Those Who Survive

The Road Leads, Still Nowhere To Go

Cry, Minx, and Dan follow the road with no real destination for the moment. They're silent as they move, no one really wants to talk given they lost Entoan, Signe and Dave only a little over a few days ago. They're all still grieving, and it just feels better not to say anything. After awhile, though the silence is finally broken by Cry. He sighs before speaking up, "Dan, you said Signe slit her throat before turning, right?"

Dan looks up from where he had been staring at the ground in front of him with each step. He blinks slowly as he frowns, "Uh, yeah.. She did. She had blood running.. I saw the knife on the floor."

Minx frowns as well, but says nothing as Cry continues speaking, "I saw that, too. So, she turned without being bitten, or having gotten sick earlier like Ohm did.."

"Yeah.." Dan continues to frown, "So?"

Cry frowns as well, crossing his arms, "This virus.. It has to be airborne then, right?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Dan glares lightly.

"Did you see the broadcast?" Minx asks, "Back when everything started? I don't remember anything specifically about it beyond a few symptoms that.. Don't really matter right now."

Dan groans softly, shaking his head, "No, I didn't see the broadcast. Phil did, but I refused to watch it. I thought it was all a joke.. A sick fucking joke.."

He crosses his arms tightly, looking away from them as tears fill his eyes. Cry and Minx look back at him, both looking at him with empathy in their eyes. Again, there's silence between them for a moment before Dan forcibly wipes his eyes and faces his friends again, "Anyway.. I didn't see it."

Cry sighs, "I saw it, too since I was with Minx and.."

He stops for a moment, about to state Krism and Ohm's names before he thinks better of it, "I don't remember much about it, either. I do think it was stated that it was airborne, but there was never really any reason to remember or try and do something about it, until now.."

"When Ohm got sick," Cry continues, "he hadn't been bitten, and then he ended up dying and turning. And then how Signe died.. She took her own life and then turned.. How else could they have turned if the virus wasn't already within them?"

Minx looks thoughtful, "So.. Is it just too late for all of us then?"

"I don't think so," he states, a thoughtful look to him as well, "We just need to figure out how to adapt to this is all. We spent so long not even knowing how the virus could continue to affect us. But now that we do know, we need to find a way to combat that as well."

"How?" Dan asks pointedly, "If it's airborne, which it seems to be without a doubt, how can we possibly fight it when we're most likely already infected with it?"

"We don't know yet," Minx explains, "But we can't just give up. Signe turned after taking her own life, but Ohm.. He just got sick. There must be some kind of reason for that. If we can find that factor, at the very least we can protect ourselves against it."

"How would we even do that?" Dan groans softly.

"I don't know," Minx admits, "But we'll figure it out when we get to it."

"Unless it's too late," Dan sighs.

"Well, hopefully we'll find the answer before then." Cry smiles softly.

"Hope can only get us so far," Dan mumbles.

They both heard Dan's words, but neither Minx nor Cry say anything about it. They know he has a point, but they also know no one can give up hope, or they'll all end up just the same as all the rest: Dead. No one spoke for the rest of the day, and as night fell over the highway, they came upon a welcome sign. "Welcome to Fort Lauderdale," but the city's name was crossed out in red paint, and under it, in that same paint, are the words "THE APOCALYPSE." The three friends exchange looks, no one looks happy about this.

"Should we risk it?" Minx frowns, "We don't know what to really look out for."

"Yes, we do," Dan replies, "The same as always. Zombies and asshole people."

Cry stares at the sign he's shining his flashlight on, "I don't really like the idea of traveling at night, but I don't like the looks of what's ahead, either."

"So, my question still stands," Minx states, "Should we risk it?"

Dan crosses his arms, something he does often when he's thinking. He shakes his head, "City's are bad; too many infected people, too many people in general. If Fort Lauderdale isn't completely overrun with infected, there's got to be some bad people holding the place down. Someone painted that sign like that for a reason. A warning against the infected, or jerks waiting to rob anyone that comes by. We shouldn't stay here for too long, someone will see our flashlights and that's not a good thing for us."

Cry nods, "You're right."

He turns back, glancing around, "That gas station we passed up, let's head back there to stay for the night."

Minx agrees, "Alright, let's go."

They turn and head back the way they came for about twenty minutes until the gas station Cry mentioned comes back into view. They hurry over, shining their flashlights to break through the darkness blanketing them. The gas station is dark, as they figured since nowhere has had power in months. They get to the door, and Cry steps up, putting a hand on the handle, his other hand still holding his flashlight. He looks at his friends, "Be ready and be careful."

Minx and Dan nod and Cry turns back, pulling the door open. There's no movement inside and Minx and Dan move in cautiously. Cry moves behind them, looking around before propping the door open with a broken box lying just to the side. Just in case they have to make a quick exit. They make a quick sweep of the little store, and find it's clear of infection, and also supplies. Cry moves the box from the door so it can properly close and turns back to his friends, "Can someone look in the office for a key to lock the door with?"

"On it." Minx runs off and Dan looks around again, "There's nothing in here to salvage."

Cry sighs, "That's fine. We just needed a place to hold out for the night. We have plenty of supplies for now."

"Right," Dan frowns, "So, what do we do for sleep then?"

"Minx and I found more sleeping bags back in Miami, so we'll just use that." Cry replies.

After Minx comes back with a key and Cry locks the doors, they all prepare to sleep. They decide to sleep in the main office, locking that door as well just to be safe should raiders come and break in while the group sleeps. Sleeping bags laid out side-by-side, Dan and Minx settle in for the night. Cry ponder, sitting against the wooden door as he stares at the ceiling, what they should do now. They need a plan, a new destination. Wandering aimlessly will just drive them all crazy. He looks over at the darkened shapes of his friends as they sleep.

He volunteered to keep watch, just in case something should happen. He isn't that tired right now anyway. He's far too worried to sleep, so he takes the first watch. He almost wanted to go to sleep, too, but he didn't. The more he sits in the dark, just listening to the breathing of his friends, the more alert he feels. He's on edge, more than he'll admit to himself. His promise to Ohm always on his mind. He tried, and he's already failed, but he won't give up on his promise just yet. He hopes he won't ever have to.