Sneaky

Chapter 101

With blood caked hands, I wrestled the compass from my jacket pocket. Right now, you're my only guide buddy. Don't let me down.

My throat is so dry i'm almost wheezing; coughing and dry heaving every few minutes.

I'm too tired to keep running. I burned myself out leading that wild goose chase. Before it worked in my favor, but now it's just a hindrance.

The sun's already risen and I just barely found the road.

There's always gotta be another problem doesn't there? I'm nowhere near the traffic jam.

I can hardly breathe never mind run anymore but my feet move anyway; out of nothing more than stopping being more work than just running my batteries dry. Even if my shoes are barely picking up off the pavement every 3rd step.

I have no idea how far up I am but I can see what I hope to god is the jam about two miles down from here.

I've been dragging my feet for awhile, despite my best efforts. The smell from this makeshift smell shield is making me sick but I don't have anything in my stomach anyway.

My chest feels like it's touching my spine with every breath I heave into my lungs but I have to get there as soon as possible. I don't have a way of knowing for sure, but I know my time's almost up.

Randall should have long made it by now, with any luck the others should be too, assuming I'm right and they've gone where I've predicted.

God I hope so.

If they're not there, or if the kid didn't make it, I don't know what I'm gonna do.

I don't know where else to look for them.

If we've truly scattered there's no telling if we'll ever see each other again.

I'll have no way of knowing if anyone even made it off the farm, or if they all... and I would have to keep going, telling myself someone besides me has to have made it out. Clinging to all hope against Hell I'll find them someday.

Wondering who could've made it. Never knowing for sure.

I don't know if I could do that again.

It's hard enough not knowing what happened to those two girls from the home and that was before death became the most likely possibility.

I couldn't help scoffing at myself, looking at the littered garbage on the road as I did a scan.

This is one heck of a way to find out that leaving the group would've been a big mistake. Possibly the worst I'd ever make.

Worry would get me before the walkers. Or maybe that's how they'd get me.

Pushing on, I did my best to dodge the walkers lingering in spaces far between each other. But with every step my first thought is 'Am I going to collapse' 'Is this the last one I'll be able to take'.

When I finally made it to the edge of the cars, it truly was my final step.

My knees hit the pavement hard and despite myself, I gasped sharply. My palms smacked against the pavement, reopening some of the nearly invisible cuts from the tree incident weeks ago and grinding small pebbles of asphalt into my flesh.

That's the least of my worries at the moment but I certainly didn't need to add to my growing list.

I shook my head, trying to catch my breath.

There's no point thinking about 'what ifs', that'll only make it worse. I need to focus on now. Right now.

I look up from the pavement and blinked really harshly. My vision swam, the sound of my own blood pumping in my ears drowning the rest of the world.

I tried to push myself up but my hand didn't come off the pavement more than inch before I fell forward and nearly brained myself on the chipped dirty yellow road line.

Fighting your own eyelids has always been one of the hardest fights. It's a losing battle, everyone knows that but we try anyway. Even if we know it's in vain.

The wind blew strands of my hair over my chapping lips but it feels nice. The gentle sweep over my clammy skin is neither cold nor warm.

I swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the dry cottony feeling that occupies your mouth when your throat is so dry it feels like you're breathing aerosolized blood.

I barely turned myself over in an attempt get up and my chest heaved.

The blue sky and little driftings of white clouds are barely visible through my eyelashes and they're the only reason I haven't lost the battle yet.

I can't feel most of my body. I know I'm breathing really hard and everything hurts but... I'm just so tired.

I need a rest. I shouldn't sleep...

It didn't even register that I'd already lost and closed my eyes until a sound had them open again.

I could barely roll my head to the side a second ago but that sound. That familiar sound, had my consciousness clawing its way back up that slick cliff.

I'd know that sound anywhere.

I've ridden on it for too many miles to count.

There's only one person I know who'd drive something that loud through all this.

I'm not gonna die like this.

I ran miles. I fought. I saved the kid, I lead the herd away, I got back to the road. I'm not stopping now. Not this close to the mark.

My fingers dug in, using every last thread of strength I've got left to roll back over and fight tooth & nail just to get onto my hands and knees again.

I can go a little farther.

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