when everything falls to hell

Chapter 6 Journey Through The City of The Dead

We make our way out of the police station and pause uncertainly as we look at the desolate town. Loki looks up at me "what should we do now Kairi?"

I look over at Ryan and say "well it's your wife we're looking for, any clues on where she might be?"

Ryan looks at the burning town in front of us and hesitates "well... she works in a bakery, but I doubt she will still be there... I think our best bet is to cross the river and get to the west end, that's where Lily would have headed." He points in the direction of the bridge.

I nod "the west end huh? That's not too far from where we are... I think its only an hour drive, but walking there? That could easily take three! But more importantly why do you think she would go there?" I ask curiously.

"I'm sure we'll figure out a faster route. I think she'll be there because that's where the chief set up the emergency shelter, so there'll be at least a dozen officers, all armed. There'll also be food, water, and it will provide a safe place to sleep when night comes." Ryan explains.
  
Loki looks really excited at the prospect of safety, while I knit my brows together in confusion and tilt my head while picturing a prison-like building with fences and armed guards. "I didn't know that there was a building like that here, surely I would've seen it before?"

Ryan shakes his head and says gravely "it's not whatever you're imagining. The chief said they'll set up at the university because it's big and close enough to the hospital that they'll be able to protect and use its facilities without a great deal of difficulty."     

My face pales when he mentions the hospital and I reach out and grip his arm before asking "won't that be dangerous? I mean you said yourself that three of the most capable officers you know got bitten... and we know what happens when you get bitten. If they try to save anyone who's been bitten then that hospital will look just like the one we came from. And having a bunch of useless, scared people so close by could be LETHAL, not just dangerous!"

Ryan looks slightly concerned by my statement, however he replies confidently with "we didn't receive any calls from the west side, they all came from over here before the lines shut down. Which means that there wasn't any of those monsters over there, so they would have to cross the bridge in order to attack the university. And it would be easy to defend the bridge. So you don't need to worry, the university is perfectly safe."

I consider this for a moment before I slowly nod my head, although I'm far from convinced. "Well I guess there's no harm in trying... but we need to figure out how to get there. Me and Loki don't have enough energy to walk for three hours, heck I don't think you can walk for three hours either!" Loki nods agreement and looks expectantly at Ryan.

Ryan scratches the back of his head while he considers a solution. "Well unfortunately I don't have a car here because I live close enough to walk, and all of the police cruisers have been taken by the others... so we don't have a car. Plus all transit is down so I think walking is our only option at this point."

I sigh before shrugging in defeat "alright fine, I guess we have no choice, but at the very least we can pick the fastest route."

I think for a moment before I say "I think the fastest route is actually the main road... well we don't have to worry about being hit by cars, because there's no one around to hit us. Plus I don't really want to try walking through alleys with the Lifeless still roaming around."

"Good point." Ryan says before he realizes something "wait, earlier you didn't mention anything about running into Lifeless on your way here?"

I nod hair swaying slightly before saying "that's because we didn't run into any. But it makes sense because East hospital is a little outside the city limits, nobody goes there unless they need to go to the hospital, so the Lifeless would have no reason to stay, especially if they could hear cars, or screams, coming from the city. I doubt we'll be that lucky now that we're inside the city... but I think we can make it if we're quiet, I think we can slip past them because they appear to be blind."