The Wilderness Within: A Fanfiction (Draft)

Chapter 28

Sure enough, down the road right where Ivan had said, was another Stronghold. Scattered over the road leading up to it was a variety of anti vehicle devices and even a few anti tank hedgehogs, things that I'd only ever seen before in movies. We maneuvered our horses around them, taking us up the off ramp to a side of the overpass.

A metal fence covered the road to the overpass, and a man saw us evading all of the traps and waited for us to come to him at the fence.

"Identify yourself!" he hollered at us.

Alex climbed off his horse. "Alex Emerson. I'm looking for a Deborah Emerson, and I have a letter for a Zach Dyer."

The man shook his head. "I don't know any Deborah, but we do have a Zach." He studied us minutely from his side of the fence, then called someone over to help him open the fence.

Kami and I got down and we all walked inside.

The man stopped us. "Before you get any closer, are any of you at risk of infection?"

"No sir," I said confidently. I stared him down and he eventually stepped aside. We held our horses beside us and observed the little Stronghold. Most of the buildings were made of cinderblocks or were merely tents, and there were a few fences with pigs and chickens. I was impressed with how much they fit in such a small space.

There were about forty people staring at us from all down the Stronghold.

Alex cleared his throat. "Ahem. I have a letter for a Zach Dyer?"

A young man cautiously walked up to us. "That's me." He took the letter from Alex's hand and tore it open. When he started reading he began to cry. He spun around and held up the letter. "It's my Aunt Libbie, she's okay!" he cried.

Some of the people cheered. Zach turned around and threw his arms around Alex. Stunned, Alex didn't move.

The man who let us in relaxed. "The day's almost gone, would you like to stay the night?"

Kami looked to Alex, who was trying to inconspicuously pry off the young man, then back to the gatekeeper. "If it's not much trouble. We also have some goods we can trade."

The man spread his hands. "Then, by all means."

"Thank you," I said. "We'll leave first thing in the morning. Is there somewhere we can put our horses?"

"Sure," he said. "Over here."

We had potatoes and hard boiled eggs, which would have been a strange food to put together for a feast, but it was delicious anyways. Everyone was happy and excited as they sat close beside each other around the fire.

Kami traded some food for sunscreen, and I asked around for information about any other nearby Strongholds that Ivan hadn't marked down.

We all slept easy.

When we got up the next morning, we were on our way out, but Zach stopped us.

"I know you're probably not heading back the way you came just yet," he said, a little nervously, "but when you do can you give this to my aunt?" He held out an envelope, which Alex took warmly.

"Of course," he said. "It'll be our first stop on our way back west."

Zach beamed. "Thanks so much!"

We lead our horses through the gate and heavy obstacles. We rode on.