Survive

What A Lovely Day

Early in the morning, after I had said goodbye to the kids and stopped by the infirmary to talk to Curtis through the door again, I met up with Patrick, Dorin and Adé by the main tunnel entrance. I had a pack strapped over my shoulders filled with enough supplies for the trip. Luckily I'd also gotten my gun and knife back from the armory that morning.

"Look who decided to grace us with her presence." Patrick scoffed as I approached the three men. I simply rolled my eyes and turned to face Adé and Dorin.

"Here is your radio, it's set to channel four. We always keep them on when we go out." Dorin explained, holding out a handheld shortwave radio for me to take. I thanked him with a nod and clipped the device to my belt and turned the switch on. Patrick gestured for the man by the entrance to open the heavy mechanical door. The operator pressed a button on a control panel and the lights started to flash yellow and the door hissed as it opened. Cold air blew in as the door slid open, causing me to flinch as it bit into my skin. I pulled the black scarf up around my face and slid on Curtis' old hat. My fur-lined coat kept me relatively protected from the bitter cold, but I still shivered as we walked out onto the frozen wasteland.

"What a lovely day." Patrick sneered at the snow covered landscape, for once I had to agree with his sarcasm. My eyes caught sight of the two vehicles waiting for us, they looked like snowmobiles that had been retrofitted with small solar panels to use as the energy source.

"Only two?" I asked, walking up to the familiar vehicles.

"Yep, you're gonna have to piggyback with me, love." Patrick smirked, throwing a leg over the seat and turning on the machine. I looked over and saw that Dorin and Adé were already situated on the other vehicle.

"Of course..." I grumbled and reluctantly got on behind Patrick, but I refused to show any discomfort. With a final look back at the bunker door as it closed, my arms instinctively wrapped around Patrick's middle as the vehicle lurched forward. Wind blew every which way, causing the little flakes of snow to cut into my face.

We had already made it back through Berlin by the time the sun was high in the sky overhead. I hadn't noticed until we were halfway out of the city that we were driving through sort of a man-made path. Cars and trucks had been pushed out of the way on the street and the snow was cleared a little.

"Did you guys do this?" I called over the low whirring of the machine. Patrick's head moved like he was nodding and he glanced back at me for a second.

"This is our main road through the city." he called back, turning his attention back onto the road. A sign was sticking out of the ground near the end of the road, when I looked back as we exited the city I saw that the actual name of the road had been scratched out and the name Berlin Path was painted over it in a multitude of different languages.

When the sun was starting to go down, we stopped for the night and made camp in the middle of some small town that was barely standing. Luckily, a house wasn't completely in ruins, so we had a place to keep the wind off our backs. Patrick and Adé had broken down chairs and busted up floorboards to use as fire wood, while Dorin searched for anything useful. I spread out the marked up map on the floor and estimated how far we were from the ships location.

"If my calculations are correct, which they tend to be most of the time, I'd say we can get there in two days, maybe two and a half if we drag our asses." I explained, folding up the map and placing it back into my bag.

"Sounds like we're making good time." Adé said, his cigar lit between his teeth. With how much he had been smoking it, it wouldn't be long before it was a stump.

"Not good enough." Patrick and I muttered in unison. I shot him a small glare, but didn't say anything else.

"Don't worry Sam. We will be back before you know it." Dorin said with a half smile as he tossed another broken chair leg into the fireplace we were sitting around. I sighed and held my hands up to the small fire, the heat radiating through my aching fingers. A howl echoed in the distance outside the house, causing all of us to reach for our weapons simultaneously.

"How much do you wanna bet that used to be a Fluffy or a Rex or something..." Patrick murmured, keeping his bow within reach.

"They're all wild now, have been for years. And they will not think twice about ripping you apart." Adé explained, putting his revolver in the holster on his belt. We all settled down after a few moments of tense silence, listening for any more howls in the distance.

"We should sleep in shifts." I suggested, my worry for the dangers outside growing even more in the unsettling silence.

"They're just dogs, not like any of 'em can open a door." Patrick snickered. I rolled my eyes and stood up, striding over to the entrance of the house. 

"You mean this door?" I asked sarcastically, using two fingers to easily push the door open and shut, the rusted hinges barely keeping it attached to the frame. "No, you're right. Nothing can open this bulkhead, except maybe a goddamn stiff wind."

"You wanna back up that attitude?" Patrick snapped, rising to his feet in one swift motion. The agitation obvious on his face. "I'm gettin' sick and tired of your bullshit!"

"Brave words coming from the grown ass man who gets patronized by his daddy." I jeered, not holding back on my remarks now that we were out of range from Hawthorne's authority.

"Here we go..." Dorin sighed and shook his head as he turned around in his spot to watch our little pissing match. Patrick took a step forward, pointing his finger at me angrily.

"Shut up you little--"

"I'm afraid name calling is not gonna have the desired effect, because I've heard it all." I cut him off, matching his threatening step forward with my own.

"All you've done since the minute you woke up in the bunker is bitch and moan. Now that your little body guard is sick with the sniffles, you jump at the chance to help. Sounds a bit hypocritical, Samantha." he hissed, his lips curling into a sneer.

"You wanna talk hypocritical? Okay, how about you parading around that bunker like you're king of the castle, swinging your prick around for all to see, when in reality you're just some insecure little twat!" I shouted, my voice almost going hoarse near the end of my rant.

The room was quiet, the creaking of the old wood and rusted pipes the only sound any of us could hear. Patrick and I stared each other down, I didn't notice that we had moved closer during our screaming match, we were almost toe to toe. It took everything I had not to start throwing punches.

"You two finally get it out of your systems?" Adé grumbled with his back to us as he stoked the fire with his hunting knife. I huffed quietly in slight amusement and took a step back from Patrick.

"We'll see."

A/N: Hey everyone! So sorry about not updating for a while, but I've been working on a super super secret fanfic that I'm not sure if I'll be posting yet. But if I do post it I'll let you all know! Anywho! Thanks for reading! Xoxo