Katherin Hassan-Clarke and Esther Quinn, young lovers living on the coast of Riga, Latvia, face the terrifying realisation that their home is no longer safe when a deadly zombie pathogen ravages Eastern Europe. Fleeing their home before they are for...
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The van groaned in protest as Morgana pressed her foot to the accelerator, speeding down the highway that led out of the town and towards the closest city.
They'd spent the past couple of weeks scavenging supplies from empty homes, without too much luck. Most of the homes had been impossible to enter; vines had grown over doorways despite the mere months that had passed since the mass disruption on civilisation.
Jaxx had made the decision to leave the houses untouched and focus on large stores and complexes instead. He'd become sick of tearing at the vines with his bare hands, often finding himself without a knife at the worst possible moment. If that wasn't bad enough, he was disgusted by the stench of the leaves that didn't seem to disappear, despite the many times that Jaxx had scrubbed his hands underneath a flowing stream of water.
Morgana shared the same sentiment. She, along with Lyria, had spent most of their spare time scavenging for supplies with Jaxx. It was tough work without the help of Gwynth and Katherin, who'd been ordered to tend to their injuries instead of exerting themselves. Not that they'd been listening to the advice, of course.
Gwynth had tried to drive with her broken leg. It hadn't worked. She'd been unable to press her foot down on the accelerator, much less the brake.
Katherin often disappeared from the safety of the van, only to reappear with a backpack of supplies. She liked going out alone, despite the dangers it posed her. The empty streets helped clear her head. She didn't like to be cooped up with the others, no matter how much she liked spending time with them. It made her restless.
When they weren't scavenging supplies, they'd been discussing their long-term plans for survival. The town wasn't the safest place for them to be, nor did it have the most supplies. There was no reason for them to stay.
But, where would they go? They'd tried connecting to different radio frequencies, tried reaching out to other survivors across the countries, but they'd heard nothing. It was a wasteland. As far as they knew, there was no civilisation left.
Morgana didn't want to leave the town. She'd held on to the hope that Ttod would return, often returning to the docks to gaze out across the water. Ttod's boat hadn't returned, though. Morgana didn't think it ever would.
No one thought it would.
Ttod had left them, truly left them, and he wasn't going to return. Not even for the people he'd held so close to his heart.
They had retrieved a map from the local tourist shop, pouring over the places that they could find refuge in. Jaxx wanted to stay along the coast, or possibly find a large field of land that they could occupy. It would be sustainable, that way. They wouldn't need to worry about scavenging food from abandoned grocery stores or keeping themselves safe from other survivors looking for their next kill. If they found some seeds, they could farm. It wasn't much, but it would be better than struggling to survive each day.
