The Blast

Chapter 6: Hope

"I'm fine, I really am. Seriously it's not that bad" Wyatt said trying to get up from his sitting position in the dirt.

"Fine, just try not to put too much weight on it," Riley answered, not wanting to argue with him, even though she knew they should've let him recover longer.
They had waited another hour until Wyatt had recovered enough that he could slightly walk with the help of Cruze and Avery at his sides. So they set off walking away from their small infected town, trying to discover signs of some sort of civilization.

"Is it just me or do you feel drips coming from the sky? Avery asked.
"You mean rain?" Wyatt laughed.
"Oh yeah rain, well do you feel it or not?" Avery asked, embarrassed.
"I do" Riley replied, before Wyatt could.
"Yeah me too, hopefully, it doesn't get worse," Cruze added, knowing he had just jinxed them.
But as they kept on walking the rain heard Cruze and only got worse until they became soaked. The squish of the water in their shoes could be heard as they trudged through the dirt that had soon became mud. As the rain got worse so did their attitudes. They were tired of searching a place that might not exist with only half a canoe as proof someone had once been there. They were losing hope, nothing had been going their way so far. They were virtually out of food, they had a dangerously small amount of bandages left, due to Wyatt's injury and there energy rates were very low. Wyatt was having trouble walking and keeping his balance. As a result, delaying the group's pace. They were averaging thirty kilometres a day but today they wouldn't hit 20. The mud, rain and Wyatt's injury were definitely not helping their situation.
" I have some bad news.. I checked the cooler before we left and all we have is five apples and some granola bars, so it's up to us now to catch and cook our own food" Riley announced.
" Well we all knew this was eventually was going to happen, so we don't need to act surprised. Come on, how hard could it be to catch an animal" Cruze answered.

"Come on! Seriously!! Ahhhh!" Cruze yelled in frustration.
They had stopped an hour later for lunch and ate their remaining food. Cruze decided to go help Avery in catching some dinner but quickly found out this wasn't a game for someone who had little patience and didn't have any idea what the word stealth meant.
"Shhh, you're scaring away the animals" Avery whispered concealed in the bushes.
"This is taking too long" Cruze answered, as his stomach agreed in a growl.
" Well maybe if you were a little more patient, we could actually find some dinner" Avery instructed, annoyed by Cruze's inability to wait.
But for once, good luck came hoping by Avery. She quickly strung her bow, trying not to make any sounds that would disturb the little animal, that would soon become their dinner. She aimed at the little innocent rabbit, took a deep breath in and let the arrow fly.
Thunk. As the arrow hits the tree
"What!!" Avery yelled, perplexed that the arrow had not found its target.
But as the hero, Cruze was, he jumped from the nearby bush he had been concealed in and pounced on the rabbit as a tiger would. The rabbit desperately twisted and turned but Cruze would not let the little devil get away. Relief washed over Avery as she realized the little bugger hadn't gotten away and jogged over to Cruze. She pulled out her knife and quickly ended the creature's life.
"Thanks," Cruze said with a smile.
"You're the one who actually captured it" Avery replied.
"I know, but you're the one who taught me that patience can be useful" Cruze explained.
" I guess so" Avery answered, ending the conversation.
They walked back with the rabbit over Cruze's shoulder since he was the one that had captured it. There wouldn't be enough meat for a full meal but it was better than nothing.
They rejoined Wyatt and Riley where to their surprise, was a pile of plants that Cruze nor Avery recognized.
"They're wild onions," Wyatt said, sensing the groups confusion.
With the help of the book, Wyatt had found in the garage before they had left. Riley and Wyatt were able to retrieve a couple of wild onions to cook with the rabbit.
" I guess we're having rabbit and onion for dinner" Avery announced,
grateful they wouldn't go hungry.. At least not tonight.
They ate silently, eating their share of rabbit and onion with incredible hunger. Suddenly Riley stood up and addresses the group of a discovery Wyatt and her had made.
" When Wyatt and I were searching for the onions, we saw a footprint. At first, it didn't look like much, but it was definitely a human footprint." Riley said, pausing to let it sink in.
" Unfortunately we couldn't follow a trail and didn't find any others, but we know at least we're going the right way," Riley added.
"Finally some good news" Avery huffed.
"We should go back tommorow and see if we can find anything else there, that you guys might've missed". Cruze suggested, to Riley.
"Good idea, but first we need some shut-eye". Riley answered, looking at Wyatt who are already dozed off.
So the group finished off their meal and headed off to bed.

"Hey guys, come here, I think I found something." Avery yelled, as she waved them over.
The group had decided to wake up early to start their search, as they needed as much time as the sun would allow for them to continue their search.
As the group circled around Avery they an old yellow glove, embedded in the dirt.
"Why would someone be wearing gloves?" Avery asked.
"I don't know, maybe so he didn't get splinters" Cruze answered, looking down at his hands covered in splinters, after endless nights of finding and hauling heavy logs over to the campfire.
"Well whatever they were meant for, we need to continue looking. The more clues we find, the easier it will be to put the puzzle together." Riley said.

A couple minutes later, Wyatt yelled the group over where he shared another discovery with them.
"It looks like he was in a hurry" Wyatt said.
"Like he/she was being chased by something" Cruze added.
Which explained all the footprints and the torn piece of yellow fabric on a nearby branch.
"We're getting close guys, all we need to do now is think" Avery suggested.
The group stayed silent for a while trying to think of what had happened here when Riley interrupted their thoughts.
"I have a question, if someone had been running away like us, then why was the canoe we found on our side of the river. Surely he or she would have used it to cross the water."
"Maybe he or she wanted to help the other escapees, like us." Avery guessed, not really believing herself.
"I don't know about that." Cruze replied.
"Whatever the reason is, we need to stay focused." Wyatt said, trying to keep them on track.
They kept looking for another 10 minutes until they decided to keep going. Even though their backs hurt, stomachs grumbled and heads pounded. They kept walking no matter the pain, knowing that at the end of all this, it would be worth it.

"Oh sh*t! Oh my god, no, no, no" Avery screamed as she bursts into tears.
The group rounds the corner to see what caused the commotion. They all have different reactions to it. Riley stayed silent, though tears could be seen falling down her face. Wyatt was too much in shock to have any emotions as well as Cruze who was perplexed by the situation, meanwhile Avery was sitting in the dirt  with her knees to her chest, she was shaking with her eyes looking nowhere in particular. Wyatt went over to her and wrapped his arm around her. Trying to comfort her, saying everything's was going to be ok.
It definitely wasn't because in the middle of them was a women's dead body, dressed in a yellow jumpsuit.
They estimated that it hadn't been there that long since no animals had gotten to it.
After recovering from the discovery Riley Cruze and Wyatt went over to inspect the body and see if they could find out what happened to it. Avery still hadn't recuperated enough to look at it again.
No one could blame her, seeing a bloody dead body can traumatize you for the rest of your life. Which was going to be the case for Avery.
Meanwhile as the rest of the group was inspecting the body, Cruze noticed something out of the ordinary.
"Is it just me or is it weird that she only has one glove on?" Cruze asks.
"I don't know, I can't see her other hand." Wyatt replies, knowing what was coming next.
"We're going to have to turn it over" Cruze mumbled.
" Uhh no you aren't, haven't you ever heard of some respect for a dead person, if you were dead how would you like to be turned over in the dirt" Riley interrupts.
" I wouldn't care because I would be dead" Cruze replied, firmly.
"Well as a women, I'm speaking for her and she definitely doesn't want to be turned over" Riley responded.
"Riley we know bodies should be cared for but look around, this might be our only clue and without it we're going to be wandering for an extra who knows how many days." Wyatt stated soothingly trying to calm her down.
"Fine, but carefully. Only because it will help us survive" Riley said.
So they turn her over to reveal a hand with no glove.
" So we have the other glove she was wearing!" Riley said putting the pieces together.
" Now I regret picking up that glove" Cruze added.
They head over to Avery to tell her the news, but they had no clue their adventure was going to take a turn for the worst. That one single action can change your life forever.

Thanks for reading!! Please like and comment!
I'm also starting to write a new book, which will be coming out soon! Sorry that it took so long to write, but I promise another chapter is coming real soon!!