The Wilderness Within: A Fanfiction (Draft)

Chapter 10

It seemed like an eternity before we finally got back on the road. Even with the three of us wedged in the backseat, it was nice sitting in a cushioned seat instead of trekking through the woods again.

Marc was at the steering wheel, leading the procession down the road a lot faster than I imagined we'd be going. When we saw some zombies on the highway, Marc didn't slow down, just carefully wove around them and sped on.

I watched them through the window with grotesque interest.

Sitting in front of me was the young man from before. I learned his name was Rhys. He didn't talk much.

Beside Rhys was a young boy with dark hair, about twelve or thirteen, who I'd figured was his little brother. He wore light armor over his coat on his chest and arms, like the others, but it was way too big on him. From what I had seen of the rest of the group, he was the only child.

After about two hours, Kami opened her mouth. "So, how do you know about this Stronghold?"

"And why aren't you already at a Stronghold?" added Alex. "You seem very..." he trailed off, failing to find the right word, but decided to leave it.

The three of us stared up front expectantly. Marc looked at me in the rearview mirror. Although surprised, I held his gaze until he tore away.

Rhys didn't look back at us. "We used to be part of a Stronghold of sorts, not that long ago. We had fortified a few streets of a city to the west. We heard about this Stronghold over the radio. Some of us were even able to communicate with them directly."

Alex frowned. "So why are you here instead of the city?"

Marc answered for him. "Our fortifications fell from the inside about two weeks ago. Someone snuck in an infected person and they turned in the night. With everything happening inside, we had less sentries at the fence and soon that broke down. It was chaos," he said coldly.

Rhys shuddered. "The people we have with us are the only survivors left that we know of from that entire city. The best option we had after all that was to find the nearest secure Stronghold we could. That meant Redhill, since we know its exact location. It's secure enough that they could spare men to set up a radio channel. There are probably a lot of Strongholds and havens between us and them, but we don't know where they are or how safe they are. So we've stuck to back roads all this time."

Finally I said softly, "I'm sorry."

Rhys straightened. "It's the world we live in now." None of us had anything to say to that. I noticed that he put an arm around the boy, as if something would suddenly yank him away.

About an hour before the sun went down, Rhys pulled a walkie talkie out of the glovebox and spoke into it.

"We're pulling over and setting up camp for the night. Over."

A few seconds later he got responses from the other trucks.

"Yessir."

"Copy."

Marc drove off the road and into the next field, parking at the edge near the trees. The other trucks soon followed, creating a sort of three sided wall against the woods.

Everyone got out and started unpacking from the truck beds. Kami, Alex, and I carried out bedrolls while others grabbed cooking equipment. Someone carried a cooler to the space inside the truck barricade where someone was already building a fire. I was surprised how smoothly they were setting up camp.

"What are they doing?" I asked Rhys, indicating a group of people walking into the forest with a large basket.

Rhys glanced behind him. "Probably looking for any fresh greens to go with dinner."

Kami raised her eyebrows. "I can try to help," she said before running after them.

Not a minute later, someone dragged Alex away to help with firewood, leaving me on my own.

"Welp," I grumbled to myself.

An older man scowled at the sky. His voice was rough. "Looks like rain," he said. "Maybe snow."

"I guess we'll need our tents then," a woman said as she hopped in a truck bed. She looked to me. "Help me set these up before dinner?"

I shrugged. "Sure," I caught a bag. "I'm George."

"Jess," she said, hefting another tent.

We had just finished laying out the tents in the grass when Marc walked up to us.

"It looks like everyone has it all under control, but do you mind if I lend a hand?" he smiled sheepishly.

Jess extended an arm towards all of the tents to be put up. "Be my guest."

None of us really talked much, but we finished before Kami and the other scavengers returned.

Dinner was really good, grilled fish with fresh leaves, some that Kami helped to collect herself. The leaves were bitter, but not bad. I was impressed they found anything since it was still winter,

The whole caravan sat around the cooking fire in the growing dark. Most chattered comfortably while the three of us were visibly rattled by being around so many strangers. Jess noticed our discomfort and frowned sympathetically.

Marc stood up, plate and fork still in his hand. "Who wants to stand watch tonight?" he asked the group.

Six raised their hands. Wanting to help, I put my hand up too.

Marc nodded. "That's seven, eight including myself. Perfect." He looked over the fire. "Todd and James, you'll take the first watch?"

Two older men grunted in agreement.

"Great. In that case I think it's time to get things cleaned up."

Rhys smirked. "Sure thing, mom."

Marc lightly hit his shoulder and started getting his things together.

People were already getting up and gathering dishes. Kami, Alex, and I sat blankly, not knowing what to do. Rhys's little brother saw our confusion and wandered over to us. "I can take those for you," he said, taking the plastic plates and flatware from us. He wandered to the other side of the camp and dumped them in a bucket of soapy water, where someone was already washing other dishes.

Everyone began filing into tents, leaving the three of us standing in the middle of our makeshift fort, the fire crackling and throwing light over our tired faces.