After Armageddon (Finished)

Ch 8 - Our Quest

We trampled over sticks and fallen trees. It looked as if a tornado had been through here. Of course, if it had we'd have been screwed as Lane brought to my attention. It had apparently rained over here however. Mud seemed to clog up every square inch of the place. The leaves on the canopy of green above us occasionally would wave down to us involuntarily.

Finally after what seemed like hours we reached the spot were El, Nina and I met Tad. Lane nearly ran into El's back when he so suddenly stopped.

"We'll have to split up. Two of us walk under the tunnel, the other two following on top. Just incase something goes wrong." El demanded. Smart plan. If they get trapped with too many zombies underneath the ones on top can pull off the branches to save them. The ones on top also might need the ones on bottom to hide them in the few awkward twists and turns.

"I'll go with Lei on top." Tad volunteered.

"No. Lane will. He has more muscle, no offense, but he'll be better at protecting her if she needs help." El argued. Tad bit his lip hard and looked down at the ground. Finally he nodded and walked over to stand next to El at the entrance to the tunnel. "Alright. If anyone needs any help don't hesitate to ask, whenever we have to turn we'll call out to you two. Come on." They jumped down into the tunnel and recovered it behind them.

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About two hours later of walking in the quiet forest we came into view of the small superb. We had no trouble, under or above ground. I kicked the branch on top of the tunnel coverings three times, light enough so only they heard it.

"We see the superb, still looks empty. We'll tell you if anything changes." I said down to the tunnel quietly. One of them tapped twice on the top to let us know they had heard us. I looked over to Lane, he nodded and started again. I followed him.

By the time we got back to the house they were already pulling themselves up out of the opening at the front door. Around the corner I heard a low painful sounding groan.

"You two go inside and drop the rest of the bags down. We can handle the remains of the heard that came through here." El directed. Tad glanced at him worriedly, then nodded.

I slowly pushed open the backdoor, spotting the pile of duffle bags scattered around the room. Lane and I walked in as Tad and El disappeared around the house.

"They should all be right here, we almost never moved them." I said as I stepped over the burn hole and around the couch I had slept on on my last night here. I bent down to grab a few when I heard quick running behind me. Suddenly I was pushed over, just as a gunshot went off behind me. I gasped. Lane swore under his breath and drew a pistol from his side.

I jumped up and drew my knife and aimed it towards the direction of the shot.

"Lane?!" Gasped a deep, gravely voice. a piece of metal and wood hit the ground and was kicked out from the direction the voice had come from. It was a pistol identical to the one Lane had mysteriously drawn. I looked over at Lane who still lay on the ground, only this time I noticed his bleeding shoulder, there was a hole in the same area of his shirt. I bit the inside of my lip to keep from screaming or gasping or both.

From the dark, previously empty closet stepped a tall boy -a bit shorter than Lane, but still much taller than me- with eyes almost black and hair matching them. His hair was spiked up with sweat. His big hands were held up in the air.