The Wilderness Within: A Fanfiction (Draft)

Chapter 12

"This is weird," said Rhys as we drove on another stretch of empty road. "George, can you check that map again?"

I dug it out of the bag at my feet. "Sure," I said. "We should be getting close to that town any minute now."

"That's what I mean," he said. "These zombies tend to gather where lots of people used to live. Even if this place is tiny, I find it odd that we haven't seen any yet, given how close you say we are." He rolled his shoulders and adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. "Check again? We could be lost."

Alex spoke up. "If George says we're almost there then we're almost there. You have your own map. Check it yourself."

My face heated up.

"I believe you, George." Marc had turned around to look at us. "But Rhys is right. The lack of zombies here is odd."

We stopped for the day at the edge of an entirely vacant town. No zombies, and no sign of humans. We parked in the lot to a gardening store, and we could see a box store, a well known hardware outlet. Camp was set up normally and a small group was discussing how to safely check out the gardening store.

"Why do we need to raid a garden store anyway?" Kami questioned. "Don't we have enough supplies?"

Marc rubbed the back of his neck. "It's not for us, it's for the stronghold. It's been a while since they invited us and they may not want to accept more survivors out of their pure goodwill. We figured a few bargaining chips wouldn't hurt."

"If you want supplies, why not there?" Kami pointed to the hardware store. "You'll find lots of equipment there."

"Absolutely not," Marc said forcefully. "Something isn't right here. We haven't seen a single zombie anywhere. They have to be here somewhere, and with the few men we have there would be no way to safely clear a huge store like that in a reasonable time. It's too dangerous."

Kami gazed at the box store in the distance, hands on her hips. "Yeah, okay."

I watched Marc walk away towards the group responsible for clearing the gardening store. They were all heavily armed and armored and looked like they knew what they were doing. They looked towards Marc expectantly.

Kami smirked, "I like a man who takes charge. You have good taste."

I gaped at her. She laughed. "I'm only teasing. Let's get lunch, I'm famished."

A few minutes later Marc sat down with us with some soup and a radio. "Paul has the other one," he explained when I looked at him inquiringly. "He's going to keep me updated while they're inside."

"Anything yet?" Alex asked.

Marc shook his head and sipped his soup. "Nothing. This place creeps me out. I can't wait to leave."

Kami raised her eyebrows. "But if it's clear, can we camp inside? Protected from the elements and stuff?"

"I don't see why not. It does look like snow," he looked up at the sky. The radio crackled. "I have to take this, excuse me," Marc got up and walked to the other side of the camp.

I didn't notice I was staring at him until Alex loudly cleared his throat. I turned to him, startled.

"So, Marc, huh?"

I clenched the plastic spoon in my fist. "Why is everyone hinting at me like that? There is nothing going on! Without him, we wouldn't even be living so comfortably and be on our way to an actual stronghold with other people. Stop acting so weird. It's not like Marc and I are even friends or anything."

"Not even friends?" A voice behind me said. My blood ran cold. "I'm a little hurt." I spun around. Marc was standing above us, a hand on his heart and drooping shoulders. Kami and Alex were snickering behind me.

I tried to ignore the rising heat in my cheeks. "I didn't mean it like that," I protested.

"Of course not," he smiled and sat down beside me.

"How is it inside?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

The smile vanished from his face. "They're heading back outside. They didn't find anything."

"Anything as in zombies?" asked Alex hopefully.

"They didn't find anything as in either zombies or supplies. The place is empty. No zombies, no people, no gardening equipment, no seeds, no anything. If we want our bargaining chips, we're gonna have to find somewhere else."

"Oh."

Sure enough, a few minutes later Paul and the rest of the group that cleared the store were back in the camp, empty-handed but alive.

Rhys rushed up to us.

"Hi Rhys," said Kami. "Haven't seen you much all afternoon. You alright?"

"No," he said. "Have you seen Ian? I can't find him anywhere."

"Ian?" Marc jumped up and the rest of did the same. "Did you ask around?"

Rhys scowled. "There's not much else I can do, is there?"

Kami whispered to Alex. "Who's Ian again?"

Alex leaned over and whispered harshly. "The kid, stupid."

"We'll find him." I jumped up to a truck where Jess was keeping diligent watch. "Hey, Jess?"

She glanced over her shoulder at me, then turned back to the lot and street. "Yep?"

"Have you seen Ian?"

"Rhys's kid brother?"

"Yes," I nodded, though she didn't see me.

"Sure. He left with that scavenging group about twenty minutes ago."

Rhys pushed past me. "What? Why? Where did they go?"

Jess raised an arm to point towards the hardware store. "They went west. They were going to scavenge for fresh greens and meat before it snowed, but the kid was lagging behind a bit."

Kami paled. "What if he heard my conversation with Marc about the hardware store? He could be there."

I ran to Paul. "I need to borrow that," I didn't so much ask for the radio as much as grab it from him. I snatched my bag and trusty baseball bat and slipped between the trucks into no mans land.

"I'm coming too." Soon Rhys was at my side.

Marc jumped to us. "What on earth do you think you're doing? I already told Kami, that store is too dangerous. You have no idea what you're doing. You have no training."

"I do have a brain," I quipped back.

Alex called over to me. "Are you sure? Because this isn't exactly helping to prove that."

"Shut up. A kid is missing, he could be in trouble. Do you really want us to waste any more time?" I didn't wait for an answer. "Let's go," I said to Rhys, and we started to jog west.