Oblivion {n.h.}

Chapter 43.

LATE WINTER

My feet crunch in the snow as we walk down the interstate, my nose red and cold, only my beanie protecting my ears from the frigid winds before us.

Wiping my gloved fingers along a snow-covered car, the snow begins to fall just a bit harder, making it less easy to gaze down the highway.

"9:00 Danielle." Perrie calls from behind me, and the growls of a hungry walker become clear.

As I turn with my machete to slice off the head, an arrow goes right between his eyes, allowing the dead man to fall and reveal Allison not far behind with her crossbow.

"I got you." She tells me, not taking her eyes off mine.

"Temperature is dropping like flies." Carly chatters through her teeth, making it obvious her statement would be true even if she hadn't said it.

"Just a little further." Lydia calls from up front, her long and frozen red hair blowing in the wind as we walk into the blizzardous air.

"The group I saw–" Allison leads on a new conversation, "they weren't far from here, I heard the screams as I was sneaking away; they're long gone if not have already walked off." Her voice distant but still clear behind me.

"That's what I'm hoping." I reply, my chapped lips not wanting to annunciate my words for me.

"How's it going?" Niall's voice buzzes into the walkie-talkie in my pocket. Pulling it out, I reply quickly, not wanting to worry him the slightest.

"Almost to the location, we decided to go on foot." I tell him, looking to Perrie as she nods her head at what I tell my boyfriend.

Without another second he buzzes back, and obviously had been waiting for a reply. "Signal back when it's time for Steven and H to head out."

Niall speaks, the plan unfolding elaborately. We go take the supplies Allison had mentioned before getting picked up and brought back; running a little low on food this week.

"There." Perrie calls, pointing her finger as she makes her way up to where Lydia leads us down the long road.

Just as Allison had said; three male bodies lay in the road, ran over once and eaten just about all the way through.

Carly, Lydia, Perrie, Allison, and I make our way over, searching the bags and weapons they had on them before they'd gone.

"How'd you know this would happen?" Carly asks, looking to Allison for answers as she pulls an orange camping bag over her shoulder.

"Saw the herd, didn't see them." Allison replies, wiping some snow off of her eyelashes and wiping her red nose before motioning to the walkie-talkie in my hand.

"Ready." I signal to Niall, as we pack up the stuff and start to tread back down the road, ready to meet our selected-drivers half way there.

As we begin to walk a chill runs up my spine and Allison sticks out an arm to stop us from walking, and in the faintest haze, a truck makes its way down the highway; but it's not ours.

Gunshots spurt the air and we make a break for the side of the road where many trees hide us from the wanderers of the street.

"Shhhh." Perrie raises a finger to her mouth, and the truck stops just a bit further down the road where we hide; relief flooding my body knowing they didn't see us.

Two men and a woman get out of the truck, seemingly stopping to have a chat or plan whatever they're going to do next.

"Shit." I hear Lydia whisper as more of a cry for help than anything. My eyes flicker to her quickly, wondering what's wrong, but she looks straight past me at Allison; who has the same exact look on her face; fear.

"–No we need better than that." One of the men raises his voice at the other, "We need to find others, others doing better than us, that's how we SURVIVE these days."

Allison doesn't remove her eyes from the three people, just stares with her mouth agape and her breathing heavier than usual.

"You know what lets just continue on, it's cold and people are going to run out of supplies soon; but we're gonna have to find them." The girl orders, her accent thick and American, something I've heard from New Jersey before.

The trio joins back together in their truck before driving off, Allison and Lydia both still in shock from the scenario before us.

"Do you know who those people were?" Carly whispers and sets a hand on Allison's shoulder as if the three people could still hear us.

"Allison finds groups capable of living with us and taking in–" Lydia leads on, beginning to stand up and brush the leaves off of her jeans.

"–These people; are an example of what you need to watch out for." Allison continues Lydia's point, gaining a nod from her friend and a shift of her rifle over her shoulder. "Those were bad people."

As soon as we step back into the road Steven and Harry pull up in the ammunition truck in pursuit of our mission, coming from the same way our visitors came, but opposite of the way they left.

Harry hops out of the passenger seat and walks around the back to open up the door for us; lifting the shutter loudly as we all climb in.

"Reed, Lela, and Mike." Allison continues again, breathing hot air into her hands in order to warm them up.

"We've had trouble with them before," Lydia frowns, "lost some amazing people." She gains a nod from Allison as we slowly bounce along the slippery highway.

"Is that why you guys split up from Thomas and Kaya?" Perrie stutters her Geordie accent out to Allison.

Lydia turns around to the blonde girl and nods her head, Allison staying quiet before speaking again.

"I thought we lost them back in Wilshire." My mind a blur with all of this new information to take in. "Hopefully they'll pass right through though, but now we're needing an escape plan out of the city, we're having too many close calls with walkers out here."

"Where else do we go? It's bloody snowing outside." Carly asks, her accent thick and raspy from the cold.

"I'd say the country." Perrie replies, "But let's wait to talk with the others."

I don't like where this is going at all, One; with ruthless killers out there somewhere close, and two: leaving a place I've come to know well again.

"We finally cleared out the cars from outside of the storage unit, we're fully capable of living where we are now." I tell them, trying to not sound so desperate for the safeness of the underground.

"Not with them around." Lydia tells me, furrowing her eyebrows and shaking her head before she reaches into my backpack and pulls out the walkie-talkie.

"Niall, if you copy I'd like you to deliver this information to Kaya or Thomas; we have ourselves a problem."