SafeHaven

Chapter 4

3rd Person

The group made it past the highway and into the White Quarter. The truck had broke down the moment they passed the entrance but they didn't complain. All they had to do is get past the Quarter and into the walls of SafeHaven.

They all got off and made their way down the alleyways of the broken buildings.

The White Quarter, it was called such due to the dust of concrete covering everything and reflecting white. The remains of the city surrounded the tall and towering walls where SafeHaven resided.

From Hunter's experiences in traversing the Quarter, he should already know the best routes to take so they can reach the walls safely. In fact, he already has several routes mapped out and always expects them to be free of infected.

The group made their way in a chain of buildings that connected together, a path that led straight through the quarter and to the nearest gate of the walls.

As they went through the buildings, Hunter noticed a strange smell that he hasn't smelled in the same path before.

He stopped, as did the others. They were in a small building that used to be a store, they had entered through the side door and inside was filled with broken furniture and boards that heavily covered the windows.

Connor frowned at the sudden stop.

"What is it?" He asked the leader

Hunter sniffed the air, "Smell that?"

Connor sniffed as well, "What?"

Hunter picked up the faint scent of wet hair. The same smell that you get after getting out of the shower; something that is rarely done lately apparently. It was a smell that stood out there since it never really smelled like it and Hunter should know.

He's used to remembering smells in order to distinguishing when an infected has been around. They always leave the smell of rotten flesh, a scent that is never pleasant to experience. And this wasn't the smell of an infected.

This was the smell of a human.

Hunter placed his hand on his rifle.

"Someone's been here." He said with a serious look

Connor looked around, to see if something was out of place, and that's quite hard to do since everything was out of place. The floor was full of dirt and dust, the furniture was all broken and thrown around. This place was not in the best of conditions.

But Connor noticed something odd, something that didn't seem right.

He frowned and walked over to the corner of the room. As the others were confused at the sudden turn of events, Connor crouched down to a certain spot in the floor.

"Look at this." Connor called over to Hunter

Hunter walked over to him and saw where Connor was staring.

The floor, which was supposed to be extremely dirty with faint traces of footsteps that were left by scouts passing through, was cleaned. As if it was actually cleaned for a spot to lay down or something.

Connor looked at Hunter, "Someone's has been bunking down in this place."

Hunter then squinted at something he spotted in the floor. He reached down to pick up a long strand of black hair.

"And looks like she was very comfortable." He said, "Must've slept here."

Connor grunted in agreement.

"Who is this person?" He said

Hunter was about to answer to that when Mick spoke up.

"Uh, I don't really get what's going on but is it really the time to discuss who's been bunking down???" He asked, "If we stay here too long, we might attract infected."

He was right. Staying in the same place for too long can attract the wrong attention. They arw almost at the gates, they can't stop now

"Right." Connor said standing up, "Let's keep moving. We'll worry about this later."

Hunter nodded, "Yea. Let's go."

***************************

Hunter

As always, walking up to the walls is quite the experience.  Very surreal if I must say. The towering structures of concrete were at least 500 feet tall.

The walls left a shadow on it's nearby surrounding that really darkened the Quarter.

As the group and I walked up to a Gate, a large and fortified gate that was 20 feet squared. Heck, it was even surrounded by s large fortified barricade that had it's own fenced gate. Even that gate was quite fortified with barbed wire and metal spikes. Between the gates and the barricade that fences that area around the entrance, there was at least 4 guards that monitored the gate.

Let me tell you, it takes a lot of balls to do guard duty like that. You had a massive gate that was 5 feet thick and only opened to incoming trucks of supplies and was closed most of the time. You had a thin barricade of barbed wire and spikes with a fenced gate that between the outside world and you, while the best defense was behind you and no way to get back in in time, if the barricade was destroyed and a horde broke through.

It takes a lot of balls for someone to be a guard with that situation. A lot of balls and little sanity to that shit.

Luckily, infected rarely drifted to the gate so there wasn't much of a problem. This gate was one of the 6 main gates around the walls. So there a lot of brave souls risking their lives to guard the gate.

We reached the fenced gate as one of the guards noticed us. They instantly recognized me leading the group. 

I saw as the guard turned around to the gate.

"Hunter is here!!" He yelled, "I repeat, Hunter is here!!"

Suddenly, they opened the fenced gate and waited for us to walk in. They had their assault rifles ready, in case any infected came chasing behind us. Trust me, it has happened before.

We all walked through the gate and I waited as they closed it back again.

I looked at one of the guards.

"Glad your back, Hunter." He said before turning to the gate, "Open the door!"

I saw as a door opened within the gate.

Quite surprising, every time I see it. This big ass metal gate that was too heavy to move having a smaller opening that was just for human size.  A door right to the left of it. It was really convenient, really.

I heard as Riley and Mick let our a sigh.

"Finally, we're back." He said

The guard nodded, "Welcome back guys." He said,

"Welcome home."