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Jo
The sunlight was warm on my upturned face, it's rays amplified by the bug spattered windshield. I allowed myself to close my eyes and revel in it for just a moment longer. I could feel it behind my gritty eye lids, warming my face. I let the heat seep into my body and bring me back, just for a moment, to a happier place. A place before Them.
A horrible, chest deep, coughing hack wrenched me back to reality. I turned in my seat to face my younger sister, Kate, in the back of the SUV. The teenager looked even more pale than before, her normally tan skin was sickly white and pasty from illness. Her slim frame shook with the force of her coughs. I sucked in a breath. Kate was getting worse, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I handed her back the last of the water. I was going to have to scavenge soon, find more water, maybe some meds, but we were in the middle of no where. The county highway stretched out in front and behind us in an unending empty ribbon. It was just one of many roads we had traveled over the past months skirting around the suburbs of Atlanta scraping by any way we could to survive.
It was all I knew now, survival. Not living, surviving.
Kate took the water and she smiled weakly in thanks as though she were trying to reassure me. My heart constricted as I watched my baby sister try to put on a brave face for me. I reached out and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. I waited until Kate took a sip before turning back to the road. We needed to keep moving but we didn't really have a destination.
I glanced once at the passenger seat but our brother-in-law, Nick, was still sleeping soundly. I gripped the wheel tightly and eased the car into gear. It had been temperamental the last week and had to be loved a little. I cringed at the thought of having to find a replacement. I didn't want to pick up another lemon. I set the cruise control to thirty to conserve gas and set off down the road.
Driving was the worst, especially since now neither Nick not Kate were up to making much conversation. Driving gave me time think. It gave me time to reflect on how much my life had been altered in the last year since the outbreak, since They appeared. It gave me time to remember all the people I lost.
I took a deep breath. Stop, I thought, reset. It was a trick I had developed to control my wayward thoughts before they took me someplace dark.
Kate broke into another coughing fit. She coughed until she gagged, then collapsed back against the seat, exhausted. I glanced worriedly over my shoulder, my grip tightening on the steering wheel.
Kate's coughing finally roused Nick. He looked around bleary eyed. "Where?" he started to ask as he blinked slowly, his eyes struggled to focus on anything.
"Highway twenty-nine," I replied tersely. "According to that old map there should be a couple small towns along this stretch. Easy pickings." I motioned to the worn paper map sitting on the dash. Kate had found it in the glove box when we took the SUV a few weeks back after my car finally died. The map was ancient and well worn and it made me nervous that it might not be accurate anymore. It's print date was 1995. Since GPS had become so popular before the outbreak I had been shocked anyone still carried a regular map. But cell phones had become little more than paper weights only a week into the outbreak.
Nick grunted in response, his eyes drooping once more. I cut my eyes to him. He was laid back in his seat which was back as far as it could go to accommodate the makeshift splint on his leg. Three days before Nick was forced to jump out of a second story window to escape Them. From what I could tell he had broken his left femur. The leg was ballooned up to twice the normal size, the skin was an angry purple and black and hot to the touch. He could barely handle the pain without pills and even with the pills he couldn't put any weight on it. Running was absolutely out of the question.
I let out a tight breath. We only had one more dose of painkillers and I didn't know what we would do once we ran out. It had been dumb luck I found the painkillers in the bathroom of a large suburban home I raided two days before.
We came over a rise in the road and I slowed the SUV. There was a small black car left abandoned on the side of the road. There wasn't too much dirt coating it which made me think it hadn't been there long.
Stopping was always risky but if there was even a small chance of there being supplies...I glanced from Nick to Kate and knew I needed to risk stopping. I looked from side to side. There was a large open field on the opposite side of the road and I didn't see any of Them. The car however, was on the side of the road closest to the forest. The trees were thick and I couldn't see more than a few feet in their depths. I parked the SUV on the side closest to the field. It wasn't much, but those extra twenty feet might mean the difference between life and death.
I checked that my knife was still in the sheath at my waist. Once satisfied I reached down between the seats and pulled up my golf club, it's familiar weight strangely comforting. I climbed out of the SUV but thinking better of it I leaned back in, "I'll be right back." I promised. Neither of my companions opened their eyes.
I exhaled and closed the door, locking it behind me with the key fab. I knew They couldn't open doors but we had had more than our share of trouble from other survivors and I wasn't taking any chances. I tucked the keys into the tight pocket of my jeans and turned to the abandoned car. I closed both hands around the rubber handle of the golf club, letting it rest over one shoulder. This could very well be an ambush. We had nearly been taken in by one almost a month ago. It was only Nick's quick thinking and actions that had saved us from the large group who had attacked. Now it was just me. Now they were depending on me to save them.
The car seemed empty as I got closer. There was also no sign of the previous owner, which was a relief. I reached out with one hand and opened the rear door. There were bags piled high in the back seat. I had just stooped to look in one when I heard a noise that made my blood run cold. It was an engine.
I whirled and looked down the road. Sure enough, in the distance I could see a line of cars coming our way. My thoughts flitted to the cut-throat group that had attacked us a month ago. I pounded across the road, my hands shaking as I fought to pull the keys from my pocket. Once the door was unlocked I leapt in and shoved the key in the ignition. I fumbled with it and finally turned it. The engine groaned and chugged but it wouldn't start.
"No, no, no," I whispered. I turned it again, this time feathering the gas.
"Jo?" Kate's weak voice came from the backseat.
"It's fine Katie," I mumbled not allowing myself to be distracted. The engine sputtered once, and my heart lifted. It chugged to life and I slammed it into drive. The engine coughed once more and died, a huge plume of smoke rising from under the hood.
"Shit, shit, shit!" I chanted under my breath. "Time to go guys." I said, whipping open my door. I pulled open Kate's door. "Let's go."
Kate struggled to her feet, clearly not connected with what was happening. "Run for the trees." I commanded, pushing Kate in the direction of the forest. She stumbled a few steps and nearly went down before she regained her balance and trotted towards the forest. I could hear her coughing as she went.
I glanced over my shoulder. The cars were still a mile away, crawling down the highway. I snagged my backpack off the floor of the backseat shrugging it on as I ran around to Nick's side.
His hazel eyes were fever bright, but he seemed more lucid. He was already struggling to get himself out of the seat. He cried out in pain as his leg was jostled. I shoved myself beneath his arm, it wasn't hard, his six foot frame gave him seven inches on me. I took as much of his weight as I could and started dragging him towards the relative safety and cover of the trees. He moaned with every step but did his best to keep moving. I could feel him start to sweat through his shirt. He cried out in pain as the two of us stumbled down the ditch.
We quickly caught up to Kate and I motioned towards the trees. The three of us were only fifty feet in the forest when the cars pulled up and stopped in the middle of the road. I swung us behind the nearest large trees. I turned to Kate and motioned for her to crouch down where the brush was thickest.
I left Nick leaning painfully behind a large tree and crept back closer to the road, trying to get a look at the group that was piling out of their vehicles. A large RV was in the lead, and now I could see it was too wide to pass between the two vehicles parked on either side of the road. From where I was I could see three other vehicles behind the RV. The group on the road was growing, but it didn't look like the one we had come across earlier which had been primarily male. This group looked like families. I even spotted a few kids. I stayed crouched low as I tried to get even closer.
"We need to get one of these moved so we can get through," a man in a sheriff's uniform was directing people. "You guys should search the vehicles, see what you can find."
I swore up and down in my head, they were going to take our stuff. I had my pack, which I had left at Kate's feet, but both Kate and Nicks bags were in the back of the SUV.
"Hey!" a dark haired man holding a crossbow called out.
The sheriff turned and approached him. From where I was I could see the man with the cross bow had his hand resting on the hood of our SUV. The sheriff mimicked the man's motion and his hand immediately dropped to the gun at his side as he spun towards the forest. I couldn't hear what the man with the crossbow said next, but the sheriff dropped his hand from his gun and turned to quietly approach the others.
The man with the crossbow disappeared from where I could see him, and my heart started to knock out an uneven rhythm in my chest. They knew we were here.
I turned and silently crept back towards Nick and Kate. We needed to move deeper into the forest. We were too close. By the time I reached them however, they had both sunk down to the forest floor. Kate was leaning against Nick's shoulder, both their eyes were closed. There was no way I was going to be able to move them without making a ton of noise. We would have to stay and hope they didn't find us. If they did...I tightened my grip on the golf club and stood over what was left of my family.
I don't know if I had ever felt more alone. They were completely dependent on me. I was strong for my size but this was a large group and running away wasn't an option. I looked to the forest, I considered leaving Nick and Kate and allowing myself to be seen. I could draw the group away into the forest and double back. I was good in the forest, I had spent years hiking in the backcountry out west and there weren't many who could keep up with me. But what if some of the group stayed? No, I couldn't risk Kate. My only option was to stay and fight if necessary.
Sweat gathered on my palms making the rubber grip slick and flies buzzed around my head. I didn't know how long I could stand waiting like this. The adrenaline was coursing through me and I started to shake. A branch broke in front of us. I risked a glance around the tree and spotted the sheriff. His gun was in his palm now as he looked to his left.
I let out a shaky breath. He hadn't spotted us yet.
A two note whistle sounded to my left.
I flinched and spun. I found myself staring down the shaft of an arrow. Only a few feet away a pair of angry, sky blue eyes glared at me from behind a crossbow.
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