Jasper raised a brow as listened to Samantha's report on what the patrol had found. He had gone over to check out what she was so concerned about after Killian had gone off to hunt--or whatever the younger man was planning on doing in those woods. He hadn't told Aubrey to go after him, but she had seen Jasper was getting worried and offered to follow him. Jasper wasn't exactly sure how irritable Killian would be with him when the other man got back to camp, but there were more pressing matters to worry about at the moment.
Tom narrowed his brows, and Darren had joined them. Jasper stole a piece of Darren's breakfast--part of a granola bar--and the other man glared at him. Jasper just smiled sweetly and popped it into his mouth. It got a small, somewhat annoyed smile out of Darren. "You're saying that you saw a herd in the distance?" Tom said sharply. Jasper was pulled out of his antics with his friend, and jolted back to reality. A whole herd of biters, headed their way? Surely it had nothing to do with the city?
Samantha's eyes were wide and frightened, Chris' face was pale, but Casimir's expression was blunt and generally calm. "Yes, a whole herd of them. Dozens, couldn't count from that far away." Casimir began to explain, "They seemed to have wandered out of the city, or maybe they're from farther down and migrated up."
Darren knit his brows together, "Why would they move, though?"
Casimir's lip wrinkled into a mocking snarl, "Hell if I know. Why do they do anything? All I know is what we saw. We have to get moving as soon as possible. There might be some faster ones at the head of the pack. If they somehow know we're down here for whatever reason, then they'll come straight for us. It isn't like more and more of them have been showing up without a reason."
Jasper mulled it over for a little while, "Killian and I barely escaped the city alive. When we were there it looked like the biters were nearly out of things to get their teeth in. If there's not enough to go around it only makes sense that they would start moving on. I mean," Jasper shrugged, "Humans and animals do the same thing. If there's a shortage of what we need, we find it somewhere else. The biters are just doing the same thing, and we happen to be in their way."
Tom nodded, "I think 'in their way' is the worst place to be," He added. "We need to find somewhere to hunker down and wait for them to pass by. We should get going immediately. Darren," Darren perked up at the sound of his name, "Go and get the map. It won't show us specific places we can rest, but there's always some places to hide near smaller towns if we can get to them."
Casimir suddenly spoke, "I know a place. I'm not from the city, remember? I came down to the city. There's a small town a few miles up, and a motel there. I think it's some really stupid, off-road country place with some farms past the town. We should be safe waiting for them there as long as we keep quiet and board everything up."
Tom nodded once, "We can do a short supplies run if we have the time, and after the herd is past we can maybe raid a clothing store if it has anything that'll keep us a bit warmer." Tom glanced at Jasper and Darren, "Are you two alright with that?"
Jasper nodded once, "Sure. Nobody else seems to have a better plan, but you should talk to Cohen about it too, in case he needs anything. We're all low on supplies." With that, the meeting broke up. By the time everything was settled, the afternoon sun was beginning to lower on the horizon. Jasper knew as soon as Killian and Aubrey got back, Tom would host a group meeting around the campfire and give everybody a rundown of the final plan. He just hoped Killian would return soon, since they needed to move on as soon as possible.
Despite being slow, sometimes biters seemed to show up even faster than possibly thought. That's how it was in the city. First there had been twenty, enough to cause a public panic. Then people were bitten, more started showing up from the highway, and more people were bitten. Tanks were brought in, heavy artillery. Massive sections of the city were evacuated, a few bombs were dropped. People from the evacuation were hiding a bite and infected other people with them.
Jasper wasn't sure how this virus got started, but it definitely didn't start with their city. He'd been very confused and concerned about the sudden move to protect civilian areas with heavily armed teams strategically placed. Like any good soldier he hadn't asked specific questions. All the information they'd been given was of 'terroristic threats,' and 'possible biological warfare.' What happened after that was...terrifying. A blur. Truth be told, nobody knew what the hell they were all up against. Jasper didn't know what caused this. Biological warfare, terrorists, or even just some freak invention of nature. He didn't really care what caused it anymore. All he cared about was who he could save.
Killian arrived within the half hour, and Jasper immediately headed over to meet him. He noticed Killian's catch--a large rabbit--and nodded to it. "Nice. That'll turn a few people into happy campers in a little while." Killian nodded, but he must have seen the anxious look in Jasper's eyes, because his brows knit together with concern.
Killian's voice became edged with worry as he said softly, "What's happened?" Jasper nodded to the campfire, where Tom was gathering everybody around. It would be a good opportunity to point everybody out and give a short introduction to Killian, but now wasn't the time. That would come later.
Leading Killian over to the campfire, Jasper made sure to keep himself calm and confident, even if he was shaking on the inside. If Killian saw he was anxious around the other group members, he wouldn't be so keen to join in and listen. "Something's come up," He replied simply. "Tom will explain it all now, just listen."
Killian's golden-hazel eyes flickered back and forth between all of the people there. It was a massive group of people, Jasper knew. For anybody as stand-offish as Killian, it must have been nothing short of alarming. After the plan was repeated back to the group, murmurs of alarm rose above everything else. One of the group members that Jasper didn't know very well--Dominick--spoke up first. "So, we're just going to pack up and leave?"
Samantha stood up and narrowed her eyes sharply, "Well, what else are we going to do, dipshit?"
Another group member, Wilson, narrowed his eyes. "I think leaving is the only thing we can do," He said bluntly. "We'll probably have to leave a few things behind as well. Carrying too many things is just going to slow us all down, so we'll need to pick and choose." From what Jasper did know about Wilson was that the other man was thoughtful and could be very persuasive--for good or for bad.
Keagan was another person that Jasper didn't know that well, but from what he'd gathered she was a great person to fight by when you got corners by a bunch of biters. Wilson had said once that she was incredibly fierce. "At least we're not picking and choosing people." She said. Keagan nodded to Dominick, "I know we've built our home here, but it was always ever gonna be temporary. We can't stay forever."
Another strong voice spoke up; Aubrey. Everybody liked Aubrey, she was definitely a group favorite. She was charismatic, and took note to try and get along with everybody. But now her brows were narrowed into a serious frown. "The longer we spend arguing, the closer that hoard is going to get. We need to get moving. Now."
The rest of the group muttered reluctant agreements. With the meeting settled, everybody went off to pack their things. Killian looked down glumly at his rabbit and dropped it unceremoniously onto the ground. "Looks like we won't be needing that after all." He muttered. "Without any ice to keep it fresh, it'll be no good by the time we can actually eat."
Jasper set an awkward hand on Killian's shoulder to console his friend, giving him a little pat. "It'll be okay. I'm sure the biters will enjoy it at least." That earned him a playful glare from Killian. At least it wasn't a mean glare like it normally was. "Come on, Boy Scout. Are you going to help me pack everything up or what?"
Killian nodded reluctantly, and the two got to work. The disassembled their tent, unsure if they would need it or not. The two didn't have many belongings thankfully, so they didn't have to pick and choose between anything. Dominick seemed to be having a bit of trouble though. He was trying to fit more clothes than necessary into his bag. Jasper heard him complain to Aubrey, "You never know when you'll need an extra pair of clothes," and Jasper couldn't help but smile at that. It was oddly comforting to hear such trivial complaints in a grim world they were living in.
Within the half hour, everybody was packed up and ready to leave. Jasper knew they all had a long walk ahead of them, so he leaned down and re-tied his boots even tighter than they had been before. It was an odd tradition of his, but something he'd picked up from a friend at boot camp his first few months in the military. Killian watched with a raised brow, and then followed as Jasper did. Jasper smiled at that, but kept it to himself. The way Killian had done it looked as if he didn't want it to be too obvious.
"Now," Jasper said as the group began to file out of camp. "Into the great beyond."
Killian raised a brow, and exchanged a glance with Aubrey. Neither said anything, and Jasper hiked his bag over his shoulder. To him, this wasn't the end of their first home. This was just the beginning of a new adventure.