Chapter Text
The four of them were silent as they made their way up the long driveway to the house. It had been three days since they were forced to flee, and with no sign of the others they carefully made their way back in the hope that they were still here.
There were signs of struggle everywhere; the yard was covered in tire tracks, Rochelle’s garden had been ransacked, and the house itself was practically a smoking ruin. As they approached the front door they saw that both of the cars were gone and they had to hope that was a good sign.
Several infected had begun to wander in the yard, clearly drawn by the commotion that had taken place. They were slower now than they had been at the start of the outbreak and so as long as everyone kept their eyes peeled for specials sneaking up on them they didn’t have much to worry about.
After taking out a Hunter that had been snarling from the treeline Zoey watched as Coach crouched to grab something from the ground. Tentatively he held the item out to her.
It was Ellis’ hat; covered in dirt and ash. She silently accepted it from the older man and held it tightly.
“There’s no sign of blood,” She said after a moment of quiet contemplation.
“That’s a good sign,” Rochelle responded, rubbing Zoey’s shoulder comfortingly, “He’s probably not hurt.”
The fact that Ellis never went anywhere without his hat was not a good sign, but thankfully no one felt the need to point that out.
“What do we do now?” Nick asked as he gestured toward their destroyed home.
“We need to stay close by,” Zoey insisted, “the others might still be around, they could come back like we did.”
“I agree that we should stay close but we shouldn’t stay right here for too long; we don’t know who or what might be out there. Let’s take a look around and see if there are any supplies left that we can take with us, after that we’ll head towards town and see if we can find any sign of them there,” Coach decided, and the others agreed.
They decided to split into pairs; Zoey and Rochelle checked the outside of the house while Coach and Nick went inside. As they suspected Rochelle’s garden had been completely destroyed, the only things they were able to grab being a few mint leaves and a cucumber. Zoey was able to find a few improvised weapons that would be worth taking, a baseball bat and a crowbar. To her unease she also found a syringe in the grass next to some tire tracks, hoping that it had been there the whole time they had been living there and no one had noticed. She felt nauseous at the idea of the alternative.
Coach and Nick came back out some time later, both of them having similarly mediocre luck. They had found a few cans of food, some toiletries, and Louis’ crank radio but everything else was gone. With the sun beginning to set they needed to head into town before they lost the light, so with heavy hearts they turned their backs on what had been their home.
The walk into town wasn’t long, and the infected having been drawn to the smoldering remains of their house meant that the streets were mostly deserted. The four survivors set up camp in an old shop that they had cleared out months ago with Nick offering to take the first watch to let the others get some rest. Coach cranked the radio and began scrolling through the stations -as Louis had taken to doing over the past year- listening for anything interesting. In the past they occasionally caught snippets of a broadcast but they could never make out much detail. There was nothing they could hear now, but the crackling white noise it provided was strangely comforting.
Zoey laid down to sleep but found herself tossing and turning most of the night as she held onto Ellis’ hat. She was plagued with thoughts of what could have happened to him, Francis, and Louis after they had been forced apart, hoping that the three of them were together nearby and the two groups were just missing each other.
About a year had passed since they first came to the farmhouse and they had really made it a home. As soon as the weather was warm enough Rochelle started her garden and as a result they had enjoyed fresh vegetables for most of the summer. With their hunting plans continuing to work out they also regularly had fresh meat and plenty that they could preserve for the next winter; they had truly made the place something special.
In keeping with their plan, however, they also regularly broke into two groups to venture to the nearby capital. One group would stay at the house while the others went out; the trip never took more than a day or two and, until the most recent time, the venturing group never returned with news.
About a week ago another outing had been planned; Zoey was supposed to go on this one and she was excited to see if there had been any changes. Unfortunately she had twisted her ankle while hunting with Francis the day before and had to stay home to heal, leaving Ellis, Francis, and Louis to make the trip without her.
The three men made it back to the house but this time they had news; they had spotted a helicopter. As they made their way home it followed them, and eventually armored cars had begun tailing them as well. After losing them in a nearby town they made their way to the house with enough time to warn the others to flee, promising to meet up with them in a few days, and, well, here they were still separated and their home destroyed.
All Zoey could do was wonder why; why would they be chased, why would they be attacked? She thought of the empty syringe she had found earlier and her stomach roiled at the thought that it may have been used on one of them and what it may have held.
Her stomach really roiled at the idea, and she was soon lunging to her feet and into the bathroom of the shop, emptying its meager contents into the toilet bowl. She was making herself too anxious, she needed to think of something else lest she throw up again; she had been stressed to the point of vomiting often, lately, and she didn’t want the others to worry about her given everything else they were dealing with.
When she emerged from the bathroom she found Rochelle watching her from the front door of the shop. The sun was rising and the other woman’s watch was almost up so Zoey figured she would just relieve her early and wait for the others to wake up.
“Everything alright?” The other woman asked as Zoey approached.
“Yeah, I guess my stomach just isn’t used to canned food anymore,” she replied as nonchalantly as she could. She sat on the floor of the shop by the large front window to keep an eye out as Rochelle gathered her things. Her bag was in her lap, and on top of it sat Ellis’ hat. She sighed forlornly at the thought of her missing boyfriend before she realized she hadn’t checked on the other woman.
“How are you holding up?” Zoey asked as Rochelle began pulling out food for them to eat for breakfast. She had been so caught up with missing Ellis that she hadn’t really considered how much Ro must miss Francis; she felt a little guilty that it had taken her this long.
“All things considered, I’m alright,” She responded, sounding chipper in spite of the sadness in her eyes.
Before Zoey could ask anything else the monotonous white noise of the radio was interrupted by a loud crackling sound; the static had been going all night so it had faded into background noise. This sound was strange, however, and it startled Nick and Coach out of their sleep. All four of them sat silently while they watched the radio, waiting for something else to happen.
The crackling faded to static, but a woman’s voice uttered a few words in between bouts of silence; settlement, old town, shelter, and medicine.
“Old town,” Nick said after the radio went back to white noise, “Why does that sound familiar?”
Coach stood and went to a corner of the store that they hadn’t bothered to touch on their scavenging missions and came back with a coffee mug. He faced the logo toward them which read ‘Old town University Alumni’, explaining, “It’s a college nearby; a friend of mine actually went there. If I’m rememberin’ the maps right it’s south of here, it would maybe take a few days walkin’ but if we follow the river we should find it.”
“The others could be there,” Zoey pointed out.
“Or they might be the ones who attacked us,” Nick countered.
“We should go check it out,” Rochelle said, “We can always scope it out from a distance. It’s not unreasonable to think the others may have made it there, but we should make sure it’s safe before we go barging in.”
With no other plan available to them they gathered their supplies and headed south.