3 | We Who Survive the Apocalypse | ✅

Chapter 28 - Danger

"Hudson, go tell Rogan," Doyle says, his voice tense, and Hudson hurries to the bedroom.

I cling to Doyle's arm, terrified. I await orders, because I have no idea what to do. I'm panicking. I had known. I had known something would happen. If only I had known what, I could have prevented us being trapped here.

"What are we gonna do?" I ask, my voice pathetically small and shaky. But i can't help it. I'm afraid. For myself; for Mara. For all of us.

Doyle squeezes my hand. "We're gonna get out of here," he replies evenly. "Help me get our stuff together."

I nod, numbly making my way over to my backpack, carrying it over to the counter and dumping all of our food in it. Doyle is gathering our weapons. We don't have all of them — Izzy and Seth took the rest.

Rogan emerges a moment later, already loaded down with all of his weapons and his pack. He looks out the window and mutters, "Fuck." He turns to Doyle. "Finley is just north of here; I can get us there," he says, but with a lingering glance toward the bedroom, I swear he whispers, "I think."

Doyle goes over to him, and they speak quietly for a moment, before Doyle gives him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. He looks at me. "Ready?" He asks. 

I nod.

Then he looks back at Rogan and says, "let's go get her." And they disappear into the bedroom.

Hudson appears, Pirate at his heels, carrying a pack and a blanket. He tells me that Doyle said we're leaving out the back and going through the woods, but before he can finish, the sound of an engine comes from outside.

We run to the window, and I see Izzy and Seth leaping from the truck, running for the door. The zombies are so close now. I can hear them.

They burst through the door, their breaths sharp and eyes frantic.

"Good," Izzy pants, "You got your stuff together. Get everybody and let's go. We can make it there in time."

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Mara stays on Rogan's lap during the ride. There's not much room for all of us, especially since Eve is still here. Apparently, they never made it to Finley; they saw the herd coming and hurried back to get us. I'm so glad they did.

The road is rough, but we're making good time, though the herd is always behind us, and I swear they're getting closer. Bare trees flash past, and I just hope against everything that we don't get stuck in the mud or run out of gas.

Don't jinx it, Wynne.

"Do you think they'll let us in?" Seth asks, and I assume he's addressing Eve.

"I don't know, but I guess they'll have to. With the herd and all," Eve replies from the driver's seat, "But in my eyes you did nothing wrong. Those monsters got what they deserved."

"You mean, Natalia is dead?" Izzy asks, sounding way too excited at the prospect.

"No," Eve answers, and Izzy groans. "But she should be," Eve adds.

"I like you," Izzy says simply.

Hudson shifts, trying to get more comfortable, though it's impossible in these cramped quarters. "What happened exactly?" He asks.

"I killed some people," Rogan replies, his voice low.

Hudson's eyes widen. "Why?"

"Because they deserved it."

"Oh." Hudson's dark eyes meet mine in a frantic glance.

Eve, however, nods. "They did. They were running experiments on people, more people than just yours. But Mara in particular...they were trying to see what would happen if she miscarried — trying to see if the kid would go zombie or not."

"Ugh. That bitch," Izzy spits, while the rest of us are silent. In shock, mostly. How barbaric. How could people do that? I can't even fathom such cruelty.

"And you want to go back there?" Hudson asks in disbelief.

"We don't want to; we have to," Doyle tells him, "this truck can only go so far."

"Yeah, and personally, I'd rather not get eaten alive," Izzy says, before letting out a laugh that, in all honesty, is a bit disturbing. "Plus, I'll get a second chance at killing Natalia."

"You're not killing anyone, Izzy!" Seth says loudly.

"I can if I want to! And anyway, who's to say she won't try to kill me first?" Izzy retorts.

"Guys, don't argue—"

Doyle's voice is lost in their shouting match, and I just squeeze his hand. There's at least one thing we can always count on: Seth and Izzy screaming at each other.

"Looks like the kiss didn't defuse the tension," Doyle murmurs in my ear, and I smile.

"I don't think anything will," I reply, and then we're silent.

I glance out the back window, at the zombies trying to catch us, and I just hope we can make it in time.

I hope we can make it in time.

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HAHA! I updated again! 🎉🎉😋

We're getting close to the end of the story, people! And I feel torn about it, like glad that I'm finally actually wrapping something up, but sad because, being a weirdo, I'll miss my characters because they seem like my friends.

I don't know.

Anyway, I was thinking about maybe doing a Q&A for this series, so I don't know...leave your questions here? >>

Also, YOU'RE ALL AWESOME 👍