The crunching of leaves beneath their feet echoed in the eerily quiet woods. Although they knew the crawlers were only so far away, feasting on unprepared prey at the Terminus sanctuary. Sounds were always so unpredictable in the world they now lived in.
One day, a scream could summon a hundred crawlers. The next, a gunshot could attract none.
Mackenzie's injured arm was shaking rapidly and her legs felt heavier, especially the one with the cut. She held her youngest sister on her back, her brother was tied to her chest with her jacket, her good arm cradling his body tightly to her own as he slept peacefully, unaware of his sister's dwindling health.
Dakota followed along, attentively watching his older sister's six, even though she turned her hazed-over gaze to him after every fifth step she took to ensure his safety. He held one of her knives, her gun holstered in his belt, as she held her machete in her limp and injured arm that shook dangerously, but her determination to protect her family outweighed her desire to pass out.
Approaching the abandoned double-storey house, Mackenzie twirled the machete in her hand and approached the nosey crawlers clambering around the porch like drunken fools. Knocking on the door in a particular pattern; four consecutive knocks, a pause then two more knocks, she listened carefully to the faint baby talk coming from inside along with the approaching footsteps.
The scraping of wood indicated the movement of the couch and the second the door was open a small head of blonde rushed past Mackenzie and into Dakota's arms, leaving him to drop his weapons to return the hug so graciously given by his twin sister; Taylor Adler, who'd switch back to her less affectionate self soon after the shock of their return. Payton climbed off Mack's back and bolted inside and into the arms of Sophia, who had taken a particular liking to the small ball of energy. The four hugging kids laughed breathlessly and excitedly, the reunification far greater than any adventure from even before the world ended.
Mackenzie urged the twins inside with her and, with their help, moved the couch back into position across the front door before approaching the play area with Avery in her arm. The oldest Adler placed the two-year-old down with the two babies whom she greeted with a small grin.
"Hey baby, hey baby bug," she lightly rubbed their stomachs with the tips of her fingers before approaching the kitchen counter, Sophia taking place to look after the younger kids while the twins followed behind their older sister worriedly.
"You good?" Taylor asked as her sister pulled herself up on the kitchen counter, beside the sink, weakly, before her eyes zeroed in on the trail of blood drops across the floor and jaw slackened, "What the hell, Mack?"
