I Hope the Worst Isn't Over ✔️

Chapter Two

Roman shot around, pointing at Virgil with brows raised high. "You're serious? You better not be joking, that would be pretty skewed!"

"I'm not joking!" he said defensively, "His name was Remus, and we all knew each other for around a year before this all started."

"Okay… well, what did he look like?? So I know if it's really my brother!"

"Um… brown hair with white streaks, can't miss that. Green eyes, and a weird moustache?"

A smile crossed the man's face, "Holy shit, it was him! I can't believe it… I never thought I'd be so excited to hear about Remus. How was he doing??"

Virgil shrugged and pressed his hands closer to himself from inside his pockets, visibly stressed by the influx of questions he was receiving. "I mean he was fine, last I saw. He and Dee were still running, but I guess it looked like they got away?"

"I'm sure they did," assured Patton, "It sounds like you were a rough and tumble bunch, I doubt a handful of the Infected could stop them."

"Right," Virgil smirked slightly to mask his discomfort, "He's probably right. I have a feeling they'd be pretty pissed if I were to undermine their ability to survive."

Roman let out a small chuckle, "I can imagine that…"

"I hate to ruin the moment, but we've reached the new town," announced Logan, gesturing towards the sign ahead.

Welcome to South Wadnix, it said, the green board half obscured by a strange symbol written in spray paint. It looked like some sort of boxy number eight in the middle of a circle, or maybe it was supposed to be an overlayed combination of letters instead. Either way, it was easy to see none of them recognized it.

Logan spoke again, "Now that we've arrived, we should be taking extra precautions. We're in unfamiliar territory, and therefore should focus all of our attention on surveillance. According to the map, there's a store a few blocks down, so let's save our conversing until we are safely inside."

Roman rolled his eyes but chose to digress nonetheless, and the group fell back into their silence as they crept forward. To their surprise, the new area had just as few of the Infected around, and they even managed to avoid any real confrontations.

"I'm sorry, I know we agreed no talking, but doesn't this feel too good to be true?" Virgil whispered as they walked, constantly scanning the streets for cues of anything being off. The spray painted symbols were all over the place, with each building being marked differently. Admittedly however, he didn't understand a single one.

"Hush, I'm sure there's good reason for it," Logan said, leading them forward until they reached the shop listed on the map.

Larger than expected, it was a tall standing CVS with boards where glass once was on the windows and doors. It appeared to have raided and abandoned long ago, but there was no way of knowing for sure without checking for themselves. There was a half destroyed, sad excuse for a fence on the sidelines, and the building itself donned one of the painted marks seen all over the town. This one, a crudely painted house, simple and mirroring the likeness of a childhood drawing. It consisted of a box with a trapezoid roof, a square little chimney, and only one door, of which was crossed out by a line, seemingly representing the doors being boarded the same way they were in reality. The house sat atop a larger rectangle, this shape much less detailed, with only a single dot in the center to portray its message.

"Does anyone know what these mean?" Patton asked, pointing towards the strange symbols in confusion.

Logan shook his head, "Unfortunately, I don't. But it doesn't seem to be of importance anymore."