Five

Three weeks has passed by since that first news report and many things have gone wrong since then. The state went into a panic, which lead to the country being sent into a panic, most likely causing the rest of the world to be sent into a panic. No biggie, right? Just, world wide panic all due to something that started in America. Cause that makes this country look good. Even better, America is putting the blame on another country. Yep, totally gonna get help from them now.

The doctors handling the deceased man had not been as careful as they should have been and got themselves injured. As well as letting him loose out into the open. Obviously all people were reported to stay in their homes, leaving Hope’s house full of people, but not all were lucky. On the fateful day that the man had escaped he had managed to take a few chunks out of some unlucky passersby and even went in for a full out feast on someone. Not long after that, the disease had begun to spread and the only help doctors were able to give away was don’t get bit. That’s how the infection spreads. Being bit, scraped, any exposed flesh coming into contact the teeth or fingers of the infected was a direct link to death.

Doctors had managed to find out that the disease is only able to pass on after the person has not only become deceased, but has come back. They believe that the infection attacks the immune system and nerves before fully attacking the heart and brain, killing the person off. Spreading rate varies from person to person leaving someone to be in agony for days on end or right away.

There are three different spreading rates for the infection. One for it to run throughout the body without a trace. Meaning, there is up to thirty minutes after a bite or scratch to dispose of the location one has been scratched or bit. The second one is for how long it takes for the infection to start shutting everything down. By this point it is too late to dispose of the wound and the person is left to either die on their own or be killed off. This rate can vary from an hour to many days of leaving the person in utter agony as they dispose of everything in their body and eventually die off. Lastly, it is the rate on which the person returns. This, again, can either happen instantly or for days on end. At this point the infection works as a starter to get the brain up and running, allowing the body to function just enough to move and eat. By this point the infection is in the infected body and able to spread to any human that does not have it.

Doctors have not found a cure for the disease and have determined the best way for humanity to get through this is to kill them off. Although it is not the choice of action they want to take, it is the best option. Simple shooting them won't work of course. The only living part on an infected body is the brain, so the only way to take them down is causing injury to the brain. Scientists believe that the infection is in the air and that everybody has it deep within them, so anyone who dies of natural causes or any other way besides trauma to the brain is asked to be shot in the head for good measurement.

The disease does not seem to affect animals directly, but any consumption of an animal that has feasted on the remains of the dead carry the disease and will be passed on to the consumer of the meat, causing the same effects of being bit just slower.

Of course, at this three week mark humanity had given up. Most of the population had died and any help that had been sent had stopped coming. Internet and cable had been shut off and electricity was all dependent on if your town had a functioning generator or not. Most towns were left to fend for themselves and most had fled, not getting very far of course, and any spec of government was wiped away. Those who had prepared for this or those who are lucky have managed to stay alive and the fate of humanity is left up to them.

Part of the many who had fled, Hope and her four friends had stolen one of those big camper RV’s, stocked up on supplies-mostly by raiding the university Hope had attended and many different kinds of stores, and packed all their stuff up. They used the backstreets for a quicker exit from the city to find a nice area to settle down for a little while. It wasn’t exactly 5 star living, but it was something. Hope had pulled off the side of the road that looked as if it lead to a nice sized clearing surrounded by woods, and to the pleasure it did. Five minutes down the bumpy dirt road lead to a cleared area of nothing but dead grass surrounded by from most directions. She rolled the RV up against the edge of the woods and put it in park.

“Welp. This will have to do for now.” Hope said as she turned in her seat to face her frightened friends, “It’s getting late. Let’s do a quick perimeter check and set up camp. Ethan, Aiden. Go check around here and clear the area of any infected if you come across them. Cas, Lexi. I want you two to go over there, same goes for you two. And I’ll go look around this direction. While you’re out there look for any running water. That should be our top priority. We only have so many packages of bottled water.”

“Hope, you can’t possibly be going by yourself.” Cas leaned forward from her seat and rested her hand on Hope’s shoulder, “It’s too dangerous. There could be a lot out there.”

“There’s only five of us. We have no choice.” Hope unbuckled herself, “Meet me back here in an hour. We don’t have any means of communication so please be careful and make it back in time.”

“Do you want us to take anything to fill with water?” Aiden asked as he gathered himself together and prepared to go out into the open.

“No. Just look for a stream, remember where it is. And then we’ll all go check it out tomorrow.” Hope opened her door and climbed out, waiting for everyone to exit before waving them off. “Be safe, I love you all.”

“You too.” They all mumbled before heading off in their directions.

Hope closed her eyes and slowly let out a shaky breath. She coiled her fingers around the head of the knife in her pocket and slowly reopened her eyes. With a huff, she started making her way into the woods, ready for whatever was to come.

“So it this going to be a permanent place?” Lexi asked while looking down at the ground, her orange hair hanging in her eyes.

“Honestly, I don’t know. This seems too open for Hope to be comfortable in. I’m sure this is just temporary for us to get our s**t together and everything.” Cas said, crunching down on leaves and keeping an eye out for anything unusual. “Probably get some more rations, a couple more cars, maybe a map. Who know’s what she has planned.”

“More cars?” Lexi’s head tilted up questioningly at her sister.

“At least I plan on getting more cars. I don’t think I could handle being trapped in one car with Ethan and Aiden the rest of my life.”

“You’re acting as if this is still normal life.”

“Who's to say it isn’t?”

Lexi shook her head in disbelief, “I’m gonna die.”

“Don’t you dare start doing that.”

“No seriously. I am. I don’t know how to f*****g take care of myself. I’ve proved that more than enough times. My sister refuses to accept that this has just happened-

“I never said I didn’t accept-

“Would you shut up?” Cas fell silent to her sister’s annoyed face. “My sister refuses to accept that this just happened. There’s already going to be drama due to Ethan and Aiden- don’t even say anything. I’m not done. And worse of all. We’re letting a girl who thinks she know’s what she’s doing keep us all safe. But in reality she’s just as confused as the rest of us and has no idea what to do!”

“And you think that just because she’s a zombie fanatic that she’ll automatically know what to do? At least she’s trying! I would rather be with her, someone who has some kind of knowledge on this matter, than to be stuck with someone who has no idea what the hell to do. For crying out loud Lex, she had a plan. You honestly think we would have gotten this far without her?”

“She isn’t better than us.”

“I never said she was.”

“You think it.”

“The f**k is this? I get that you’re scared but don’t turn that into anger at someone who is taking initiative and trying to save your life. Get off your high horse and be glad you’re still not stuck in that damn city. Be grateful that someone else cares about you and want’s you safe. You’re not alone in this. You never were and you never will be. Stop being all woe is me. I’m done discussing this so shut up and look for a stream. Your damn rants never make any sense anyways.”

Lexi huffed and crossed her arms, “Maybe I'd feel better if I knew how to take care of myself.” she grumbled.

“So tomorrow is probably strategy day, huh?” Aiden asked as he stepped closer to the boy.

“Something like that probably. I’m gonna bring it up to Hope that we go back to the city and get a couple more cars. We can carry more stuff that way and gives us all our own spaces. Apart from our tents of course.” Ethan suggested as he wrapped his fingers around the younger’s hand.

“You think we’ll be here long enough to set up camp? Hope looks a little uneasy here. We’re still pretty close to the city and this is nowhere near what she had always planned.”

“Eehh, I think we’ll be here maybe two, three weeks tops. Enough to get our bearings together, gather what we need, and make our way to a more solid place of living.”

“We’re pretty lucky.” Ethan only looked at him in response, “You know, for having Hope. And Cas too honestly. We need Hope’s planning and Cas’s attitude to get us through this.”

“Yeah, we got some pretty tough girls on our side. They can probably kick a*s better than we can. At the very least I know Cas can. The only one I’m really worried about is Lexi. She relies very heavily on Cas for everything and she doesn’t seem to like all of us.”

“Well yeah, Cas practically raised her. In a sense. Plus the poor girl is probably scared as hell. I know I am. But like, imagine her situation. Surrounded by a punch of people she doesn’t really know and relying on them to take of her. Can’t imagine what’s going on in her head.”

“Yeah, I’m sure she’ll warm up to all of us soon. And when she does maybe we can start teaching her how to fend for herself.”

Aiden chuckled and pressed up against him, “Hey. Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Running water.” Aiden let go of the others hand and made his way towards the sound.

Holy s**t. Okay Hope, get it together. You have always planned for this. Everything is in order. This is actually happening. Oh my god. I’m living in the zombie-apocalypse. Like, right now. This is happening. Don’t panic. All is going smoothly. While yes, we have strayed from the plan a bit I know we can get back on it. This is a necessary stop. We need to stop to get ourselves together and just evolve with our new life before continuing on.

Besides, everything is going so much better than planned. I’ve got people with me. While yes, I always hoped that my mates would be there with me I told myself that they weren’t just in case. So that’s a plus. I’m not a lone. And the infected are almost perfect. Like. Right down to the description they fit perfectly into the zombie mold. That’s a plus. That’s what I trained myself for. Everything is going nicely. We’ll all leave in a couple of weeks and start our new life of survival. This is just a minor bump in the road, which shouldn’t even be considered a bump in the road because we need it.

I need it.

Hope kept a cautious eye out as she surveyed the area, he hand never leaving her side. This was oddly quiet. She had expected much more infected to be out here than there were. In fact, there is any. Right. They’re all herding up in the city. That place is soon going to become a suicide mission of anyone goes back there. Under no circumstances should they go back there. They can find everything they need elsewhere.

A slight rustling to her left stirred Hope’s attention and she jerked to face it. A faint struggled cry for help came from the same direction and Hope’s feet were moving before she could even think about it. That voice. She knew that voice. Where from though? It’s fairly new. It has to be. One of Hope’s specialties is placing voices with faces.

Without even thinking about it, Hope withdrew her knife from her pocket and stuck it into the back of the bloody man pushing the poor girl up against the tree feverishly. His biting motions quickly stopped and the girl let his limp body fall to the ground. Hope looked up from the lifeless body and up to a familiar face.

“Grace.” Her name slipped out of her lips faster than she could actually declare that it was her and she stood blankly as she stared at the not so put together girl.

Her hair was a mess due to the tussle with the dead man and her comforting eyes now held fear. The girl lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Hopes neck, flinging her weight into Hope as she let out a relieved gasp.

“Oh my god. Thank you so much.” Grace pulled back and rubbed her bloody hands against her torn up jeans, “Hope, is that you?”

“Um…” Once again this girl managed to make Hope speechless. Countless phone calls and a few ‘dates’ and she still wasn’t able to speak clearly.

“Oh my god it is.” Grace flung herself against Hope again. “I was worried I wouldn’t get to see you again.”

“... Hi.” Hope placed an arm around her and slowly patted her back, “Are you… out here on your own?”

Grace pulled back and nodded. “I was with a group, we had set up a camp not too far from here but him-” Grace pointed at the body, “and a group of them took over our camp. I didn’t have anything to fight with so I fled and ended up here.

“How many of them were there?”

“Like, three or four. But I was part of a small group and none of us were really fit for fighting. One pregnant woman and a few kids.”

“Did they all make it?”

“I have no idea. I just kinda ran.”

“Do you want to go back and see if they’re safe?” Hope asked.

“No. God no. I doubt they made it. And even if they did I would have to take care of them.”

Hope just nodded. Grace clasped her hands together and looked around, chewing on her bottom lip slightly.

Hope put one foot out and placed her toe in the dirt and glanced over at Grace. “You… maybe wanna-

“Yes.” Grace said eagerly before stepping back from the surprised face of the other girl. “Yes, I would like to join your group. Please. And thank you. If you are okay with that. Of course…”

“Camp is this way.” Hope pointed with her finger.

The two girls silently made their way back to where Hope’s group had settled. Hope didn’t think Grace was telling the whole truth, but decided not to press the matter. She was simply happy that she had happend to not only stumble on Grace, but that Grace had remembered her and wanted to join her group. She was taken back a bit when Grace said that she had nothing to go back to, so obviously clothes were to be added to the list of things to pick up while out on hunts.

By the time the two had officially made it back, Hope had found Ethan and Aiden sitting in the RV ‘talking’ and she plopped herself next to them. Grace sat across from the three of them quietly and the boys glanced over at Hope. Hope just stared back at them and then checked the watch on her wrist. The hands were ticking at what would have been a little over an hour since all of them had been there and Cas and Lexi had not returned yet. Hope was getting antsy and just as she was about to go out looking for them the RV door opened up and the two girls walked in with a deer on Cas’s back.

“I scored us dinner. Would you look at this beauty. Poor thing was trapped in some branches and surrounded by a few infected so I went in there and took em all out. When I was just about to let this poor guy loose I had found that a bite was taken out of it legs so I killed the sucker and chopped the leg off. It should still be safe to eat cause that wound looked fairly new so bon-appetit!” Cas dropped the dead carcass down on the ground in front of the door.  

While Aiden and Cas prepared the deer for cooking and eating, everyone else took to setting up camp. The RV only had one room and even if anyone wanted to use it, there wouldn’t be enough room due to all the things that had been brought along. So three tents had been set up close to the fire that Aiden had set up. It didn’t take any rocket scientist on who was paired up with who, so the tents were fairly easy to set up and fill with necessities only. Hope had formally introduced Grace to all her friends during that time and then volunteered herself for overnight watch. Cas had opted to join in with her, stating that two was better than one and when everyone else went off to their tents to sleep the two girls stayed out and kept watch.

It was a nice night. No city lights to block out the stars and the weather had seemed be doing nicely for once. It wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cold. There was no breeze, but the air wasn’t stagnant. A few bugs were out, but none of the annoying ones. The only downside to this whole thing was the potential threat of dying at any moment. Cas seemed unphased by this whole phenomenon, only letting a few glances of fear show up on her face when it benefited her.

Cas was a good faker. She had done it her whole life. No one really ever know’s how she feels. She keeps that to herself, only showing it when it proves useful. And even then, Hope isn’t sure if that’s really how she truly fears or if it’s an illusion Cas has put up as back up. It’s not like Cas isn’t open about things, she just keeps things to herself. And although it had always bothered Hope a little bit that Cas was never fully open to her, she knew that it was nothing against her and just who Cas was. A good personality to have in this world Hope thought. Upbeat and happy when needed to be and serious and scared when needed to be. It was definitely something Hope was glad to have part of her group.