Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
MY FEET CRUNCHED against the layer of dead leaves covering the forest floor.
With every step I took, I cringed. There was still no communication from the Others. The earth had been enveloped in a sickly silence ever since the third wave. I knew I should be expecting another wave to hit- something worse than its three predecessors, but I couldn't help but cling onto the hope that the suffering was over.
And now, I needed to find Cassie.
The odds of Cassie still being alive, of being a part of the final 3% left on earth, were pretty much nonexistent. But I needed to try. I needed to fulfill, or at least try to fulfill, Lizbeth's last wish.
I had escaped from the quarantined sector a couple weeks ago (the best approximation I could make without an actual calendar or watch).
I'd been living the life of a nomad- scavenging from place to place. After not finding Cassie in any of the places I'd thought she'd be in, I'd made the decision to head to Wright Patterson. Before the third wave hit, people were talking about heading out there. If there was any place that was still up and running, it'd be the army base.
It was my last chance.
I passed yet another tree and took out a sharp kitchen knife I had stolen from Cassie's house.
After walking around for a few days without a weapon, I had decided it was probably best to walk around with some form of protection.
It felt wrong to take the knife, but considering the circumstances, I didn't think Cassie, wherever she was, would care that much.
I also told myself the same thing when I had taken some of Cassie's clothes and stuffed them into my backpack without much of a second thought.
Going home hadn't been an option. There was no way I was going back there, not even for the comfort of my own clothes.
I was wearing one of her tank tops now with a blue hoodie over it, which provided protection from the brambles and thorns obstructing my path. I had also ditched my sneakers early on for a pair of boots swiped from a shoe store (unfortunately, Cassie and I weren't the same size). There was a hole in my jeans from a fence climbing incident a few days ago, and my naturally straight hair was a disheveled mess due to the humidity and lack of proper shower.
Overall, I looked like a mess. A confused, lost mess.
As I trudged through the seemingly infinite mass of trees, sweat dripped down my forehead and my lower back began to feel like Niagara Falls.
My silent, disturbed world was interrupted by the distant rumble of what sounded like an engine.
My attention moved toward the highway, only a little ways off in the distance, amidst the throng of trees.
A glimpse of yellow shown through the trees and my eyes widened in surprise.
I took a quick glance to my left and then to my right before dashing off in the direction of the highway. I was going off course, further delaying the time it would take for me to get to Wright Patterson. But I needed to know if what I thought I'd seen was real or if my mind had been playing tricks on me.
