"Can we please sit down again? we have literally been walking for four hours." lucia whines, the four are still walking, all tired, they've been walking for two days and they also left all their supplies at the school, so they're low on energy.
"Where are we even going you're just walking without a clue where you're going" lucia says
"Alright, there's a clothing store over here, we can find a seat in there, it looks empty but we'll have to check" jess says
"Fucking finally" lucia says as she walks by her.
"I'm going in the back" gabe says as he walks into the changing rooms to be by himself.
"I'll stand watch outside" tommy says
He sits down by the wall leaving gabe in the back and lucia and jess inside the clothing store.
Lucia is sat down on one of those black rubber seats with the legs, jess who is looking around for extra clothes sees her looking distressed, a hand over her stomach.
Jess realises she had snagged a protein bar earlier and sits down next to her.
Lucia looks over at her and Jess hands her the bar.
"Here, take it, i'm not hungry" Jess says
"I can't"
"Take it, seriously" jess says
Lucia looks at her "are you sure?"
"Dude, take it"
Lucia takes it and takes a bite.
"Thanks"
"Just looking out for the group" she nods
"Do you blame yourself?" Lucia asks after a few seconds of silence.
"What's that?" Jess asks after zoning out
"For what happened back at the school"
Jess pauses and looks down for a second.
"Yeah."
"It's not your fault, blame ella and gabe" lucia says putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"But i was the one who-"
"No, you weren't, so don't say anything" lucia says.
"Even if gabe thinks you're a dick, or you're a control freak, you're not, i know it, tommy knows it and i think anyone else does, okay?" Lucia says
"Okay" she sighs
She turns to lucia after a moment of silence.
"Hey luc?"
"What's up?"
"You're a great friend" she smiles
She pauses "i know" she smirks.
Gabe walks through the curtains in the back and walks outside.
"Should we start walking again?" Jess asks
"You know i-"
"It was rhetorical, come on" she says
"Fine"
-
After walking for another hour they come across a straight road and a sign.
'entering atlanta georgia'
"The city?! Oh fuck no, we have to turn back this place will be a deathtrap"
"What other choice do we have?" Jess says
"There might be somewhere safer in the city" Jess adds
"Are you fucking stupid?" Gabe bites
"Are you?"
"Fuck off"
"Enough, we're going, get over it" lucia says.
They walk along the road for twenty minutes until they arrive at the city, its concerningly empty, and it's silent, but there's abandoned cars everywhere, tall buildings and towers.
"What now genius?" Gabe asks, folding his arms as they stop after walking into the city.
"i said enough out of you" lucia warns, pointing at him.
Jess looks up and then walks further.
They all follow and Tommy taps her on the shoulder. "Where are we going exactly?" He asks
"I heard there was an evac centre here, somewhere in the city, its unlikely but maybe it's worth a try?" She says
"You seriously believe that they're gonna save us?" Gabe scoffs
"Gabriel." Lucia warns
"Not at all, but do you have a better idea?" She asks
"Yeah, i do, find a boat, go someplace else, but not the fucking city" gabe says with his hands on his hips.
Jess looks at him before sighing "we can try, first we clear out an office floor or something just temporarily for safety, tommy and lucia can stay there and you and i will go where there's water and find a boat" she says
"What? Now?" Gabe asks
"You said you wanted to find a boat, let's go find a boat" she says
"Pfft, alright fine then"
"It was your idea"
"Yeah i know it was my idea i just didn't think you'd be so eager" he says
"Do i sound eager?" She asks as the two walk up ahead to the office building.
He sighs and pulls out his machete as he walks into the building, it still has blood on it from back at the school and jess stops in her tracks before continuing and following him, pulling her hatchet out.
There was only three walkers on the office floor luckily, after clearing it out tommy and lucia sit down.
"Okay you two be safe, we're gonna go look for this...boat...or something" jess says.
"We should be saying that to you" lucia smirks.
"You don't need to we'll be fine" gabe smiles at her lovingly, gazing into her eyes, which don't have a sparkle like his, she seems confused.
"Boo hoo" jess says as she walks off
"DO YOU EVER SHUT THE FUCK UP" he yells as he follows her out the door.
-
After they arrive at the pier they find a bunch of boats, all seemingly missing a bunch of parts or just burned and sunken.
"Well this is just fucking great" gabe says sarcastically.
"Now what?" He asks, turning to face jess who is leaning on a telephone box.
"Don't ask me it was your idea" she says with her arms folded.
He groans and then turns back around, walking further up the pier. "You're no fucking help" he whines as he walks away.
Jess does a little jump from the top step to the bottom and follows him to make sure he doesn't do something stupid and get himself killed.
"Why have you been acting like such an asshole lately? especially to me" Jess asks.
He turns around and gets up close to her.
"Because you can't lead, you're gonna get us all killed, you've already gotten people killed" he says
Jess scoffs as Gabe turns back around and walks further up the pier.
"Me? I've gotten people killed? You were the one who killed Todd, and Ella was the one who left the gate open, not me"
"Oh don't you even start with me" he scoffs at her.
Jess scoffs and stands still with her arms folded.
He points at her "you know if you just-"
"Excuse me! Hey there!" Someone yells from behind them by a mini store.
They both turn around quickly and point their guns at the man.
"Woah! Easy! I'm not here to cause any trouble!" The man says
He's a black guy who looks like he's in his twenties, he's wearing a thin purple jumper and his hair is short and it's also dreadlocked, and he has a dark fuzz on his chin.
"So what do you want then?" Jess calls over to him, pointing her handgun at him as Gabe points his sniper rifle at him.
"I was wondering, do you have any food on you? i'm starving...if its not too much to ask, you seem like nice people and i'm just looking for some food-" he says
"You don't know anything about us" Gabe yells over to him.
Jess turns to him and gives him a weird look.
"What's your names?" the man asks
Jess looks at him seriously "you tell us your name and we'll tell you ours" she calls over to him.
"My name's Lamar! Lamar Williams, nice to meet you!" he calls over to them.
Jess and Gabe exchange glances and Gabe shakes his head.
"I'm Jess Nelson, and this is Gabriel. That's all you need to know" she yells over to him.
"That's cool, you both seem like good people, do you have any food to spare? maybe we could trade!" He yells to them
"What have you got?" Jess yells
"Not much likely" gabe mutters, and jess gives him a stern look.
"I've got a few bullets! just one piece of food is all i ask if you have any!" Lamar says to them.
"We're pretty low ourselv-" gabe starts.
Jess walks over to him and hands him a piece of beef jerky.
"I've got one piece, that's all i have left" she says
"Oh- are you sure?" Lamar asks
Gabe rolls his eyes from his place by the pier.
"Take it before i change my mind" she says.
"Thank you! Thank you! you're a good woman, i really appreciate it!" He hands her a few bullets and pockets the beef jerky.
"Thank you so much" he says to her.
"Don't worry about it, you have a camp or something? Or are you just walking by yourself" she questions him.
"I'm by myself, scavenging for food, do you have a camp?"
"No, we don't."
"Passing through?"
"You could say that" she says
"Right, well i'll leave you two be, thank you so much for the food, you're a very selfless and kind person" he says to her
She turns around and walks back to Gabe as the man walks away around a corner.
"What a load of bullshit, he was clearly lying" gabe says gesturing wildly to her.
"Maybe he was, we lied too" she says
"Did we? or is that just what you tell yourself so you won't feel like an utter, complete, dumbass." He smirks
She pushes him out of the way and begins to walk back to the office floor.
"Yeah that's right walk away cause you know i'm right" he says following after her. "And what about the boat!" He yells.
"There is no boat, come on we're going back." She says
He shakes his head and follows her back to the office.
-
After they walk in lucia and tommy greet them.
"No luck?" Lucia asks
"Whole place was fucked, just like we are" gabe whines as he walks by.
"Give it a rest for fucks sake" jess says to him as she sits down.
"Find anything else?" Lucia asks
"No but we had a run in with a guy, he seemed harmless and wanted food, said his name was lamar, so i gave him some beef jerky" jess says
"You sure he was harmless?" Lucia asks genuinely.
"I can't be sure, but we told him we didn't have a camp or anything so yeah, he only knows our names and that's it"
"Might as well know our entire group history" gabe whines
"You are so overdramatic just shut up for once, jesus christ" jess groans.
"Well, whilst you two were gone, tommy and i cleared out the second floor, there was nothing there luckily" she says.
"Good, that's good" jess says
"So did you-"
Suddenly they hear a loud bang next to them and then a canister looking thing rolls in front of them, releasing smoke.
"Oh shit- MOVE GO-"
It explodes and smoke clouds all around the four of them.
a few guys come running in and knock the other three out as they try to fight, tommy hits two guys before being knocked down and restrained, a guy wearing a dark green jacket comes over to jess and tries to knock her out, she attempts to hit him but he grabs her hand and knocks her down hard, she feels herself falling due to being hit and all the smoke around them.
She gets one last look at the guy before he knocks her out.
"Go get them into the van!" One guy yells, and the next thing she knows she's blacked out.