Wildfire - A Fanfiction

Chapter Eight

A few hours later the sky began to get lighter. Georgia dug breakfast out from a bag and stirred up the fire. Eventually, Alex and Kami tumbled out of the tent, looking as tired as Georgia knew she was a few hours before.

"Morning," Kami yawned.

"Good morning," Georgia said brightly. "Let's eat and pack up so we can go see that house."

Alex sat beside her on the blanket, close to the fire. They all ate quickly and didn't take long to pack up.

They huddled together in the buses, taking note of every detail. The house was a small one story with a decent sized driveway. Even in the cold, the garden was obviously recently well managed in the past, but either the occupant had left or they had more of an interest in human flesh. With the missing car, Georgia guessed the former, but there could very well have been a car sitting unseen in the garage.

"How should we do this?" Kami asked.

Georgia stood up slowly, looking over her shoulder. "Stay here." Armed with her bat and knife, she stalked the perimeter of the property while Alex and Kami stayed hidden. Once she had circled the house and found nothing dangerous, she went back to the others. "The garden has some vegetables. Onions and peas. There is a ladder on the far side of the house. A shed on the edge of the property. It's locked. I didn't see a back door but there is a garage on the front of the house as well. It's locked too. But it looks pretty safe." She started heading to the porch. "You coming?" she called over her shoulder.

The leaves rustled and they followed her up to the house.

"Keep low," she said, hushed. Crouched over, she used the handle of her bat to tap a few times on the window. She waited a few seconds, then tapped again. Nothing.

They moved around the house, tapping on the windows before regrouping at the front door. Kami knocked three times.

"I think it's safe inside," she said. The others nodded.

Georgia tried the door. It easily swung open. "That's weird," she murmured. With her baseball bat in front of her, she cautiously stepped into the house.

It was empty. Most of the curtains were half-closed. She tried a light switch but nothing happened. Most of the house was covered in shadows. The front room was an open floor plan kitchen and living room. There were two other doors, one open to a small bedroom while the other was closed, probably a bathroom, Georgia thought.

Georgia quickly inspected the house for any zombies that may have been hiding. The front room and the bedroom were empty. She quickly rapped on the bathroom door and jumped back when she was met with a fierce snarl.

"Okay," she said to herself while stepping backward. "Okay, we're okay." She turned halfway to the others. "The house is mostly clear. It's just the bathroom. I don't see how we can get it out of there safely, but if we leave it alone I think we'll be fine."

Kami nodded slowly before entering the front door. Alex hesitated for a moment before following her. He closed the door behind them.

They started going through cupboards and drawers. Georgia opened the fridge for a moment, but wrinkled her nose at the foul smell of rotten food and quickly shut it again. They managed to grab some food that hadn't gone bad yet, some granola bars and two cans of soup from the pantry. They looked through the junk drawer and found some other little things that could fit in a pack. Afterward, Georgia went to the bedroom and found some clean clothes. When she left, she saw Kami staring blankly at a wall.

"What's the matter?" Georgia asked, touching her shoulder. Kami blinked, turning to her.

"Nothing," she said. She walked away to where Alex was sorting through another drawer.

Georgia looked at where Kami was staring.

It was a framed photograph of a man and a woman. They were bundled up with heavy coats and hats, in front of a snowy forest. They were smiling.

And now one of them was trapped in the bathroom, abandoned by the other.

She looked away. Alex was just finishing up. "Now what?"

"I don't want to stay here," Kami said.

Georgia glanced around the front room. She tilted her head towards the bathroom. "Neither do I. I think we're unwelcome guests."

Alex held up a key. "Found this in the junk drawer. I think I know what it opens."

They followed him outside, where he knocked on the metal garage door. When nothing seemed to crash into the door to get to them, Alex pulled out the key and tried the latch. The key turned, allowing Alex to push and lift the door above their heads.

Inside were shelves lining the walls, some gas cans near the door, and a battered dark blue car sitting in the middle.

Alex sighed, "Looks exactly like my car."

Georgia jumped forward and lifted the hood. "Let's hope it runs better than your car. Do you see anything wrong?"

Using the light from outside, Alex peered under the hood. "Nothing at a first glance. But if we don't have a key, and I don't know how to hotwire anythi-"

"Found it," Kami reached for a hook above a workbench and plucked the car key off the wall. "I'm driving this time."

"Is that such a good idea? It's jus-"

"And I call shotgun," Georgia chimed in.

Alex groaned but didn't protest to hopping in the back seat.

Georgia carefully packed the extra gas cans in the trunk and grabbed the toolbox from the workbench just in case, before getting in the passenger seat and buckling her seatbelt. Kami turned the ignition and before they knew it they were making their way down the road.

Once they got moving, Georgia switched on the radio.

Static roared in their ears. She quickly switched it off. She opened the glovebox and triumphantly waved around a blue CD case. "Anybody up for some tunes? It's a Beatles CD."

"Nice!" Kami cheered. She swerved around a pothole, causing Georgia and Alex to grab for anything to steady themselves. "It's been forever since we listened to any music."

Georgia turned around. "Any objections?"

Alex shook his head. "No, Kami be careful!"

Kami started drifting to the middle of the road. "What? If society's collapsed then I doubt anyone's enforcing road laws anymore."

Georgia turned on the radio again and started playing the CD. She turned up the volume while Kami rolled down the windows, hollering along to the lyrics.

For the first song, Georgia sang along with her but soon turned her attention back to the glovebox. She looked rummaged past old straws and napkins, some loose change, a blue ballpoint pen, and a brochure to a privately owned campground. Wedged at the very back was an almost new map.

She pulled it out and unfolded it, the edges fluttering in the air rushing in and out of the windows. She looked up for a green road sign and matched it to a spot on the map. Tracing along the road, she found some of the places she remembered from the day before, marking on the map with a pen to see the path they had made so far. She looked ahead. There wasn't much in the way of towns or cities beyond a few days' travel.

She raised the map above her shoulders. "I found where we are and where we've been. If we're hoping to find other people, we shouldn't go too much further."

"What if there are people beyond those towns? If most people in those towns became zombies, it might have been safer to stay away," Alex pointed out.

"But those strongholds, if they still exist, because we haven't heard anything about them lately, it would still make sense to be somewhat near civilization. Those people can't have traveled for days to get there, and what about supplies?"

"We're taking our time," he shrugged.

Georgia sighed, settling back into her seat. She let herself be surrounded by loud music and the cold swirling air.