A Little Word Called Love

Part 5: Doubt

Jorge heard a loud crash of metal hit the floor which woke him up immediately. He sat up quickly looking around to see what it was. Lilith was in the bed directly to his left as well as Damien and Tiffany across from him with two of the twin sized beds pushed together. Damien was lying on his side opposite from his wound. He could then see John lifting himself up from the floor with several metal items in his hands. John seemed to be cleaning his gun by taking off all the parts. Jorge stood up from the bed and walked over to John.

"What time is it?" Jorge said while stretching and yawning.

"About 6:30 AM," John responded "Didn't think the bolt action hitting the floor would wake anyone up."

"You know I always sleep with one eye open."

"Oh yeah you became paranoid ever since Jordan."

"Shut up," Jorge gleamed at John.

"Sorry."

Jorge noticed the camera Lilith brought down "She could grab the camera first, but not the hard drive. Not sure if she would want me to use it like she does."

"I say go for it," John shrugged "It's not gonna hurt we have plenty of batteries in here for it. They are in that cabinet behind your feet if you forgot."

"I guess I could give it a shot," Jorge turned on the camera and started recording "It's July 17th, 2021 at 6:..." he hesitated to look think.

John looked down at his watch "6:34 AM."

"Uhh yeah 6:34 AM and I haven't been on a video log before so I'm as Lilith may have mentioned the leader of Salutem. Well it's kinda gone now and we are currently down in this hatch which was under the floor of my office. Do not worry about Lilith by the way she is sleeping safe and sound over there. Um..our plan is to go to the highest tech hospital in the state to formulate the foundation for a cure which is stored on a hard drive acquired by Tiffany when she worked at MacDill," he tried to think of other things to say "I guess that's it really Lilith will be doing the video logs from now on I guess..Jorge out," The camera turned off.

"Congrats Jorge you have successfully done Lilith's job for her for the first time."

"Go to hell," Jorge smirked and said playfully.

"I think we are already here brother."

Jorge then focused his attention to the rest of the group sleeping "I should wake them."

"That would be a bad idea," John argued "This could possibly be their last night to have a deep rest so just let them alright?"

Jorge sighed "You're right. I'll make breakfast for everyone."

"That sounds amazing Jorge thank you," John said sarcastically yet grateful.

"It's been a while since I cooked anything so don't yell at me if I burn your eggs."

"Kinda feels like our childhood."

"Symbolically yes," Jorge reached down to pull out one small pan and placed it on the single stove range.

John was putting together his gun back together "You know I've been thinking about some stuff."

The range was heating up "What kind of stuff?"

"How will we mange treading across the state by ourselves with no quicker was of transportation? Have you even thought about what we will face? Hoards of infectors, the kinds of people like Abbigale and those savages that were trying to hunt down one person for the soul purpose of food, or actually nice people."

"I will explain the plan and orientation once everyone gets up."

"You always think of a way so I won't doubt you."

"Probably will get everyone here to Miami safe. Unlike Zargo," Jorge scoffed "He only had one person barley get here from Tampa and she was the weakest of them."

"Come on Jorge don't say that. She is tough, based on the tapes and her word."

"You know I'm all about survival of the fittest. There is no possible way she could have survived all of that."

Meanwhile Lilith was wide awake in her bed listening to everything they were saying. About an half an hour later Lilith finally decided to get out of bed. She rubbed her eyes and stretched at the same time while she was sitting at the edge of the bed and yawned. It looked like Damien and Tiffany were waking up too. She stood up slouched over and walking like a zombie to the center table where Jorge was just finishing breakfast.

"Ah Lilith I cooked breakfast for everyone."

Soon after Tiffany and Damien walked up towards the rest as Damien said "That sounds fucking fantastic right now."

Tiffany then wanted to say "Okay so whats the plan? We didn't get that USB to just sit around."

Jorge then said "Alright so through this door," He pointed the solid metal door across the table "is a small tunnel that leads to the sewer. We follow the sewer line until we reach a manhole I marked as an escape route in case this ever happened. It is located about a half a mile away from Salutem and far away from any infectors because the manhole is a the end of an alleyway where buildings surround it except for one side. I will go up first to make sure the street is and alley are clear. When I give the signal I will guard the manhole with my knife as the rest of you come up with the gear and yourselves of course."

John exhaled and continued to say over Jorge "If we see one or two infectors we kill them. Any more than 10 then we book it for the nearest shelter. At night we find a shelter to clear it out and sleep there I will choose the shelter. If we come across any survivor that needs help or any survivors period then we ignore them. No one needs to know what our business is and we shouldn't care what theirs is. If they fight we fight too. If there is too many we run. Is that understood?"

Everyone nodded their heads and stood up to get their things ready. Lilith grabbed her camera and noticed the lens was a bit out of place. "Did one of you touch my camera?"

"I actually did a log for you," Jorge told her.

Lilith gave him an angered look, but didn't say anything and continued to pack.

When everyone was ready and armed to the teeth Jorge said "Let's move out then shall we?"