𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒇 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 ➪ «𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑥𝑜𝑛»

ch. VI - 《night's watch》

oOo

Diana watched the skyline of the city grow ever fainter with every jostling bump in the road. The low sun beat down on them, warming flesh and metal, and Diana had to wonder if it was that or the nerves that were causing her to sweat so excessively.

It would've been nice to know where they were going or if they were even headed anywhere in specific, but she didn't have the guts to ask, and could only hope her parents' suspicions were wrong. Entertaining the thought made her stomach clench with fear, which was nauseating in addition to the bumpy ride.

No one opened their mouth for the entire ride. Diana kept her ears alert to the front, but the two brothers were probably aware that she could overhear anything they chanced to say.

She really hoped she hadn't been too rash in trusting them. Now that the deed was done, all these doubts kept nagging her, adding to her anxiety.

The bow hummed pleasantly in her tight grip. No worries, it seemed to convey. No worries.

She wanted to laugh. She was taking pseudo advice from an inanimate object, but the hum genuinely calmed her down, so she couldn't care less and took what she could get. For lack of better resources, she spat a bit on the hem of her button-up and used that to clean off the dried blood from the bow, nose scrunched in disgust. The first thing she'd do after getting off the truck would be taking that top off.

They drove for a long time, the sunlight casting a blinding golden glow over them that had them shielding their eyes. After completely losing the city from sight, they took smaller side roads which led back to the forest.

Diana sighed - back into the woods with them. How much forest was there in Georgia anyway? But this place was much farther away from where they'd camped at, in the complete opposite direction.

They passed by a small wooden cabin with a plaque announcing its name; it looked uninhabited, and also like something out of a horror movie, but then again, every cabin in the woods looked out of a horror movie to Diana, so she was biased. To her relief, they drove down past it, not stopping at the designated parking spot.

Diana noticed her father perk up and look around them, scouting for danger, drawing a mental map. His head snapped from side to side like that of an owl, and Diana almost feared he'd give himself whiplash.

They finally reached their apparent destination; a small clearing, only about twice the size of the truck, a fire pit right at the center of it. 'Rifle' drove around it and parked so that the truck would be facing the exit, ready to skedaddle should the need arise.

Everyone was on high alert, scanning the area, searching for unnatural movement among the trees, any glimpse for proof of another human being or beings, even the undead kind, since that was now apparently an option.

Diana was hyper aware of every little chirp of a bird and rustle of the foliage. She went into fight-or-flight mode, blood rushing in her ears and pulsing in the tips of her fingers, adding to the bow.

Sam dropped down and motioned everyone to do the same, helping Irene by the waist.

Diana lingered a bit, hoping to eavesdrop on the two brothers, but they kept their silence until they climbed out.

Once everyone was on firm ground and facing each other, the silence grew awkward and tense.

Diana was waiting for someone to say something, anything, but she knew that nothing would come from her parents' side, so it would either fall down to her or the two brothers.

Her heart fluttered, still beating wildly and the sweat forming on her brow made her oddly aware of the grime on her skin, which was her brain's way of deflecting from the issue at hand.