HUMAN

Chapter Nine

A/N: Trigger Warning - Mild descriptions of violence

Fields and Pier – Avriel & the Sequoias 

*** 

The road was winding, but empty. It seemed that the entire world they were passing through was abandoned. So soon? How could everything this world had built crumble so quickly? After seeing thousands of the dead crawling on the way, they were finding it increasingly difficult to see them as people. They caused this bitter death and destruction to innocent life and it became much easier to see them as wandering monsters. The life that surrounded them was only that which belonged to their traveling companions. They were lucky to have all found solace in each other, always, even before this. But especially now, they felt a strong connection to each other. Not just as if they were a team, but it felt that they were with the people who had already earned every bit of their trust and loyalty. They were a indeed a team, but also a synchronized unit and most importantly a family. 

Kevin and Avi switched seats once they got closer to Patti's house. Avi tried a few times to commandeer the wheel, to no avail. Esther would not let anyone else take over driving for the entirety of the trip, regardless of being asked repeatedly. She was too paranoid that they would be liable to mess something up. As tired as Esther was, in this moment, she was still in desperate need to control what she could.

"Just make the next right and we'll be right outside of her development. I'm pretty sure it's only a couple more minutes," Avi cautioned.  

Esther followed his directions. Everyone looked outside, in an effort to size up the neighborhood. They could see a few lonesome stragglers, but it was mostly abandoned. The population of this town couldn't have been very large, unless they were all now hiding in their homes, which WAS likely. If people had lots of blankets and a healthy stockpile of food, they could hold up in these cozy homes for a while. 

"Look!" Scott yelled. "A laser tag arena. We used to go to one of those in Arlington all the time when we were younger. Do you remember? It was a bowling alley too... uh, Alley Cats!" 

Kirstie smiled, but remained silent. She and Mitch looked at each other with a knowing smile. They would always get irritated with Scott's choice of birthday party locations. Once, when they were sixteen, Scott decided that he and his friends would all go to play laser tag. The year before that, it was paintball. The year before that, it was a rock climbing gym. All of the other kids at his sixteenth birthday party were so damn competitive. In every round, Mitch and Kirstie were "shot" before they could even find a place to hide. After the third round of losing, out of frustration, they decided to give up entirely. Instead, they spent their time dancing to the music that was playing over the loudspeaker. Embarrassingly enough, it was "When I Grow Up" by The Pussycat Dolls. But, to be fair, that was a huge song that year. They were dancing like fools in plain sight, but they were too annoyed with Scott's choice of venue to care.  

"Yea, we remember..." Mitch said, followed by a slight eye roll. "Ooo! A tattoo parlor! I wanna go!" 

"You would," Scott mocked. 

It only took about five minutes to get to the front gate. Thankfully, for the security of the community, it was still locked. Esther drove the bus directly to the nearest wall that surrounded the community. Avi stepped outside and climbed the ladder on the back of the bus, in an effort to get onto the roof. He surveyed the area, scanning for any possible signs of danger. The world he saw was eerily silent and empty, as if it had already ended and they were just barely existing in hopeless purgatory. For a brief moment, as he stood outside alone, he was overwhelmed with the odd familiarity he felt towards this new, empty world.