceal any smoke that would rise from the campfire. And there seemed to be a curved trail from their location to the road, however far away that was - the four, soon to be five, vehicles they had most likely escaped in, parked along the edge.