Zanvis: ALIVE. (Part two of Apocalypse AU!)

Chapter Nineteen: Travis.

     "Aaron. Please go and pack up a bunch of supplies into the biggest bag you can find."
     The slow, very soft voice of Zane came from the area of the boarded up window.
     "Why? Is something wrong?" Garroth asked, standing up.
     "Yes. Garroth, help him, if you would. Be very quiet."
     Travis pushed himself up from his chair. After he had blacked out while eating the squirrel, Aphmau had made him take a nap and then let him come back out with the rest of them. Zane had been staring out the window with a tense body posture.
     Don looked up. "What is it?" she whispered.
     "I am not going to say anything until we're ready to leave. Do not leave anything important here."
     The sense of urgency in Zane's hushed voice made Travis grow anxious. He approached Zane slowly, waiting for him to think it was okay to let Travis see.
     When he looked through the crack in the window at first, he saw nothing. Then...
     Down the street to the left, he saw a walker. A single walker making its way unnaturally slowly down the street. He didn't know why this was a problem, and opened his mouth to ask what was up. He noticed something behind it.
     Another one. That was worrying. It was moving the same speed as the other.
     Two more became visible. Where Zane was standing, he could probably see much, much further down the street than Travis could.
     "How many more?" Travis whispered.
     "Too many to count."
     Everyone behind them was moving around quickly and quietly, gathering things like cans of food, water bottles, weapons, and medical supplies. Things like spoons and forks weren't payed as much attention to, but a few were still grabbed just in case.
     "How long do we have to leave?" Travis asked, feeling a little sad that they had to leave behind their home.
     "Until the horde passes through."
     "Horde?" Aphmau and Don asked at the same time, Aphmau's voice holding more worry.
     "Shh."
     "I think we're ready, Zane," Garroth said, tapping Zane on the right shoulder. Zane whipped around with a panicked expression, then narrowed his eyes. "Sorry! Wrong side!"
     "What all are you leaving behind?" Zane asked, his eyes still narrowed.
     "A few blankets.. the food that wouldn't fit... any extra supplies that we already had a ton of."
     "What kind of food did you leave?"
     "The ones that are closer to expiring."
     "Good."
     Travis put his hand on Zane's shoulder and sighed. "They're moving really slow.."
     "Why is that?"
     Travis shrugged. "It's not that cold out. That normally slows them down. Maybe the virus is evolving?"
     All of them gathered around the window to look out, all whispering things under their breath. Zane tensely waved his hands at them so that they'd give him some space, and then walked to the door.
     "Let's... Let's get going. Is everyone ready?"
     "Where will we go?" Laurence asked quietly.
     "Somewhere safe," Zane answered. He put on his mask and walked outside.
     As Travis followed him, he saw more and more walkers moving so very slowly down the street.
     They crouched low to the ground with their weapons out and started sneaking down the sidewalk, slightly faster than the walkers. They were quite a bit ahead of the zombies, but they didn't want to risk it.
     They traveled in a row, ensuring that everyone was accounted for.
     Don was in the middle. She was still their prisoner, after all.
     Travis held in a sigh of relief when he became fully aware of the shadows around them. The sun was blocked by the buildings closest to them, which provided them with lots of shadows to hide them.
     Well, the shadows kept them from getting detected.
     Don's sneeze did not.
     All of the walkers turned to look at them. At once, they all charged full speed at the group. Zane jumped to his feet and looked at the others. "Everyone go!" he shouted.
     The nice, orderly line was forgotten as they all ran, Don, Laurence, and Aaron taking the lead. Everyone else wasn't far behind.
     "There! Look!" Don yelled, pointing far ahead at a building that was more intact than most other buildings.
     "Go in there! We'll-" Zane gasped and swerved to avoid a walker crawling out from between buildings. "-Wait out the horde there!"
     Travis looked behind him and stumbled when he saw the ocean of dead people blocking off the entire road. He couldn't see any of the road around them, or the bottoms of any buildings behind them.
     He put on an extra burst of speed when a few faster ones broke through the group. He felt hands grab his arm and pull him sideways. Regretting not watching where he was going while he was running, he wondered what it would be like to be a zombie again.
     "Travis, you idiot! You almost ran past us!" Aphmau hissed, tugging him into the building. Garroth and Aaron slammed the door shut and leaned against it.
     Travis could barely hear everyone else over his own panting. He watched Aphmau move across the room to help Laurence, who was sitting against the wall and looking like he was having a panic attack.
     Don fidgeted anxiously with a rock or something that she had picked up from the ground. "There's a ladder over here," she whispered.
     Travis looked at the ladder. "Zane, should I go check... it out..?" He looked over at Zane, who stared blankly at the floor.
     "Oh, uh.. Yeah. Take Aph with you."
     "Aph's busy."
     "...Take Don."
     Travis slowly looked at the scared Don. "Let's go."
      Shaking, she shook her head. "I don't want to go up there."
     Travis rolled his eyes. "Fine, I can go up first." He held his pistol tightly in one hand and climbed with the other.
     As he reached the top of the ladder, he was confused as to how it was so dark up there. He didn't really get a good look at the building from the outside, but he was sure there was at least one window.
     He looked down and tried to see Don. "Hey, Don? I can't see anything." As he looked back up, something came down hard and hit his face. Shocked and in sudden pain, he fell down the ladder, landed awkwardly on the side of his leg, and scooted away. Once he was away from the ladder, he felt a hand go over his face, and it went numb.
     "What was that?!" Zane snapped. "Who's there?!"
     Through his squinted eyes, he saw two figures coming down from the second floor.
     A male with brown hair and a hoodie that looked a lot like Zane's came down first. The second one was Gene.
     Slowly, he grinned at Don.
     "Hello, Sasha."