I was like the female version of Rambo.
Bad. Ass.
Well, truthfully, doubts and fear plagued my every thought. If I were honest- if I allowed myself to actually feel the cyclone of emotions uprooting my insides- then I would feel how terrifying this unknown enemy was, how anxious and sick with worry for Hendrix and Nelson I felt and how afraid of my own life I could cowardly acknowledge.
But for the sake of everyone involved I forced myself to push every last one of those thoughts into an air tight, locked box somewhere in the middle of my chest and ignore it. Fear would get me nowhere successful, and doubts would only cloud my decisions and actions. For Hendrix I would be strong- for the Parker family I would pretend to be everything I wasn’t.
I met Haley’s firm gaze as Vaughan laid out instructions for them to hide in the hidden pantry Miller had talked about last night. Vaughan had since been down to inspect it and there was in fact plenty of canned and dry food. It was also hidden behind a secret panel that might keep them safe should they be attacked while we were gone.
What was left unanswered was attacked by what? Human or Zombie?
When final instructions were given, Vaughan turned to me and lifted his eyebrows. “Are you sure you want to do this? I don’t mind going alone.”
“But then tomorrow morning I’ll just have to come after you too,” I sighed as if annoyed. “It seems more efficient if I just go now and save you all at once.”
“Ha!” Harrison laughed, surprised by my quip. “Amazing that we survived at all without these two.”
“He’s right,” Haley drawled. Page’s head was resting in her lap and she was running her fingers through the sick little girl’s tangled, long blond curls. “It is, in fact, amazing.”
“Come on, Wonder Woman, let’s go save the day,” Vaughan walked by me and inclined his head toward the door.
I gave a small wave to Haley and then grinned at Harrison and King before I followed after. “I was thinking more like the female version of Rambo.”
Vaughan snorted and shook his head. Ok, so maybe I didn’t look as bad ass as I felt.
He bounded down the deck stairs and stopped in front of the minivan. Turning around he looked me over carefully.
“I have no idea where we’re going,” he admitted on a shrug. “That kid, Miller, said the camp was southeast of here. When I looked over the map, there was once a little town not far from here.”
“So that’s where you think they are?”
He shrugged, but his shoulders were tense. “Yes.”
“Are we driving or walking?”
“Walking.” And then he started. I hurried to catch up with him. “We have a better chance of running into them if we follow somewhat of the same path.” Vaughan pointed a finger at a slew of footprints in soft mud and I was beginning to understand that he was tracking them. “We also won’t cause a scene by driving up to a settlement.”
The minivan sounded like Sasquatch singing Ninety-Nine Bottles of beer on the wall after drinking ninety-nine bottles of beer- not pretty.
We set out toward the back of the property. We passed the outbuildings that were spread out on all the land that stretched between the house and the beginning of the fields. And then we skirted around the fields that were crop-less and barren from the last winter.
The sun was just barely gracing the day, low over the horizon and pale with morning light. The sky was gray with clouds and the air cold and breezy. We were still in early spring, and while I was convinced the landscape would never look fresh and green again, green grass was poking through the mud packed ground and leafless trees were budding but barely. The new life seemed so out of place when we were faced with ugly death every single day.
Winter had been miserable for Haley and I. But we were used to the ice cold temperatures and full feet of snow. We had managed to survive- mostly because we liked to cuddle and Zombies were slower with their feet entrenched in snow. They were resilient to a lot of things, but they froze just like the rest of us if left out in the elements.
Unfortunately, they were as resourceful when it came to survival as humans were- if not more so in some cases.
Finally, we made it to spring. The weather was usually cool, but not miserably so. It was always jeans and long-sleeved t-shirt weather- which was kind of perfect since it was better to keep as much skin covered as possible. We weren’t freezing every night, we weren’t perpetually wet because of all the snow and it wasn’t hot enough yet that the decaying world around us created the disgusting stench of rotting bodies that intermingled with the already pungent smell of Feeders.
“Vaughan, do you have a plan?” I asked in a small voice. I hated breaking the silence between us; it was both comfortable and necessary. But I also needed to know- mainly, so I didn’t f it up if he did.