Revenant's Kiss | ONC 2022 Shortlister ✓

E I G H T E E N

If I didn't believe in miracles before, I did now. Finding a working military Jeep outside the safehouse was basically a given due to Beta Five's presence. But discovering a note with the whereabouts of the nearest Star settlement amidst the supplies stored in the back was divine intervention.

Despite having travelled in the vehicle for a few months, I still found it unreal. Of course I was very thankful for it, because this old clunker kept us protected from the weather and the revenants, not that they hadn't tried barging in. I couldn't forget how it faithfully took us through the twelve hundred miles from Massachusetts to my home state of Arkansas.

It was crazy that the three months worth of travelling we'd done would take only twenty-two hours before the pandemic. Back then they didn't have to worry about crushed cities, fallen bridges, missile-destroyed highways, and bloodthirsty infected like we did. Let's not forget to note all the detours we had to take that the Jeep miraculously took us through. Thankfully we always managed to hunt down enough gas to keep us going despite all the hang ups.

What was time anyway, besides the counting down of days until you were either killed by a revenant or died of other unseemly ways? Or maybe it was something similar to my life. How many years it took to shoot everyone you loved because they suffered a fate worse than death.

"Uh, baby girl?" Soren's anxious tone interrupted me from my dark thoughts.

I leaned up from my seat with a slight tingle of alarm running up my spine. "What's wrong?"

"I think this old thing has gone as far as it can," he said as he kept the wheel of the vehicle steady.

A frown wrinkled my forehead when the scratchy sound of the motor cutting out reached my hearing. It definitely sounded like this Jeep was about to give up the ghost. "Can you fix it or something?"

He shook his head and it sputtered to a stop. "No ma'am. It's just worn out, and probably needing a refill but we're out of gas and there ain't a decent hunk of tin around to get any from."

A sigh breached my mouth and I rubbed my forehead, biting on my lip. "How close are we to the Star settlement?"

He pulled the folded map from his pocket and opened it before laying it down flat on the steering wheel. His brows knitted so close together it almost seemed like he had a unibrow, and I coughed to cover the laugh it brought. "Well, I'm not sure exactly where we are right now since this is nothing but trees. But if I had to guess, I'd say about fifteen or so minutes on foot."

"What would we do about our supplies?" I questioned. Uneasiness sprung up in my gut at the thought of leaving behind a lot of our food, ammunition, and medicine.

He sighed and shrugged, refolding the map into a perfect little square. "I don't know honestly. We sure can't carry it all."

"No shit, Sherlock," I teased with a chuckle and a shake of my head. "You're Superman though, right? So why don't you push us to the Stars."

He laughed, but it turned into a smile as his attention focused on something outside the Jeep. Lifting his hand, he gestured at the windshield. "Looks like I won't have to."

I followed his pointing and I nearly jumped out of my seat. Five men dressed in civilian clothes slowly walked toward our Jeep with a various assortment of guns, all of them aiming our way like we were hostiles.

Instead of waiting for them to reach our position, I popped out of the Jeep with a smile and a joyful heart. But I wasn't stupid in my haste and I kept my hands raised near my head just to let them know I meant no harm.

"Are you two lost?" The obvious leader of the group lowered his hunting rifle, looking over us carefully like we would turn into revenants at any moment.