The Price of Humanity

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Two

"This is a bad idea." I whisper to Zane as we crouch low, looking out of the closed window.

We decided to take Mia with us. A completely irresponsible and ludicrous decision which we made in order to try and keep her safe. A decision that further enforces my opinion on not wanting to have children or a relationship.

People that depend on you cause problems. Like the one we're currently in.

I peer out the window again, looking down over the high school. Seriously, out of all the places they could survive in, why choose to go back to school?

They have converted the cark park into a courtyard of sorts, with a makeshift stable, raised beds with food growing in them and all their vehicles parked up in neat rows.

At least they're organised.

"Time." Zane says, breaking the eerie silence we seemed to have fallen into – excluding my constant attempts to get him to take Mia home. I look down at Zane's watch which I'm holding in my hands.

"Five minutes, give or take a few seconds." I reply, watching the two guards walk around a corner to patrol the front of the fence.

"That's tight." Zane mumbles, glancing over all of their security measures for the hundredth time. I follow suit.

I doubt the security cameras even work anymore but they still have enough manpower without them. The guards, we've worked out, patrol the outskirts in twos and are five minutes apart from each other. That eliminates the possibility of taking a guard out sneakily, since there will be another one to sound the alarm.

They also have guys on the fence at the main gate, I guess they'll get a bit suspicious if a patrol doesn't come around after more than five minutes.

The roof of the main high school building also has guards on it. Some with sniper rifles, some with MP5s.

Oh yeah. There are multiple buildings. It's basically a fortress, the fence surrounds the entire campus and is made out of corrugated metal and large industrial bins on the inside to support them.

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they had made battlements and arrow slits.

I look around the fence for the millionth time, Mia tucked into one of my sides and Zane on the other. We're up in a tall building near the school. Just high enough to see the layout and far enough to not be spotted.

Out of the corner of my eye I see movement and spin my head to a part of the fence, practically at the back of the school. A girl, around my age, jumps effortlessly over the fence and lands smoothly on top of the bin inside.

She jumps down and runs into the nearby building before anybody sees her. Just the opening we need.

"There." I say. Pointing to where the girl just entered the fortress from. "A girl just jumped through there and managed to get in unnoticed."

Zane looks at where I'm pointing, squinting due to the distance.

"The building probably blocks the sight of the guards on the roof and at the gate. Although you'd have to time it with the patrol to get in..."

"But it could work." I interrupt him, now full with enthusiasm since I found the weak spot we were looking for.

"It could work champ." He says, ruffling my hair and standing up. He leads us back down the creaking stairway and once again into the street.

My boots make harsh noises in the silence of the apocalypse while we run down the street in a protective formation. I run at the front, following in the direction of the weak spot while Zane runs at the back, able to keep an eye out and check on both Mia and me.

I turn down a street, two sets of footsteps following behind me and see the weak spot in the fence where the girl was able to get in through.

I don't know how she was able to jump over the eight-foot fence but that's a detail for another day.

I slow down to a walk, looking around for a doorway. We need a place to hide and plan how we're going to find Adam once we're inside.

My search is stopped however by Zane harshly pulling both Mia and me into the side of the street, partly down an alleyway. I look up at him, ready to release all my fury when I see the panic in his eyes and the finger on his lips, signalling me to be quiet.

I peer around him slightly, first looking down in the direction of the fence, nothing seems to be on the main road between the fence and the street we're on.

I still can't figure out how that girl got up and over the fence. I squint to try and see, looking intently at the fence from top to bottom, when I see it. Tucked into the bottom of the fence is a small, carved, stick. I scan my way up the fence and find what I'm looking for.

A few holes, big enough for the stick to fit into, are dotted up the corrugated metal. I smile, having figured out the way in. We still need to actually come up with a plan to search the buildings for Adam while not getting caught though.

My thoughts are disrupted by a large snarling coming from the other exit. Oh no. I was so disrupted by finding out a way into the school that I didn't actually check the other direction.

I didn't check what Zane was pulling us out of the street for.

I slowly turn my head, not wanting to see the disaster we're about to come face-to-face with.

Hundreds and hundreds of walkers are stumbling along the street we were just a second running down. More than enough to kill us and they might even be able to breach the defences of the high school.

A horde. Not only that but I have a feeling that this is the horde that forced us to leave our home. They must've come along one of the shorter routes to the city by the direction they're coming in.

Mia whimpers slightly and I cover her mouth to stop her from making any more noises, but it doesn't matter.

A single walker turns its head and starts heading down the street we're on. Then another. Then another.