“We haven’t been there yet. We don’t know if anyone is even there. If the fort is occupied, we don’t know what kind of people will be there. Friendly or not. If you’d prefer, Kate and I will headup there and check it out. We can come back when we have more information to report.”
Ryan nodded. “Yeah, I think that would be best. It’s not that we don’t want to weather the shitstorm with you guys, but…”
“It’s cool, man. It’s a huge risk. We couldn’t ask that of you,” Nick placated with a wave of his hand.
The two couples ate a meal together, one they hoped would not be the last they shared. The atmosphere felt surreal as the air filled with laughter and stories. Ryan japed about looting scenarios almost gone wrong. Grace marveled at the exquisite culinary finds they managed to get their hands on. Kate watched Nick’s tense demeanor dissipate in the relaxed company of Ryan and Grace. Long after they cleared their plates, the group of friends talked until they became family. It was the first time since they met that they could enjoy the companionship of others. And it would be the last for quite some time.
Nick and Kate said their goodbyes and headed back out into the land of uncertainty.
Chapter 6
Evening was beginning to take hold, casting a shield of gray across the sky. Nick and Kate were growing thirsty, and a weariness was settling in. The day had been shoes on pavement, shoes on grass, shoes crunching on rocks, shoes crushing leaves. Footsteps over and over.
A deteriorated asphalt road had taken them through the woods and opened up to a small town. Nick paused their advancements on the outskirts, taking cover behind a tree to watch and listen. He heard nothing. No sounds of people shuffling about. No laughter from Infected roaming the street.
The chipped and cracked pavement road cut the town in half. On either side stood modest houses, as well as a small gas station, and a grocery market. A wooden bridge connected the road where a vast drop-off severed the town. Past the bridge, the road continued, dotted with a few more houses on either side before disappearing around a bend flanked by forest.
They could backtrack. They could put distance between themselves and this town—go through the woods, and follow the drop-off until they found a safe place to cross. If one existed.
Nick’s boots met the pavement. Decision made. Kate followed closely as they crept through the town. Nick kept his head forward while his eyes roamed the area. Thick dread climbed up his throat, threatening to close off his airway. The environment that hung atop the buildings was muted—a dead zone. The only sounds came from his boots, and the sound of them tormented his eardrums.
It was too late when Nick realized how odd the town looked. Society’s descent had not taken them deep enough to produce buildings that were rotting away with flaky, fragile paint. The brick exteriors were coated in century-old grime, and several of the roofs were exposed to the elements.
One house’s white wooden door hung open with a single hinge holding it to the frame. A rocking chair sat on the porch, missing several slats from the backrest. With just a subtle gust of wind, Nick imagined the chair would creak and tap against the porch. Except the wind was absent; all airflow had been stifled from this place.
Nick pressed the toe of his boot on the worn bridge and looked over the edge. There was no river. No water at all. The earth dropped off into an expansive trench with rocks and branches jutting out from the soil. At first glance, Nick thought the dark, lumpy forms spread across the bottom were piles of dirt until the shape of an arm materialized. Nick recoiled, and his arm swung out to halt Kate’s advances and prevent her from seeing the ghastly view below.
He motioned for her to begin crossing. Nick’s fingers wrapped around his rifle. As Kate took her first step onto the bridge, he turned and scanned the town behind him. The panic was swallowing him whole, and while he knew to be cautious, he did not know where to pinpoint his gaze.
Kate took another step, and something sailed through the air. He could hear the trajectory of something traveling toward themwith speed. Nick grasped Kate’s shoulders to pull her back when an object hit the bridge, cracking the wood planks beneath them. The boards splintered apart, and Kate fell.
Against his fervent instinct, Nick let go of his rifle and caught Kate’s forearm. The wood beneath Nick sighed in longing to give way but did not relent to the condition of its neighbors. Kate’s face, flooded with fear, looked up at him as breathless whimpers left her lips. The broken wood fell onto the piles of bodies below in soft thumps.
Nick braced himself with his free hand against the bridge. His eyes were fixed on Kate as he started to pull her up when something moved in his peripheral. Something behind Kate. Something below.
The human remains were shifting and moving. Breaking their corpse formations and standing. And now they were laughing.
“Shhh,” Nick whispered. Though the Infected were roused, Nick did not want to rile them further. As he started to pull Kate back to the bridge, the forest was coming alive. Many sets of feet stampeded in concert through the woods, coming straight for them.
The wood bent beneath Nick’s body, cracking as the rusty nails that held it in place lifted from their positions. The Infected were clawing at the rocks and roots, climbing atop each other as they ascended the dirt trench. Laughter bounced off the loose earth.
As Kate’s torso passed the bridge and only her feet remained below, Nick edged his way backward, careful not to upset the unstable planks. With a final exertion of strength, Kate was on the bridge, and Nick pulled her back the way they had come.
The swarm advancing through the trees was closer now, and some of the Infected had climbed over the side of the ravine. Nick aimed his rifle and put bullets into the heads of the first few monsters. When the sound of his gunfire rang out, whatever washeading toward them through the woods erupted into shrieks that eviscerated the silence of the town.
Nick and Kate sprinted away, following the road that had brought them there.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Boots thudded against wood. Bodies jumped the gap in the bridge and landed on the other side. There would be no delay in their pursuit.
The cackles of the Infected filled the air. The screeches that trailed them, the way the sound seemed to rip through their throats, stirred a feeling that exceeded terror.
Kate pushed her legs to their limit, and her heart pounded inside her chest. Nick matched her speed without tiring, scrambling to find an escape route. Dusk shrouded the area, cloaking the woods in a darkness almost blinding. Still, they broke off of the road and stumbled into the dim forest.
Branches slapped their faces as they ran. Their feet carried them only a short distance while they tripped over rocks and slid across patches of slippery leaves. Kate grabbed a tree and doubled over, panting as her depleted lungs seized.
The shrill, pained cries marched toward them. Boots pounded the pavement from behind.
