Aurora Sky: Blackout (Completed)

Chapter 32

Before crossing the river, Evan stopped the truck short of the bridge in between the cut in the hill. He took out his binoculars to take advantage of the highpoint of visibility. The highway in front of them was empty for miles. He peered west into the town of Lawrenceburg and made a note to his friends of maybe fifty or so infected moving around the town and casino. His gaze next switched to the east towards the floodplain, corn fields, and upriver to the power plant that was destroyed on the Fourth. Nothing threatening could be seen that direction of the remaining bits of fog though it gave him pause.

"All good?" Rob asked.

"I think so," Evan sighed, "I can't really see through the fog, and I really don't like that this bridge is the only way to cross the river. I'm worried about getting cut off from home if we get in a situation where we have come back in a hurry. So we need to do this as fast and quiet as we can. How much farther do we have?"

"Five minutes." Isaac answered, "It's just a few miles ahead."

"Alright, we'll do a quick sweep once we get in, then we'll tell the others to come out. Rob, call Brandon on the radio and tell him that we're close. And tell them instead of having them drive into Petersburg, tell them to come to the Creation Museum and hang tight. Have them wait for us to call back before they leave." While Rob called back to share their whereabouts and the minor change in plan, Evan put his truck back in drive and moved forward.

At eleven thirty, while they had time remaining, the team asked Evan to rehearse the plan once more for the sake of clarity. He willingly abided, "Sean and Isaac, you'll carry your swords, Warren, hold your rifle. You three will keep watch while Rob and I cut through the fence with the bolt cutters. When we go in, we stick together. I'll lead with Sean and Isaac by my sides with swords out to handle things so we can be silent. If there's too many and you two feel like you're gonna be overrun, we'll fall back and start shooting. Rob and Warren you cover the rear."

Over the river they crossed the bridge and entered safely into Indiana. But as quickly as they entered, they left and crossed the border into Ohio. After only a few minutes of travel, Isaac warned them that they were approaching their destination.

"It's just after that overhead bridge right there," he said pointing ahead. The road ahead was deserted, and both of its sides were blocked from true sight by the remaining bits of fog and a forest of pine and acorn trees that stretched beyond view.

Nonetheless, they carried on and arrived within a half an hour from leaving the Gray Fort. Evan parked his truck on the grass next to the highway and turned off the engine, then in unison the team jumped out.

The five swooped in rapidly to the fence. Isaac, Sean, and Warren kept an eye and ear out while Rob and Evan cut the steel fence together. It was eerily quiet. All that could be heard was the cutting of steel and the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves in the trees around them. When the two's bolt cutters met at the middle, Evan and Rob pulled the excess wire over to the opposite side, opening up the fence in between two posts for each RV to have the space to exit directly onto the highway.

Soundlessly, they entered into the trailer and storage lot. The majority of trailers were stashed over to the left, right, and the far side of the parking lot, creating a semi-circle around the hundreds of storage containers in the middle of the lot. The five kept a tight formation while travelling up and down the rows of trailers and storage containers in a light jog. As they cleared the area, the team made notes of locations of the trailers with no broken windows to save some time when they were ready to claim the vehicles, though truly it would depend on which keys that could be found if there were any to find.

Fortunate for the team, throughout the search of the void facility there were no encounters of infected. Once every row was swept, the team turned forward to the warehouse, hoping the building would turn out the keys that they desperately needed.