Beautifully Invisible { 10k | A Z Nation Fanfiction}

Chapter 5

*Willow POV*

The sunlight alerted me that a new day was here as my closed eyelids appeared pink. I rubbed them and shielded them as I peered over the truck bed wall.

"Welcome to the City of Brotherly Love. Philadelphia, PA" stated a sign above the road.

On the side of the road a zombie devoured a person, and I grimaced at the irony of the two sights. Through the back glass I saw the people inside talking, but I couldn't hear the conversation. Cassandra seemed uneasy, her facial expression seemed tense, eyebrows furrowed and upturned.

"What're we doing in Philly?" I asked the others in the back of the truck.

Doc looked at me and raised his shoulders, giving an unsure look. The smell of death was heavy, the scent of rotting corpses surrounding me. The Murphy person rode with his head out the cabin's window, similar to the way a dog would. Sniper boy stood, perched in his usual position. Mack and Addy sat sandwiched together, shivering from the wind. I had become relatively accustomed to it, I enjoyed the cold.

Warren slowed the car to a stop.

"Woah! Is that really the Liberty Bell?" Mack guffawed, he looked at it like it was food, and man we were hungry.

Charles rattled off some historical quote and approached it. My eyes adjusted to the sunlight and I raised my eyebrows at the sight. The real life Liberty Bell, crack and all sitting on a flatbed truck. Of course, some asshole spray painted it, but it was real.

"Well I'll be damned" I whispered under my breath.

"We already are," Ten Thousand added.

I looked at him surprised, merely receiving a side glance and smirk in return.

"Three Years of the apocalypse and you think you'd seen everything," Doc stated in awe.

"Well when everything went bad, they tried saving a little history," Warren stated.

"Yeah well they should've known the only thing you can save is yourself. Lets go!" Murphy whined.

I stood for a second, choking at the words he'd just said. His mantra. I controlled my internal war raging, the sea of doubt and distrust surging painfully hard against my mind's retaining walls. My throat began to feel dry and shriveled as it does when I feel this helplessness, but I quelled myself and focused on the interaction before me.

"Hang on," Warren sassed Murphy, instructing that this new vehicle was soon to be ours.

Doc seemed fine with this, his body probably couldn't handle much more of the truck's external passenger accommodations. I would agree and add that the riveted metal seating is not very comfortable, and the air-conditioning is on full blast all the time.

"God bless the human race. 99% of them dead, but there's still one jackass alive with a spray can," Doc observed.

I cracked a smile for a second at Doc's humor, and Addy noticed. She walked casually toward me and set her hand on my shoulder. I jumped, even though I knew it was coming, and her hand fell back to her side. She said nothing, just standing next to me, with her spiky metal bat in hand. Warren opened the door to the flatbed truck holding the Liberty Bell, and a zombie roared from the driver's seat. I flinched, but sniper kid killed it with his sling shot, muttering another number as blood squelched from the wound.

Garnett barked some orders regarding the rest of our travel accommodations, and I crawled into the real back seat of the black truck. It was rather relieving to not have to see the Murphy guy near me, I still do not understand his problems. He is moody and shakes like a junkie going through withdrawal, but didn't appear to be the drug-head type.