Stay...Alive

Chapter 17

"It's not safe here anymore!" declared Laura, the blonde lady. The rest of the people were woken up and informed that all of them paying no heed to the fact it was the middle of the night. Without hesitation or question, the crowd of tired, hungry people started walking again. Of course, just around when the sun rose and splashed the sky with color, fatigue decided to finally take its toll on Victorine.

She limped next to Yolanda who was too worried to leave her side after seeing her jump on the back of a soldier.

"You scared the piss outta me," Yolanda told her, "but I'm kinda impressed. And proud."

Victorine barely had the energy to nod in response. She felt like she was about to fall over. It was so hard to keep her eyes open that the world looked like a constant blur. Yolanda took notice.

"You okay, kid?" Yolanda asked. Victorine gave her one look of I am so done, and Yolanda immediately asked, "Need a lift?"

"Yes," Victorine squeaked. Yolanda knelt down and Victorine hopped on her back, wrapping her legs around her waist and laying her head on top of Yolanda's. She saw Horace cross his arms and roll his eyes. With both hands, she flipped him off.

"Nice job out there, by the way," Victorine mumbled, her eyelids heavy.

"What?" Horace questioned, knitting his eyebrows though his eyes told all. Victorine didn't respond. She just smirked again.

"I think she means the whole smacking-the-man-with-his-own-gun thing," Yolanda explained.

"Oh..." Horace mumbled, before crossing his arms and getting into character. "I mean, he was coming at me. What else was I supposed to do?"

Victorine continued to smirk, and Horace blurted out, "Quit looking at me like that!"

Victorine shut her eyes and tried to fall asleep, her smirk permanently fixed on her face. The last thing she heard before dozing off to the motion and sounds of footsteps was Horace uttering, "Goddamnit..."

She took a power nap on Yolanda's back for who knows how long. At some point, she was in deep enough sleep to no longer feel the movement or hear the sounds a migrating crowd. She just drifted off into a dreamless, uninterrupted sleep.

And you have no idea how refreshing it felt.

By the time, Victorine opened her eyes, she could see shadows on the ground. The heat shining down on her back came and went. Victorine lifted her head off Yolanda's shoulder and looked around. She saw trees. And not just a black, dry trunk sticking out of the ground. Trees with green leaves and strong cores that block out the burning sun. There weren't that many trees; they were mostly spread out. But they were trees nonetheless.

Victorine patted Yolanda's shoulder, and she let her down. Victorine walked around herself for a second, taking it all in. She hadn't seen a tree like that for who knows how long. There wasn't any at the compound and she didn't see any on the train.

Damn, how long was I asleep? Victorine thought. She glanced around the crowd and realized that most of them looked like they were about to drop dead and fall asleep. Some couldn't even keep their heads up and opted to stare at their feet as they walked. It's a shame they can't take it all in.

Victorine gazed at the plants as the crowd marched down a dirt road, half the people dragging their feet behind them. It left tracks in the brown dirt and dug up small white rocks buried in the soil. Hell, it'd been a while since she'd even seen dirt that hadn't been exposed to fire.

Victorine stood on her tiptoes to try and see the end of the dirt road. When realized she wasn't tall enough to see over everyone heads, she put her feet in the fifth position, piléd, and jumped up. Just about ten yards away from the person at the head of the crowd was a clearing. She immediately felt butterflies flitter about in her stomach. She squeezed Yolanda's hand, and the women responded, "You see that too?"

Victorine nodded in excitement, and Yolanda quipped, "How?"

Victorine playfully and lightly slapped her arms, noticing how even Yolanda looked like she was about to pass out. The crowd trudged on, and at such a slow pace that Victorine could easily skirt around people so she could check on Primus. She skipped a little excited to see if he was as excited as she was. When she finally found him, she almost did a double-take in surprise.

Primus and Jay and Oliver were all holding hands.

Jay seemed to notice her surprise.

"Quit looking at us like that," Jay mumbled, two dark gray circles under his eyes. But Victorine kept looking at them exactly like that. "Quit it." She did not quit. "Quit it."
Victorine burst out into giggles. They didn't find it very amusing.

"It's for safety, okay?" Oliver groaned. Victorine raised an eyebrow. "Oh, shut up you weirdo."

Victorine still looked at him funny, but he'd given up talking back.

Victorine asked Primus, "You doing okay?"

Primus didn't look her in the eye but nodded. "Good."

When Jay gave up and unlaced his fingers with Primus, Victorine linked arms with Primus. She gazed at the green leaves overhead.

"It's really pretty, isn't it?" Victorine pointed out. Once again, he only responded with a smile and a nod. Victorine laid her head on his shoulder as they strolled. She took in the sight of every branch and every chipped piece of bark there was. It was like was in a national park on a sunny June day, strolling down a scenic, wooded hiking trail in the warm air with the love of her life.

The walk didn't last for long, as before they knew it, they'd reach the light at the end of the tunnel. That light led to a clearing larger than Victorine expected. In fact, the clearing was so large that she could barely see the other end of it. Slowly, the group all migrated inside and spread out in the open space, tired eyes fixated on their surroundings. Victorine burst out laughing once again at everyone's faces.

They seemed to have wandered onto probably one of the last surviving farms. Right in the center of the clearing was a little brown house, and on each end of the clearing was a big barn. Right next to the one of the left was a capacious and abundant field of yellow and white. Large portions of the land near the other barn were fenced off. The place was so big that it would take around five minutes just to walk from one building to another.

Suddenly, the door to the farmhouse slammed open and everyone jumped back. Victorine mom-armed Primus as she narrowed her eyes at the man in the doorway. He approached them, an ax in his hand. Everyone backed away, but the blonde and redheaded ladies walked forward, Laura holding out Lucy's tool.

"Hey! Hey!" The Lyla the redheaded lady shouted. "No need for that!"

"Who the hell are you?" the man demanded.

"J-just a bunch of survivors, okay? Just looking t'hide for a second."

"WHY?!"

"Because everything and everyone is trying to kill us out there! Haven't you been watching the news?"

"Everyone on the news is probably dead by now too!"

"Eustace! Let 'em be!" An older woman called as she stomped outside with her arms crossed and a glare that could pierce right through one's heart. 'What do you want?"
Laura held up her tool and her hands. "We just want someplace to sleep honestly."

The lady and the man exchanged a look. He looked angry, while she looked flat out annoyed.

"You could stay in the stable, but not for too long. And I don't want a peep out of any of you."

Everyone sighed in thanks and slumped in the direction the woman pointed, her deep blue eyes lingering on every single one of them.