I n f i n i t u m

Chapter Sixteen

The RV came to a halt for what seemed like the hundredth time today.

Jess, Teejay, and I had a rotation going on for the past few days. The roads so far hadn't been giving us any trouble. It was pretty barren for the most part as we drove past grass fields, but it got worse the closer we got to the next town until it became apparent that it wasn't just a town that we were approaching. It was a city. A big one.

Any sane person still alive knew that cities were off limits in a zombie apocalypse, whatever this case may be. Everybody and their mothers would be stuck there, either dead or alive, and from our experience, the latter was the worse of the two.

"Any ideas?"

"We can go around," Teejay offered.

"We don't have enough gas to make that trip," I pointed out.

The road before us was packed and it was pretty obvious what our only option was, but no one wanted to say it out loud. Finding a working vehicle was close to impossible these days, much less one where we could comfortably and safely camp out in for the winter. It hadn't been snowing too heavily, and the cold was manageable inside shelter, but soon that wouldn't be the case. The RV quickly became our home and now we had to abandon it.

The three of us spent the next few minutes sorting through our belongings, picking and choosing what needed to stay and what needed to go. We needed to lighten our backpacks and that meant leaving the extravagances we'd managed to scavenge during our travels. I left behind the majority of my clothes, only bringing an extra pair of joggers and a winter coat. Jess left her mini book collection and Teejay had to leave behind a few of his shoes.

I lead the way a few feet ahead of the two just in case there was anything lurking where we couldn't see them. Quickly and quietly, we wove through the sea of cars, only stopping to check a few for any supplies. Ideally, I would've made it through the city in two hours tops, but with Jess and Teejay, we had about half an hour of light left. Before nightfall, we managed to hole up in a treehouse in what looked to be a public park.

There was no small talk as we all began to set up our sleeping arrangements. We didn't have sleeping bags anymore, so Jess spread out an old quilt blanket for us to lay on. The night was quiet, but I didn't mind because it made it easier for me to focus on my surroundings. Although the treehouse was a good distance away from the ground, it was still unsettling being out in the open. The abandoned city had looked awful enough in the distance and was even more creepy now that it was dark, the skyscrapers towering over us ominously.

I tried to imagine a time when the buildings didn't look so sad and the streets so barren, where people walked about without care, taking everything for granted. It seemed unreal, that even I had been among thousands of them in the Stronghold that was Bethel city.

"I'll take first watch," I said as soon as we were settled.

They didn't argue. Teejay offered to take second watch before he dozed off, leaving me in the midst of soft snoring. I allowed for my thoughts to take over, reminiscing on what had gone down in the past few months. I didn't know how I did it. Finding this group, making it through the devastating losses, all the obstacles that came afterwards, up until now. It would've seemed impossible had I thought of it beforehand, but somehow, I managed to survive.

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A scream jerked me awake sometime in the night. I remained in my half sitting-up, half laying-down position, silently staring out into the open park, wondering if the scream that woke me up was even real. Just as I was about to call it off as a figment of my imagination, that same high-pitched scream sounded once more.