Hope Without You

Run in and moving out

I was on my feet before I knew it, the sun was just rising , a furious orange gleamed through the windows. I already had my knife in my hand, I frantically looked around.
The fire had burnt out , Nick was already going to the door to let them in, I could see two shadows.
Maddison and Alicia were nowhere to be found.
The door finally gave way, it cracked open with force , leading an infected to stumble in, both just around my height.
I didn't care to notice the gender or how old they were when they turned, decay had removed any distinguishable features.
It came forward to me, I swept my arm around avoiding the front of its face , forcing it into the cranium, with a somewhat satisfying crack.
It's body pulled at the knife, I yanked it out before it fell, and looked up to see Nick holding out his pistol , taking it down within the second.

Maybe shooting one inside a small concrete building wasn't the best idea, we both felt it, I grasped my ears as if it would silence the ringing. It did nothing.
I reached down and grabbed my bag , following Nick outside, the sun wasn't too harsh yet , but it wouldn't be long until we'd be slow roasting in the South American sun. I dreaded to think what my skin looked like, how I looked.

Maddison and Alicia soon came around the corner , looking just as confused as I was
"What happened? " Maddison asked looking over Nick for harm , and as an after thought , myself.
"Two drifters, we're fine" Nick assured her "Weren't you on watch?" He relaxed slightly , allowing him to rub his eyes , obviously we both felt safe enough to sleep.
"I'm so sorry , we found a truck, but it only has a little bit of fuel left, it had some old soda in it, we could use with some water though " Maddison held some keys , they had their bags on too.

A truck though , I didn't know how to drive beyond the basics, but that could reduce journey speed by days.
"There should be an old trailer park not too far away, they should have extra gas"
I found myself contributing , I didn't feel so, dead like I had been for the past month , I had a goal, an aim, and I wanted to meet it.
Alicia exchanged a glance with her mom, I could be leading them into a trap , I could be planning something for all they knew.

After a moment, Maddison nodded "Sure, you lead, and Nick and Alicia will be behind you. I'll stay here , we can't have the truck overrun, there's more infected heading this way"
"I'll go ahead , you can navigate" Nick looked towards me and yikes
Not a lot of trust there. But I could deal with that.

                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took two hours maybe, timekeeping was never accurate, and I didn't want to chance looking up at the sun.
I would guide Nick with directions, I had passed the park months back, we never stopped back then.
Alicia walked beside me after an hour "He's not a total ass, he just doesn't trust easy"
"I can't blame you , I can only thank you for letting me join, and not killing me "
We both laughed.
Alicia was quiet , but responsive , we talked for a while, until we reached the gate of the park, it looked empty.
"There should be a supply storage over there -" I pointed over to a barn across the field , past the trailers and tents that scattered it. "I can see what I can find- if we meet up here once we're done?" I tried to sound like I had any idea.
But shockingly , we all agreed , and I headed over to the barn , gripping my knife and constantly switching glances around the vans while I walked, it was empty.

The storage was a small steel room with shelves, not fully stocked, but they had water, and a decent dry food supply. I crammed whatever I could into my bag , along with any rope, nails, anything that could prove useful.
The light wasn't great, i used a flashlight from my own bag.
Maybe I had seen it coming , and not the shelf falling from behind me, I reached out to push it back away but i was knocked down, wincing at the concrete, as nice and cool as it felt , this was danger.
I heard an infected from behind me, it was too late for me to turn around.
Between the empty shelf that I was leant on, I felt it grab at my collar and pull, it's jaw snapping together.
I couldn't push myself up and I couldn't twist between the shelves, there was a gap but I'd have to rotate , that wasn't happening.
I let out a scream , I was angry once again, i should have checked it over, instead I was about to be lunch.

A tear could be heard from my jacket , it allowed me to twist my upper half to spin and crawl. But before I could even attempt, the shelf was lifted , it had to have taken two people. Someone yelled my name, whether it was Nick or Alicia, I wasn't sure ,a hand grabbed my arm and pulled me out, I nearly fell again from the force, I had the bag intact though , in the end that's what mattered.

"I'm fine-it didn't get me - thanks" I quickly told them , any scratch or bite, I'd be done for, especially around the neck.

Alicia helped me step over the remaining boxes that had fallen, I couldn't quite understand what Nick was showing on his face, concern or guilt for something.
But I didn't question it, in fact I couldn't look at his face, it was bothering me that I couldn't remember where he was from.

The walk back was agonisingly uncomfortable, the heat had intensified, instead of it being a calm orange hue, it was a white hot ball of fury, my skin was only burning more , it would blister if I didn't find shade soon enough.

Nick had been walking along side Alicia and myself , he must have noticed the god awful burns, I could see him take off the once white shirt , under it a plain grey t-shirt.
He held it out to me , almost begrudgingly,  but I took it none the less, creaking out a pathetic thank you.

It was big on me, just length ways, I tied the two ends as a knot around my waist , although my skin protested against the pressure, the blast of the sun wasnt so bad.

                    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It should take us a day or two to get to the border- we have just enough fuel, we might have to walk for a few miles , cars are still back up along the highway "
Maddison was on game, we had the truck loaded, I was sat in the back with Alicia , Nick was on map duty while Maddison drove, I'm not sure why I felt a pang of disappointment in my chest, Nick was interesting, he was keeping my mind from turning into dribble.

The breeze from the truck as it drove was euphoric, I hadn't felt cool air in so long, and when the sun began to die down it only got cooler, to the pivotal point where the heat was bearable, comfortable almost, before it flipped and the night became full of windchills and frozen air.

I was rested against the back of the drivers seats, blankets covered the both of our legs, but we couldn't do anything about the frozen metal of the truck on our backs.
The sky was a deep dark blue, the stars were crystal clear, I wish I had learnt constellations, but admiring then would have to do.
Conversation was quiet , but I remember something.

"It was prom night, when it all started, I went to Paul. R William's , we were locked inside  of the gym and one of them was bitten...I had to kill my friends once they turned. I used a vent, I'm not sure how my dress fit in it, it was so heavy from the blood-" i paused, I'm not sure how it got to this point, but Alicia was focused on my story.

"I managed to get out through reception, I made it to my house with only a few encounters. People were the problem back then, I saw murders and fights on the streets, like they had already lost hope.
My mom had already overdosed 9n the couch when I got back, I just grabbed my bag and left" I finished confiding in her , looking down at the worn threads of the blankets that covered us.

"Life stopped then. Now it's just, survival, trying to make a better situation. We lived a few blocks away from that school, Nick attended until, his own survival became more important" Alicia sounded tired,  we both were , but I hung onto what she had said about Nick, what issues?

"Maybe I've seen him before -" I thought out loud

"He barely attended-" Alicia's voice sounded tired, like she knew all to well what Nick had dealt with.

My thoughts drifted from conversations, images started to form and swirl in my head, a dream was forming to pull me into a sleep

Alicia must have dropped off not long after , we laid in the back of the truck, in the dark as to what awaited us at the border..