Survival

Chapter 9 Moving on

Vita woke up on the scratchy couch feeling a bit energized for the first time in a long while. She didn't know how many days had passed since the hippie family had taken her in as one of their own, but she appreciated the food and support. Her reflection in the compact mirror from her purse showed that some of the color had come back to her cheeks. Her days of looking like a zombie were numbered.

The hippie and Cynthia were talking in hushed tones in the kitchen nearby. She slowly lifted herself into a seated position. A colorful palette settled over the horizon like a grandmother's quilt and a couple of the hippies were still missing. A chill set into her skin, imagining that they had been confronted by other survivors.

The thin hippie woman ran through the front door with a red face. The woman's feet were bare, bloody and covered in dirt. Vita cringed before she remembered that her own hygiene was an equally abysmal cocktail.

"She's gone, Peyton!" Holly cried.

Peyton looked up from his hushed conversation with Cynthia to his panicked sister. Her bloodshot eyes brimmed with tears while his narrowed.

"What do you mean, she's gone?"

"A big black truck," she gasped and paused to catch her breath, "it pulled up. Two men jumped out and took her. It drove off so fast, even with the mess on the streets."

"They know," Peyton said in a soft voice. Holly nodded in recognition.

Vita looked to Cynthia to see if she was the only one out of the loop. The childless mother brows were knitted together. 

Vita wondered who still had the fuel to drive around and where they were taking people. Could that be the reason they had seen less and fewer wanderers lately? If that place had food and shelter, could it really be that bad? Peyton's pacing and ranting indicated it probably was.

Cynthia came over to give Vita a little more water and what was possibly the last of the food supply. The water soothed the back of her parched throat and she tore into the food. The idea of sharing didn't come to her until she'd nearly finished the apple and chips. Cynthia refused the offer, different than what Rob or Gunnar would have done.

"How are you feeling?" 

Vita wasn't sure why Cynthia asked as she would always take her temperature like she was a small child. Cynthia looked at her thermometer.

"Fever's gone now."

"Good. Thanks for the food and water," Vita answered. Staying put for the past few days with supplies to mend her health had done a lot. She hadn't realized how stressed and overwhelmed wandering with the guys had left her. Always fighting off another attack or having to find a new place to wait out a storm must have created this sickness.

Cynthia nodded. "We need to find more soon. There's not much left in the neighborhood."

Peyton and Holly rushed into the living room "We need to move quickly, while we have a little daylight. If we're fast we might have a clue as to where they took her."

Cynthia's expression remained unchanged. Vita wasn't about to bite the hand that fed her so well, so she joined the sunset escape route. There would always be power in numbers.

The group walked past a few stalled cars and corpses. A growl from a nearby house caused Vita's heart to jump into her throat. Rob wasn't by her side to rub her back or tell her she was overreacting. She cringed at the thought she almost missed it. What if the animal belonged to a group of guys like Rob and Gunnar? Or what if it was huge and looking for livelier prey than usual. Carnivorous animals had come from the nearby green space to take advantage of people who couldn't outlive this collapse. Vita recognized the wolf tracks and hurried to catch up with Peyton. 

A few small figures moved in the distance but there was no sign of anything as large as a vehicle moving about. Peyton still looked back over his shoulder every thirty seconds to be sure they weren't being followed, only increasing Vita's heartbeat.

She kept expecting to see headlights or the roar of an engine, but nothing came to Peyton's dismay. As grateful as she was to have this group, she'd be willing to jump right in that van if it meant she could have a slice of a normal life again.

Vita jumped as a large bang and hiss echoed in the increasing darkness. They pressed themselves up against a wooden fence. Another bang and twinkling trails lit up the sky above.

"Idiots," Peyton muttered under his breath.

"We'll find her," Holly reassured but Peyton didn't reply. 

They kept walking out of the residential district until the buildings began to morph into warehouses and large industrial storage yards. Shadows grew into giants, prompting Vita to jump every time an unfamiliar one caught her eye.

None of this seemed more secure than the other neighborhood. If anything, there were far fewer people and far more eerie machines that had come crashing through walls and windows to lie on the pavement. Who knew what lurked in the shadows?   

Peyton kept his eyes on the right side of the street as they scanned up and down the buildings. Vita couldn't tell what he was searching for, but she knew enough to figure out he wasn't looking for a random building. It had to be something very specific. Maybe another group of survivors?

They arrived at a large rectangular building, no different than the last. Peyton's eyes flickered to Holly who nodded, then they walked up to it. An upside-down seven hung from the top of the door. But they continued walking all the way to the back of the building where a small bungalow was still standing. Vita found it very strange that wind vanes and chimes still decorated the front yard. The rest of the area was subjected to the high-speed winds by the looks of the uprooted street lamps.

Peyton knocked on the door with a rhythm too peculiar to be spontaneous. Another series of knocks echoed from inside. Peyton unleashed a second series of rehearsed knocks before the door cracked open.

An older man with a salt and pepper beard met them on the other side.

"Hola Pele," Peyton greeted, meeting the man's gaze.

"Quienes son ellos?" the man asked in a raspy voice. He narrowed his eyes at the group.

"Amigas, they're safe. Son seguros Pele."

"Si te creo. Bueno." Pele nodded and locked the door four times after they had come inside. His hands trembled as he secured the final one. A kettle whistled in the other room and he walked over to get it, leaving the new guests in the living room.

"Who is this guy?" Vita asked Peyton.

"An old friend, we did some work together a few years ago and kept in touch. He was always able to withstand whatever life threw at him. I figured he'd still be alive after all of this."

The man walked back into the room, his hunched form accentuating his short stature. He carried five cups on a stained metal try and a teapot. He set them down on a small coffee table lit by four burning candles. Everyone followed Pele's lead and sat on the floor on cushions, sharing tea as if it was familial visit.

"Que quieres Peyton? Por que estais aqui?" Pele asked.

Vita could remember from the Spanish class she took freshman year, which felt like another lifetime ago. Pele wanted to know why they were here. She brought the tea close to her face to take in its warmth but the reminder of bloated Mrs. Sanchez kept it from passing through her lips.

"Just a place to rest for a few nights, por favor? They've taken my wife and we need to figure out who took her and where she could be."

"Okay, little bit, aqui." Pele said gesturing to the room they were in. They would be sharing the two couches. He offered no help in the matter of finding Peyton's wife.               

Vita wondered if a pursuit was the best idea for someone recovering from a mystery illness, but Pele had food and water that he'd share for a little while. As long as he wasn't out to hurt them or poison them with tea things would be alright.