Escape the Walking Dead // h.s.

13

Jane's POV

The three of us piled into a gutted fifteen passenger van and went straight to the supermarket about forty five minutes outside of town. Harry and Sawyer both sat up front and I wasn't sure if it was a seniority decision or if they were hazing me by putting me back there without a seat. My hands gripped tightly into the back of Sawyer's passenger seat as Harry sped through the back streets.

"How ya doing, Jane?" Harry's smartass made a comment while taking a hard turn. I gripped tight onto the seat hoping I wouldn't lose my balance and be sent into the metal side of the van.

These assholes were definitely hazing me.

"Just fine," I said through my teeth while my knuckles turned white from holding on so tightly.

They laughed when Harry swerved in the road to miss a dead one and I hit my head against the side of the van.

"Shit," I cussed under my breath and held onto my throbbing cheek bone.

After finally growing up and getting serious about the mission, Harry slowed the van in front of the building we were scouting. Dead ones were laying flat on the concrete already carcasses and shells of their hosts. We were too late...

Harry slammed his fist into his steering wheel frustrated that we were late to the supermarket raid.

"Now what?" Sawyer looked to Harry for direction and orders.

"Wait..." my voice shuttered as I looked closer ahead.

Dead women were tied by ropes to the cement pillars in the entryway of the supermarket. My mouth dried instantly and I sensed that Harry noticed the warning too. This was Mad Men territory.

"Yo, that's sick," Sawyer commented disgusted by what he saw.

"Get out of here," my voice shook more and Harry put the car into drive immediately following my plea. "Now! Go, go, go."

The two women seemed to have been dead for a while but as I looked closer I noticed a very familiar hair color. The woman I focused on had red hair and I recognized her as Jessica, the CNN reporter in my old group. The breath was taken straight from my lungs and I went limp seeing her dead and broken. She was a fighter? How did this...?

I felt sick to my stomach looking at her filleted dead body tied to a post.

"Jane," Harry spoke while turning his head to look back at me. "Jane."

She was so strong. How could she have been taken? Why did she let them kill her?

"Jane!" Harry shouted grabbing my attention again.

"I knew her," my throat croaked and I batted away unwelcome tears. "She was a part of my old group."

The two were silent as we traveled on the road and I crouched down behind Sawyer's seat to let it sink in. My mind was racing. Where were Khan and Stanley now? Did they die too? Was it my fault that I didn't get to them in time that day? Did they all die against the wrath of the Mad Men because I wasn't on time?

"Are you alright?" Harry broke the silence in the van.

"I'm fine," I answered sitting back up and looking out the windshield. "Where are we going next?"

A warehouse full of pallets of untouched packaged food awaited us. We killed a few dozen dead ones with a gun before getting inside and then we took care of a few more.