AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I went with Riva because I wasn’t ready to die, even if I wouldn’t really classify it as a desire to live. But I knew it wouldn’t do any good if I stayed behind to die cold and alone in the forest.
Riva and I made it back to the truck before anyone had left, and I gathered up Harlow’s things, consolidating it with my own in my red backpack. The others had already gone through Kimber’s and Kerrigan’s bags, scavenging them for anything useful. I grabbed Harlow’s books – her personal sketchbook, a battered dictionary, and an old copy of Little Women – and tucked them in between my clothes to keep them safe. The cross necklace, I wore myself and slipped it under my shirt.
Nobody said much of anything to me, but there wasn’t much of anything to say.
Harlow wasn’t the first person I’d lost to zombies, and I doubted she would be the last, even though I hoped. But I always hoped, like the foolish idiot I was.
The real gut punch was that I had left Remy behind for Harlow. For the past six months, it had been the two of us – Harlow and I – living in a trailer together, like a little family. When I had first met her, I think that Harlow had a crush on me, but considering our age gap – she had just turned fourteen, and I was seven years her senior – it wasn’t anything that I had ever reciprocated.
Fortunately, the crush seemed to fade quickly, and our relationship had turned into something different, something special. She’d become a little sister and my closest friend. With everyone else I cared about either locked up, dead, or just plain gone, Harlow was the only family I had.
We were each other’s only family.
When Private Tatum had come in the middle of the night to evacuate us, I had initially resisted because I wanted to ensure that Remy got out (and I also still hoped to see her again). But Harlow had begged me to go with her, and she refused to leave if I didn’t. Tatum thought it would be near certain death if we stayed, and I didn’t want that for her.
So I had left the quarantine with Harlow because I cared about her and wanted to keep her safe, and because I believed it was what Remy would have wanted me to do. If the situation was reversed, she would’ve left me behind for her little brother Max or even for Harlow.
I had never felt like such an immense failure. I had essentially abandoned Remy for nothing, and I had not protected Harlow.
I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to block out the shame and guilt and despair, because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be able to go on. Deep down, I knew I didn’t even deserve to go on, but some primal survival instinct inside me refused to let me just give up and die.
By starlight, the eight of us remaining survivors followed the road north. I was at the rear, wielding my machete in my hand in case any zombies or wild animals came out of the darkness.
We walked until dawn when we found an abandoned barn. There, we slept and recuperated for a while, but then we moved on to find somewhere more secure.
It was on our second day walking that we stumbled upon a deserted militia base. The exterior concrete walls were cracked and weather-worn, bearing the scars of past battles, and the entrance was partially barricaded with rusted vehicles.
I went in first, carefully maneuvering over the blockade and opening the battered front door. Inside, the compound stood in various states of disrepair. Tattered flags adorned with militant insignia hung askew, and the floor was littered with rusted weapons, ragged uniforms, and scattered ration packs, all abandoned in a hasty retreat. Nature had started to reclaim the building, with overgrown vines and vegetation snaking their way through cracks in the concrete.
Despite the clear signs of abandonment, there was an eerie feeling that the base wasn’t entirely devoid of life. As I scoped through the various empty rooms and hallways, the occasional creaks and rustling leaves gave me pause. When I heard footsteps behind me, I whirled around, brandishing my machete.
“It’s only me!” Riva held her hands up in surprise. “You’d been in here awhile, so I wanted to make sure everything was fine.”
“I haven’t found anybody alive, and there’s no signs of zombies,” I told her as I lowered my weapon. “It seems like it’s been ransacked for supplies.”
She scowled. “Dammit.”
“But the structure is still standing, and the roof is okay. I spotted some beds and cots, and I think I found some generators.” I motioned toward where I had seen them when I did my sweep through the compound.
“Vân worked with the generators back at the BCQZ, so she could maybe get that working again,” Riva said. “And with a compound like this, there has to be a water source or some sort of water filtration. This could be a good place to regroup for a while.”
I looked around again, at the bullet holes in the concrete walls and the rust-colored stains that I suspected were blood. It was trashed and had a strange musty odor, but it was much more secure than sleeping on the side of the road again.
“It’s not home, but it’ll do,” I agreed.
It had been getting close to dusk when we discovered the compound, so we had to hurry if we wanted to make it comfortable for the evening.
The rusted vehicle stayed in front of the door, for additional protection if any zombies found us, although not everyone was thrilled about that. Bâo had cut her arm climbing over it, and it was enough that Riva had to give her a couple stitches.
Once she was all bandaged up, I showed Vân and Bâo where the generators were. They were in a small room with some other electronics. There was a bank of six TVs set up on a table, and based on the broken security cameras I’d noticed throughout the base, I guessed that they were part of a now defunct surveillance system.
“Do you think you can get the generator working?” I asked Vân.
She nodded. “I think so, but I’ll need a few instruments and it’ll take time.” Vân turned to her sister and gave her a list of specific tools to search for.
“Riva found a supply closet, so I’ll check there,” Bâo said, and then she darted out into the dim hallway to fulfill Vân’s requests.
I stayed back with Vân, holding a kerosene lamp so she could see what she was working on. She knelt beside the square metal box, wiping off the dust to inspect it better. As she did that, I looked around the room again to see if there was anything else useful.
